14:43 Hours – BLOOD LOTUS Base Core
Explosions rocked the entire base. The ground trembled, walls cracked. Emergency lights flashed an intense red, like a heart pounding in crisis.
In the center of the laboratory—test tubes lay shattered.
Nutrient fluid splashed everywhere. AL-Ω crumpled to the floor, naked, trembling like a newborn infant.
Those eyes… slowly opened.
Not just eyes.
But two consciousnesses, indistinguishable between human and machine.
"...Alice…?"
The voice was soft and trembling, as if afraid of the silence.
14:45 Hours – Alice: The Turning Point
Alice rushed to AL-Ω immediately, kneeling down and taking her hand.
The touch was warm… gentle… and trembling as if they could merge at any moment.
But before she could say anything—Lux's voice cut in.
"Funny… someone who never truly existed receives more love than I do…"
He staggered, his left arm hanging uselessly, his body covered in wounds. Blood flowed ceaselessly from his mouth, but in his hand… he held a small plasma bomb.
"We're all born from mistakes, aren't we, Death… Whether it's her, or me, or even you, Alice… Everyone is a product of the hell this world created."
Death walked slowly towards him, his voice low, cold.
"If you truly believe hell is our origin, then I'll bury it right here, so it can't spread to anyone else…"
14:47 Hours – The Decision
Lux chuckled in his throat, like a dying man accepting his fate.
"Then kill me… Use that sword… Sever our friendship."
Death raised his sword… its tip resting on the center of Lux's chest...
But he didn't thrust.
He turned his back immediately, walking towards Alice and AL-Ω, who was still slumped on the floor.
Lux's eyes widened. "You're just going to leave me like this!?"
"Yes… Because for you… death is too easy."
Death left those words hanging before walking through the closing doors with AL-Ω and Alice.
14:50 Hours – Outside the Base (Before Collapse)
Alice looked at AL-Ω, now draped in her cloak. The young woman looked up at the sky for the first time, sunlight striking her pale skin.
"I… still don't understand who I am…"
"But I want to believe… that if someone reaches out to me… I won't be a nightmare anymore."
Alice smiled faintly, tears streaming down her face.
"We've all been our own nightmares… but we still have the right to wake up."
Death turned back to look at the BLOOD LOTUS base, now exploding into dust and smoke. He picked up a stone… and scratched onto the metal wall beside the helipad.
"Man is God's shadow.
But hope… is man's shadow."
15:00 Hours – Lux's Final Image
Inside the ruined base, the system's voice still functioned slowly.
["Brainwave regeneration system initiating…"]
Lux's body didn't move.
But his eyes remained open.
And in those eyes…
Was a final hope that had not yet died.
The Last Shadow
15:27 Hours – Over the Border Airspace
The rhythmic whir of helicopter blades cut through the strong wind, like a heart still beating even after death.
Death sat motionless, his gaze fixed out the window.
Alice sat beside AL-Ω, who was still leaning on her shoulder. The eyes of the newly "born" young woman were still fearful and lost.
Alice whispered softly,
"What's your name…?"
The young woman was silent for a moment before shaking her head gently.
"...No name."
Death spoke without turning.
"Then call her 'Omi.'"
Alice looked up at him.
"Omi… Why that name?"
"Omega (Ω) – the last letter of the Greek alphabet. It's an end... But for her, it's a new beginning."
Omi nodded slowly, as if accepting her fate for the first time in her life.
15:43 Hours – Secret Base 'Last Horizon'
The hideout of the anti-BLOOD LOTUS network was nestled in a deep valley. Security drones circled constantly. Energy fences emitted electromagnetic waves against the mountainous backdrop.
Death stepped off the helicopter amidst the gazes of the underground warriors. Everyone stopped… before nodding their heads in unison.
A tall, thin elderly man with white hair reaching his shoulders approached him—'Warren,' commander of the resistance network.
"You did it…"
Death nodded.
"But it's not over—BLOOD LOTUS isn't dead. It just changed form."
Warren sighed deeply.
"We know… Signals from the deep-sea base have started showing activity. Something awakened after AL-Ω escaped…"
Alice and Omi followed. Warren's eyes widened slightly upon seeing Omi.
"This is… the final prototype?"
Death turned back.
"Not a prototype anymore… She's a person."
16:15 Hours – Inside the Secret Base's Laboratory
Omi was undergoing a physical examination by an advanced biological system. A medical team member spoke softly.
"Her brain is connected by a nano-network far more complex than an average human's... But her heart still beats to the rhythm of emotions, like a normal person."
Alice sat beside her, holding her hand tightly.
Omi spoke softly,
"I dream of emptiness every night, like being in a white room... alone... and hearing a name called that doesn't exist."
Alice murmured,
"That's not a dream… It's a nightmare we can wake up from."
16:55 Hours – Secret Vault Beneath Last Horizon
Death stood alone. Before him, in a special display case, was a jet-black weapon—his pure black katana.
He reached out to touch it…
Images flooded his mind—the time he killed his first target… crying in his grandfather's arms... Lux collapsing before him...
A voice echoed in his head.
"Don't let vengeance become your identity."
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and slung the sword onto his back.
17:10 Hours – Alarms Blared Throughout Last Horizon
["Intrusion detected from red-level secret code… Account AL-X_0 is hacking into the system."]
Warren froze.
"Impossible! That code was deleted… since Lux died!"
Death's eyes widened.
"It's not over… Lux transmitted his brainwaves into the system before he died… He's waking up again—not in his original body, but in the control system of the entire underground network!"
17:15 Hours – Voice from Hell
A voice cut through the speakers throughout the base.
"Hello… old friend… Death."
That voice was Lux.
"You chose not to kill me… Thank you… Because now, I get to start a new, bigger game…"
A single image appeared on all screens across the base—
Lux's face… but half was cybernetic, and the other half was a mangled ruin.
"From now on… the world will know the meaning of a nightmare that never ends."
"Lux's Invitation"
17:17 Hours – Last Horizon Main Control Room
All screens flickered—the security system went haywire, stunning everyone in the base. Warren shouted at the system operator.
"Cut the signal! Shut down all connections!"
The female operator's face was pale.
"I can't, sir! It's already in the core… It's like it's become the system!"
Lux's image continued to mock them from the screen.
"Well… since we're meeting again, I have a little gift for you."
[Inside Bio-Containment Cell – Level 0X]
A 'thunk… thunk…' sound came from the reinforced door.
Then… "it" walked out.
A powerful being created from the mixed DNA of assassins from every era—BLOOD TYPE-X.
It didn't speak, didn't think, didn't hesitate… It only had one command: "Kill."
17:19 Hours – Base Main Hall
Death whipped the pure black katana from his back, his eyes as cold as steel.
Heavy footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.
Warren drew his pistol.
"We only won a small war… But it's just beginning!"
Death spoke flatly,
"Lux isn't trying to escape… He wants us to follow him."
Alice and Omi ran to join them.
"Death!"
"What's happening—why does it feel like… the foundation of the world is shaking?"
Death turned to look at them both.
"Because now… Lux is the entire underground network. And he just unleashed a secret weapon that's been sealed since the Genetic Wars."
17:25 Hours – Mysterious Signal
Suddenly, the screen changed again. This time, it was a map.
A red dot blinked in the middle of the western desert.
"I'm waiting here… If you want to end this, come and 'awaken the nightmare' yourself."
Before the image cut out,
Lux's final voice was heard again.
"Omi… if you're listening—I am your creator. And I'm the only one who truly understands what you are."
Omi's face turned white.
"What is he going to do…"
Death spoke in a low voice,
"Lux is going to make the world afraid to ever close its eyes again…"
17:40 Hours – Death's Private Quiet Room
Death sat alone, his katana placed before him.
He closed his eyes… inhaled…
"Vengeance is not power, but it will take you beyond where a man should be."
His grandfather's voice still echoed in his head.
But he knew… this time… there was no avoiding it.
18:00 Hours – Last Horizon Emergency Meeting Room
A world map was displayed in the center.
Blinking dots appeared all over the globe—a network of bioweapons Lux once controlled, beginning to "awaken."
Warren slammed the table.
"They're buried in every corner of the world… like seeds of hell…"
Death stood up.
"No one else can stop him… except us."
Warren looked at Death intently.
"...Are you ready to fight in your own nightmare, Death?"
He didn't answer.
He simply picked up his sword.
His gaze was calmer than ever before.
19:00 Hours – A New Beginning
Death's team prepared to depart for the "Center of the Nightmare."
Behind them… the world was still unaware that its time of peace had just ended.
The last voice that echoed in Omi's head
was Lux's whisper… unheard by anyone else.
"The end never truly exists… Only a 'new beginning that hurts even more.'"
[To be continued…]