Chapter 12 - Chapter 12: Mirror Erosion in the Underwater Nuclear Dock

1967, British Underwater Nuclear Dock. Alison's cold-proof suit oozed silver serum under high-pressure seawater, the erosion scars on her left arm lingering from Antarctic battles—each regeneration cycle drained 1% of her existence value. The Royal Navy's secret base hovered in the abyss, its nuclear submarines' titanium hulls coiled by embryonic incantation nerves—spreading like parasitic vines from reactor pipes to connect 12 "neural seeding pods".A holographic projection flickered on her retina: "Seeding pods incubate Charles' host prototypes, each embryo carrying secondary coordinates for temporal anchors." The pocket watch's spirit warned, marrow energy oozing from dial cracks barely maintaining 20% existence. "Mirror Erosion Protocol activated: Every ability use makes the original inherit all clones' injury histories."She infiltrated the dock's main control room as British agents emerged from shadows. Their pupils glowed with embryonic silver, neural anchors in their erupting with incantations: "KGB traitor! Your destruction of the Antarctic entropy core was merely the prelude to the embryo matrix's rebirth!"Alison activated her temporal blade, but insufficient existence its energy. The agents' magnetic storm bullets pierced her serum barrier, corroding a charred hole through her right arm—mirror erosion triggered instantly, silver marrow particles oozing from her right arm bones as scars spread irreversibly."Serum stasis!" She gritted her teeth, injecting liquid gold into her left eye. The marrow-veined retina emitted resonance waves, freezing agents in place. Cost: left eye's optic nerve began crystallizing, existence dropping to 17%. Embryo puppets poured from reactor pipes, their skulls embedded with H-bomb fission cores, incantation tentacles wrapped in 1955 Moscow archive marrow spells.Forced to activate mirror replication—three clones collapsed from temporal rifts, existence dropping another 6%. Clones used temporal blades to cut seeding pod incantation veins, but the original immediately felt erosion feedback: a clone's left leg shattered by a magnetic storm bullet hollowed her left bones; a clone's right ear corroded by incantations dissolved her auditory nerve entirely in mirrors, existence plummeting to 11%."Reactor overheat countdown: 30 minutes." The watch core alarmed as embryo puppets' fission cores released radiation pulses, boiling seawater into toxic mist. Alison injected remaining serum into clones' skulls, activating "Marrow Resonance Self-Destruct"—clones detonated, destroying 6 pods, but the original suffered double erosion: right arm muscles dissolved, left knee nerves carbonized, existence hitting zero.Her body collapsed into sand in the toxic mist, yet marrow feedback activated again: fission energy from destroyed pods was absorbed by the watch, existence rebounding to 8%. As sand ,Alison found the original had accumulated all clones' injuries—right arm erosion spread to the shoulder, left knee became a mechanical void, and missing auditory nerves caused consciousness lapses.The last 6 pods' incantation nerves linked to the reactor core, and the embryo's hologram materialized in radiation glow: "Alison, your Mirror Erosion Protocol has triggered Stage Two—every injury inherited reverses-corrodes the watch's marrow energy. Continue destroying pods, and existence will irreversibly drop to 0%."She formed a microscopic serum probe, stabbing it into the reactor's temporal anchor interface. Charles' laughter echoed from the global parasite coordinate network: "My rebirth matrix is in the Antarctic entropy core. Every resistance injects more fission energy into the temporal matrix!"Alison activated the watch's ultimate ability—Temporal Marrow Collapse. Her existence instantly hit zero as the original and watch core collapsed into a black hole, the reactor core's temporal anchor. Seeding pod incantations in the collapse's gravity as the embryo hologram wailed: "You destroyed the neural seeding chain, but the rebirth signal for the temporal matrix has covered global nuclear facilities—New York's underground vault, Moscow archives, Antarctic ice dome... Host incubation will complete in 48 hours!"When the collapsing black hole ,Alison's body scars reached critical: right arm fully marrow-veined, left leg's mechanical void unregenerable, 80% loss of auditory/visual nerves. Existence rose to 3%, but watch cracks expanded due to erosion, marrow energy draining double-speed. She lifted the dial, new coordinates flashing: New York Underground Nuclear Vault, where the embryo's "Temporal Matrix Incubator" was awakening.