Chapter 160: The Face of the Enemy
Jonah stood up. The cold rain mixed with the sweat on his face. His eyes, glowing with a faint golden light, saw the entire messy fight.
To his right, Draven was locked in a brutal fight. He was a wall holding back evil version of Maul. The corrupted beast slammed against Draven’s shield with wild anger, its cracked tusks screeching against the magical armor with a loud noise.
Across the alley, Seraph had just finished off the corrupted Nyx, its tattered form dissolving into black dust near a dumpster. But her victory was short-lived.
Directly in front of Jonah, a new threat was forming. Subject Beta, with his scary blank face, had just summoned a twisted Echo. It was the last of his broken puppets for the fight.
Jonah was suddenly very angry. This was not a fight, but an insult. It was an insult to him, to his Progeny, and to the core of his power. He was done being afraid. He was going to end this.
"Everyone, listen to me!" Jonah’s voice was sharp and clear over the sound of the battle. "Draven, hold it for three more seconds!"
Beta simply pointed, and his new Echo rushed forward.
Jonah didn’t fight back with the same kind of power. He used control against their chaos.
"Synergy," he whispered, the command reaching the minds of his creations. His evil copy could never understand the idea of working as one.
"Maul, intercept!" Jonah roared.
His own Maul appeared with a THUD that shook the ground. He was a true giant of controlled anger. He ignored the new Echo and charged the corrupted Maul attacking Draven. It was a massive crash. The real Maul slammed into its twisted copy with rage. The impact was as loud as thunder and sent a shockwave down the alley.
At the exact same moment, Jonah commanded his other Progeny. "Nyx, run interference!"
His own Nyx shot into the air like a comet. She became a blur of speed between Jonah and the charging Echo, spitting a dazzling storm of flashing light bolts that exploded all around the corrupted creature.
Fzzt! Pop! Fzzt!
The Echo’s simple mind was confused by the light show.
This was the true difference. Beta’s creations were separate, disposable tools. Jonah’s were a coordinated team.
The corrupted Maul fighting Draven was now facing a two-front battle. It was strong, but it had no intelligence. It couldn’t handle Draven’s impenetrable shield and the raw power of Jonah’s true Maul at the same time. With one last push together, Draven and Maul broke the evil creature’s core, and it dissolved into dust.
"One down," Draven grunted, his voice now filled with respect a new respect in his voice.
But the Echo was still a threat, pushing through Nyx’s light storm.
"Specter, disable it," Jonah said, his voice cold.
The Phantom Weaver appeared from the shadows. It moved silently, like a deadly assassin. It paid no attention to the flashing lights and rushed towards the confused Echo. It struck its side with a focused blast of illusion power.
The evil Echo screamed, an awful sound of pure static. The illusion wasn’t a physical attack, but a mental one. It overloaded the corrupted Progeny’s simple mind with false sensory data. The creature stumbled, its movements became even more strange and clumsy. It was now blind, deaf, and totally lost.
It was the perfect opening.
Jonah didn’t even need to give the command. Maul, seeing the Echo was helpless, charged. His massive tusks slammed into the creature’s core with a terrible CRACK.
It broke apart into a cloud of black dust.The battle was over. In just a few seconds, Jonah had taken control of the messy fight and taken apart every one of Beta’s creatures.
Subject Beta stood alone, surrounded by the fading dust of his broken puppets. He was defenseless.
The alley became silent, and the only sound was the steady rain.
Jonah dismissed his Progeny with a single thought. He walked slowly forward until he was just a few feet away from his evil copy. He looked into Beta’s blank eyes and felt only a deep, sad pity. This was not an enemy. This was a victim.
Just as he was about to speak, to try and reach the person trapped inside, a new sound echoed in the quiet alley.
Clap. Clap. Clap. A slow, mocking applause.
Someone came out of the back of the truck in a calm way. Dr. Aris Thorne.
"Impressive," Thorne said, a fake smile on his face. "A truly artistic application of synergy. But you were fighting a mere guard dog. A rough draft, nothing more."
Jonah stared at him, his pity for Beta turning into a cold anger for the man who had made him.?"
Thorne chuckled. "I gave him a function. A purpose." He lifted a small, black remote from his pocket and pressed a red button.
A collar on Beta’s neck glowed. Pain filled the boy’s face, and he collapsed, unconscious.
Thorne’s cold eyes stared at Jonah. "The real work is just starting. Thank you for the blood sample, by the way. Your ’source code’ has been very helpful. You, my boy, make art. I... I will make an army."
A sleek, black ship came down quietly from the sky. Soldiers in black armor slid down ropes and grabbed the unconscious Beta.
"The era of the individual creator is over, my boy," Thorne said as he was lifted toward the vehicle. "The age of mass production has begun."
"Stop!" Draven roared, but it was too late.
The ship became invisible with a soft shimmer and then disappeared. Its humming sound faded quickly into the night.
Jonah stood alone on the street. He had won the duel, but he had lost. He had just met his twisted reflection and the man who saw his soul as a formula. The Genesis War now had a face, and it was a face Jonah knew he would be seeing in his nightmares.