Chapter 70: Chaotic Corridor

Chapter 70: Chaotic Corridor

Icy mist poured through the cracks in the walls.

It was colder than the winds sweeping across the frozen tundra outside — cold enough to reach the bone.

The Hel necklace Cole kept tucked inside his inner pocket was shaking violently.

A dim blue light leaked through the gap at his collar, burning hot enough that he instinctively clenched his fist.

"Flashlights," Cole said quietly.

A dozen tactical flashlights switched on at once.

The beams cut into the black mist and were swallowed whole before they could reach ten feet.

The fog was too thick. Unnaturally thick.

Sophia stood to Cole's left and slightly behind him, gripping a ceramic blade custom-made by Rockefeller.

Heinrich was to the right, a thin layer of frost forming on his glasses.

Elena held the rear, sniper rifle pressed against her shoulder, barrel angled slightly down.

In the middle were twelve elite wolf warriors, Gunnar at the front, the ammo belt of his heavy machine gun swaying at his hip.

They moved forward about thirty feet.

A figure suddenly tumbled around the corner ahead — thrown or shoved from behind.

The person hit the ground hard. Their left arm was bent at an impossible angle, the forearm nearly twisted off, hanging by a thin strip of tendon.

Their helmet rolled to a stop at Cole's feet. The visor was covered in blood — fresh blood, still running down the curved surface.

They lifted their head. Face smeared with blood.

It was Marcus.

"Cole!" Marcus screamed. "Don't trust Odin! The clones broke in! They took the security control room — save me!"

Sophia stepped forward.

Cole grabbed her arm. His eyes never left the figure on the ground. "Don't. It's fake."

"Marcus is in the security control room. He can't be here!"

The moment he said it, the thing on the ground went still. It turned its head toward Cole — past any angle a human neck could reach, chin pointing up, forehead pointing down. The skin tore open from the inside, and black claws pushed through the splits.

Its body stretched to nearly ten feet. Its back hunched, spine pressing up through the skin. The whole shape became something between human and beast — a creature of pure chaos.

It shrieked and lunged at Sophia.

Cole was already moving.

The wolf fang amulet pulsed against his chest. He pushed his Alpha essence to the limit, dark gold light flooding from his shoulders to his fingertips. His nails extended into translucent dark gold claws. Half a second before the creature reached Sophia, he stepped in front of her and drove his claws upward — gutting it from the abdomen to the jaw.

The creature let out a piercing shriek. Black smoke burst from the wound. Its body collapsed from the cut outward, dissolving into a cloud of dark vapor that was swallowed by the mist.

Heinrich pushed his glasses up. New waveforms flashed across his scanner screen. "It's a psychic illusion formed from concentrated mystical energy. It reads the memories you fear most, the ones you feel most guilty about, and shapes itself from them. Only attacks carrying life essence can hurt it. Regular bullets and physical force pass right through."

Gunnar glanced down at the heavy machine gun at his hip and swore under his breath.

He reslung the gun, reached behind his back, and drew an old hunting knife with Norwegian runes carved into the spine.

More illusions poured out of the darkness ahead.

Cole raised his head, dark smoke still dripping from his claws.

He saw his mother, Leah, standing at the far end of the corridor in a white dress, smiling and waving him toward her.

Then he saw Old Eric, sitting in a wheelchair, holding the hunting rifle that had been split in two by the prototype clone, mouth hanging open.

Cole took a slow breath. He pushed both his Alpha essence and his lunar bloodline essence to their limits at the same time, dropped to one knee, and drove his claws into the floor. With his knee as the center point, a light woven from dark gold and silver white expanded outward from his body.

It spread like ripples on water, ring after ring, smoothing out the black ripples on the ground as it went, turning the concrete gray again.

The purifying pulse reached nearly thirty feet across, wrapping every warrior and Sophia inside it.

Every illusion the light touched let out a wailing shriek and dissolved instantly into black smoke.

The illusion of Leah smiled once before it vanished. The illusion of Old Eric laid the broken rifle across his knees, and then he was gone too.

The chaotic mist at the edge of the pulse was pushed back against the walls, churning as it tried to seep back in, but every time it touched the boundary it was thrown back.

Cole held the position, unhurried, pulled his claws out of the floor, stood up, and called out to the empty corridor. "Odin! Enough with the cheap tricks! Come out and face me!"

The corridor was quiet for a moment.

Then Odin's laughter came from every direction at once. "As you wish, Alpha. Let your old friends keep you company for a while."

At the far end of the corridor, the chaotic mist exploded outward. A hole blew open in the wall.

Three elite prototypes in black tactical gear stepped through.

The one in front raised its face. It looked exactly like his mother — the curve of the brow bone, the height of the cheekbones, the small mole at the corner of the mouth. Only the eyes were empty.

It raised its right hand. Silver-white lunar energy gathered in its palm, spinning into a ball of light.

The second one looked like Old Eric, a hunting rifle on its back.

The third had Marcus's face. It held an alloy shield, a low, inhuman rumble coming from its throat.

The fight broke open.

"Leah" fired first. The silver-white lunar energy arced through the air. Cole twisted sideways just in time — the energy blade grazed his ear and slammed into the corridor wall.

It carved a deep groove with clean, smooth edges. Faint silver-white vapor rose from the cut.

At the same moment, "Old Eric's" rifle cracked.

The bullet came screaming through the air wrapped in chaotic energy. Cole swung his blade down and split it apart. Black sparks burst in midair.

"Marcus" charged with the shield.

The shield slammed into the floor and shattered the concrete. Gunnar caught the edge of the shield with his hunting knife, blade against rim, sparks flying where they met.

"Marcus" hit harder than he expected. The impact shoved Gunnar skidding back across the floor, leaving shallow gouges in the concrete, and he had to fight to find his footing again.

Cole held his blade steady and said, "Spread out. Don't go strength for strength with them."

"Leah" raised her hand again. All ten fingers spread wide. A silver-white energy ball gathered at each fingertip — ten orbs floating and slowly rotating around her palm.

She flicked her wrist. All ten fired at once, spreading across the air in ten different arcs, cutting off every angle Cole could dodge to.

Cole didn't dodge. He shifted the blade to his right hand, held it flat across his chest, and pushed his Alpha essence from his core into the edge. Dark gold light spread along the blade. He stepped forward into the incoming fire and swept the blade in a single arc in front of him.

The instant the blade touched the first orb, he twisted his wrist and drove the edge along the orb's axis of rotation, splitting it in half. Both halves exploded behind him, one to each side.

"Marcus" used the opening to slam into him from the side, shield crashing into Cole's right shoulder.

Cole rolled left with the impact to shed the force, dropped to one knee, and steadied himself.

Gunnar charged in from the side to cut off "Marcus." "Marcus" threw a backhand elbow into Gunnar's chest. Gunnar grunted and flew backward, crashing into the wall.

"Old Eric's" rifle swung toward Gunnar's head.

Elena's sniper rifle fired first.

The shot came from behind a pillar, aimed straight between "Old Eric's" eyes.

But "Old Eric" tilted its head at the exact moment the bullet left the barrel. The round grazed its temple and punched through the wall behind it.

"Old Eric" turned. The rifle barrel pointed at the pillar where Elena was hiding. It fired.

"Leah" began gathering another orb.

Cole pushed off the ground and stepped in front of Sophia, eyes steady.

But the surface of his left claw had already cracked. The hit to his right shoulder had his knife hand trembling.

Things were getting bad.

Then the necklace in his inner pocket tore itself free.