14:03 Hours – BLOOD LOTUS Base Core
Alarms shrieked incessantly. Red lights flashed throughout the room. Over twenty test tubes shattered, their contents spilling onto the floor. The women inside each tube opened their eyes, rising mindlessly.
They had no voice, no hesitation, no soul.
"Unit AL-β, Kill Mode: Commence elimination," a mechanical voice from the system ordered from the ceiling.
Shadows of female clones surged forward simultaneously, like an endless white wave.
Swish!
Death drew his jet-black katana from its sheath. The high-pitched screech of metal against metal echoed. His blade seemed to reflect no light, a perfect shadow that consumed everything.
Swish! Bang! Clang!
His sword swept through clone after clone, felling them like cloth dolls. But they rose again, as if impervious to pain.
Alice shouted a warning, "They're controlled by nanomachines in their brains! You have to destroy the back of their necks!"
"Understood."
Death adjusted his attack rhythm. His targets shifted to the nape of their necks. A rapid succession of cutting sounds followed. The female clones fell, not to rise again.
Alice picked up a handgun from the floor, trying to compose herself, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
"This is no time to be scared… If we don't fight, we'll never get out of here…"
She raised the gun, aiming at the head of a clone. Bang! The bullet found its mark.
Blood splattered for the first time she had fired at a real person. Though not fully human, they still bore a resemblance to her own face.
Alice gritted her teeth… her eyes wavered, but she didn't back down.
14:10 Hours – Main Control Room
Lux watched the battle unfold on the monitor with empty eyes. He murmured to himself.
"Still as skilled as ever, Death… But you can't stop evolution."
MOTHER LOTUS stood beside him, smirking. "If they truly manage to reach the final level… I will consider the experiment complete."
"Complete?" Lux turned. "They won't just survive. They will overthrow us…"
14:12 Hours – Lower Level Corridor
Death used a small knife in his left hand to stab diagonally under the jaw of a clone before cleaving horizontally with his katana, sending the body flying.
Alice followed closely behind, panting, her body stained with blood and sweat.
"We need to get to the main control room…"
Death nodded. "Lux won't let us reach it easily."
Suddenly… a steel door slammed shut in front of them, accompanied by the clicking sound of a locking mechanism.
The floor trembled.
Boom!
Descending from the ceiling was… AL-X01 – a female clone nearly two meters tall, with pale skin, mechanical implants in both arms, and crimson eyes fixed unblinkingly on them.
"Test model Alpha-X… Threat level: A."
Death narrowed his eyes.
"...Alice, step back."
14:14 Hours – A Duel That Shouldn't Be
AL-X01 lunged with immense force. An energy-infused fist slammed into the ground, shattering the concrete. Death dodged by a hair's breadth, the ground beneath him barely stable.
The black katana sliced in a counter-attack – but only managed a shallow cut. Her structure was as hard as bio-engineered steel.
Alice provided covering fire from a distance, but most of her bullets ricocheted off.
"Have to use full strength…" Death inhaled deeply.
He leaped into the air, flipped his katana vertically, and brought it down with a sharp chop directly onto the crown of her head. Crack!
The blade vibrated through his entire arm, but AL-X01's body finally crumpled before him.
14:16 Hours – A Brief Respite
Alice rushed to his side. "Are you okay?"
"A little hurt… but I can manage." Death wiped blood from his eyebrow.
"Just one more level… We'll face Lux."
Death was silent for a moment before speaking softly.
"If I have to kill him… can you accept that?"
Alice looked at him steadily. "I believe you'll choose what's right… no matter how painful."
Death gave a faint smile.
"Then… let's finish this."
"Oath in Darkness"
14:19 Hours – Corridor Before the Main Control Room
Emergency lights flickered rhythmically, casting the shadows of Death and Alice as they walked silently through the metal corridor. The only sounds were their footsteps and their breathing.
Alice asked softly, "...You knew Lux before, didn't you?"
Death didn't answer immediately… until they reached a large steel door.
"...We were together in your grandfather's training camp."
Alice froze.
"I was captured when I was 7. So was he. But he was separated and sent on a different mission… Back then, we promised each other that if we survived and came back, we'd play together again."
Death's voice held a tremor.
"In the end, he never came back… And he… became like this."
Alice was silent for a moment before gently placing her hand on his arm.
"Sometimes… we can't save everyone we love. But we can choose how to end the pain."
The door slid open…
14:22 Hours – Main Control Room
Bright light. Numerous control panels lined the walls. The polished floor reflected the figure of a young man standing in the center of the room.
Lux turned, his grey eyes cold, his long coat fluttering slightly in the breeze from an air vent.
"Finally… you've made it here, Death."
Death stepped forward silently.
"Stop this, Lux. Before it's too late."
Lux chuckled softly. "It's been too late since the day we parted… You have no idea what I've been through."
He pressed a remote in his hand – a side wall slid open, revealing another set of female clones in test tubes, their eyes seemingly alive.
"This is AL-Ω, the final model… A blend of our DNA, and hers… someone you probably remember well."
Death's eyes widened. "That's… Irene?"
Alice frowned. "Who's Irene?"
"Someone who was once a friend… and someone I failed to protect," Death's voice was filled with anguish.
14:25 Hours – A Haunting Past
[Flashback]
At a mercenary training camp on the Thai-Myanmar border.
Two young boys – Death and Lux – are being separated.
Death shouts, "Lux! Don't go!"
Lux turns, shouting back, "We'll play together again! I promise!"
But then he walks away on a mission with other soldiers… and never returns.
[End Flashback]
14:27 Hours – The Final Choice
Death stared at his once-beloved old friend… now his enemy.
"I don't want to kill you… but I won't let this continue."
Lux opened his arms invitingly. "Then come… Prove you still have a heart."
The lights in the room dimmed… The doors locked.
The final battle began.
Death drew his black katana once more, the light in his eyes calm and chillingly cold.
Alice ducked to the side, seeking a firing angle.
Lux pressed a button on his palm. His left arm transformed into a high-tech compressed energy cannon.
BOOOOM!
A beam slammed into the tiled floor, shattering it. Death somersaulted to evade, rolled, and lunged with a counter-slash!
CLANG! An energy shield blocked it just in time, but the impact sent both combatants reeling back.
"You've changed…" Death said softly.
Lux smiled coldly. "No. You're the one who refuses to change."
14:31 Hours – The Beginning of the End
Explosions rumbled periodically from outside. The floor shook.
Alice shouted, "The base's defense system is collapsing! We don't have much time!"
Lux glanced at a monitor, then back at Death.
"Then let's prove it… Who truly deserves to survive in this new world!"
He lunged at Death with a full-powered energy fist.
Death raised his katana… The two clashed in the center of the room, the gleam of sword and energy shield scattering light!
14:32 Hours – Main Control Room
The deafening sound of metal clashing against energy filled the room. Death's black katana collided with Lux's energy fist, the impact shaking the entire chamber.
Light from the clash flared brightly before dying down, leaving only two figures momentarily disengaged.
Alice ran behind a control console, panting. She stared at AL-Ω, still floating motionless in its test tube. The look in the creature's eyes… it wasn't just empty, but pained.
"Death! He's about to activate the consciousness transfer system! If AL-Ω awakens, it won't just be a clone anymore!"
Death glanced over for a split second before lunging at Lux again, his sword striking down with precision.
Lux dodged, raising his energy shield once more, but Death spun and slashed upwards from a low angle—the impact pierced the armor, tearing Lux's coat.
A little blood seeped out, but Lux was unfazed. He smiled.
"This is it… You're back. The Death I used to know…"
14:35 Hours – Inside the Test Tube
[System: Initiate Neural Link... 12%... 16%...]
A blue light glowed within the test tube. AL-Ω's eyes slowly opened.
Alice moved closer, seeing a flicker of something in those eyes… She swallowed. "Irene…? Is that you…?"
The reflection in the eyes within the tube… It wasn't just DNA. It was memory, pain, and a love suppressed in the subconscious.
She wasn't just a clone...
She was the last fragment of someone Death could never forget.
14:37 Hours – A New Clash
"Why her… Why use her body!" Death yelled, his voice trembling with rage.
Lux replied flatly, "Because she is your weakness... And I want to destroy the old Death completely."
Death gritted his teeth, his breathing heavy. He raised his sword to his face—the tip of the katana shone with a darkness that seemed to suck the light from its surroundings.
"I swore to her… that I wouldn't let this kind of darkness destroy anyone again…"
He shifted his stance to a style Lux remembered well—their shared signature move from childhood.
Lux's eyes flickered… Memories flooded back.
The laughter of two young boys in the training yard.
A promise made under the starlight...
"Death… Are you…"
Before he could finish—Death lunged again, this time several times faster. The blade cut through the air with a whoosh, as if to sever all lies from the timeline.
CLAAAAANG!!!
Lux resisted with all his might… but his prosthetic arm cracked. He coughed up blood.
14:40 Hours – Promise and Shadow
"I'm not going to kill you, Lux…" Death said softly, but clearly.
"...I'm going to help you out of the shadows... even if I have to sink down in your place."
The light from the Neural Link system flared. AL-Ω began to move. A soft cry escaped its lips.
"...Death…?"
Death turned for an instant. And that was the moment Lux… pressed the final button.
BOOOOM!!!
The base control system trembled violently – a beam of light shot from the center of the room… and something was being reborn.
TO BE CONTINUED…