Demon Bible

Chapter 157: Putting on an Act

"Leader, look! You have no way to defeat me now!" Fass was completely enveloped in a Dark Aura. This energy was exceptionally tyrannical, brimming with a terrifying power.

The sheer amount of information in that single sentence stunned Al, who had just ridden the wind up to their level.

From the looks of it, no other factions had intervened. Instead, his "good brother" Fass had rebelled against the leader of the Construct Protocol?

"Fass!!!" Al shouted at the top of his lungs, tossing all other concerns aside.

The sudden gust of wind and the loud voice drew Fass's attention.

He instinctively turned his head slightly, and that split-second movement created an opening.

Angel A immediately seized this opening and launched an attack.

The intense white light materialized into a sharp sword, thrusting swiftly toward Fass while its blinding radiance obscured his face.

"I can't laugh. I can't laugh right now," Angel A muttered, his expression showing he was barely holding it together.

Currently, the pressure Nemus had applied to purge the Construct Protocol was intense enough.However, the purpose of this baptism was to filter out qualified members, not to completely annihilate the organization.

Therefore, at a critical moment, someone needed to step up and take the fall. This person had been chosen from the very beginning—Fass.

Even Fass himself was well aware of this.

Compared to the others, he did not possess many advantages. In fact, from the very start, his strength had been forcibly propped up by the power of the Construct Protocol.

Furthermore, over the past six months, he had gained more than enough.

Since there were gains, there must inevitably be a price to pay.

His family had already been given new identities and relocated to start fresh lives under the arrangements of the Construct Protocol.

If his younger siblings wished, they could even enter the inner circle of the Construct Protocol and become true core members.

In other words, he had at least earned a future for his family and secured a considerable reputation for himself in the present.

For this alone, Fass had no regrets.

Besides, while this mission carried significant risks, the rewards were equally massive. He wasn't necessarily going to die.

The arrow of light instantly pierced through everything. The high-speed projectile left absolutely no time for anyone to dodge.

However, once the brilliant light faded, Fass remained standing in his original spot, completely unscathed.

"Impossible!" Angel A roared, his face an exaggerated mask of shock as he stared at Fass.

On the other side, Al, who had ducked into a corner, took a deep breath to steady his emotions, feeling equally astounded.

The volley of light arrows just now had been incredibly fast and packed immense destructive power. If he hadn't sensed danger the moment Angel A raised his hand and chosen to evade, he would have instantly been riddled with holes like a block of Swiss cheese.

Yet Fass, who had taken the attack head-on, was entirely unharmed.

"You underestimated the power of your own creation. This is the true might of the Rampage Augment IV, and I am its most compatible user," Fass declared.

"Did you think the Berserk Accessory would permanently prevent us from advancing to the Iron Rank, allowing you to control us forever?"

"You thought too highly of yourself, Leader." Fass proved to be quite the qualified explainer. "The moment I achieved perfect Resonance with the Mark IV, I became an Anomaly."

"Communal Symbiosis. This is the Trait I gained upon becoming an Anomaly."

"Like a Demon, I can imprison the souls of others within this augment."

"Through this symbiotic link, I can attain an Attribute Value that far surpasses my limits!"

Everything Fass was saying was the absolute truth. The Rampage Augment IV had indeed achieved a groundbreaking breakthrough.

This was the result of Nemus's experimental research, drawn from his own existence as a Heterogeneous Demon capable of breaking through the Attribute Value limits of his rank. Even though Fass was still technically of the Black Iron Rank, he could now rightfully call himself an Aberrant Human.

Due to his Mutant nature, he had shattered the Peak Limit of the Black Iron Rank, currently possessing an Attribute Value of over twenty.

Furthermore, becoming a Mutant had granted him several rather unique abilities.

For example, the Dark Aura surrounding his body was actually his symbiotic kin.

Strictly speaking, they belonged to the same single entity as Fass, yet they possessed a certain degree of independent consciousness.

As a result, these entities could fight autonomously, seeking out enemies, attacking, and defending entirely on their own.

Those concentrated arrows of light earlier had been intercepted by the automatic defenses formed by the Dark Aura cloaking his body.

"This is my power!" Fass roared, spreading his arms wide.

However, this declaration was not aimed at Angel A, but at Al.

Fass had to admit that Al was a "good person." It was Al who had first enlightened him with Knowledge regarding the Supernatural.

Yet, Fass also needed to voice his true feelings: Al disgusted him.

And he had been disgusting him for a very long time.

From beginning to end, Al claimed he wanted to save him, yet he never bothered to face the problems present in Physical Reality, only shouting empty slogans.

He stubbornly believed that he alone was right.

Armed with those laughable, naive convictions, Al had repeatedly come to harass him time and time again.

He kept saying that everything Fass had now was a path with no future. He called him misguided. He called him Evil.

He had even gone so far as to claim that if his deceased family knew what he had become, they wouldn't be happy.

Fass had nearly lost his mind with rage at the time. His family had been saved by the Construct Protocol. Thanks to their support, they were living happier lives than they ever thought possible.

Yet here was Al—the person who had nominally "killed" them on the surface—daring to point fingers on their behalf?!

The feeling was exactly like when he lived in the slums, where people loved to dump their chamber pots straight out the upper-floor windows.

When unlucky passersby got splashed and started cursing, the people upstairs would argue with absolute self-righteousness that since they stood on high ground, they had every right to pour their filth wherever they pleased.

Right now, Al was that person standing on the high ground. He poured his unearned moral superiority downward, acting as if it were completely justified. It was absolutely sickening.

"And now, you have become an obstacle to my further growth. Let us merge into complete symbiosis!" With those words, Fass shot forward like a bullet, appearing right in front of Angel A.

"It's time for you to exit the stage!"

Instantly, a massive torrent of Dark Aura pierced deeply into Angel A's body.

Following a rather abrupt and exaggerated scream, Angel A vanished beneath Fass's swirling black energy.

And just like that, the nonexistent "Leader" of the Construct Protocol was written out of the script.

Meanwhile, as the Soul Component embedded within Angel A transferred into his body, Fass's aura surged even higher.

Simultaneously, the immense mental strain he was under finally received tremendous relief.

The power of the Rampage Augment IV had turned him into an Aberrant Human akin to a Demon. However, maintaining a multi-symbiotic state placed a colossal burden on his mind.

If he couldn't withstand that pressure, it was highly likely that the mental strain of Communal Symbiosis would fracture his psyche, turning him into a mindless Monster driven purely by instinct.

But now, he finally had a real chance to bring Lord Nemus's experiment to completion!