SWNOVELXO Chapter 47: Mind Over Flesh: Siege of the Safe Zone
Location: Bastion Safe Zone – Research Wing, Human Territories
Time: July 17th, 3:45 PM
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The mimic copy stood in the middle of the Research Facility, its humanoid disguise perfect—until it blinked. That single blink carried the truth: this was no human. It was something far older. Far hungrier.
Its crimson pupils, hidden behind the host's dull brown eyes, dilated with purpose.
> "Commence synchronization."
A pulse radiated from its body—silent, invisible, but overwhelmingly effective. Those near it—researchers, guards, even the few technicians monitoring caged beasts—froze.
Then trembled.
Then screamed.
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3:50 PM – Neural Hijack
Dozens of humans clutched their heads, falling to their knees. Their skin shimmered, as if being rewritten. Veins pulsed red. Eyes glazed with static. Their screams distorted into hollow laughter.
One by one, they rose again—stronger, no longer themselves. Their bodies had grown slight mutations: bone ridges, extra digits, claws beneath fingernails.
The mimic copy walked calmly between them, speaking to no one aloud—but heard in all their minds.
> "You are improved. Accept me. Serve me."
Monsters in containment began thrashing. Sabertooth tigers, dire wolves, mutated serpents, spined raptors—nearly a hundred combined—shuddered under the same pulse.
Their eyes turned red.
Their muscles bulked.
Their chains melted into rust.
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3:55 PM – The First Breach
Guards scrambled toward the central compound, but they were too late.
The first explosion came from within.
A sabertooth leapt onto a mounted turret, ripping the operator apart with one bite. Mutated humans, wielding weapons or bare clawed fists, tore through automated defenses.
A squad of elite guards opened fire with plasma carbines—but their bullets only slowed the horde. One of the mutated raptors leapt ten meters, shredding a guard mid-sentence.
Alarms blared.
> "Containment breach! Sector 4! Repeat, Containment—"
"Unauthorized abilities detected—"
"All personnel to evacuation zones—"
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4:00 PM – Alpha Override
The mimic stopped before a reinforced chamber.
Inside, restrained and unconscious, was a large man—the same axe-wielding brute who once challenged Kael during his arrival at Bastion.
He had been arrested after that due to commiting multiple vicious acts against people. So now he has been left to rot here in this damned place.
The mimic placed a hand on the glass.
> "You are perfect. Rage. Muscle. No mind to resist."
The pulse surged again.
The man opened his eyes.
They were red.
And the glass shattered.
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4:05 PM – Forced Fusion
The mimic raised its arms.
A sabertooth—larger than the rest—was dragged by invisible threads to the berserker's side.
Then they merged.
Skin split. Bone cracked and reformed. Muscle twisted around fur. The man grew, ripping out of his restraints. Fangs jutted from his jaw. His spine split, then doubled.
And then the mimic stepped inside the monstrous hybrid.
Suddenly two sthchye like skelital arm came from below the previous arms.
The fusion stabilized.
> "I am Alpha now. Flesh and echo made one."
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4:10 PM – Surface Chaos
Outside, hundreds of civilians ran for evacuation points. Mothers clutched crying children. Doctors pulled patients from shattered medbays. Drone defenses fired blindly into the air as flying beasts emerged from the facility roof.
The mimic's army was expanding—using hosts like clay.
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4:15 PM – Kael's Camp (Nearby Forest Edge)
Kael sat on a high rock, catching his breath from the recent wolf hunt. The others—Elle, Armin, Dain—sorted through carcasses and gathered material.
Then, the alarm echoed.
A distant howl of klaxons. Followed by a red flare arcing through the sky.
Kael stood immediately.
> "That's the safe zone."
The mimic soulbound to him emerged from the shadows behind his mind, whispering into Kael's ear like an old ghost.
> "The other… he moves. A convergence of flesh and echo. You must stop him."
Kael didn't ask how it knew.
He turned to the others. "Gear up. Full sprint. The Bastion's under attack."
No hesitation. They moved.
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4:25 PM – Bastion Perimeter, South Wall
The team arrived to chaos.
Smoke. Screams. Fire.
The wall had been breached. Not bombed. Broken—ripped from the inside. Bodies littered the walkways. Not all human.
Mutated beasts roamed freely, many bearing the Spiral mark carved into their hides. Not by Kael.
Armin's face paled. "That's… the guy with the axe. But he's… what the hell is that?"
Kael clenched his fists.
> "No time to explain. We push in. Save who we can. Kill what we must."
They stepped forward into hell.
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TO BE CONTINUED…