"Shit! Now we're really in trouble. We gotta get this thing back together before it starts regenerating like a zombie or something!"

"Vee! What happened?" Mentos arrived behind him panting heavily.

Hao pointed to the mess on the floor. "That happened. I'm going to salvage whatever I can before this thing becomes a threat again."

"Oh god! I knew something like this would happen." Lanor gasped upon entering the shack. "But how? Aren't you supposed to have those Blade Sprites to protect it?"

"They expired," Hao replied. "Now if you'll excuse me." He rushed ahead of everyone to get to the Grey Tissue. Upon close inspection, he realized that nothing much had changed and felt relieved.

"Lucky us mate." Mentos was also at ease now that he saw Hao's calm composure. "The way you were screaming before made me think that something bad would have happened."

"I thought so too, but it is unresponsive." Hao tapped the tip of Vibe Edge on the floor, the subtle vibrations it sent out cleared a path in the green liquid, allowing him to get closer without messing up his boots.

"Hey Vee, is there anything we can do to help?" Ciara asked, looking over Hao's shoulder.

"Another container would be fine." Said Hao.

Lanor heard him and turned to Boulder, telling him to go fetch a new container from the warehouse. Vicky and the others lingered just to make sure that nothing spooky would occur. The shack seemed secure, hence they decided to return to what they were doing outside. However, another vibration hit them that caused an accident. Hao's finger got pricked on a spike that caused a few droplets of his blood to splash onto the exposed Grey Tissue.

"Damn, these quakes are occurring more frequently," Mentos complained while leaning against the counter for balance. "I better go unchained Acadian before he pisses himself to death in here." On his way to Acadian's proximity, Mentos felt a tingle in the back of his neck and spun around quickly. "What the...?" His eyes locked onto the Grey Tissue and witnessed a peculiar transformation.

The green slime that was splattered on the ground changed to a darker hue as it moved into a spiral around the Grey Tissue. Hao noticed this too and became alert.

"Everyone, get out of here! NOW!!" Hao shouted with urgency.

Whoosh!

As soon as he screamed out those words, the green spiral hardened around the tissue like an egg, it became ashen and then began firing off grey tendrils all around.

"It's the same as last time!" Lanor started to panic. Her first thought was to check if the children had made it out of the shack safely. They were much closer to the entrance, so they escaped without a hitch thanks to the Sword Fishes.

Boom! Boom!

The grey tendrils continued to multiply rapidly and attach themselves to the corners of the shack. Mentos had trouble unchaining Acadian. Hao and Ciara were exposed to the brunt of the shocking display. Meanwhile, Vicky was in awe of what she was observing. She heard stories of what transpired last, but seeing it was totally different. Her followers, Scar, Raven and Boulder were also mind-blown, not to mention on high alert.

Trepidation gripped the occupants of the shack as they witness the core of the Grey Tissue expanding and morphing into a portal. The entire scene was surreal, even for Hao. What he was seeing with Vibe Sense was making him doubt reality. It was as if he was watching a horror movie unfold before him. The only thing keeping him from losing his mind was Vibe Edge which was still firmly secured in his hands.

"Vee, we’ve got to get away from here!" Pulling on Hao's arm, Ciara began to run towards the exit but found it difficult due to the sporadic elements of grey tendrils all around them, preventing them from passing through.

Hao was just as panicked as her, but he wasn't willing to abandon the shack. Instead, he opted to fight back whatever may come with all his might. Oh, I commend his bravery, but he had no clue what was waiting for him in store. None of them did. They all expected Grey Biters to commence pouring out of the swirling vortex but what happened next shocked them all.

Crackle!

"Huh, the tendrils?" Hao was the first out of the group to realize the strange changes occurring within the grey tendrils. He tapped his Vibe Goggles to enhance his perception of their frequencies and realized that its cellular structure was becoming swollen and unstable. "This is bad. Everyone be careful of the tendrils!"

Just as his warning was released, they all witness huge bulges forming within the many tendrils surrounding them. Green pus spewed out followed by the crackle of bones breaking. Out of the tendrils came numerous black-bodied Grey Biters that were grotesquely misshapen with their large, razor-sharp teeth protruding from their mouths.

"What the hell is going on?!" Raven was the first to release her daggers and launch a strike on one of the Grey Biters. However, her blade passed through harmlessly like a sword through the air. "Shit! What are these things?" She was flabbergasted that her daggers did zero damage to them.

"They're different from last time," Lanor confirmed this after striking her Rapier through the Grey Biter she was fighting. When it touched the Grey Biter's body, its ossified dermal layer turned into slime which allowed the sword to pass right through before hardening again. This made these revamped Grey Biters more dangerous than the previous ones.

"Blimey, these pesky little bastards have evolved and returned for round two." With his Shark Skimmer in hand, Mentos had no qualms about battling the Grey Biters. His blade was able to slice through their exoskeleton and destroy them from the inside out or so he thought. It turned out that they were regenerating from the splatter of slime and had become more resilient. The only thing that stopped them from overwhelming the group was Hao and his Vibe Edge.

"I might be able to prevent them from entering the slime state." Saying this, Hao began swinging his Vibe Edge in an arc motion as he dashed forward towards the Grey Biters. "Resonance Amplifier!" The blue energy that was stored in his blade had dispersed into the air creating a large wave of sonic particles that struck the Grey Biters on a cellular level, causing their bodies to crumble away into grey dust. From this, they never regenerated. "That should teach them." Hao sheathed his sword and slicked back his ruffled hair like a boss.

"Vee! Look out for their slime spit," Ciara warned him of a sneaky trio of Grey Biters that launched at him from behind.

<Blade Sprites>

Without turning around, Hao conjured 4 Blade Sprites from his Vibe Goggles and dispatched them to deal with the Grey Biters. The energy blades pierced through the Grey Biters' bodies easily, causing them to also dissolve into grey dust. Upon their defeat, Hao noticed many Tunes populating the shack. "I can't let these go to waste." He began absorbing the Tunes into Vibe Edge.

<35 Tunes collected>

'Great now I have 75 in total.' A smile graced Hao's lips as if he had momentarily forgotten the predicament that they were in. 'If I keep this up then I will be able to upgrade my abilities.'