In what was simultaneously a horrifying and humiliating experience, Max was passed from tentacle to tentacle across the mall. He kicked and flailed, droplets from his nose dancing in front of his eye as if to mock his hopeless struggles.

The last tentacle deposited him in the middle of a circular plaza that was forebodingly more like an arena. A click-clack of heels forced him to look up. Jena approached. She knelt beside him, close enough for him to be glad his nose was too damaged to smell, and cupped his face. His thoughts came to a juddering halt, his mouth dropping open with a drone of 'uh'. She traced her thumb over his scar.

"I was right," she said. "It is you."

"Um, have we met?"

Jena straightened and stared down at him with an expression that he could not tell was contemptuous or contemplative. "If it's you, then where are they?"

"Who? You better start being clear!"

"The twins. Where are they?"

At this Max propelled onto his feet so fast it was a wonder he did not get whiplash. "How do you know about them?"

"Tell me if they live."

The look on his face must have been enough of an answer. "I see." She backed away from him. "Well, that will certainly make this easier. And yet..." She reached inside her labcoat and came out with a vial of ominous violet liquid. It glowed softly in her hand, illuminating eyes that were alight with a kind of hostility he had never seen before. "It's funny: I shouldn't feel like this, and yet I do."

Max moved to grab her. A groaning shockwave rang through the building and jostled him to a standstill. He followed the source of the noise to a gigantic white egg glued to the ceiling, nestled among tentacles like the ones that had brought him there. He blinked, all thoughts of capturing Jena momentarily forgotten as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing and how he had initially missed it. "What the hell is that?"

Jena coughed harsher than a chain smoker. The empty vial shattered by her feet. Her eyes had gone a complete hellish red and dark veins crossed her face in tainted spiderwebs. The edges of her body glowed with the same light as the vial. She flung out her right arm and disgusting flesh grew across it into something reminiscent of armour, a long, lance-like blade forming where her hand was.

She wasted no time coming at him. She aimed for his throat, but Axe manifested in her path, the sound of their collision ringing in Max's ears. She looked Axe up and down with obvious displeasure. "So this is a Legion? The power to control chimeras will only go so far."

The two parted. Jena was faster and swept upwards with her blade before Axe could react, sending the Legion back through the air until it disappeared. Max was ready for her, however, and matched her blow for blow with his Gladius. "Answer my question, lady! How is it you know about my kids and me?"

"Your children were quite famous in scientific circles, Officer Howard. Try asking your master about it."

"I don't have a 'master!'"

"You don't? And yet here you are, following his orders without thought or question. Is that all you're capable of? Are you even human?"

Finally she scored a hit to his body. His armour protected him from the worst, but there was enough unnatural strength behind the swing to send him falling back onto one knee.

His mind was not there. He saw aberrations in their masses. Terrified people. The same officers he had seen before. Walls. Yuri and Akira again, their former Legions closing in. A monstrous hand intertwined with his own.

Promise me...

The voice was distorted, yet he could hear it as loudly then as he had all those years ago:

Promise me you'll take care of them...

White hot fury on a level even greater than his Legion's erupted through his body. Reinvigorated by this fire, he rocketed back up with his Gladius swinging.

"You know nothing about me!" His blade clashed against hers and he charged forward, forcing her legs to move like pistons as she backed up. "Don't act like you have any idea what I've been through!"

Jena staggered and nearly fell over. Max took advantage of this by catching her other arm and easily flipping her onto her back with his superior strength. He caught both her arms and pinned them above her head, using his weight to keep the rest of her trapped. "Now give it up!"

Jena glared daggers at him, but then she glanced behind his head and her expression morphed into a smirk. "As much as I like rough treatment, I don't have any further time to waste here. At least you'll make a fine trial run, Officer Howard!"

Another shockwave wracked the mall, causing Max's grip on Jena to loosen. Next thing he knew she turned into light that slipped through his fingers. She reformed a step away, but another groan tore his eye from her to the egg. The shell broke, showering down jagged shards he leapt to avoid. It revealed a bubbling mass of putrid black flesh. The flesh unfurled outwards into a pulsating, bulging torso with arms longer than buses. A skull-like face filled his vision, two pairs of purely crimson eyes boring into his soul. It was a monster in every sense of the word, defying nature, spitting at logic.

"Homunculus Alpha!" announced Max's IRIS, though it was drowned out by his own cry:

"Holy mother of God!"

Such an exclamation felt like an understatement when faced with something so immense. The homunculus's head split apart in a fashion identical to its tentacle brethren. A column of searing light crashed out and came straight for him, leaving a scorched trail in its wake.

Max summoned Axe and its shield right as the shining death was almost upon him. The shield took it head on. It held firm, but Max could feel the heat all the way to his core. Only now did he realise Jena had vanished, though it was hard to care even about her with his senses focused on survival.

The homunculus closed its face again, and Max thanked every deity ever for that, as he doubted the shield would have lasted a second longer. Instead the monster brought one gigantic hand towards him in a slap of doom. Axe jumped between them with what was left of its shield still active. The shield managed to protect Axe from the worst of the hit but finally gave out, resulting in Axe being pushed back a few feet and Max almost stumbling, echoes of Axe's pain rebounding within him.

"Alright, to hell with this!"

He had Axe pull him up into the air, switching his weapon into its gun mode and firing at the homunculus's face. One of its eyes took a direct hit, fluid and chunks of flesh flowing out from the socket. The creature let out an ear-piercing, high-pitched screech, shaking itself as it fell back and covering its face with its hands. "How do you like that, you ugly son of a bitch?"

The homunculus lunged forward so fast he could not possibly retaliate in time. Its arm slammed into him and sent him soaring back through the air, his flight only interrupted by an equally painful collision with the plaza wall. While his armour once more protected him from any broken bones, he was left in a drunken daze as he slumped to the ground.

Light glowed from above and he felt a build-up of familiar heat. The homunculus's face was open, it was aimed at him, but he could not move and Axe had disappeared again –

The Arm Legion knocked the homunculus for a loop with a savage surprise haymaker. The homunculus's laser misfired and blew a hole in the ceiling.

"Captain!"

Jin rushed to Max's side. "Would've been here sooner, but we ran into more problems."

As if on cue, a series of snarls signalled the arrival of chimeras. There were several winged pairs and multiple bestial types. One of the bestial types dived at Arm, who caught it by the front legs and pulled it in half as though it were made of clay. Another was swiftly decapitated by a well-aimed blow from Axe. Max and Jin both shot two of the winged variants out of the sky.

Max tried to move quick so that the homunculus did not splatter them in their distraction, except no attempt came. The homunculus was far too still, its alien gaze now locked entirely on the chimeras. Its body began to emanate purple light not unlike its creator. The chimeras were suddenly whisked through the air towards it as though dust in a vacuum. Their bodies exploded into similar light which was then absorbed into it. The light around the homunculus faded and its muscles swelled to an even more impossible size.

"No way," Jin gasped.

The homunculus's mammoth body detached from the ceiling. As it fell its lower flesh shifted and burst apart into single strands, which wrapped around each other and reformed into two legs as burly as its arms. It landed with a deafening boom.

Arm and Axe both charged towards it, only to be smacked away like harmless flies, the Legions then fading again. The beast craned its head towards the ceiling. It rose up onto its hind legs, its shoulders brushing against the walls. Max realised what it was about to do and threw Axe out towards Jin. "Get down!"

Leaving Axe to shield his fellow officer, he sprinted towards the homunculus at a speed he had not ran in years. The homunculus pulled a fist back. Max swapped back to his Gladius, clenched it between his teeth and sprang through the air. He latched himself onto its leg like a stick insect, digging his heels in and grabbing handfuls of its skin so tight he knew his knuckles must have been the whitest they had ever been.

The homunculus's fist smashed through the ceiling. A storm of debris and dust rained down, which Axe was able to protect Jin from before the homunculus reached up through the space it had made and pulled itself to freedom.

Axe faded again while Max held on with everything he had. Together he and the homunculus emerged from the mall and into the open street. Terrified shrieks and screams filled the air as people scattered in all directions. The beast paid no mind to any of this, choosing to manoeuvre on all fours towards the nearest skyscraper. Its hands buried themselves into it, crushing glass and concrete in order to haul its massive bulk into the air.

As the homunculus climbed, so did Max. Every part of his body ached, yet he did not care. His eye was trained on the beast's head and he would not pull it away. Distantly he heard voices that might have been Olive and the commander yelling at him. It was hard to tell over the blood pounding in his head.

More gates opened in the air surrounding them and winged chimeras poured out. Max froze from fear they would dislodge him, but they focused on the homunculus, diving at it in a manner that reminded him of angry bees. The homunculus's face opened and its laser reduced them to ash in seconds. A chill colder than the Arctic shot down Max's spine.

Shit. I only have one shot at this.

The beast was nearing the top when he clambered onto its shoulder. Without a fraction of hesitation he took his Gladius into his hand and hurled himself at its throat. He plunged the blade into the soft flesh where the carotid artery would be if it were human and swept it along in a brilliant arc. Violet fluid splashed across the windows and drenched him.

The homunculus screamed, a terrible, blood-curdling wail of pure anguish that blew out Max's eardrums. He directed Axe through a broken window, the Legion pulling him after it milliseconds before the homunculus's hands slipped away.

Max stood where the window had been and watched the homunculus plummet down, down, down. It's gonna kill the people down there, he thought, wanting to yell at them to run but lacking the strength to do so. Fortunately, its body dissolved into squares of light not unlike the chimeras earlier. He dropped to his knees, so overwhelmed with relief he could hardly take it. His breaths came fast and heavy, adrenaline rendering him weightless.

Something struck his side and he was falling. He briefly glanced behind and glimpsed a winged chimera, and then the street was all he could see. A flash of red caught his eye – a gate. He did not even think. He sent Axe flying towards it, the Legion stabbing it with its weapon and then disappearing inside. Its chain went with it, yanking Max out of his freefall and towards the red light into the Astral Plane beyond.