Something is wrong. He could feel it.

  ‘The spawns haven't caught any big prey lately,’ Helzar thought. The “big prey” he was talking about were big cockroaches, small lizards, baby snakes, and other such animals.

  ‘For the past few days, the spawns only caught some earthworms and springtails. Even then, these prey are dwindling…’

  A storm is brewing up ahead, he was certain.

  Crawling around the underground chamber, he clacked his mandibles anxiously. 'It’s almost like… I'm trapped.'

  He paused, turning to look at the entrance of the tunnel. The daylight seeped through, and the air stained with grass flowed in.

  No, that shouldn't be. When I awoke, I was falling from the sky. There's a village nearby, and we should be a dozen feet apart. I shouldn't be isolated,’ he deduced.

  ‘If I was captured without any of my spawns knowing, then I'm in big trouble… my spawns may not be as reliable as I thought,’ alarmed, he almost chased after the spawns near him.

  They were cutting up today's prey—one, pitiful worm.

  ‘If the spawns encountered any sort of anomaly, they wouldn't know it's an anomaly,’ he cursed his luck. Even though he could sense what his spawns could sense, there was a limit.

  The limit was the spawns themselves. The spawns were near-sighted, and they didn't even have a sense of touch.

  Though they have poor vision, they had good memory. It gave them an advantage when hunting and foraging.

  ‘I have to prepare for the worst. If I'm trapped, I need to ensure I have a stable food supply… That's the only thing I need, really,’ he looked at the worm the spawns were butchering—it was tiny.

  ‘If I was captured... then I have to hope, whoever is caught me doesn't kill me,’ his mind spun. Walking toward the butchered worm, he pressed down on its body, somehow making it squirm.

  It's already dead, but it's body prevails. Seeing them, he had an idea.

  ‘If I were to breed worms, then I'll need to find a pair... I also need to give them a diet… but I can't do that,’ he bit the worm chunk, slurping it up.

  Afterward, he focused on his internal senses. He couldn't see inside him, no, but he could vaguely sense "blueprints" of the things he ate. By referencing to these blueprints, he could create his own creatures.

  That was how the spawns came to be, and why they resembled him a lot.

  'Who said I needed to follow logic. I'm an alien, and I have the Nest with me,' he chuckled, lowering his body to the ground.

  Then, the Nest detached from bis body with a squelch, gently resting on the soil.

  Seeing his actions, the spawns aboveground rushed into the nest entrance. The ones underground rushed to encircle Helzar, protecting him tightly. Meanwhile, Helzar noticed none of this—he was too busy focusing on his mind.

  There, the blueprint of a worm-like creature was spinning in the void. It wasn't a worm, since he didn't get the exact blueprint of an actual worm. However, it fit his designs just right.

  After who knew how long, he awakened from his inner-world. From the worm chunk he ate earlier, he was now carrying a new blueprint in his mouth.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  ‘I hope this works... if it doesn't, I'd still be “eating” the worm, but it won't be a profit,' he walked toward the Nest, which gaped open for him. Opening his mandibles, he opened his mouth, befor spitting out the chewed-up worm meat into the Nest's waiting mouth.

  +++-+++-+++

  Meanwhile, three days ago.

  Accompanied by the clanking of his armor, a tall man walked into the clearing.

  “Agent Rex?" He looked at a bloody man on the ground, his deep voice light with surprise. "What happened here? Where is agent Dexter?”

  “Chief?” Looking up, Rex stared at the man called “Chief.”

  The agents researching the anomalies that suddenly appeared worldwide were led by this man. The organization was founded by him, and everything it had was bought by him.

  Years ago, the world was almost plunged into chaos when the first anomalies invaded Earth. If not for Chief, who swiftly stabilized everything as if he knew it was going to happen before it did, Earth retained its peace.

  'Pfft,' Rex inwardly scowled. Chief, in the eyes of many, is a noble man who "ended" the invasion singlehandedly. But what would the public say if they learned that Chief was militarizing the anomalies for himself?

  The public didn't even know that the anomalies still existed, all thanks to Chief and his agents.

  Rex giggled inaudibly. He was sitting on the ground, his body covered in sticky, blue blood and dried human blood. Raising his hand...

  “Dexter is over there,” Rex pointed in front of him.

  “Hmm,” Chief squinted his eyes, before closing them. Silence ensued. Rex's eyes were trained on Dexter's body, while Chief simply stood with his eyes closed.

  Dexter's body was mangled. His right leg was torn to pieces as though a tiger had mauled it. His hands were crushed into a pulp, his chest had many holes, and beneath him was an ocean of his own blood.

  “What happened to agent Dexter?” Chief asked, finally opening his mechanical eyes. They were glowing a bright hue of blue.

  “I used the Blue Pistol,” Rex admitted. “I was dying, but Dexter refused to heal me with…”

  “He used the anomaly to create that sphere above his body, correct?” Chief spoke, knowing he guessed correctly. Rex silently turned away, munching on his words.

  “Rex. You are a righteous person,” Chief said, turning to look at Rex. Before he could say anything else, Rex spoke first.

  “I'm not. I'm a selfish guy and a bastard,” Rex said, sneering at Chief. He looked at his hands, they were perfectly fine. His leg, and the countless scars on his body were healed too.

  The only evidence of his wounds were his ragged clothes.

  “Is that so? Then Rex, wield the pistol for me,” Chief commanded, pointing at the worn-out pistol not far from Rex's hand. “With agent Dexter is dead, you will replace him.”

  “...no,” Rex denied, standing up and walking toward Dexter. “That pistol is not for any human to use,” he said, kneeling before Dexter's body.

  “Oh really?” Chief asked, amused.

  The pistol was an anomaly. It could do whatever the wielder wanted in exchange for something equal. Chief once used it himself, resulting in his current state.

  Picking up the pistol, Chief caressed it gently before looking at Rex. "Rex, do it for your brother," he whispered.

  Rex paused. He was about to carry Dexter's body, but he halted. His body tensed, and cold sweat instantly covered his back.

  “With the pistol, you can easily ‘heal’ your brother, isn't that right?” Chief said, his voice monotone and devoid of interest. Instead, his eyes were focused on the sphere above Rex. He couldn't see anything apart from the soil and a few plants. There were even tree chunks "levitating" in the air, as if they hadn't truly separated from their main trunk.

  If the sphere were to be lowered, it would complete the missing half-sphere on the ground like a jigsaw puzzle.

  Seeing Rex having no response, Chief looked at him in disappointment.

  Using the “Blue Pistol” would mean being Chief's loyal “follower.” Rex knew it, and he knew it was the same as becoming a slave for Chief. Not only that, the Blue Pistol would turn the user mentally unstable from overusing it.

  “Agent Rex, are you betraying the organization?” Chief hummed, pointing the pistol at Rex.

  Rex closed his eyes, clenching the ragged red gloves in his hand. He silently slipped it under his clothes.

  Like the Blue Pistol, the “Phoenix's Gloves” is also an anomaly. It grants the user immense strength in exchange for their lifespan, and the gloves itself will never be destroyed. It will always repair itself, even if it was reduced to atoms.

  “...yes.”

  BANG!

  Blood splattered everywhere, and Rex fell to the ground with his right shoulder blown to bits, his entire arm falling off of his body. Meanwhile, Chief looked at the sphere.

  “Well done, agent Dexter. Now, Blue Pistol, obey me,” Chief said, and a mournful cry came out of the pistol. However, with a simple flick, the pistol became quiet again.

  “Give me control over the sphere,” Chief said, before firing the pistol. A blue light enveloped Chief's body, before disappearing a moment later.

  +++-+++-+++

  ‘...huh?’

  Helzar looked at the abomination before him. It was almost a worm, but it had one leg. Its mouth, on the other hand, had many, many hook-like teeth.

  ‘I’ll call it… the Eater,’ he clacked his mandibles. Then, he pushed a spawn toward the eater. The spawn was nearing the end of its lifespan.

  ‘Spawns can increase their lifespan through eating, but since there's no food, that's not possible. Furthermore, I plan to conserve energy from here onwards,’ he decided.

  Sensing Helzar's intentions, the spawn placed its head inside the eater's mouth. The eater instantly bit down, shredding the spawn's head instantly. Using its leg, which had a claw at the end, it picked the rest of the spawn's body and threw it inside its mouth.

  ‘Now, it should produce food…’ he felt a bit anxious. After creating the eater, he knew what it could do. However, when he created the spawn, he also knew it could see and had powerful mandibles.

  Turns out, while the spawns could indeed see and had powerful mandibles, they were nearsighted.

  Watching the eater in apprehension, Helzar felt his non-existent heart beat faster and faster.

  Squirm—!

  Suddenly, the eater began violently twitching. Then, it stuck its leg into its own mouth!

  ‘It’s eating itself!’

  Helzar froze in bewilderment, but before he could do anything, the eater exploded into a pile of goo!

  From the remains of the eater, blue blood poured into the soil, leaving behind seven tiny worms.

  The worms wiggled about, but it didn't move anywhere. When they emerged from the eater's body, they were less than a third of a centimeter long. But mere minutes later, they sucked the blue blood of their “mother” and grew to a centimeter in size!

  Just as Helzar exclaimed in joy, the underground chamber shook, before completely collapsing on itself.