Lee Seng couldn't believe Niko was standing in front of him. The man he thought had die wasn't dead. He was alive… and well. Lee Seng naturally studied him while Nikolai couldn't help but focus on Lee Seng's eyes. Niko grabbed Lee Seng before he could do a walk around. He pulled him close and studied Lee Seng's eyes.
"What have they done to you…?" Nikolai whispered. Lee Seng's eyes sparkled like stars. Purple, red and blue seemingly swirled and for a moment, he could sense something powerful in Lee Seng's eyes.
"A lot has happened, Uncle Niko." Lee Seng softly pushed away from Niko. "I'm not the same helpless kid who wanted to understand everything."
"The Biohuman serum worked for you?"
"That's… complicated." Lee Seng kicked at nothing, lowering his head. "It did work and then some." He looked up at Niko. Niko slowly nodded. "What do you want from me? I'd like to believe my dead Uncle came to see his wonderful nephew, but it looks like you're doing something." He motioned behind Nikolai. He could hear and see Carlisle peeking his head out from the side.
"Oh, them." Nikolai looked behind him. Carlisle grinned and then pulled away. "They fight for the same cause as I do. They won't hurt you." Nikolai coughed, covering his mouth and letting out a slow breath in and out. "I'm here because I think you're what we need to win this war."
"War? What's happening?"
"The faction I work for works in the darkness of everything else. We've been watching your Father and his men for quite some time and realized something sinister is happening. Have you heard of D31?"
"Oh boy do I know them." Lee Seng sighed. "They came into the world two years ago. They're putting themselves out there as people who can improve the livelihood of the Biohumans. They've made this juice that's skyrocketed in price over the last two years. It was about a 180% price increase from one single freebie."
"It looks like you're well informed." Nikolai nodded. "But that's not all, the D31 are just one of the Creator's secret projects. They're stepping stones for what's to come." Lee Seng's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean by that?"
Nikolai sighed and bit his lip. He raised his hand to his mouth and bit at his nails. There was an anxiety subtly being shown as Nikolai thought. Lee Seng knew whatever information Niko had, it wasn't news he wanted to hear.
"Do you know what D31 is doing to its people?" Niko asked. He licked his lips and turned back to Lee Seng. "The 'juicers,' they're the start to the nasty and horrible process. The D31 faction - the Deimons, they're just trying to create Deimons. They're trying to kill them and turn them into weapons - into Perfect Singulars or Unknown Walkers." Lee Seng froze.
'He knows.' Lee Seng thought.
'And what's worst is I think the Creator - your father - is doing this to set right the horrible experiments he's done in the past. Look, Lee Seng, I know this might be a lot but you gotta trust me. You're one of the few people who can help us win this war and make things right." Niko took a step forward. He reached for Lee Seng's shoulder and tightened. "Please. For as long as I've been watching you, I think you're the only one who can stop them."
"You do know I am a Deimon, right?" Lee Seng asked. Nikolai let go of Lee Seng. "You don't know everything, then." He sighed and turned around. He lifted his hand up and started to draw.
"Runes." Niko whispered. Lee Seng spoke in a language Niko didn't understand. He slashed the rune and everything around them grew extremely quiet. Lee Seng turned with his arms folded together. "What did you just do? You can't be a rune mage."
"I'm not." Lee Seng answered. He looked past his uncle and noticed the energy was faint now. "This is soundproof. It blocks out unwanted attention. You may be my uncle, but I can't be too sure someone isn't listening in on this conversation."
'He's cautious. The intel we had… Was it all wrong? There was nothing in the logs about Lee Seng being able to use magic like this.'
"This isn't your true form, no? Why don't you just show me it?" Niko asked. Lee Seng looked at his uncle in shock.
"How do you…"
"I told you. I've been watching for a while. I've kept tabs on you ever since I disappeared on the mission. I just—"
A glowing blade appeared out of nowhere, pointed at Nikolai's throat. Lee Seng's eyes flared, revealing their true nature.
"How do you know that?" Lee Seng asked. "Who are you?"
"Lee, I'm—" Nikolai began to speak when Lee Seng pushed the blade closer to Nikolai's throat. "I've been watching you for awhile. I swear on the runes." Lee Seng immediately removed the blade and jumped backwards, giving them space. "What can I do to make you believe me? Wasn't my face enough?"
"I'm not the only person who can shapeshift." Lee Seng told him. "How do I know you're really Uncle Niko? Tell me something he would only know." Nikolai sighed and nodded. Nikolai began to sing. It was a song Lee Seng knew a lot about. He listened to the man in front of him sing it and then he stopped. Runes grew all around Nikolai as he sang.
'The rune song.' Lee Seng thought. He watched as Nikolai stopped and lifted his hand. The runes exploded into dust, sprinkling all around him.
"I used to sing you this song when you couldn't sleep." Nikolai told him. 'You were young and had a horrible cause of insomnia. It was the only way to coax you to sleep. I sung it at least three times in its entirety before you fell asleep each night. As you grew older, I sung it less and less until you didn't need it anymore."
Lee Seng released the sword and blinked.
"Do you believe me? I've been watching you for a long time. Where'd you learn how to use runes like that? It doesn't look familiar. What language were you speaking?" Niko asked. Uncle Niko might've been a researcher who was devoted to understanding the Earth runes, but he was also a scary man.
'"The Runic King." That's what they called him. They were scared of how strong Uncle was, so many people were after him. He spent much of his time studying runes in strange places. Understanding energy levels, how Dark Matter reacted with runes and what they could do in the right conditions. He created many runes because of this.' Lee Seng thought.
"Fine. I'll trust you enough to show you this, but know if you cross me or my friends, I'll personally send you to Hell for good." Lee Seng lifted his head up into the air and released his form. His human pupils turned into vertical slits like a dragon. Eight tails unfurled behind Lee Seng. Human ears disappeared and Fox ears appeared on his head. "I'm sure you know what this is."
"So they were true." Nikolai whispered. "You have… much more tails. How?"
"Have you heard the stories about foxes with many tails? The Koreans call them gumihos. The Chinese call them Shanhaijing. The Japanese call them Kitsune… My brother, he calls us Fox Spirits."
"Your brother?"
"I'm sure you saw him. The one that looked similar to me. That's Keng. He's my brother."
"You don't have a sibling."
"I don't, but where Keng comes from, he's practically my brother."
"Where?"
"Here." Lee Seng tapped his heart. "My soul." Nikolai narrowed his eyes. "I made a deal with a god from another world. He promised me power in return for killing my father."
"And you're going to kill your father?"
"I want to, but things are complicated."
"What do you mean?" Niko asked. "What're you talking about? There are gods from another world?"
"It was what was promised when we initially made the pact. But, things are more complicated now because the Deimon that was inside of me gave me a memory. I think I know why the Deimons exist."
"W-wait, hold on." Niko raised his hand. "I'm still stuck on you making a pact with a god from another world. Why did you do that for? You took the Biohuman serum and it gave you powers. Why would you make a pact with a so-called 'god?'"
"That's cause all it did was make me super-inhuman. I didn't get any powers from the Biohuman serum. I learned much later I had Biohuman powers. It wasn't the usual Biohuman serum used on everyone. It was an experimental one created by my father capturing a Fox Spirit and taking its blood."
Nikolai grew quiet for a while. Lee Seng let him take his time to digest everything. He pulled his tails together, creating a large one.
"So, you made a pact and learned the Creator took a Fox Spirit and put it into you… What does your biohuman power do?"
"Mutation. And that's not the craziest thing about all of this. The Deimon serum - this juicer - it's an imitation of the Fox Spirit and I think it's the start of a cure for the failed ones."
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