Chapter 31: Shadows of the Third Throne

The late afternoon countryside breeze of Provence blows softly, carrying the fragrant scent of lavender flowers and grape leaves in full bloom. Beneath the peaceful orange umbrella of the French sky, the cheerful laughter of Ethan and Stella echoes warmly from the corner of the meadow. However, upon the porcelain terrace of the De La Croix estate, the air seems to suddenly freeze into absolute ice.

Alexander Rington’s fingers grip the instant printed photo in his hand until the thick paper folds thinly at the edges.

His silver eyes stare without blinking at a tiny baby inside a Chiron Systems-branded medical incubator tube. At the baby’s neck, the skin pigmentation forms a golden dragon pattern—a rare genetic anomaly that only appears when the two pure bloodlines of Rington and De La Croix fuse perfectly in embryonic fusion.

Five years ago, when Rington’s secret laboratory in Geneva was attacked by an unknown faction before the birth of Ethan and Stella, the medical team reported that three biological embryo extraction samples belonging to Alexander and Genevieve burned to ashes.

That report was fake. The third sample was never destroyed. That sample was stolen, nurtured, and grown inside an artificial incubation facility far beyond the reach of any clan in the world.

Genevieve notices the drastic change in her husband’s body posture. The warm smile on her lips slowly fades as she sees the intense tension enveloping the line of Alexander’s jaw.

"Alex?" Genevieve whispers softly, placing her teacup down onto the porcelain table. "What is it? What is inside that letter?"

Alexander reflexively turns the photo paper face down, hiding it from Genevieve’s view. He clenches his left hand, trying to suppress the golden glow inside his blood vessels that suddenly surges from a absolute rush of adrenaline.

"Just a routine report from the Obsidian Legion intelligence division," Alexander says with a very calm and controlled vocal articulation, though his chest rumbles in a soul-burning turmoil. "There are some remaining assets of The Black Sun that need to be cleaned up on the Eastern European border."

Genevieve stares deeply into her husband’s hazel eyes. The instinct of a wife and mother who has passed through a series of bloody tragedies makes her catch the flicker of anxiety hidden behind her husband’s composure.

"You are not good at lying to me, Alexander," Genevieve says softly, her hand reaching out to touch Alexander’s cold fingers. "Something has happened, hasn’t it?"

Alexander stares into the depth of his wife’s hazel eyes. He knows that delivering the truth about the existence of their third child being in the hands of a mysterious ruler when Genevieve has just found peace will tear that woman’s soul to pieces.

"I swear on my life, Genevieve," Alexander says, wrapping his wife’s fingers in absolute warmth, "no one will ever be able to touch my family again. Trust me."

Genevieve stares at Alexander for a long moment, then nods slowly though a shadow of doubt still lingers faintly in her eyes. "Don’t let that darkness pull you back in, Alex."

"I won’t let it," Alexander asserts.

He stands up from his chair, kisses Genevieve’s forehead with deep warmth, then steps calmly toward the inner interior of the De La Croix mansion. The moment the carved teak door shuts tightly behind him, the composure on Alexander’s face instantly vanishes, replaced by a bloodthirsty predatory expression.

The micro broadband communicator in his ear is activated instantly.

"Daniel. Now," Alexander cuts in coldly.

It takes only three seconds before Daniel’s voice connects through a high-level encrypted communication channel. "I am here, Alex. Is there a new development from the Siberian border?"

"Not Siberia," Alexander replies, stepping quickly toward the underground office lined with biometric signal-dampening walls. "Prepare the entire Vanguard tracking satellite network. I need location identification of the Chiron Systems stamp and the K-09 incubator code."

Daniel sounds startled on the other end of the line. "Chiron Systems? Alex, that is a secret medical entity belonging to a top-tier consortium that has disappeared from navigation maps since the Cold War! Why are you looking for them?"

Alexander places the instant printed photo and the blood-red wax-sealed letter onto the glass table of his office. The golden glow from his fingers radiates through the table’s biometric scanner, reproducing the photo image into a three-dimensional hologram projection in the air.

"They are holding our third child, Daniel," Alexander hisses, his voice carrying a vibration of anger capable of collapsing cliff foundations. "The fifth embryo from Geneva five years ago... that baby is alive."

Total silence envelops the communication channel for several seconds. Daniel runs out of words on the other end.

"For God’s sake," Daniel whispers hoarsely. "Who sent that letter, Alex? Victoria is dead in Vorkuta, Julian died at Lazarus, and the entire main Rington clan is wiped out!"

Alexander stares at the photo of the baby inside the hologram projection. The baby’s tiny eyes are closed softly, yet a thin golden glow appears pulsing around his temple area—living proof that the genetic engineering on the baby’s body is far more extreme than anything ever experienced by Alexander or their twin children.

"Whoever he is," Alexander says in an ice-cold tone, "he stands above The Black Sun. He is the true mastermind who allowed Arthur, Julian, and Victoria to fight like dogs on the ground below, while he collected all of Rington’s pure genetic assets for the main project."

Suddenly, Alexander’s glass table hologram projection suffers severe inter-frequency interference! The three-dimensional screen shakes, emitting blood-red static lines.

Alexander’s personal laboratory security system at the De La Croix mansion, designed to withstand hacks from the best hackers in the world, is remotely hacked in absolute fashion in less than a single second!

"Alex! Our signal is being hacked from the main line!" Daniel shouts through the communicator before his channel is completely cut off by a high-frequency electromagnetic hum!

On top of the glass table, the hologram projection of the tiny baby suddenly vanishes, replaced by a giant logo Alexander has never seen before: A golden crown of thorns entwined by a two-headed snake.

The ancient emblem of the ruling clan originating from Northern Europe, the Order of Ouroboros—the oldest organization that masterminds the entire formation of black noble clans since the Middle Ages!

A raspy, heavy male voice, filled with an articulation of leadership that reigns over the darkness, echoes softly from the laboratory speakers:

"Pleased to greet you again, my Biological Grandson."

Alexander freezes. Every joint in his body tenses severely. The word ’grandson’ spoken by that voice strikes his consciousness like a bolt out of the blue.

"You," Alexander whispers, his eyes radiating a mix of silver and gold widening in absolute, unmatched shock. "The main founder of Rington. Elias Rington?!"

A heavy and elegant laugh echoes from behind the encrypted transmitter.

"Arthur Rington was merely a failure of a boy who led a clan of rabbits," Elias explains in a cold tone that transcends all human limits. "He was the one who cut off your family’s genetic potential out of his idiotic fear of the true throne. But you, Alexander... you are a masterpiece that has exceeded all my biological expectations."

"Where is my child?!" Alexander roars, digging his fingers into the edge of the glass table until its surface develops a thousand cracks!

"This baby," Elias says calmly, "is the perfect biological vessel I have been waiting for for a hundred years. Your pure blood and Genevieve’s healing blood that fused inside his cells have created limitless immunology. He is no longer human, Alexander. He is the ruler of a new civilization who will lead the Order of Ouroboros."

"I will shred you to dust, Elias!" Alexander screams with a double-vocal echo that shakes the mansion’s entire marble walls!

"Come if you dare, my Grandson," Elias replies in a very refined, mocking tone. "Our main base is not underground or at the bottom of the sea like Julian’s playplace. We await you at Valhalla Palace, a military cargo orbital facility in outer space."

The hologram projection changes rapidly, displaying coordinates of a giant space station floating in Earth’s orbit, completely isolated from all legal reach and planetary military fleets.

Inside the space station video projection, a special air-pressurized sterile glass room is visible.

In the center of that sterile room, Alexander’s tiny third-generation descendant lies upon a ritual table patterned with a crown of thorns. However, what causes Alexander’s blood to completely stop flowing is what stands beside the baby’s incubator.

Not Bio-Mechanical soldiers, not medical technicians, and not ordinary soldiers either.

Standing staring at the baby with a sword raised in hand is a tall figure in black armor whose face is completely covered by a titanium mask.

The armored man turns his head toward the camera, then slowly removes his titanium mask.

Behind that mask reveals a face completely identical to Alexander Rington—the face of Julian Rington who should have died on the Lazarus stage with a torn heart!

However, Julian’s eyes are no longer black or red. His eyes radiate a flawless, pure golden glow—proof that Julian’s death at Lazarus was merely a trigger for a final-stage mutation to awaken his new biological body under Elias Rington’s engineering!

Julian carves a insane smile toward the camera, then plunges a giant syringe containing a thick red chemical straight into the main blood vessel in the tiny baby’s neck!

Through the speakers, Elias Rington’s voice whispers the final sentence that cuts off all of Alexander’s hope.

"You have twenty-four hours before your child’s soul extraction is complete, Alexander! Ascend into outer space, or watch your child become a

new demon who will kill your entire family on Earth."