Apex

"It did not know who it was, or what it was, but it was full of rage and the black joy of finally being, and having limbs, teeth, and a boundless, unending energy at its command. That... it's the reincarnation of The Devil itself".- Eden Ambrose

Apex, also known as The Future Predator, and The Hidden One, is the major secret cloaked under a nefarious conspiracy and a war between two split factions. It is a secret character in The Key to Coexistence, being the true main antagonist.

Background
"They are building mechanized beings in several locations of the world, while another branch was dedicated to bioengineering mimics of other creatures".- Madison Balt

Apex was built in secrecy by Mount Rushmore Industries under the direction of their CEO Drew Pestock as a solution to the relatively powerless position humanity was in against supernatural beings, so that Apex could take them down and make themselves the architects of humanity's ascent to domination over all the other supernatural creatures of any kind.

Pestock revealed that he had the idea which led to Apex in 2014. He took the "disappearance" of Mary Jane Fitzgerald from the Saint Damian Psychiatric Hospital in 1974, orchestrated by Anastasia Wynter, as a reason why the supernatural beings should be eradicated. Pestock claimed that Mary Jane "has lost her humanity" upon relying on the powers of Anastasia.

In order to pilot the mechanical being, Pestock sent Jeffrey Snyder and several agents of Mount Rushmore Industries to salvage the remains of The Scourge Prowler's former physical proxy found at Hudson Bay, and set up a virtual computer. The speciallists wired its skull with the computer, and taking advantage of the skull’s telepathic capabilities to create a psionic uplink, the pilot would use the skull and control the mecha’s actions remotely via the psionic uplink, with a piece of The Scourge Prowler's DNA inside the mechanical hunter acting as the receiver.

Appearance
Apex is a massive metal mecha that has a lizard-like head (which contains The Scourge Prowler's DNA) and red-lighted eyes. It sports a series of short metal plates running from the back of its neck all the way down to the backside. It has four bulky forelimbs. Each hand of the upper limbs have a distinctive function: the right hand has a bionic gatling gun that shoots silver bullets, while the left hand can switch into a deadly hand drill used to cut through any target’s skin and flesh straight through.

Apex's power source, the Dearcghest, is found inside a metal chest piece shaped like a heart on the left side of the mecha’s chest, called the Maser Power Source. Apex has a viscous tar-like liquid in place of blood, and where internal organs would be there are wires and pumps. The light that shines in its body is overall red, but when Apex charges his attacks, the light turns yellow. Apex's Maser Power Core functions with a capacity equivalent to 300 roentgens of radiation. The robot requires a substantial amount of power to operate at full capacity, with a total energy output of 1.21 gigawatts, and is shown to burn through energy rather quickly.

Personality
Apex is initially completely under the control of Jeffrey Snyder, who, using a neural interface, controls the mecha like an extension of his own body. However, once The Scourge Prowler's consciousness takes control of the machine and Drew Pestock's mind, The Hunter becomes incredibly brutal, destructive and violent, immediately turning on and killing Snyder, and leading him to burst free from the facility that he was contained in.

According to Eden Ambrose, Apex is unique and his personality distincts from The Scoruge Prowler, a "new consciousness" that was created when The Scourge Prowler's personality merged with the mechanical hunter’s artificial intelligence. It can also be implied that Drew Pestock's egotistical attitude was merged with these personalities to create a unique one for the mechanical hunter.

History
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Powers and Abilities
Apex is an extremely powerful mechanical being that has a great number of artificial powers and abilities.


 * A-2V Proton Beam - Apex possesses a series of lenses that assembles inside of his throat, allowing it to focus and fire a concentrated red beam of pure energy from its maw called the A-2V Proton Beam, which is capable of destroying buildings and vehicles like cars, buses and tanks, and burning targets affected by it.
 * Bionic Gatling Gun - Apex's right hand can switch up to a gatling gun that shoots silver bullets, which are commonly used by hunters to kill supernatural creatures.
 * Combat Reflexes - Apex has enhanced physical strength and human-like reflexes that allowed it to effortlessly overpower, knock over and throw his opponents around. These enhanced physical attributes have the enhanced reflexes combined with plasma charges to double the damage.
 * Drones - Apex can launch his dorsal plates that would then turn into drones to attack his targets. These drones have a laser guns would operate like a hive mind with Apex being able to control them.
 * Enhanced Durability - Apex is made of an extremely hard and durable metal that enables him to resist damage, defend his internal pumps and wires, and make it harder for his targets to destroy it.
 * Hand Drill - Apex left hand can switch into a deadly hand drill used to cut through any target’s skin and flesh straight through. When not in use, it folds into a sharp blade.
 * Dearcghest - Apex was able to use Dearcghest to charge up his attacks and his A-2V Proton Beam.
 * Thrusters - Apex has thrusters mounted into its back and sides, enabling quick bursts of movement, or added momentum to its strikes. These thrusters can make it more agile in close-quarters combat.

Weaknesses
Regardless of how powerful Apex is, it does not mean without limitations.


 * Control Panel damage - Any liquid poured onto Apex's control panel resulted in it seizing up during combat.
 * Energy Depletion - After Apex killed a werewolf with its proton beam, it shutted down due to a lack of sufficient energy source. This issue, however, was resolved with Malakai's energy, which was charged with the Coretech Armor put on Malakai's back.
 * Eden's Stone - When Anastasia Wynter empowered Carmina Montgomery's claws with Pure Paranérgeia, Apex's attacks were useless against Carmina, who began dismembering the mecha with her attacks, before shoving both arms through the mecha's sides, reaching and inflecting the Maser Power Core with Melanokinesis, which finally destroyed the mecha.

Trivia

 * Apex is based on the Nemesis T-Type from the 2020 remake of Resident Evil 3, and Mechagodzilla from Godzilla vs. Kong (2021).