Angela Kaufmann and Sebastian’s clone walked across the sandy beach with resolute steps. They were headed towards the brown bunkers where Valeria, Archibald, Michael, and Lance were camped. A small army of about five hundred active soldiers were gathered there.
“What a joke of an army!” Angela quipped. “I could wipe them out blindfolded. Just bite off their heads!”
“That wouldn’t be fun,” Sebastian replied, giggling. “I’d like to toy with them for a while. We have plenty of time to spare now that Caesar is dead.”
Angela nodded and turned her head to look at Victor’s butchered corpse. It was a hideous scene—the body split from the middle, from head to gut. His carcass had turned dark brown and resembled a deformed ancient tree. It was as still as the blood-soaked sand that surrounded it.
Heavy artillery fire from the bunkers was raining down on the duo as they progressed. While the bullets bounced off Angela’s suit, Sebastian dodged them effortlessly with his super soldier skills.
“Don’t they have anything better than those peashooters?” Angela said in boredom.
Suddenly, the bunker doors clanged open. Valeria Armstrong, Drew Archibald, Michael Bolton, and Lance Baker poured out armed to the teeth.
Michael carried a FIM-92 Stinger Rocket Launcher while Drew wielded an Anzio Ironworks 20mm Rifle. Lance stepped out with a Hawk MM1 Grenade Launcher.
Val was the leader. Her body was wrapped in ammunition belts as she heaved the M134 Minigun.
Angela whistled. “Woohoo! The mice finally brought out the big guns to play!”
“Like that’s going to make a difference!” Sebastian scoffed.
Ratatatatatat! Valeria’s six-barrel minigun immediately went into action, pelting out 51mm rounds at mind-boggling speed. Her Gatling firepower was powerful enough to mow down an entire platoon!
Angela looked relatively unconcerned. She casually received the gunfire on her torso. The barrage initially made her twitch, but even that vanished as she fortified her suit.
Drew’s rifle boomed, firing supercharged bullets at both Angela and Sebastian. The female assassin slapped the slugs away with a casual swish of her arm. The super soldier simply swerved out of the bullet’s way.
Lance launched consecutive grenades at them. Sebastian stepped behind Angela for protection. Her suit took the full scale of the bombardment, absorbing the damage causing no wear and tear.
The FIM-92 Stinger was powerful enough to take down a chopper. Michael Bolton took aim and pressed the trigger. Boom! The missile that weighed over thirty pounds zeroed in on Angela.
The female assassin’s hand moved fast and effortlessly caught it in the air. After observing the whooshing rocket for a second, she threw it a hundred yards away, where it exploded.
“That bitch is a monster!” Valeria cursed. “Even an airstrike won’t land a scratch on her!”
The female warrior’s eyes were red, not with battle fatigue but with tears. It was the first time she had wept since she last recalled. Caesar was dead, and Valeria was still unwilling to accept the truth. What was her purpose now that he was gone?
“What do we do now? Give up our lives?” Lance asked bitterly.
“Our leader has fallen,” Drew replied with finality. “We must fight to the death as well.”
Valeria bit her lip in anguish and flexed her muscles. “I’m ready to die! Bring it on, you spandex bitch!”
Five hundred feet away, Angela prepared herself to crush the last line of defense. She would first cut off the Generals’ heads and bowl them into the bunkers. Then she would barge in with Sebastian, gutting every camped soldier.
Wooooooog! Wooooooom! Beastly cries echoed throughout the coast. They were so foul and ungodly that they struck terror into every listener’s heart. What was it? An animal?
Angela slowly turned back, eyeing the location where she had left Victor’s corpse.
Zip! Boom! A thick pillar of inky-black light shot into the sky, reaching the stratosphere. Its shockwave dissipated the clouds and raised the local temperature by a few degrees.
“It cannot be!” Angela mouthed. “How?”
“You made sure you killed him, right?” Sebastian asked, trembling in place. “Tell me you made sure of it!”
The female assassin’s lips quivered as she fortified her suit. Her arms turned into crab-swords laced with Thanatos.
”Caesar!!” Angela shot forward like a missile toward her target. She disappeared into the pillar of black light to land an attack. Within a split second, a heavy thump sounded, and her body sprang out like a cannon, bouncing and hurtling to a stop beside Sebastian.
“Wh-what happened?” the super soldier mumbled.
Angela’s suit was tattered in places but instantly self-repaired and regenerated to the original. She rose to her feet, her legs trembling.
“It felt like I was hit by a train,” she said, coughing. “What the hell has he become?”
The pillar of light vanished abruptly, leaving behind a standing figure.
Victor’s charred and blistered skin had fire-gold veins running over it. His body was still cleaved into two branches down the middle, making it a bizarre scene to behold.
“How is he alive?” Sebastian yelled out. “His body isn’t even intact!”
Victor took slow steps forward. As he did so, electric-blue sparks appeared in his ruptured cavity. His exposed flesh pulled towards each other, joining in the middle. Smoke and steam erupted from the union like a supernatural welding process.
With an ominous hiss, the body was whole again. Victor’s eyes opened, and his pupils glowed red.
“He’s alive!” Valeria screamed out. “I knew it in my heart! Caesar cannot be killed!”
“Did he break the second limiter by himself without the red pill?” Lance asked curiously.
“No…” Drew Archibald said, his eyes showing a hint of fear. The man was relieved that Caesar survived, but a darker foreboding gripped his heart.
In Regal Rock, the girls’ jaws dropped open as they watched Victor resurrect. They shook Maverick vigorously and poured a jug of water on him.
“Wake up! Victor survived!” Julia exclaimed.
“He’s immortal…” Claire mumbled, hugging Haley B.
“Victor…” Carol mouthed in tears. “Thank heavens you’re alive!”
Maverick came to his senses, and for a moment, relief flooded him. But soon, his smile faltered.
“This is not right…”
“What’s wrong, Mav??” Claire asked him. “Why aren’t you happy? If he survived being cut by Thanatos, nothing else can kill him, right? He is safe!”
Maverick shook his head, zooming on Victor through his drone cameras. “He is safe, alright. But we aren’t.”
“What do you mean?” the girls asked in unison.
On the battlefield, even Valeria realized what happened. She exchanged panicked glances with Drew Archibald.
“Attention all troops!” she commanded. “Move out of the bunkers right now! We need to retreat at least a mile away from the battlefield!”
General Lance’s face was animated with confusion as the soldiers filed out quickly. “What are you doing, Val? There’s no cause to withdraw at this point. We should rather stay and support Caesar to keep him safe. After all, he’s unlocked his second limiter to fight Angela and her goon!”
Drew shook his head in dread. It was unnerving to see such a tall, composed man sporting a look of fear.
“Lance…” he replied with bloodshot eyes. “Caesar didn’t unlock just the second limiter. He broke down the third limiter with brute force! Now, he’s no longer human. He’ll annihilate us all!”