Luo Tian's fist connected with the clone's jaw, feeling bone shatter under the impact. Blue-tinged blood sprayed across the cave wall as the identical version of himself staggered back—only to retaliate with a kick that sent Luo Tian skidding across stone.
[Combat analysis: 98% synchronization with opponent]
[Conclusion: This unit is exact genetic replica]
"Shut up!" Luo Tian snarled at Echo as he wiped blood from his lips. The clone across from him moved with the same precision, the same tells. It even had the same scar above its right eyebrow from when Feng had pushed him down the sect stairs as a child.
The clone tilted its head. "You're malfunctioning." Its voice was his, but wrong—empty of everything but cold efficiency. "Return to the facility for recalibration."
Luo Tian's fingers dug into the earth. "I'm not one of you."
The clone's eyes flickered blue. [Incorrect. You are Sigma-9. Property of Sky Empire Reclamation Division.]
Something inside Luo Tian snapped.
Black scales erupted across his skin as the Void-Shattering Dragon bloodline roared to life. When he moved next, it wasn't with the calculated precision of the nanomachines—it was with raw, unfiltered rage.
The clone's eyes widened a fraction—the first real emotion it had shown—before Luo Tian's claws tore through its chest.
[Energy absorption initiated]
The clone's body convulsed as Luo Tian drank its power, its memories flooding into him in a screaming torrent.
Facilities. Tanks. Hundreds of copies. A silver city floating above the clouds. And one word, repeated endlessly:
Convergence.
The Lotus Queen
Mei Ling floated inches above the blood-soaked ritual chamber, her hair writhing like living vines. The remaining Crimson Veil disciples knelt before her, their masks cracked, their bodies trembling.
The golden-masked leader was the last to resist. "You... are not... the host..." they gasped as black petals bloomed from their nostrils.
Mei Ling's voice came layered with a thousand whispers: "We are all hosts now."
Her hand—now more thorn than flesh—closed around the leader's throat. The last thing they saw before darkness took them was their own reflection in Mei Ling's eyes, where lotus petals now swirled where irises should be.
Somewhere deep beneath the collective hunger, the real Mei Ling screamed.
No one heard.
The Overseer's Mistake
Alarms blared through the silver facility as the Overseer watched the feeds:
Sigma-9 absorbing his clone's memories
The Blood Lotus hive mind spreading through the mountain ranges
And worst of all—the main viewing portal flickering with interference from outside their dimension
A technician turned, face pale. "Sir, the barrier between realities—"
"I know," the Overseer snapped.
This wasn't part of the plan. The Sigma copies were meant to be controllable. The Blood Lotus was supposed to remain contained. And the Void-Shattering Dragon bloodline should never have awakened in any host.
Yet now all three anomalies were spiraling out of control.
The Overseer made a decision.
"Initiate Purge Protocol."
The Truth in the Blood
Luo Tian stumbled through the wilderness, the clone's memories burning through his skull.
He was a copy.
But not just any copy—the only one who had ever escaped. The only one who had merged with the lost Echo unit. The only one who had somehow retained something the others lacked:
A soul.
And now the Sky Empire wanted to wipe him from existence before that spark could spread.
A guttural roar echoed in the distance—not human, not beast, but something in between. The sound vibrated through Luo Tian's bones, and for the first time, Echo responded with something akin to fear:
[Warning: Blood Lotus hive signature detected. Recommend extreme caution.]
Luo Tian turned toward the sound, his claws extending.
Let them all come.
The real war was just beginning.