Chapter 43: Betrayal of Three Eras

The echo of Sebastian De La Croix’s voice bounces cold throughout all corners of the Atlantis Underground Kingdom’s marble hall. The voice vibrates through the Leviathan-X’s audio circuit, shutting down the automatic navigation system and turning the holographic projection screen blood-red. The shadow of Sebastian’s face, with silver-gold eyes emitting a cold mechanical glow, displays clearly above every deep-sea crystal dome.

Genevieve grips Alexander’s fingers until they turn pale. Her eyes stare without blinking at the face of the old man in the black tactical suit on the broadcast screen. Memories from twenty years ago when the Valhalla station reactor exploded flare up again inside her mind: red fire, twisted iron debris, and her father’s body torn apart by the dark matter explosion.

"Impossible," Genevieve whispers, her voice hoarse, holding back the tightness in her chest. "I saw with my own eyes how that reactor destroyed every remaining cell of your body, Father!"

Sebastian’s projection chuckles softly. The tone of his laugh no longer holds the warmth of a human, but rather the perfectly measured clanging of synthetic metal friction.

"You saw what low human technology wanted to show, Genevieve. My organic body indeed was destroyed at Valhalla, but my pure consciousness was transferred directly into the Main Computer Core of the Creator Fleet. I did not die. I was elevated to Chief Architect for the Cosmic Cleansing War."

Grand Master Arthur De La Croix steps forward, slamming the base of his crystal staff onto the marble floor until it emits an immersive shockwave. His sharp eyes stare straight toward the projection of his own biological son with anger scaling like an iceberg.

"You sold the entire history and bloodline of our family to an ancient machine race, Sebastian!" Arthur screams, a golden aura spurting out from between the pores of his skin. "You destroyed the honor of De La Croix merely to become a lapdog for entities that consider us nothing more than experimental parasites!"

"Infinite expertise, old Grandfather," Sebastian replies coldly, his gaze shifting to stare at Alexander standing tall, shielding Genevieve and Gabriel. "The True Creators offer absolute evolution without biological limits. The Rington and De La Croix clans are merely raw vessels. Alexander, hand over that baby and the Atlantis Primordial Core of Immortality now, or I will crack Atlantis’s protective dome and let the pressure of ten thousand meters of seawater destroy this place along with every human on the surface of the Earth!"

Outside Atlantis’s energy dome, the Creator Main Mothership hovering in Earth’s orbit fires a single photon shot beam five hundred meters in diameter, tearing directly through the surface of the Atlantic Ocean!

The underwater shockwave slams into Atlantis’s shield until it vibrates violently. Fine blue cracks begin spreading along the structure of the outermost crystal dome, emitting a terrifying, sharp screeching sound!

"Atlantis’s outer shield system is eroded by fifteen percent!" Daniel screams while checking the city’s reactor panel. "If that Mothership fires a secondary wave, this dome will collapse totally!"

"Alexander, take Genevieve and your children to the Forbidden Reactor Chamber!" Arthur commands without a shred of hesitation. "Atlantis Warriors! Prepare the energy shield formation! We hold off the outer fleet’s first assault!"

Tens of thousands of Pureblood Clonal Soldiers inside the stasis tubes suddenly open their eyes simultaneously! Their black-gold irises ignite brightly, shattering the glass tubes while drawing specialized energy swords from the marble walls. With absolute military discipline, the ancient human army moves to form a giant battle line beneath the ocean dome!

Alexander stares at Arthur while shaking his head firmly. "I will not run away and leave you to fight alone, Arthur!"

"This is not about running away, Alex!" Arthur cuts in quickly while driving his crystal staff into Alexander’s palm. "The Forbidden Reactor Chamber hides the Access Key to the Primordial Core. Only the combined pure blood of Alexander Rington, Genevieve De La Croix, and the resonance of baby Gabriel can activate the planet-grade defense system! Go now before Sebastian locks the coordinates of this underground room!"

Alexander looks at Genevieve, who nods firmly while holding Gabriel tighter. Without wasting time, Alexander, Genevieve, Ethan, Stella, and Daniel dash through the marble corridor toward the deepest center of the Atlantis Kingdom.

Deepest Center of Atlantis. Forbidden Reactor Chamber.

The giant globe-shaped room floats above an underground magma chasm. In the center of the room floats a Gold-Black Crystal Octahedron hundreds of meters in scale, emitting a glow of pure radiation. The Primordial Core of Immortality that serves as the living heart of the entire Earth.

"This is the energy source hunted by the True Creators," Daniel hisses while aiming his portable scanner. "The energy inside this crystal does not obey ordinary laws of physics. This is the remnant matter that formed the galaxy!"

Alexander steps closer to the main stage. In front of the Primordial Crystal sits an ancient bronze altar with three palm print indentation slots.

"Alexander," Genevieve calls softly as she feels baby Gabriel’s heartbeat suddenly resonate rapidly in step with the glow of the Primordial Crystal. "Gabriel... he reacts with the Atlantis Core!"

"Place your palm on the right side, Yev. I am on the left side," Alexander says, channeling the power of the Transcendental Balance Form into his fingers. "We bring Gabriel’s palm close to the center slot."

They press their palms simultaneously onto the ancient altar!

Pure golden light spurts out from inside the altar, fusing directly with the blood vessels of all three of them! The Primordial Crystal above them begins rotating rapidly, emitting golden shockwave pulses that penetrate the entire surface of the Earth, neutralizing the artificial solar eclipse above the atmosphere!

However, before the planet’s defenses can fully engage, a cold laugh echoes from behind a marble pillar inside the Forbidden Reactor Chamber!

Iron-shod footsteps step out from the darkness of the pillar’s shadow.

Not a machine soldier, but Ethan—the man who has been fighting beside Alexander and Genevieve as a trusted protector!

However, Ethan’s eyes are no longer warm brown. His irises have turned totally into cold silver-chrome, emitting the binary aura belonging to the Creator Fleet!

"Ethan...?" Stella hisses, her eyes wide, holding her wounded arm. "What are you doing?!"

Without uttering a single word, Ethan moves his arm, which suddenly morphs into a liquid silver energy sword blade!

With speed that ordinary human reflexes cannot read, Ethan slashes Stella’s neck until she collapses, then thrusts the liquid energy blade directly through the back of Daniel, who is controlling the altar console!

"STELLA! DANIEL!" Genevieve screams hysterically!

Alexander turns like lightning, sweeping the Death Scythe of Ouroboros to cut off Ethan’s attack! However, Ethan moves like a blurred illusion, dodging the swing of Alexander’s scythe and landing with precision right on top of the bronze altar!

"You are too late, Alexander..." Ethan’s voice changes completely into the echoing voice belonging to Sebastian De La Croix! "I never sent my physical body here. Ethan is my first clonal subject, in whom I implanted a consciousness chip since the day he was born!"

Ethan thrusts his mechanical arm directly into the middle of the opening altar, channeling the Creator’s Time-Reversing Entropy Virus into the Primordial Core of Immortality!

The giant Gold-Black Crystal above them suddenly turns a poisonous deep black! All defenses of the Atlantis Kingdom die instantly, and the protective dome above the ocean explodes to pieces under the impact of millions of tons of seawater!

But the most horrifying thing is what happens to baby Gabriel in Genevieve’s embrace: The network of blood vessels across the infant’s entire body suddenly turns completely black, and his eyes open wide, emitting the pure silver glow belonging to the Creator Commander!

"Starting tonight, Alexander," Ethan says while carving a demonic smile as his clonal body begins to disintegrate, consumed by the poison. "Your biologica

l child belongs to the Creator Fleet!"