Lowly Ascent

As usual, Luna and Cain went to the mission board. 

Cain planned to accept one of the higher-end missions Grade 2's could work with. To Luna's dismay, they were allowed to accept such a dangerous task. 

It was on the outskirts of the Union's domain, in a village deep in the swamp.

A grade 1 was leading a group of bandits and pillaging villages. Due to their 'success,' their presence was known, hence the mission.

…

Cain and Luna packed up and set out, reaching the village in a day and a half. 

When they got there, the village was in ruins. Houses were burning, corpses lined the earth, and the smell of death was all around.

Seeing the charred dead, Luna's eyes burned with rage, "Bastards, the lot of them."

Luna had always been emotional towards the harm of innocent people. Cain, however, wasn't moved at all looking at the village.

He harmed people for his research on Cravus Renaltic, using human subjects in the later stages, including death row prisoners or slaves. But they were people nonetheless.

Walking into the center of the village, the sound of footsteps and broken twigs sprang from all around.

Cain and Luna were surrounded in mere moments, by the group of bandits that came out to hunt.

 Behind the bandits, a cloaked man draped in a long bloodied hide escaped from the line of men.

"Let's see what the net caught. Oh? Such a beauty! Seems this was all worth it."

Caught off guard by the leader's appearance, Cain took a battle stance. 

"Shit, Luna, keep your distance and use the combat spells I taught you to support me."

As if in response to Cain's words as well, the bandits drew their makeshift bows and fired. The leader, the Grade 1, kept still. The smug look on his face boiled Cain's blood. 

Cain rushed forward, uncapped some vials in his clothes, and threw them at his enemies. Of course, they didn't know what he was doing, they couldn't see bacteria with the naked eye.

After a few moments, Cain was before the readied scum. Yet he stopped, looked over to a nearby tree, and watched it fall. 

The shockwave of the fall was vast, the men in front of Cain lost balance. However, pained screams seemed to respond when they tried to keep steady.

Their legs buckled under the rumbling earth as their bones broke to splitters trying to keep them standing.

Exerting little force, Cain moved, stomping on the bandit's heads and chests.

Blood and gray matter painted the earth—a muddy red substance created from the blood and dirt collected on Cain's shoe. 

All the while, Cain dodged volley after volley of the pitiful arrows released by the bandits safe above the swamp of corpses.

With Cain's low-high tier body; his physical capabilities could kill a bandit group with just strength alone. 

As he dodged arrow after arrow, he kept his eye on Luna as she sent out a spell.

From the warmth of her hands, a green ball of flames was created. Watching as she released it upon the archers, a satisfied grin appeared on Cain's face.

Those hit by this ball of green fire experienced their skin melt.

The bandits could squeal as the fire spread from one to the other.

Even more interesting was that the spell affected the living, leaving the inanimate houses untouched.

Using the opportunity given, Cain rushed the leader.

But the fight wouldn't end this easily. Upon seeing the still smug mug hidden in a cloak's shadow, Cain fell to one knee as blood dripped from his nose. 

'Shit! He's a grade 2 as well!'

Cain screamed with all his might, "GRADE 2!"

Hearing her partner's words, Luna trembled. 

'He was supposed to be a grade 1! How could this be possible?! Was the Union's information wrong?'

No need to worry, for the leader answered their unheard thoughts.

"Hahaha! I waited so long, never revealing my status as a Grade 2! But now with you finding out the truth, you must die!"

Battles between Plague doctors were tricky. Both sides didn't have the means to nullify the other's disease, even if they knew of it, it took time to create an effective cure. 

This was why fights were based on preparation or just endurance. Whoever could endure longer would be the survivor.

Cain knew this man was a Grade Two by the fact he was hurt.  A Grade 2 could use bacteria to invade another. Cain didn't know he was infected until it was too late. 

He now had to suppress the pathogen rampaging inside his body while fighting the enemy, who had an advantage.

But because of his augmented body, he had more endurance than the others. Giving him a slight edge in this dance.

He found the foreign disease in his body riling his veins, clogging the blood inside until the veins burst. Patches of skin were turning purple due to internal hemorrhaging.

Cain fought back on the inside and out as he opened all his vials, and those with amazing vision could see an illusionary stream of colors released from Cain's clothes.

Seeing his opponent not go down, the cloaked man became even more vigilant. His body shivered as he witnessed guards grab their eyes, others their brittle limbs, and others...their chest.

Cain was able to advance so much as a Grade 2 because he mutated a common bacterium that affected the heart and turned it into an absolute bioweapon.

It had the chance to enter the ranking for the top 10 deadliest common bacteria if it was registered with the Union

This unholy creation was made with nothing short of genius and vile cunning.

The disease's base was a common heart disease called Endocarditis and could be cured with relative ease, but Cain's strain was more vicious.

This strand embedded itself into the heart before acting up, unlike its original counterpart, it didn't need to infect its victims by open infection. An example would be an open wound, which is how it is transmitted. 

This menace of disease could hide in the heart, becoming more of a threat before the host could even notice. 

Cain achieved this after countless human lives, but Cain didn't think of his subjects as human, at least he thought this about the natives. He believed Contaminants were his people, this allowed his conscious to end as many lives as he needed.

The pathogen was fast-acting, like most diseases in Netherane, and with Cain controlling it, precise and lethal damage was done, making it highly efficient at piling up bodies.

Seeing his men die all around him, the leader made a retreat with his remaining bandits.

To the fleeing group's surprise, their exit soon turned into a faster death, if you could call it that.

A new group appeared out from the trees, proving to be just as deadly as Cain. They sunk their teeth into anything that moved.

"Arghh

! Zombies! Help!"

The bandits were now pinned between the Union and a horde of unholy hunters.

Biting his lip, the leader glared at Cain charging him. But his eyes made a slight detour and a smile erased his somber expression.

Acting fast, the cloaked man pulled out an amulet and started to chant.

When Cain was mere seconds away, the leader disappeared. But Cain knew where he went, hearing the shriek of a young woman behind him.

"Cain, help! He used a spell to travel through the ground!"

Cain stared at the earth. Studying a trail of loose soil making a path to Luna.

"Surrender, or your lover dies, kid."

Cain gritted his teeth, he didn't even correct him, "If you hurt her in any way, I'll give you a death more excruciating than being burned alive!"

"Hehehe, not like you can do anything right now boy."

To that, Cain smirked.

A bad premonition swept the leader's mind. He soon felt immense pain, causing him to clutch his chest. He collapsed to the ground.

"You! You....infected her with your pathogen...crazy bastard!"

"Not like I used it to hurt her, just....insurance. In case you captured her, like now." Cain smiled.

Luna backed away from the dying criminal. A sting of betrayal left a bitter taste in her mouth. But Cain had done such similar things before, but not on this scale. 

"You better buy me dinner tonight!" The unruly girl expressed her animosity while puffing her cheeks.

"Okay, okay, just tie him up so we can go. The zombies are almost done with the bandits."

Luna looked at the moving corpses and grew wary. "I can't believe they're this common now. The council should be doing something about this by now!"

"I sure hope so…" Cain agreed.

Luna and Cain tied the man and skedaddled, starting their journey back to Free City.

...

Free City, Union HQ.

Different voices spoke in a shadowy room, a long rectangular table was in the middle. It was made of the same ancient stone Cain had done his ritual on. Along the table, 5 people sat, with one on the end.

"I've called this meeting because of the reports on the Zimo disease's new outbreak, It's… concerning"

"It's nothing to worry about. Fifth, we will just deal with them like 500 years ago!"

"Third, remember that we don't have the ancestors' countermeasures like last time. If we aren't prepared… I'm afraid we'll lose quite a lot."

"Fourth, you aren't even 300 years old. Just trust us oldies, hehe."

"Second brother, although we are Grade 4's, we can't deal with all of them if it gets to the amount like 500 years ago. We couldn't protect the city without the arrangements of the ancestors last time!"

"Silence..."

All the elders stopped arguing, turning their heads to the end of the table. A figure hid in the cloak of darkness, only their bony hands being basked in light.

"We...do not...need....to worry. It...will be...at least...another....decade… or two....until… they...can be....a threat."

"It's as the first says, they're just mindless beasts. We don't need to worry, just focus on building up forces for defenses. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."