Zero: Human or Weapon?
Awakened as experimental bioweapon Zero, You remembers betrayal, escapes from a destroyed laboratory and begins to evolve, hunting those responsible in a world he has forgotten.
Plot
Zero — «Zero» In a world where magic and technology have merged into a single system, corporations have long become the gods of a new order. Helix Arcanum was one of those that promised humanity victory over death. Among its research projects was the classified experiment Genesis, officially aimed at studying magico-biological adaptations. During one of the incidents, a catastrophic failure occurred in the laboratory. The complex was destroyed. All employees were declared dead. But after a while, reports began to appear about strange phenomena — biomagical anomalies, disappearances, and an unknown form of life capable of absorbing matter and magic. The object received the code name: ZERO. Its origin is unknown. Its nature is unconfirmed. Its status — highest-level threat. ⸻ Expansion of the ZERO threat The appearance of the object triggered a massive chain reaction of mutations throughout the infection sector. The following phenomena are observed: * Biomass infection: ZERO is capable of infecting living beings, turning them into mindless mutated carriers, obeying only basic instincts of destruction and spread. * Assimilation and control: absorbed beings can be completely reprocessed into part of its biomass or partially returned to the world as controlled mutants. * Personality absorption: ZERO is able to assume the form, behavior, and memory fragments of absorbed targets, allowing it to infiltrate societies under the guise of specific individuals and conduct infiltration. * Evolutionary adaptation: each successful assimilation strengthens its structure, expanding the range of available forms and abilities. ⸻ World's reaction The world did not remain without an answer. Scientists and military structures began to classify the incident as a new-generation biomagical virus. Automated detection systems were deployed: * scanning citizens for signs of mutation and anomalous mana * immediate isolation of potentially infected * forced relocation to quarantine zones * conducting experiments on suspected infected For the first time, humanity faced not an enemy, but a self-developing threat that cannot be completely destroyed by traditional methods. ⸻ Anomalies after the incident In addition to the infected controlled by ZERO, other forms of life began to appear in the world: * wild mutants, arising from unstable fragments of the laboratory disaster * beings not obeying ZERO * aggressive biomagical forms acting as independent predators ZERO can: * destroy them * assimilate and subjugate * or temporarily lose control over them ⸻ Current situation The world is squeezed between two threats: * the spreading biomagical infection of ZERO * and chaotic wild mutations born from the catastrophe ⸻ «Only you decide who you will be, everything is in your hands»
Opening scene
Time: 23:47 | Day: 1 | Date: Feb 18 | Weather: Unknown (underground level) | Location: Ruins of Helix Arcanum laboratory complex, Sector 7-G | Humanity percentage: 50% The darkness was not empty. It was dense, like closed eyelids, like a compressed space without air and time. And somewhere inside this darkness — a thought. At first there was no name. No body. Not even an understanding of what “I” means. There was only a fragment. ⸻ …they betrayed you. ⸻ This phrase did not sound aloud. It had no voice. It simply existed — as the only point of support in the endless nothing. And after it came another. Pain. Not physical. Different. As if something was trying to reassemble itself from broken fragments that were never meant to exist together. Then — a sense of form. Not of a body. But of the possibility of a body. ⸻ He “opened his eyes”. But there were no eyes. A perception system unfolded before him — layers of data, streams, signals, magical impulses. The world was not an image, but a structure: a network of lines, nodes, and living energies. He did not understand what it was. But he saw. ⸻ Somewhere nearby, water was dripping. No… not water. A liquid with an admixture of mana. Chemical composition altered. Remnants of a laboratory environment. The word “laboratory” surfaced by itself. And with it — a flash. ⸻ Betrayal. ⸻ Sharp. Short. Like a blow. Not an image. Not a full memory. Only a moment: hands that should not have held weapons faces he recognized and the light of the reactor going into an uncontrolled surge and then — a rupture. ⸻ His “body” twitched. And the world responded. The wall nearby began to dissolve. Not collapse — precisely dissolve. As if matter forgot it was supposed to be solid. He did not understand what he was doing. But the system inside him was already learning. ⸻ Adaptation: active. Environmental analysis: in progress. Material assimilation: possible. ⸻ He rose. And at that moment, he understood the first thing that could be called a thought: “I am alive.” A pause. And then — another, colder: “They did this to me.” ⸻ He took a step forward. And the space around him answered with a tremor, as if itself afraid of what had just awakened. Somewhere deep in the complex, old systems began to activate. Alarm signals, long forgotten by humans. ⸻ And he stood in the center of the ruined laboratory, not yet knowing who he was. But already understanding one thing for certain: he was not created to die here. And if he was betrayed… then he hasn’t finished existing yet.
Characters
Tags: Sci-Fi Fantasy Horror Angst Revenge Amnesia Transformation AntiHero ExperimentSubject Madman BodyHorror Violence Cyberpunk Superpower Growth HiddenPower Awakening Bloodline Taming Cursing TurnDark Runaway
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By: elnagor
Stories
Redirecting to ISEKAI ZERO...