As I fly over the city below, I scan every corner, every park, every building. Fires devour certain neighborhoods, zombies roam en masse in others, and overturned vehicles block most of the main roads. The atmosphere is grim, filled with the crackling of flames and the howls of nocturnal creatures, with the stench of destruction thick in the air.
Passing over Jack's bar, my gaze stops on four figures moving across the rooftops, fleeing the horrors consuming the city. Among them, I recognize one of Pascal's clones, accompanied by two young women — one Asian and the other blonde, dressed as a waitress — as well as Kevin Ryman, a member of the RPD still under review to join the STARS. Their movements are quick and methodical. I don't intervene, knowing Pascal has the situation well in hand and that the wasps continue to handle the zombies on the ground.
I continue my flight, surveying the next streets, and everything seems almost under control. It's at that moment I hear a distinctive sound... one I'd recognize anywhere: a minigun starting up.
"Goddamn it," I growl, glancing behind me.
Nemesis is there, staring at me with his cold gaze, holding a minigun that he's already set into motion. The bullets begin to tear through the air at a terrifying speed, aiming directly at me.
"You've got to be kidding!"
The bullets shred through Blood's wings, my giant bat. It lets out a piercing screech as it suddenly loses altitude. Sensing the inevitable fall, I grab one of its legs, sending it back to my factory just before impact.
The crash is brutal. My body slams into a rooftop with a dull thud, smashing through a water tower in the process. Water bursts violently from the shattered structure, cascading down into the street below, extinguishing some of the flames that had already engulfed part of the building.
I roll on the ground, getting back on my feet with a groan, shaking my head to regain my senses.
"That damn meat pile with a minigun..." I grumbled as I stood up, casting a furious glance in Nemesis's direction.
I leap from rooftop to rooftop, pursuing Nemesis with fierce determination. Adrenaline pulses through my veins as I close in on my target. In the distance, I spot several figures around the monster: Umbrella soldiers, well-equipped and ready to fight.
Bullets start to whizz around me, the soldiers' snipers adjusting their shots. I can feel them, slicing through the air at incredible speed, but they only rip my clothes. The impact, which would have killed a normal man, merely causes me slight discomfort as Nemesis showers my general direction with heavy fire.
"You really think that's going to stop me?" I shouted defiantly, continuing my charge toward them. Their faces twist in fear when they realize I'm unaffected by their bullets.
The soldiers exchange panicked looks, their cries echoing through the night.
"He's invincible!"
"Retreat!"
But before they can act, I focus my thoughts, commanding my leeches to attack. They emerge from the shadows, crawling up their boots, slithering under their clothes, and the soldiers scream in terror before their cries turn to whimpers of pain. Their weapons clatter to the ground as the leeches devour their flesh.
At the same time, Nemesis switches weapons. He grabs a flamethrower, spraying the rooftop with a jet of fire that engulfs both his infected allies and my leeches. I mentally command them to retreat, just before I leap from the neighboring roof.
I crash into him with devastating force, slamming him to the ground. My tendrils burst from my back, systematically breaking his weapons one by one. The minigun, the flamethrower, even his rocket launcher are reduced to pieces under my grip. The 2.5-meter-tall creature, who seems to have grown since our encounter in Jill's apartment, is now completely at my mercy.
I coil my tendrils around him, using their constriction to pin him firmly to the ground. But as I hold him, I suddenly hear a high-pitched whistling.
Another Nemesis is firing a missile, this time armed with a rocket launcher from a different rooftop.
"What, there are more of you now?" I said in surprise.
I deflect the missile effortlessly, pulling a magnum from my inventory and firing back. The shot detonates the missile inside the other Nemesis's launcher, blowing him off the roof and down into the street below. I refocus on the one I've trapped in my tendrils, covering him completely without causing damage, blocking any possibility of mutation or resistance.
DING
Mutation Tyrant infected parasite or Nemesis human form successfully mastered, now available in the factory.
One Nemesis human form will be produced every 15 days.
You currently have 2 Nemesis human forms directly in the factory.
You can instantly control any Nemesis human form not already under your control with a simple touch.
A sly smile stretches across my lips. I store Nemesis in the factory and immediately turn towards the other one, the one I had thrown into the street. My eyes light up with a predatory gleam as I leap after him, ready to finish what I started.
As soon as I set foot on the street, I immediately feel a palpable tension. The air is thick, almost suffocating. The calm that prevails is far too abnormal. My eyes quickly scan the surroundings, alert for the slightest sign of movement. That's when I see a burning car hurtling straight toward me. I dodge it just in time, diving to the side, the heat of the red-hot metal grazing my face.
As I get back on my feet, I notice that Nemesis, or rather what remains of him, has already begun to mutate. His body has transformed into a massive creature, resembling a sort of mini Behemoth. He's bulkier, more formidable, with each step leaving a deep imprint on the cracked ground. His muscles bulge beneath his stretched skin as he charges at me with terrifying speed.
"Shit, this is more serious than I thought," I mutter to myself before sprinting straight at him, determined to stop him. But as we collide, I realize I underestimated the impact.
I immediately know I've made a mistake. I might have more raw strength, but the combination of his mass and speed sends me flying back like a toy. I crash into several cars, each impact denting me further into the crumpled metal before I finally slam into an overturned bus. The crash causes the heavy vehicle to tip over onto its side.
"Damn, that hurts," I groan, trying to pull myself free from the mangled wreckage. As I extract myself from the twisted bus, I hear muffled cries. I freeze for a moment, my ears straining to find the source of the noise.
I peer inside the bus, and the scene that greets me chills my blood. Eight children, ranging from 5 to 10 years old, are huddled toward the back, their faces streaked with tears and terror. They're clinging to each other, seeking desperately for some protection. The smallest, a baby swaddled in a blanket, is crying uncontrollably, his face flushed with panic. The bus seats are in disarray, some ripped from their fixtures, shattered windows letting in flickering shards of light. Abandoned toys, torn school bags, and stuffed animals lie among the debris.
"What the hell is going on here?" I mutter softly, careful not to scare the children any more than they already are.
Meanwhile, Nemesis, or rather "Puppy Nemesis," as I've decided to call him, roars before charging at me, his footsteps echoing like an earthquake. I have only a few seconds to react. Quickly, I summon two G-Rhinos along with 50 plant zombies to slow the beast down and try to temporarily restrain it.
I then discreetly summon several clones of Pascal, fully camouflaged in their security uniforms, as well as four Sirius, my pony-sized mutant dogs, before entering the bus.
I turn to the children. They are terrified, staring at me with wide eyes, but a little boy about seven years old, with messy blonde hair, dares to approach. He clings to my leg with a surprising strength for his age, tears rolling down his dirty cheeks.
"Commissioner King… I knew you would come," he sobs, his hands trembling slightly.
I place a reassuring hand on his head before addressing the other children, who are starting to come out of their stupor. Their eyes, still brimming with tears, brighten with a fragile hope.
"Why are you here, kids? Where are your parents?" I ask quickly.
One of the older ones, a girl with long brown hair, points to a building across the street. The door is locked with a bench against it, and a zombie lies in front of it, a large wound in its head — probably the work of my wasps.
"Okay, I understand," I say, quickly checking that none of the children are infected. "You've been very brave."
The sounds of the fight behind me draw the children's attention. Puppy Nemesis is fighting fiercely against my G-Rhinos and plant zombies, roaring with each blow. I immediately turn the children's attention away from the scene, guiding them out of the bus.
"Kids, follow my men, they'll take you to safety."
"Is anyone hurt?" I ask gently, seeing the fear in their eyes start to dissipate. The Siriuses stand ready behind the bus, waiting for me to place two children on each dog.
"I'm staying here to deal with the bad guys, so follow these men, and everything will be okay, alright?" I say, striking a heroic pose, that of Commissioner King, which the children instantly recognize.
Amidst their cheers, I watch them leave safely before turning back to Puppy Nemesis, who is still struggling against my summons. I sprint towards him, ready to finish the fight.
I leap onto the colossus just as one of my G-Rhinos charges into him from the side, shaking the mutant creature. Puppy Nemesis staggers under the impact but quickly regains his balance, his claws scraping against the asphalt, creating deep grooves. I take advantage of this moment of imbalance to join my plant zombies, who begin weaving a dense network of vines around the beast. Their thick tendrils coil around his massive limbs, as we did with Neptune, trying to immobilize the creature.
But Nemesis is not so easy to take down.
I feel resistance beneath my feet. The beast starts to struggle violently, its muscles swelling before my eyes as its body begins to mutate even more rapidly. Its bones crack and rearrange, its muscles tearing through its skin as it grows even more colossal. Its already imposing form seems to expand under the mutation, and its roar echoes through the street, sending shivers down to the very foundations of the surrounding buildings.
I growl, feeling my plant zombies struggling to maintain their grip on the beast, which thrashes with superhuman strength. My vines stretch, some snapping under the monster's force. It's already breaking through several of them, tearing everything in its path. I'm forced to release all my reserves, summoning a hundred new plant zombies to reinforce those already fighting the creature.
The plant zombies multiply at an astonishing speed, their stems and vines intertwining in a joint effort, creating a massive vegetative network that begins to engulf Behemoth Nemesis. Every movement of the creature is a struggle for survival; every swipe of its claws, every motion of its monstrous jaws becomes more laborious, slower.
But the beast keeps growing, its veins pulsing visibly beneath its deformed skin. Its blows have become so powerful that even my G-Rhinos are being tossed aside, their huge bodies rolling across the pavement. However, my plant zombies are relentless. One after another, the vines cling to it like tentacles, wrapping around its limbs, constricting its torso, until they gradually immobilize it.
I grit my teeth, watching the creature struggle desperately. The monster arches one last time in a furious roar before my plant zombies regroup for the final phase. Their vines grow even thicker, and I direct them like a conductor, sending them to form a massive vegetative cocoon that begins to engulf the entire beast, rendering it almost invisible beneath the thick layer of plants.
Gradually, the cocoon thickens, compressing Nemesis' body until its attempts to struggle become futile. Finally, with one last violent spasm, the creature stops moving, completely imprisoned in its vegetative tomb.
The entire street is blocked by the giant cocoon, a dense and impenetrable vegetative barrier. I stand up slowly, breathing deeply, feeling the victory finally take shape. Silence falls over the scene of destruction.
DING
Mutation of Parasite-Infected Tyrant or Puppy Nemesis successfully mastered, now available in the factory.
1 Puppy Nemesis will be produced every 25 days.
You currently have 2 Puppy Nemesis units directly in the factory.
You will be able to instantly control any human-form Nemesis not under your command with a simple touch.
"You put up a good fight... but it's over," I murmur, staring at the cocoon before renaming the creature to Behemoth.
(Nda: I hope you enjoyed this little combat chapter, see you in a week ^^)