Chapter 27: Dance of the Bloody Mirrors

The roar of the Atlantic ocean wind shrieks through the louvers of the cylindrical fortress, carrying sprays of salt vapor that cool the glass fragments across the atrium floor. Twenty clones with Alexander Rington’s face step simultaneously, surrounding the center area of the room in a precise circular tactical formation.

The irises of the clones radiate a pure golden glow—the result of instant genetic engineering that activates all biological potential without limits of pain or human empathy.

"Daniel, get Genevieve and the kids behind the control pillar!" Alexander Rington orders, his voice sounding extremely calm amidst the threat of death enclosing them.

Daniel does not argue. With his remaining physical strength, he pushes Genevieve, who tightly holds Ethan and Stella, behind the recess of a thick concrete pillar in the corner of the atrium, while he cocks a weapon with bleeding fingers, preparing to fortify the last defense.

Julian Rington laughs shrilly from behind the second-floor railing, standing beside his mother’s wheelchair. "Is this not a beautiful view, Alex? You fight against your own reflection—a soul-less army created specifically to tear every inch of your flesh!"

Alexander does not answer the provocation. He drops his tactical rifle that has run out of ammunition to the floor, snatching two steel bayonet blades attached to the belt of a dead clone soldier he brought from the helicopter.

SZZZZT!

The first clone charges forward with speed that cuts the air flow! His close-range punch glides straight, striking Alexander’s chest!

Alexander shifts his body axis half a centimeter to the right, letting the clone’s fist hit thin air, then slashes his steel bayonet crosswise!

CRASH!

The bayonet steel slips over the skin of the clone’s neck, leaving only a thin scratch that radiates a glowing golden shine. The muscle tissue structure of the clones has mutated perfectly to withstand ordinary sharp weapon trauma!

"They do not feel pain, Alex!" Genevieve screams from behind the pillar, tears flowing to soak her pale face.

The second and third clones charge simultaneously from different directions, swinging a combination punch that crushes the marble floor tile foundation!

Alexander leaps, spinning in the air, utilizing the elasticity of his joints to confuse the opponent’s attack pattern. The two bayonets in his hands work like precise surgical needles, not targeting muscles or outer skin, but aiming for nerve node points behind the gaps of the clones’ knee and elbow joints!

BAM! BAM!

Two clones fall stiffly as their primary tendons are severed, yet they still crawl using their fingers, trying to entangle Alexander’s legs with giant grip strength!

"Magnificent!" Julian chuckles while clapping his hands with sadistic satisfaction. "Your reflexes are indeed matchless, Little Brother! But how long can you hold out before your heart explodes from biological exhaustion?!"

Three additional clones charge in together, locking both of Alexander’s arms and neck in a lethal entanglement!

ARGGGHHH!

Alexander roars loudly! The golden glow inside the blood vessels of his neck and chest ignites violently, radiating through his torn tactical clothes!

The propulsion force of biological mutation inside Alexander’s pure blood explodes outward! A powerful bio-electric pressure current spurts from the pores of his skin, throwing the three clones five meters away until they hit the atrium glass window, fracturing it into a thousand cracks!

BOOOMM!

Alexander kneels on the floor, his breath burning his lungs as his pure energy drains drastically. The old gunshot wound on his shoulder opens again, flowing deep red blood mixed with a golden glow onto the marble.

From behind the darkness of the second-floor stage corridor, five soldiers armored in Julian’s Bio-Mechanical Armor step out. They hold ultrasonic wave shooter rifles, aiming them directly at Genevieve and the kids’ position behind the pillar!

"A very easy choice, Alexander," Julian says, lowering his hand onto the control button of his mother’s ventilator. "Surrender yourself to be extracted... or watch my soldiers flatten that pillar until your children crumble to dust!"

Alexander looks up, his eyes emitting a sharp golden glow as he stares at Julian.

"You think you have calculated everything, Julian?" Alexander’s voice sounds calm, filled with a cold tone unexpected by anyone in the room.

Julian narrows his eyes. "What do you mean?!"

Alexander suddenly drives one of his steel bayonets into the main conductor plate on the atrium floor connected directly to the island’s electrical power circuit!

BZZZZZZT!

The golden bio-electric current from Alexander’s body flows heavily through the floor cable network, triggering a high-voltage overload on the entire fortress computer system!

The emergency lights in the atrium explode simultaneously! All technology installations, including the bio-mechanical soldiers’ ultrasonic wave rifles and his mother’s ventilator system, completely die in an instant!

"Bastard!" Julian shrieks hysterically as his mother’s ventilator stops beating!

Amidst the pitch darkness that suddenly grips the atrium, Alexander leaps up the concrete pillar using his absolute biological jump strength!

He lands gracefully on the second-floor stage, snatches the necks of two bio-mechanical soldiers, then slams them across the boundary railing toward the base of the atrium!

Julian pulls a flare launcher pistol from behind his coat, firing it at close range toward Alexander’s chest!

FZZZZZZT!

Glowing red flare light burns the air, dousing the faces of both twin brothers in a dark glow and burning red.

Alexander swats the flare gun away with a grip of his left hand, then drives his steel bayonet right into Julian’s left shoulder, locking the man to the granite wall!

"AAARRGGHH!" Julian shrieks hysterically, thick black blood spurting from his wound.

Alexander brings his face close to Julian’s ear, gripping his twin brother’s jaw with strength capable of crushing bone.

"Your game ends here, Julian," Alexander hisses.

Julian, despite holding back soul-burning pain, instead curves the most terrifying mad laugh. Black blood flows from the corner of his lips, soaking his military coat.

"You... never... win against me, Alex..." Julian whispers while spitting blood onto Alexander’s face.

With his free and bloody fingers, Julian reaches into his inner coat pocket, taking out a micro-sized automatic injection tube connected directly to the blood vessel in their mother’s neck!

Julian’s fingers press the button on the micro tube before Alexander can stop him!

PFFFTTT!

Poisonous, thick black fluid spurts directly into Eleanor Rington’s bloodstream!

The old woman’s eyes on the wheelchair suddenly widen broad! The blood vessels on her neck, face, and fingers spread black at an abnormal speed!

Eleanor Rington’s body rises stiffly from the wheelchair, triggered by an extreme biological mutation reaction from Julian’s synthetic poison!

"Mother!" Alexander shrieks in pure shock!

Eleanor Rington opens her mouth, releasing a high-pitched vocal roar—an extremely destructive biological sound frequency that shatters all the atrium window glass in one massive blast!

CRASHHH! GLASS SHATTERS!

The storm wind of the Atlantic Ocean blows in with extraordinary ferocity, blowing glass fragments and laboratory materials into the atrium!

Yet the most terrifying thing happens to Eleanor Rington’s body.

The old woman slowly stands on both her feet, her wrinkled facial skin turning extremely smooth and pale like porcelain, while her eyes glow in a deep black glow without sclera—a perfect mutation form of the initial poison planted by Arthur thirty years ago!

Eleanor turns her head unnaturally, staring at Alexander and Julian with a blank gaze filled with pure killer thirst.

Julian laughs hysterically from behind the bayonet drive in his shoulder. "Look, Alexander! This is the true masterpiece! Our mother... has awakened as a supreme-level biological monster!"

Eleanor steps forward with speed exceeding the limits of human eyesight, raises her hands with blackened nails, then drives her fingers directly through left chest of Julian Rington!

THUDDD!

Black blood spurts heavily from Julian’s mouth and chest! Julian’s mad face freezes in unimaginable shock as he stares at his own biological mother who rips out his heart without a single doubt!

Eleanor pulls her bloody hand from Julian’s chest, letting the man’s body fall dead onto the granite floor.

Then, Eleanor turns her blood-stained body, locking her pitch-black gaze right onto the figure of Alexander Rington!

Beneath the roaring ocean storm wind outside the shattered window, Eleanor raises her bloody hand, pointing right toward the lower area of the atrium where Ethan and Stella hide, then whispers one word in a double-vocal tone that sends chill

s down the spine:

"The blood... of those children... is mine..."