Chapter 6: Siege of the Frozen Fortress
Arthur Throne had left the smoldering, burning wreckage far behind. The orange glow of the fire faded into the distance as he surged forward like a phantom through the desolate landscape. Every muscle in his body was coiled like a spring, driving him toward Sector No. 7—the dreaded Frozen Lab.
His breath came in ragged, sharp gasps, manifesting as thick white mist in the sub-zero air. His lungs burned with every inhalation, and the sound of his panting echoed against the icy silence of the wasteland. Suddenly, he skidded to a halt, his boots carving deep grooves in the frost-covered earth.
"From here... Poli Mountain should be about 10 kilometers away," Arthur muttered to himself.
His voice, which was usually cold and steady, now betrayed a clear tremor of fear and anxiety. It wasn't the fear of the soldiers or the mountain that haunted him; it was the overwhelming love he felt for his sister, Annie. She was his world, the only light in his dark journey. The thought of anything happening to her sent a paralyzing chill through his heart, far colder than the wind.
If something happens to her, how will I ever face Mother? The thought intensified the terror within him, but it also fueled his resolve. "I have to save Annie," he whispered, his eyes glowing with a fierce, protective light. "No matter what happens, no matter what it costs me."
The Fortress of Sector 7
When Arthur finally arrived at the perimeter of Sector 7, the scene before him was ripped straight from a nightmare. A colossal mountain had been hollowed out, its natural stone replaced by a brutalist fortress of reinforced concrete and blackened steel. It looked like a tomb for the living. High towers loomed like sentinels against the dark sky, manned by 'Thermal Snipers' whose scopes searched for the slightest trace of heat.
Arthur closed his eyes and unleashed his 100x Consciousness. The world transformed. His mind became a radar, perceiving the unseen. He felt the heartbeats and the heat signatures of every guard.
Threat Assessment: 15 Snipers positioned on high ground. 2 Auto-Cannons capable of shredding a tank.
Security Level: Maximum.
"I must find the blind spots of these snipers," Arthur strategized, his mind processing data at lightning speed.
Suddenly, his vision shifted. Crimson lines of light—the visual representation of the guards' Line of Sight—crisscrossed the terrain. Utilizing his Shadow Mimicry, Arthur became a blur, jumping from the shadow of one jagged rock to another with the silence of a ghost.
High above, a guard named Bony peered through his high-tech binoculars. "Wait... did something move down there?"
His partner laughed, leaning against the cold railing. "Bony, you're always jumpy. It's just the snow or your imagination, you crazy bastard."
In the next heartbeat, Bony was gone. Arthur had reached up from the darkness, his hand gripping the guard's throat like a vice, and pulled him into the abyss. Without a single sound, the guard was neutralized.
Before the second guard could react, Arthur leaped into the air. He delivered a brutal, soaring uppercut to the man's head. The guard collapsed instantly—whether he was dead or merely unconscious, Arthur didn't care. The path inside was now open.
The Sabotage
Arthur moved through the dark, narrow corridors with suppressed breath. His 100x Consciousness analyzed every vibration, every electronic hum. He stopped abruptly before a massive, reinforced door.
Inside, a guard named Leon was slumped in a chair, mindlessly eating chips and sipping a drink while a movie played on a flickering screen. He was completely relaxed, convinced that no one could ever breach the Genex fortress. The sudden chime of the doorbell made him jump.
"Who the hell is that?" Leon grumbled, suspecting nothing. He stood up and pulled the door open. A dark shadow surged past him. Before Leon could even blink, a wave of dizziness hit him. Arthur had struck him with surgical precision, and the guard slumped to the floor without a groan.
Arthur surveyed the room. It was immense, filled with thick, pulsating electrical wires and massive generators that hummed with enough power to light an entire city. This was the lifeblood of the lab.
"The main switch," Arthur noted.
He didn't just turn it off; he tore the main conduits out with his bare hands. Sparks erupted like miniature fireworks, dancing across the room. As the master switch clicked into the 'Off' position, the entire sector was plunged into a terrifying, absolute darkness. But for Arthur, this was an advantage. His senses allowed him to see as clearly as if it were noon. He began ripping out backup wires, ensuring the darkness would remain.
Commander Cro, the man in charge, was currently in a meeting when the power died. He stood up, trembling with rage. A failure like this in a Genex lab was impossible. He grabbed his walkie-talkie, his voice a furious snarl.
"Mr. Knife! What is happening? Why has the power been cut?"
"Sir... I was just about to report," a panicked voice crackled back. "I saw a shadow in the power room... a man with his face covered. It happened so fast, I couldn't even react! Forgive me, sir!"
"You fool!" Cro roared. "Alert everyone! An intruder is in the lab. Find him—Dead or Alive!"
Slaughter in the Shadows
The interior of Sector 7 was now a tomb of silence, broken only by the rhythmic, haunting blink of red emergency lights. The narrow steel corridors felt like a maze designed for killing.
"Put on your Night Vision goggles!" Commander Cro's heavy, booming voice echoed through the halls. Behind him, forty elite guards marched forward, their rifles equipped with torches that cut through the gloom.
Arthur was perched high above, clinging to the ventilation pipes. His 100x senses picked up the sound of their boots on the metal floor and the friction of their tactical gear. As the first squad passed beneath him, Arthur activated Shadow Mimicry, blending into the long, distorted shadows cast by their own torches.
"There! In the corner!" a guard screamed.
Before a trigger could be pulled, Arthur emerged from the darkness like a demon. His arm, hardened to the density of steel by Cellular Hardening, struck the guard's helmet. The visor shattered into a thousand pieces, and the man hit the floor, dead before he could scream.
"Fire! Fire into the corridor!" Cro commanded.
The sound of gunfire was deafening in the enclosed space. Bullets whizzed through the air from both directions. Arthur didn't hide; he stood his ground in the middle of the hallway. As the rounds struck his body, sparks flew—not blood. Because of his Hardening, the bullets couldn't penetrate his skin; they ricocheted off him and slammed into the guards instead. Small red marks appeared on his skin, and the pain was sharp, but it only served to heighten his focus.
"What is this thing? Bullets are useless!" The guards began to panic. The darkness they once feared now felt like a living entity that was hunting them one by one.
Arthur moved like a teleporting shadow, disappearing and reappearing behind them. He grabbed one guard and slammed him against the steel wall with such terrifying strength that a massive dent appeared in the metal. The guards, in their blind panic, began shooting each other in the narrow space.
Suddenly, Commander Cro stepped forward, wielding a massive, jagged tactical axe. "Back off, cowards! I will take his head myself!"
Cro charged, using the wall for leverage to swing the axe at Arthur's head. With limited space to dodge, Arthur raised his bare hand.
CLANG!
A heavy, metallic ring echoed through the lab. The axe blade hit Arthur's palm, but it didn't cut. The hardening of his skin was so intense that the blade was forced back. Arthur felt the pain—the strike was powerful—but his hand remained whole.
Commander Cro's hands began to shake. His pupils dilated with a fear he had never known. He realized he wasn't fighting a man; he was fighting something far beyond human evolution. He knew his death was inevitable.
Arthur wrenched the axe from Cro's hands and threw it aside. He seized Cro by the throat and slammed him into a nearby machine. "You have spilled the blood of the innocent here," Arthur hissed, his voice echoing like a death knell. "Today, this lab becomes your grave."
The remaining guards tried to flee, but Arthur used his Shadow Mimicry to seize a dropped machine gun. He didn't let a single one escape. One by one, the elite guards of Sector 7 were slaughtered.
The floor of the lab was now a river of red. Arthur, breathing heavily, dragged the broken, blood-spitting body of Commander Cro to the main blast doors of Level 4.
"Open it," Arthur commanded, his voice cold enough to freeze blood. "Open it before I grind your bones into dust."
Beyond the door, he could feel her. His consciousness sensed Annie's presence. A wave of pure, unadulterated joy washed over him—a feeling he hadn't known in the decades of loneliness and regret in his previous life.
After all this time... I am finally going to see my sister.
"In this life, Annie," Arthur vowed, "no one will ever hurt you again. No matter who they are, I will destroy them all."