Blessed by Night

However, the sections of the country that had been destroyed and rebuilt were more futuristic than anything that had been seen in this world before.

White buildings with automated features and small forcefields were becoming more normalized and belonged to every homeowner, but due to the understandably questionable state of the economy, there were a lot of cases of homelessness and people living in shelters because they couldn't afford it.

Among the new additions to this side of the country, there were certain facilities that saw the most amount of traffic.

Those areas would be the POW camps or prisons that housed strictly blessed.

These bases were double the size of their predecessors and were more like small cities housing upwards of 200,000 people at any given time.

In what was formerly Seattle, this base was the most populated as the prisoners that were being harbored inside were among the most dangerous or influential blessed around.

At every entrance or exit on this base, there were exactly one hundred enhanced humans who were dressed from head to toe in modified black fatigues and face masks to protect them from the cold.

"Hooo.... I can barely even feel my toes at this rate." One soldier whispered.

"Should have sprung for the serum instead of the cybernetics man. We been standing out here sixteen hours and I'm still toasty." one said in response.

"I couldn't help it... Robocop was always my favorite movie."

"The original? Or that shitty remake that came out like thirty years ago."

"I like to think that it was just before it's time."

"Fuck your taste is terrible. No wonder everyone you date has the same six complaints about you."

"That's a low blo-"

"AM I HEARING CHATTER BACK THERE?!"

The two men quickly straightened up as the sound of heavy footsteps started to inch towards their position.

An enormous man with muscles bulging out of every conceivable inch of his body stood over them menacingly.

At six foot six, he was already intimidating, but his bald head and thick red beard further added to that sense of fear and oppression.

His formerly pale skin was now permanently tanned from several tours overseas, and the tattoos along his massive fists were numbered with his confirmed kills.

His cybernetic left eye scanned the two of them up and down as he read everything about them without even asking a single question.

"You boys have already been on latrine duty for a month now. Surely you don't want any unnecessary matter to double that?"

""N-No, platoon leader.""

"Good thing I don't give a fuck what you want. Have fun scrubbing boys, next week is supposed to be taco Tuesday."

Both men grimaced under their masks and the Platon leader laughed as his heavy boots carried him back to the front of the line.

Suddenly, blaring sirens began to play from all around base and the soldiers outside visibly tensed up.

"Looks like they're trying again, men! Weapons hot, let's make sure none of those god worshipping bitches scamper out of here again!"

"YES PLATOON LEADER!"

All eyes were drawn towards the front gate of the base a few miles away.

Since everyone here was in possession of enhanced vision by some sort of unnatural means, it was easy for them to see the front gate from this far away as if it were right in front of them.

And then they heard it.

A loud sonic boom rang through the permeant dark sky and a bright red comment pierced through all of the clouds.

The automated turrets stationed around the base tried and failed to shoot it out of the sky in time, and the comet kept traveling until it landed directly in the center of the base- directly in front of the large prison base that was supposedly being protected.

A figure stepped out of the cloud os smoke billowing up from where the comet had landed, and the commander in front let out a low whistle.

It was a young man of around twenty years of age with dark skin and otherworldly grey hair and violet eyes.

He'd apparently been living well since his disappearance, as he was adorned in gold around his neck biceps and even ankles, and his body was in even better shape than it had been a year ago.

"The World's Last Living God. Boy don't I feel honored. Where you been hiding all this time? Did you bring your friends into the world and then decide to get lazy?"

"Move."

The platoon leader made a surprised expression before he shivered as if he was cold.

"Ooooh... Think you're scary, huh? Not anymore, hot shot. We've killed plenty of your kind by now and-"

"I can absolutely promise you..."

Malachi's body started to release that same red and black mystifying energy as before.

"You have absolutely never come across anything like... me."

As the ground started to rumble, Mal called for his iklwha within the shadows before remembering that he had already given them away.

As if it was responding to his body's desire, his hands grew long black claws and teeth sharp enough to splinter bone.

"We're not trying to take this one in! Light him up!"

At the same time that the bullets started to fly, Malachi felt like that same energy from before was flowing into his body from all over.

As if a switch had been flipped over in his brain, Malachi immediately understood just what this new power of his was.

"Negativity... Shit is so ironic."

The bullets struck against Malachi's skin in excess and even though he could feel that there was something special about them, they definitely weren't what he would consider harmful.

The platoon leader saw that long range weapons were having no effect so he performed a single hand gesture in the air.

Instantly the guns were put away and replaced with military grade tomahawk axes or swords that glowed as they vibrated and produced an extreme heat.

The platoon leader ripped off his army jacket and vest underneath to reveal a muscular chest with silver lines running through it like metallic wiring.

"I'll tear you apart, beast!" Lunging out wiyh his massive hands outstretched, the platoon leader aimed to crush the young man in an instant with his enhanced might.

However, Malachi stood motionlessly in place as he watched the man get ever closer.

He tapped his foot on the ground a single time, and sharp pillars of what seemed to be corrupted earth shot up from the ground and pierced through his body with no obstruction.

As he remained suspended in the air, Malachi placed his hand on top of the man's head and pulled hard, yanking his head and cybernetic spine free.

Tossing the trophy over his shoulder, he turned his attention back to the 99 other soldiers who were all trembling furiously.

With speed that none of them could react to, Malachi suddenly flipped into the air gracefully.

Performing a powerful axe kick, he obliterated the head of one man before taking his axe from his limp grasp and burying it into the neck of the soldier nearest to him.

"I already gave you all a warning you didn't deserve and you decided not to take it. Now even if you run, there is nothing that you can do that will stop me from killing all of you."