SWNOVELXO Chapter 49: Blade of the Spiral
Location: Safe Zone – Sector 3 Breach
Time: July 17th, 2:55 PM
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The battlefield reeked of blood, smoke, and burnt sinew. But Kael didn't flinch.
His team held the line. Barely.
The humanoid monstrosity—the fusion of the burly axe-wielder and a mutated sabertooth—was now leading the charge. It towered over the others, its fur stained with gore, its scythe-like bone arms gleaming red.
Kael stared it down. He didn't blink.
> "I'll handle it."
He stepped forward. The mimic followed in silence, skeletal frame twitching with anticipation.
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3:00 PM – Strength in Struggle
Kael didn't charge recklessly. He circled first, analyzing.
The beast was ferocious—but also strategic. It waited for openings. It baited attacks, then punished overreach. Kael wasn't fighting a beast. He was fighting intelligence.
It lunged—Kael sidestepped, slicing at its rib. The blade barely scratched the hide.
The mimic swung from the other side, aiming for the neck. The brute blocked it with an unnatural twist of its upper arms.
> "Too fast," Kael muttered. "Too trained."
He activated Routine Serge—time seemed to stretch. He ducked under a claw, rolled between legs, triggered Ghost Veil, and vanished momentarily from view.
A scythe-arm cut the air behind him.
> "Predictive reflexes," the mimic said, voice echoing inside Kael's mind. "This body remembers how to kill."
> "Then so do I."
Kael reappeared behind the brute and drove his blade into the back of its knee. The brute roared and buckled. The mimic followed up with a rib strike to its exposed side.
Still, the brute didn't fall.
Instead, it screamed—and monsters surged forward.
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3:05 PM – Shifting the Tide
The civilians who had once run now stopped.
They saw Kael—hooded, cloaked, slicing through monsters like a myth. They saw Armin, bleeding but laughing as he punched through a sabertooth's chest. They saw Elle burn two raptors alive, twirling her spear like a divine flame. Dain shouted instructions and deflected incoming attacks with focused kinetic bursts.
People stopped fleeing.
Some turned back.
Scavengers. Old guards. Even untrained citizens. Seeing Kael's team stand, they joined the fight.
A spark lit the battlefield.
And the tide began to turn.
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3:10 PM – Inner Duel
Kael finally faced the brute one-on-one. The mimic now held back waves of monsters, purging them to clear the battlefield.
Kael and the brute circled again.
> "You're strong," the brute hissed, voice twisted by mimic influence. "But what if I became you?"
Kael narrowed his eyes.
The copy mimic revealed itself—slipping like smoke from the brute's ribcage.
A skeletal form. Humanoid. Mimicry in motion.
> "Imagine the power," it whispered. "If I could possess you."
It lunged—not physically, but mentally. An echo blast struck Kael's consciousness. Visions of his failures. His solitude. His regrets.
Kael didn't flinch.
> "I've already faced myself. You're just noise."
He drove his blade forward—not into the brute, but into the mimic's exposed chest.
The mimic screamed.
The brute collapsed.
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3:14 PM – Fusion
The soulbound mimic stepped forward.
It placed a skeletal hand on the mimic copy.
Red threads spread.
> "Permission?" it asked.
Kael hesitated—then nodded.
The mimic absorbed the copy.
The transformation was immediate.
Red energy flared. Bones restructured. The mimic grew in size, structure tightening into a form… like Kael.
Same build. Same cloak. Same mask.
> "Soulbound Evolution: [Phase Two] Complete."
It stepped beside Kael. Not behind him.
> "Now we hunt together."
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3:17 PM – Cliffhanger
The battlefield was silent.
Corpses everywhere. Breathing ragged. Blood soaked.
But Kael and his mimic now stood at full height.
> "Threat eliminated," Dain said, slumping down.
Then—
A horn.
Low. Ancient. Echoing.
Armin stood, eyes narrowing. "That came from the east."
Kael looked out—toward the outskirts. A dust cloud.
No… a stampede.
Hundreds.
Monsters.
Mutated. Twisted. Marching straight for the safe zone.
Kael exhaled. "Round two."
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TO BE CONTINUED....