Chapter 34: Sacrament of Blood and First Fire

The grip of Deus’s chitinous claws wraps around Alexander Rington’s neck until the silver joints in his spine crack and collapse. Under the pressure of hundreds of atmospheres, Alexander’s vision turns gray. Golden blood spurts from the pores of his skin, dripping and soaking the giant monster’s black shell. Every drop that touches Deus’s skin absorbs instantly, making the dragon glow on the creature’s chest burn with increasing intensity.

"Alexander!" Genevieve’s scream shatters amidst the marble rubble.

She hugs baby Gabriel while shielding Ethan and Stella behind her robe. Her body trembles violently, yet her eyes radiate the desperate courage of a mother cornered at the edge of a cliff.

Elias Rington stands five paces behind Deus. The old man laughs softly, stepping gracefully along the ruins with his gold staff.

"Do you see, Alexander?" Elias whispers through a looping acoustic frequency. "Every cell inside Deus’s body is custom-designed to drink up your biological dominance. The more you fight, the faster his power matures. Surrender Gabriel, or I will let him drink your soul dry until it turns to ash."

Alexander can no longer project words. His vocal nerves have been crushed and choked. However, inside his chest cavity, the twin Rington hearts—an ancient organ hidden behind his main ribcage structure—begin to beat at a frequency untouched by any science.

It is no longer an ordinary immune response. It is a Biological Reversal, a forbidden protocol listed on the remaining sheets of the De La Croix family’s black parchment.

Beneath the hold of his nearly severed neck, Alexander’s dangling right hand suddenly grips the wrist of Deus’s claw. His fingers no longer channel flashes of electricity, but instead emit a gold-speckled black glow—the pure corrosive glow of immunity reversal.

Deus’s chitinous shell, which previously absorbed Alexander’s energy, now suddenly blisters! A blast of chemical vapor burns the monster’s hand as its cellular tissue begins experiencing instant decay!

Deus roars in pain—a first vocal roar that shatters every windowpane of the Alpine residence! The pain reflex forces Deus to hurl Alexander’s body, smashing into a stone wall until it breaks into pieces!

"What?!" Elias’s eyes widen in shock, stepping back two paces as he sees the black burn marks penetrating the shell of Deus’s arm. "How could he reverse the energy transmission?!"

From behind the dust of marble rubble, Alexander rises to his feet slowly. His neck bones crack back together as lines of golden blood seal his external wounds in a matter of seconds. His eyes no longer radiate a silver color, but rather a pitch black with pupils shaped like spinning gold rings.

"You awakened this monster with my blood, Elias," Alexander’s voice echoes doubly, extremely low and filled with a haunting wave of silence. "Yet you forgot my blood is poison to anyone who attempts to steal it without permission."

Alexander steps forward. Every footprint burns the Alpine grass into lines of black ash.

Deus roars again, triggering its two pairs of hearts to beat at maximum capacity. Its left claw swings cutting through the air, charging straight toward Alexander’s head at supersonic speed!

Yet Alexander does not dodge.

He raises his left hand, stopping the giant claw’s slash with only the grip of his bare palm!

A wave of kinetic pressure explodes in all directions, sweeping away the pine trees around the courtyard. Yet Alexander’s body does not shift a single millimeter! His palm locks Deus’s claw, while the black corrosive glow spreads rapidly up the monster’s giant arm!

"Genevieve! Run to the helicopter now!" Alexander shouts without turning around.

Genevieve bites her lip until it bleeds. She knows every wasted second is her husband’s sacrifice. Holding Gabriel close and pulling her two children, Genevieve runs through the side ruins toward the rear courtyard where the standby medical helicopter sits ready.

"Stop that woman!" Elias orders in panic.

Deus tries to turn its body to pursue Genevieve, but Alexander grips the giant monster’s neck from the side, then twists his body to slam Deus hard into the ground!

The Alpine earth shakes violently. A crater fifteen meters wide forms from the impact of Deus’s body.

Elias reaches into his robe pocket, pulls out a special radio frequency console, then presses the manual activation button. "Mature Blood Resonance! Destroy Alexander’s internal organs!"

The dragon glow on Deus’s chest suddenly projects a biological sonic wave at a ten-thousand-Hertz frequency!

Alexander suddenly drops to his knees, clutching his chest as his twin heart organs vibrate violently following the trigger pulse from Elias’s console! The black glow in his eyes flickers, leaving fresh blood dripping from his ears and nose.

"Aaargh!" Alexander groans loudly, held in a neural torture that burns his entire brain network.

Deus rises from the crater, swinging its giant leg to strike Alexander’s chest until the man flies dozens of meters and crashes hard near the rear helipad!

CRASH!

The rear courtyard roof collapses. The medical helicopter, which just started its blades, shakes violently from the impact of Alexander’s body!

Genevieve screams as she sees Alexander lying motionless beside the helicopter door. The blood pressure meter on Alexander’s tactical armor shows a critical line, his heart rate dropping sharply toward zero!

"Alex! Wake up, Alex!" Genevieve kneels beside her husband, placing Gabriel’s hand onto Alexander’s blood-soaked chest.

At that exact moment, baby Gabriel lets out a soft cry. The golden dragon glow on the baby’s neck ignites brightly, radiating a wave of pure warmth that flows straight into the open wound on Alexander’s chest!

Alexander’s twin hearts jolt back to life!

Not merely recovering, the Synesthesia Reaction between father and child blood triggers a second-stage transformation in Alexander’s cellular structure! The scar on his chest forms a silver-gold biological protective line, coating his entire muscle and rib structure with a density equal to ancient titanium!

Alexander opens his eyes. His silver pupils are now encircled by three perfectly rotating golden rings.

He stands tall, turning his body to face Deus and Elias who just broke through the side wall.

"You will never touch my family again, Elias," Alexander asserts. His voice now sounds crystal clear, radiating an absolute authority that makes all Obsidian Legion sniper soldiers around the perimeter bow their heads reflexively.

Alexander extends his right hand into the air.

From behind the ruins of the underground laboratory, the remaining shards of the cracked bio-electric sword fly forward into his grip! The pure energy of his stage-two blood fuses the steel fragments back together, forming an Ancient Dragon-Framed Sword burning in a white-gold flame!

Deus feels it. For the first time since being born from the incubator tube, the giant monster steps back a claw. The animalistic instinct within its network screams of absolute mortal danger.

"Kill him, Deus! Kill him now!" Elias screams hysterically, pressing the maximum trigger button on his console!

Deus roars, opening its dual jaw wide and spewing a wave of deep red biological plasma straight toward the helicopter!

Alexander leaps into the air!

He swings his white-gold flame sword in a single horizontal slash that cuts through the skyline!

The wave of red plasma splits in two as Alexander’s flame slash cuts through it completely! The slash line does not stop, but rather glides like lightning through Deus’s right arm and half of its chest!

Poisonous black blood spurts heavily as Deus’s giant arm is severed clean and falls slamming into the ground! The monster roars in unmatched agony, losing its balance as the reactor core in its chest scratches and cracks!

"Impossible..." Elias trembles violently, the console in his hand slipping and falling onto the grass. "A hundred years of genetic technology destroyed by the power of an ordinary human?!"

Alexander lands gracefully in front of Elias. The tip of his white-gold flame sword rests directly beneath the clan ancestor’s chin.

"You are no god, Elias," Alexander whispers coldly. "You are merely a coward of an old man hiding behind the blood of your own descendants."

Elias stares into Alexander’s eyes with deep hatred. Yet, instead of begging for mercy, his wrinkled lips carve a terrifyingly mad smile.

"You think you have won, Alexander?" Elias hisses hoarsely, black blood dripping from the gaps in his teeth. "You cut off Deus’s arm... but you do not know what is stored inside his severed biological blood cells!"

Alexander narrows his eyes.

Behind them, Deus’s giant severed arm on the ground suddenly melts into a deep black liquid!

The black liquid does not decay, but instead crawls like lightning along the ground, penetrates the medical helicopter’s hull, and wraps around the bodies of Ethan and Stella inside the cabin!

"AKHHH! PAPA!" Ethan and Stella scream instantly as the black liquid absorbs through their skin, forming glowing tattoo patterns across all the blood vessels of the two children!

Genevieve screams hysterically, trying to pull the liquid away, but her hands are repelled by a giant energy field!

"What did you do to my children?!" Alexander roars, driving his sword through Elias’s thigh!

"Argh!" Elias roars in pain, yet his laughter swells wildly! "That is the Genetic Parasite Spore! Deus is not a striking weapon... he is a mutation-carrying host! Within seven days, the blood of your son and daughter will completely convert into my obedient soldiers... unless you bring them to the Sacred Temple of Ouroboros at the bottom of the Mariana Trench to extract the antidote from the Prime Queen’s body!"

Elias stares at Alexander with irises filled with an unmatched glow of madness.

"Choose, Alexander Rington!" Elias screams while triggering a micro self-detonation inside his heart! "Kill me now and let your two children turn into demons in a week... or kneel to me and become my hunting dog forever!"

Elias Rington’s body begins to burn in a flash of red fire from inside his blood vessels!

At the same time, Ethan and Stella collapse unconscious inside the helicopter with eyes starting to emit the deep red glow belonging to Deus, while the severely wounded Deus crawls backward, falling into the Alpine abyss, carrying along the authorization key to the parasite’s antidote!

Alexander freezes in place, gripping the hilt of his sword as the bloodie

st choice of his life unfolds mercilessly beneath the dark dawn.