[Dominion Perimeter Breach Detected][Threat Level: Unknown – Organic Signature Incompatible][Advancing toward Sector 12 – ETA: 4 minutes]
Alarms flared across Ash Fortress.
Lucian's eyes narrowed at the crimson alert blinking across his HUD. The system had detected something… wrong. Not undead. Not human. Something else.
Raine burst into the command room.
"What the hell is that noise? It's making people panic!"
Lucian didn't look at her. He pulled up the live feed.
[Camera Feed: Sector 12 Tunnel Entry]
The screen showed… a shadow. No, a silhouette. A bloated, hulking mass of fused flesh and armor, dragging what looked like a severed generator on its back, wires and entrails twisted into one.
Its face—or what remained—was a grotesque blend of machinery and bone. Glowing eyes blinked erratically.
[Scanning…][Entity classified: Aberrant Type – CODE: Omega Husk][Threat Class: Level One Mutation][Warning: Dominion Control Ineffective]
Lucian's smile sharpened.
"Something finally interesting."
Outside Sector 12
The survivors were panicking, scrambling for shelter.
Lucian walked past them, alone, toward the tunnel.
Raine grabbed his arm. "You can't take that thing head-on! You don't even know what it—"
He looked at her.
She let go.
He stepped into the dark.
[Combat Mode Engaged][Weapon Module: Adaptive Pike][Skill Available: Dominion Surge – Prototype Release]
The Clash
The Omega Husk roared, the sound so loud the metal walls trembled.
Lucian didn't flinch.He lunged.
His pike morphed mid-strike, turning from metal to blackened bone. He drove it straight into the creature's arm—only for it to regenerate instantly, flesh boiling around the wound.
[Alert: Regeneration Detected][Strategy Shift: Neural Disruption Required]
Lucian muttered, "Then I'll fry its brain."
He reached toward the Dominion Core remotely.
[Unlocking new ability: Dominion Surge (Overclock)]
[WARNING: Host neural strain: 67%][Proceed?]
[Confirmed.]
Overclocked Tyranny
Red light engulfed Lucian's body.
His eyes glowed.
Electric arcs snapped from his arms as the Dominion Core poured raw energy into him. His muscles swelled. Veins turned black.
Lucian grinned like a demon.
He moved faster than sight.
One slash. Two. Three.
Chunks of mutant flesh rained down, steaming. The beast shrieked—then leapt, slamming Lucian into the wall.
Blood splattered.
[Host Vitality: 42%][Initiate Final Strike? Y/N]
He whispered: "Yes."
The ground cracked.
Lucian rose from the rubble, wreathed in smoke.
He raised one hand.
[Skill Activated: Neural Collapse]
A black spear of data-formed energy erupted from his palm and stabbed straight into the mutant's skull.
It convulsed. Screamed. Then imploded, head first.
Aftermath
The monster collapsed in a heap of sizzling gore.
Lucian stood alone in the tunnel, body steaming, blood dripping from his nose.
[Mutation Eliminated][Sector Secured – Dominion Expands]
[New Trait Gained: Mutation Resistance Lv.1][New Option Unlocked: Genetic Assimilation]
Back in the camp…
Raine watched from the monitors, eyes wide.
Others whispered in fear.
Some knelt in awe.
But one man—tall, lean, hiding in the shadows—smirked.
"The tyrant bleeds. Good. He's not a god... yet."