The Monster They Could Not Kill

The Bloom wave hit.

Clara's cube barrier shattered.

The sound was not loud.

It was worse.

Like reality itself cracking.

Black Bloom flooded the hall from every direction. Walls disappeared beneath living black flesh. Pillars collapsed. Entire floors were swallowed.

Orion grabbed Tara and threw her backward.

Rion pulled Sia and Nora away from a collapsing section.

Xin planted his feet.

Force Push.

BOOM.

The pressure wave blasted a hole through the incoming Bloom, buying only seconds.

Only seconds.

Andy walked through the destruction.

Smiling.

Not injured.

Not tired.

Not slowing down.

The combined attacks of everyone had damaged him.

But every wound was already gone.

Every cut.

Every fracture.

Every blast.

Gone.

Clara stared at him.

For the first time since anyone met her, she looked genuinely concerned.

"We cannot kill him."

Silence.

Nobody wanted to hear it.

But everyone knew.

She was right.

Andy stopped.

The hall around him was barely standing now.

Black Bloom covered almost everything.

The monster looked at the group.

Then laughed.

A low, ugly laugh.

"You finally understand."

Tentacles moved behind him.

Dozens.

Hundreds.

Like a forest of living blades.

"You brought an Entity."

He looked toward Clara.

"You brought Orion."

Then Rion.

Then Tara.

Then Xin.

"And still nothing."

Tara fired.

Three shots.

Directly into Andy's face.

The bullets exploded.

His head disappeared briefly.

Then rebuilt itself.

Muscle.

Bone.

Skin.

Armor.

Back in seconds.

Andy smiled.

"Again."

Tara lowered her rifle slowly.

That told Xin everything.

Even Tara knew.

This was not working.

Orion spoke quietly.

"We retreat."

Everyone looked at him.

Xin looked angry.

"What."

Orion did not look away from Andy.

"We retreat."

"Now."

Rion understood first.

Because Rion was seeing the same thing.

Every second.

Andy was adapting.

Growing.

Learning.

The longer they fought.

The worse it became.

Andy heard it.

Retreat.

His smile widened.

"No."

The entire facility shook.

Bloom roots erupted from every floor.

Every wall.

Every ceiling.

The exits vanished.

The pathways vanished.

Everything became Black Bloom.

Andy spread his arms.

"You don't get to leave."

Mason fired his heavy weapon.

Round after round after round.

The explosions rocked the chamber.

Andy turned.

Looked at him.

Then moved.

Nobody saw the attack.

Not even Xin.

One moment Mason was firing.

The next.

Andy stood beside him.

A single tentacle crossed through his body.

Silence.

Mason looked down.

Confused.

The tentacle retracted.

His body separated.

Fell.

Two pieces.

The floor beneath him turned red.

Sia screamed.

Nora froze.

Dren stopped breathing for a second.

Tara's eyes widened.

Andy bent down.

Picked up part of the body.

And bit into it.

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

The sound echoed through the ruined hall.

Andy chewed.

Swallowed.

Then smiled.

"Still warm."

Dren threw up immediately.

Sia looked away.

Nora grabbed her arm.

Tara's expression hardened.

Rion gripped his sword harder.

Xin stood perfectly still.

Something cold moved through him.

Not rage.

Not yet.

Something worse.

"Move."

Orion's voice cut through everything.

"NOW."

The group tried.

The Bloom stopped them.

Walls rose.

Roots twisted.

Passages closed.

Andy was controlling the entire structure.

The facility itself had become part of him.

Clara stepped forward.

Void energy expanded.

The space around her distorted.

Black cubes formed.

Dozens.

Hundreds.

Reality compressed around Andy.

For a second.

The monster actually stopped moving.

Clara strained.

Her body flickered.

"I can hold him."

Then her voice changed.

"Three seconds."

"GO!"

Orion shouted.

The group ran.

Except Xin.

Andy broke the cubes.

Again.

Every single one.

The force knocked Clara backward through multiple walls.

Even she could not stop him.

Andy looked toward Xin.

Only Xin.

The others became irrelevant.

The monster smiled.

"There you are."

The Bloom moved.

Captured.

Tara.

Rion.

Dren.

Nora.

Sia.

Even Clara.

Roots wrapped around them and dragged them into the walls themselves.

Black Bloom cocoons formed around their bodies.

Only Orion escaped.

Barely.

Xin and Andy stood alone.

The ruined hall around them collapsed.

Entire sections of Facility Zero fell apart.

Far away, skyscrapers in Veykar cracked from the force already being released.

Andy stepped forward.

Xin punched first.

Phenom Force.

The impact blasted the floor apart.

Andy moved only half a step.

Then punched back.

Xin flew through five floors instantly.

The entire side of the facility exploded outward.

He crashed through the skyline of Veykar.

One skyscraper.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Buildings collapsed behind him.

Xin stopped himself midair and launched back.

Andy met him.

The collision shook the city.

Glass shattered for kilometers.

Bloom towers collapsed.

Bridges snapped.

The skyline changed shape.

Xin attacked again.

Phenom Force.

Second strike.

Andy blocked.

The shockwave split a nearby tower in half.

Third strike.

Andy's head snapped sideways.

A Cardomin plate cracked.

Only slightly.

But cracked.

The monster smiled.

"Good."

Fourth strike.

Xin compressed everything.

Every lesson.

Every training session.

Every failure.

Every loss.

Force Push.

Phenom Force.

Control.

Release.

The impact sent Andy through an entire district.

Buildings vanished behind him.

Andy stood up.

Laughing.

Actually laughing.

Blood running down his face.

Then Xin appeared again.

Fifth strike.

Maximum Phenom Force.

The strongest one he had ever used.

The city shook.

The clouds above Veykar split apart.

The impact landed directly on Andy's chest.

The Cardomin armor cracked.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Then shattered.

A section of the armor exploded outward.

The same Cardomin armor.

The armor stated stronger than the Earth's crust.

Broken.

By raw force.

For the first time.

Andy stopped laughing.

His eyes widened.

Just slightly.

Xin stood breathing heavily.

Blood running from his mouth.

His hands shaking.

The broken armor pieces fell around them.

Andy touched the shattered section slowly.

Then looked back up.

The smile returned.

Bigger.

Worse.

More disturbing.

"You finally did it."

Xin frowned.

"What."

Andy stepped forward.

Not angry.

Happy.

Actually happy.

"Now."

The monster's tentacles spread across the skyline.

Thousands.

Covering buildings.

Streets.

Towers.

The city itself.

"Now we're both serious."

Far away.

Inside their Bloom prisons.

Tara opened her eyes.

Rion opened his eyes.

Clara opened hers.

And all of them realized the same thing.

This fight was nowhere near over.

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