Chapter 38: Invasion Mother

A magnitude nine seismic shock cracks the stone pillars of the Sacred Temple of Ouroboros. Seawater with sub-zero degree Celsius temperatures boils violently, triggered by the extreme kinetic pressure of a giant biological asteroid breaching the earth’s atmosphere. A red projection in the air displays a five-minute countdown flashing rapidly in a rhythm of pure terror.

Julian Rington freezes in place. For the first time, the cold dominance on his silver face collapses, replaced by a gaping fear.

"The Invasion Mother," Julian whispers, his fingers trembling as he holds Ethan’s and Stella’s bodies in midair. "Elias never designed the Valhalla station to breed a superior race. He used it as an interstellar signal transmitter!"

Alexander Rington crawls across the cracked stone floor. Golden blood drips from the corner of his lips, moistening the pieces of the Ancient Dragon-Framed Sword lying in front of him. Inside his chest, his twin heart organs beat extremely slowly, struggling against the nerve damage caused by the impact of Julian’s strike.

However, as the alien whisper from the core of his pure blood cells echoes once again—Accept eternal darkness or watch your world turn to ash tonight—a surge of ancient consciousness dissects Alexander’s entire mental defense.

That is not the voice of a monster or an alien entity. That is the voice of the De La Croix Ancestral Consciousness, a genetic memory locked away tightly for five thousand years inside the forbidden DNA chain!

"Alex!" Genevieve screams as she sees her husband’s body suddenly shrouded in dense black smoke.

A corrosive black fluid that previously appeared only in the form of a small aura now gushes out from every pore of Alexander’s skin. The silver-gold glow in Alexander’s eyes dies completely, replaced by a pupil-less pitch-black landing—a final-stage transformation form known as the Dark Transcendence Phase.

The pieces of the ancient sword broken on the ground float, recombining inside a shroud of dense black fluid! The ancient steel hilt shifts shape into the Death Scythe of Ouroboros, emitting a biological radiation aura capable of breaking down marble stone into dust in seconds!

Alexander stands up. He no longer steps like a human, but moves floating two centimeters above the temple tiles, cutting through underwater gravity without impediment.

Julian twists his body, taking his highest battle stance while channeling all remaining silver blood energy into both of his palms. "You surrender your humanity to ancient darkness, Alex?!"

Alexander does not answer with words. The dual-toned voice coming from his throat is a combination of thousands of ancestral voices.

"You speak of evolution, Julian, but you do not understand that our blood is born for only one purpose—to become the Executioner of Annihilation."

Alexander vanishes from sight!

His movement speed now exceeds the retinal scanning capabilities of humans and the tactical armor’s sensory systems alike! In less than a thousandth of a second, Alexander stands directly behind Julian!

Julian’s eyes widen in shock, instinctively spinning his body as he swings his silver energy claws to decapitate Alexander!

However, the black Death Scythe in Alexander’s hand swings faster!

A single swing of the Death Scythe severs Julian’s right arm from the shoulder socket!

Silver blood spurts heavily, soaking the stone throne! Julian roars in unmatched pain, thrown crashing against the temple wall until it collapses and buries his body!

The telepathic grip on Ethan’s and Stella’s bodies severs instantly. The two children fall, sliding toward the Ouroboros Mother Reactor!

"MY CHILDREN!" Genevieve screams, leaping through the stone rubble while stretching out her arms!

With one gentle sweep from the dark wings on his back, Alexander cuts short Ethan’s and Stella’s fall, absorbing both of his children into a soft black protective field before their bodies touch the reactor’s gold fluid!

The corrosive black fluid penetrates Ethan’s and Stella’s skin, instantly burning and destroying all the Deus parasite spores inside the blood circulation of both children clean without a trace!

Ethan and Stella open their eyes; the parasite’s red glow disappears completely, replaced by pure human consciousness as they see their father’s face wrapped in the dark form.

"Dad..." Ethan murmurs softly.

Alexander places his two children beside Genevieve and Daniel, who crawls up near the hull of the Leviathan-X submarine.

"Get them inside the ship now, Daniel," Alexander orders, his voice cold without emotion, yet implying absolute protection.

"What about you, Alex?!" Daniel screams as he pulls Ethan and Stella into the airlock cabin. "That asteroid strikes the surface in two minutes! Its shockwave will wipe out the entire Pacific Ocean!"

Alexander turns his body to look up at the temple ceiling gap showing the burning ocean outside. "I am the one who will hold back the asteroid’s impact."

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Genevieve screams, tears flowing down her cheeks. She tries to reach Alexander’s hand, but the black radiation field around her husband gently deflects her grip. "We have to leave together!"

"If this asteroid touches the earth’s crust in the Mariana Trench, the Mother Reactor beneath this temple explodes and triggers a chain reaction destroying three-quarters of the earth’s landmass," Alexander says softly. He looks at Genevieve for the last time, his pitch-black irises flashing a soul-rending farewell greeting. "Keep our children safe, Genevieve."

He triggers the Leviathan-X’s automatic airlock closing lever from the outside!

The submarine’s thick steel door seals tightly. Daniel pushes the main propulsion lever to maximum, driving the attack submarine gliding like lightning away from the Challenger-Zero Rift toward the outermost rescue zone.

From behind the ruined temple walls, Julian crawls out while holding his severed shoulder. His silver face is deathly pale, his eyes staring at Alexander with a mixture of hatred and fear.

"You will not be able to hold it back, Alex!" Julian screams hysterically. "The biological mass of that asteroid contains millions of Prime Queen cells! You will only become a new host vessel for them!"

Alexander pays no attention to his brother’s shouts. He flaps the dark wings on his back, soaring rapidly through the collapsing temple roof, ascending high through eleven thousand meters of the Pacific Ocean depth straight toward the sea surface!

Above the surface of the Western Pacific Ocean.

The dark night sky suddenly turns burning red as if hell splits open in midair. The giant ten-kilometer-diameter biological asteroid hurtles down at Mach fifty speed, wrapped in atmospheric flames burning the seawater into steam hundreds of meters high before impact occurs!

A five-hundred-meter-high tsunami wave begins to form around the impact zone.

Suddenly, from within the ocean’s darkness beneath the asteroid, a pitch-black shimmering form shoots out, splitting the water surface!

Alexander Rington hovers in midair, spreading the Death Scythe of Ouroboros that now expands to hundreds of meters, emitting waves of dark energy that cut the horizon line!

"Destroy." Alexander roars, swinging his scythe straight into the core of the biological asteroid!

The most tremendous energy explosion in the history of modern civilization erupts above the Pacific sky!

A blinding black-gold light wraps the earth’s atmosphere in a radius of thousands of kilometers! The kinetic pressure wave shatters the giant asteroid into millions of small fragments that burn away completely before touching the seawater!

However, right in the center of the giant explosion’s epicenter, a biological wormhole vortex created by the collision of ancient energy suddenly opens wide!

The infinite gravitational force of the wormhole siphons all remaining explosion waves, carrying along Alexander’s body, which has exhausted all of its pure blood power!

Through the viewport of the Leviathan-X that just surfaced fifty kilometers away, Genevieve watches with her own eyes as Alexander’s body gets sucked into the darkness of the wormhole that slowly seals shut above the Pacific sky!

"ALEXANDER!" Genevieve’s scream breaks out as she falls to her knees on the settling sea waves.

In the eternal silence of the Pacific that leaves behind billows of hot steam, a small object slides down from the sky, striking the outer deck of the Leviathan-X with a soft clink.

Daniel runs out and picks up the object—a pitch-black crystal emitting the glow of a twin heartbeat, alongside a recording of alien coordinates burned and engraved on its surface:

"Galaxy Sector 09, Central Mother Temple. The Search Begins."

At the same time, baby Gabriel inside Genevieve’s arms opens his eyes for the first time, projecting a pitch-black iris color perfectly identical to his father’s.