"Siviel, I'll be taking the rest of the day off."
"Huh? Why?"
"Personal reasons."
"That day of the month already?"
Professor X chuckled as he heard this question, "That's right. See you tomorrow."
Every month, Professor X would take a single day off for himself without fail. Nobody knew what he did during those days and even if they questioned, he would not answer them.
This day off was extremely important for Professor X. It was the day he let his true self loose. It wasn't something he liked to do. It was more of something that he had to do.
Professor X's real name was Alex Schester.
His father was a scientist and his mother was an S-class monster.
His mother did not have a habit of letting her true self loose and as a result, she had no control over when she'd 'turn'.
When Alex was just eight years old, his mother unexpectedly 'turned' while outside, and her identity was revealed. The same day, some heroes, upon hearing that there was an S-class monster on the loose, hunted her down and killed her.
From that day onwards, Alex was homeschooled and his father became even more strict with him. Alex was not allowed to go outside and he was not allowed to talk to anyone.
Back then, Alex never understood why his father was so adamant about isolating him from the rest of the world.
You see, it was mandatory for every child to get the anti-mutant vaccine at birth. However, Mr. Schester, who already knew that Alex was a monster, switched the vaccine out with vitamins. He did it in order to protect his child and also because of his own personal curiosity as a scientist.
As a result, when Alex was just five years old, he went through his first mutation.
Even as a child, his mutated self was not one to mess around with. Even his own father could not confidently say that Alex did not scare him.
From then onwards, Mr. Schester started monitoring how frequent and how violent Alex's mutations were, and thanks to the data that he had collected, he was able to conclude that Alex needed to 'turn' at least once a month, and if it was not a willing mutation, his mutated form would be more hostile then normal.
Based on this conclusion and further observation, Mr. Schester advised Alex to willingly 'turn' once every month. Mr. Schester dealt with mutant genes as if it were a disease and for Alex, the only treatment that he could find in order to control the mutant genes was this habit of willingly turning every month.
His experiment worked. When Alex willingly turned, his mutant form was no longer hostile and it was fully under his control. Since then, Alex had been monthly turning in secret just to keep his mutant genes under control.
To 'turn', Alex had brought a house in the countryside. The house was on top of a small hill that was completely owned by Alex and the area was empty, ensuring that no one would ever witness his mutated self.
So far, all sorts of accidents had been avoided and Alex was able to keep his real identity a secret.
However, doing so had certainly not been an easy task, especially considering the profession that Alex had chosen.
He was a monster hunter who hid his real identity as a monster. If the colleagues that respect him today were to learn the truth tomorrow, they would certainly kill him before he could even get a chance to explain himself. This was the harsh cold truth that he had to live with and this was also the reason why he could never have a close relationship with others.
Alex was already used to this reality and had accepted it as his fate. However, he was also tired of it all.
He no longer wanted to live his life in fear and hence, Alex was planning on retiring soon.
His retirement was a huge loss for the company and to lessen the blow, before retirement, Alex wanted to create a hero that could replace him. This was precisely the reason why he took Stephen under his wing.
Just like Jess had said, Stephen was impulsive and dangerous. He was everything that a hero should not be and for these reasons, he was the perfect person who could replace Alex.
Teaching Stephen wasn't going to be easy and Alex didn't expect it to be easy either. However, he also didn't expect what was to come as a result of his decision.
Alex headed out to his countryside house like he always did, once a month.
His countryside house was not in its best condition. The outer walls of the house were completely covered in climbers. The yard was crammed with overgrown grass and weed that probably housed a number of unwanted insects and creatures.
The heavy iron gate creaked when opened, letting out a sound similar to an animal's cry.
A single glance and it was clear that this place had been abandoned for years.
Alex sighed as he stepped inside the house and took a whiff of the horrible stench. It seemed as if there were fresh rotting carcasses of rats lying in some nooks and crannies.
"I might just need to clean up," Alex muttered to himself, thinking about his future plans for retirement.
This house wasn't small in the least. It was a mansion with more than twelve rooms. When Alex initially made the house, he had wanted it to be his retirement home but looking at its current condition, Alex realized how much work he would have to put in just to make this place livable again.
Alex turned to close and lock the door behind him before he finally 'turned'.
First, his hands started changing. They grew darker and bigger. His nail grew out and the texture of his skin also changed.
Second, his body started growing bigger and bigger. The more he changed, the more he stopped resembling a human being.
His face also changed completely. The corners of his lips cracked and tore, reforming his mouth, making it wider and more fearsome. His teeth turned bigger and sharper, resembling a true monster.
Two horns, 7 inches wide and about 10 inches tall grew out from either side of his head. His eyes multiplied into six and turned blood red.
After the complete transformation, he turned into a 10 feet tall monster that could kill you before you could even blink.
Even a drunken man would be able to look at him and conclude with surety that he was an S-class monster. A true killing machine and one of nature's most dangerous creations.
S-class monsters were the rarest of the rare. They were the only ones who had the ability to camouflage in society with their human facade. Unless an S-class monster revealed itself on purpose or by mistake, no one would ever be able to guess or find out their true identity.
They were the most feared of all monsters, but it wasn't just because of their strength, it was because S-class monsters were completely in control of their bodies. They were fully aware of what they were doing and could not be tricked or deceived with tricks that worked on other monsters.
S-class monsters like Alex would never even think about hurting innocents but not every S-class monster was like them. Some S-class monsters were fully aware of their doings and actively chose to play around and take thousands of innocent lives. They were the real reason why people were so terrified of the mere mention of an S-class monster.
It was every monster hunter's dream to hunt down an S-class monster but naturally, not every monster hunter could fulfill that presumptuous dream. Many needlessly try, fail, and get killed.
It is common knowledge that an S-class monster can only be killed by an experienced top monster hunter.
Suddenly, the sound of a lame old ringtone could be heard echoing throughout the house.
Alex, with a frown on his face, that made him look even more fierce, took out his phone and looked at the caller Id in confusion.
"Why are you calling me?"
"We got a new mission. What am I supposed to do?" Stephen innocently asked.
"Let another team take over. Do not act alone again."
"But it is a mission assigned to our team."
Alex sighed, "It'll be reassigned to someone else. Just do as I say."
"But why?" Stephen stubbornly asked, "It doesn't sound like a difficult mission."
"The difficulty of the mission does not matter. I'm on leave for the rest of the day. Hold onto your enthusiasm and show it tomorrow when you'll have to complete missions back to back without a break."
"Why did you suddenly go on a leave?" Stephen innocently asked.
Alex took a deep breath in to calm himself down before he replied, "Don't worry about me. Go to Jess and have her train you. By tomorrow, you should at least know how to use the air jet boots."
"About that..." Stephen reluctantly muttered, "I went to her and she kicked me out."
"..."
"You might have to assign me a new trainer."
"No," Alex firmly replied, "Go to Jess and beg for her to teach you."