Zombie Domination

Chapter 452 452- Projectile

The mountain groaned.Julian and Omega collided in the center of the central chamber, the force of their impact sending shockwaves through the stone walls. Dust and debris rained from the ceiling. The zombies under Julian's control stumbled, confused, their connection to both masters flickering.

Eclipse Breaker met Omega's claws.

Blue lightning exploded from the blade, arcing across her chitinous arms. She hissed but didn't retreat. Her red eyes blazed with fury, and her wings swept forward, battering Julian to the side.

He rolled, came up on one knee, and launched himself again.

[Boost] + [Lightning].

His body blurred. Eclipse Breaker became a streak of blue-white light, slashing at Omega's throat, her chest, her wings.

She dodged. Blocked. Countered.

Her claws raked across his shoulder. Blood sprayed. [Regeneration] kicked in, knitting the wound closed, but the pain was real.

"You're fast," Omega admitted, circling him. "But speed without power is just running."

She lunged again.

This time, Julian didn't dodge.

[Gravity].

Omega's charge slowed. Her body pressed down as if the weight of the mountain had settled on her shoulders. Her wings strained, but she couldn't lift off.

"What—"

[Shadow Spike].

Darkness erupted from the floor beneath her, piercing through her leg. Black ichor sprayed. Omega screamed—not in pain, but in rage.

She tore herself free from the gravity field, her leg regenerating even as she moved. The wound closed in seconds. The chitin reformed.

"I told you," Omega snarled. "I adapt."

Julian's dark blue eyes narrowed.

'Then I'll have to kill you before you can adapt.'

He raised Eclipse Breaker.

[Lightning] + [Shadow] + [Gravity].

The three skills merged, swirling around the blade in a vortex of impossible energy. The blue veins in the sword pulsed brighter. The air around him crackled with power.

Omega's red eyes widened.

"That skill," she said slowly. "It's very dangerous."

Julian didn't answer. He swung.

The Void Sphere—smaller than before, more controlled, more focused—shot from Eclipse Breaker's tip. It crossed the distance between them in less than a heartbeat.

Omega moved.

Her body twisted, contorted, bent in ways that shouldn't have been possible. The Void Sphere passed within centimeters of her chest, striking the wall behind her. The stone didn't explode. It simply... vanished. A perfect hemisphere carved into the mountain, its edges glassy and smooth.

Omega stared at the hole, then at Julian.

"You missed."

"No," Julian said. "I didn't."

He raised his hand.

The Void Sphere hadn't disappeared. It had embedded itself in the wall—and now it was coming back.

Omega spun, but too late. The sphere struck her from behind, slamming into her right wing. The leathery membrane dissolved. The bone crumbled. The entire wing detached from her body and vanished into nothing.

Omega screamed.

This time, it was pain.

She fell to her knees, her remaining wing twitching, her red eyes wide with shock. Black ichor poured from the wound, but the regeneration was slower now. Much slower.

"The Void Sphere doesn't just destroy matter," Julian said, walking toward her. "It erases it. And what's erased can't be regenerated."

Omega looked up at him, her red eyes burning with hatred.

"You think this ends with me?" she spat. "Darwin is already attacking your base. Your women are dying. Your friends are burning."

Julian's expression didn't change.

"I know."

He raised Eclipse Breaker for the final strike.

Then the ground shook.

Not from their battle—from something else. Something beneath them.

Omega's red eyes widened.

"He's here," she whispered.

Julian turned.

The far wall of the chamber exploded.

Darwin stepped through the rubble, his empty white eyes blazing, his pale body crackling with crimson light. In his hands, he carried something—a body, limp and bloodied.

He threw it at Julian's feet.

Celestia.

Her silver hair was matted with blood. Her silver-thread skill was gone, her fingers broken. She was breathing, but barely.

"Your base is burning," Darwin said, his voice echoing with unnatural resonance. "Your women are dying. And now..." He cracked his neck. "You're going to watch me kill the last person you love."

Julian's dark blue eyes went cold.

Absolutely, terrifyingly cold.

"You made a mistake," Julian said quietly.

Darwin raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Julian raised Eclipse Breaker.

"You came here."

The chamber became a storm.

Julian moved before Darwin could react. Eclipse Breaker sang through the air, its blue veins blazing, but Darwin was faster now—his fused body responding with inhuman speed. Crimson light erupted from his palms, forming a shield that deflected the blade.

CLANG.

The impact sent shockwaves through the chamber. Julian staggered back, his arms trembling. Darwin pressed forward, his empty white eyes gleaming.

"Projectile."

Julian's new skill activated.

From Eclipse Breaker's tip, a dense orb of compressed shadow and lightning shot forward—faster than a bullet, harder than steel. Darwin's eyes widened. He twisted, but the projectile grazed his shoulder.

The flesh didn't tear. It evaporated.

Darwin stared at the wound, then at Julian.

"Interesting," Darwin said. "You've been holding back."

Julian didn't answer. He raised Eclipse Breaker and fired again.

[Projectile] – Shadow Bullet.

A dozen dark orbs erupted from the blade, each one crackling with blue-white lightning. They spread out, curving mid-flight, surrounding Darwin from every angle.

Darwin laughed.

"Crimson Sovereign's Dominion."

The crimson liquid exploded from his body, forming a dome around him. The shadow bullets struck the dome and dissolved—not erased, but absorbed. The crimson light pulsed, growing brighter, stronger.

"Your projectiles feed me," Darwin said. "Every skill you use makes me stronger."

Julian's jaw tightened.

Behind him, Omega was rising. Her missing wing had partially regenerated—not fully, but enough. Her red eyes burned with renewed fury.

"Two against one," Omega said, her voice a low snarl. "Let's see how long you last."

She lunged.

Julian spun, Eclipse Breaker meeting her claws. The impact drove him back, his boots skidding across the stone floor. Before he could recover, Darwin was there—his crimson liquid forming a blade that slashed at Julian's side.

[Regeneration] worked overtime, but the wound was deep. Blood soaked through his coat.

"You're slowing down," Darwin observed.

Julian's breathing was ragged. His vision blurred at the edges. His skills were draining him faster than [Regeneration] could restore.

'Two against one,' he thought. 'And Celestia is down.'

He glanced at her body, still lying at the edge of the chamber. Still breathing. Still alive.

'Keep fighting.'

He raised Eclipse Breaker.

[Projectile] – Lightning Spear.

A concentrated bolt of blue-white energy shot from the blade, aimed directly at Darwin's heart.

Darwin raised his crimson shield.

The spear pierced through.

Darwin's eyes widened. The spear struck his chest, punching through flesh and bone, emerging from his back in a spray of black ichor.

He looked down at the hole in his chest.

Then he looked at Julian.

"You..."

Omega attacked from the side.

Her claws raked across Julian's back, tearing through his coat, his skin, his muscle. He stumbled forward, barely catching himself on Eclipse Breaker's hilt.

[Regeneration] struggled. The wounds were too deep. Too many.

"Julian!" Dori's voice echoed from somewhere outside the chamber.

Fey's voice followed. "We're coming!"

"Stay back!" Julian shouted.

They couldn't come. Omega and Darwin would kill them. He had to finish this alone.

He pushed himself up.

His body screamed in protest.

'One more,' Julian thought. 'One more attack.'

He raised Eclipse Breaker.

[Lightning] + [Shadow] + [Gravity] + [Projectile].

The four skills merged.

The blade hummed with power—unstable, dangerous, barely contained. Blue lightning, dark shadow, compressed gravity, and the new projectile skill swirled together, forming something that had never existed before.

Darwin's empty eyes widened.

Omega's red eyes flickered.

"You'll destroy the entire mountain," Omega said.

"I know," Julian said.

He swung.

The Void Spear—larger than any Void Sphere he had created, more focused, more deadly—shot from Eclipse Breaker's tip.

The mountain groaned.

Stone turned to dust. Air turned to vacuum. Light turned to darkness.

Darwin raised both hands, crimson liquid flooding from his body, forming a wall of pure energy.

The Void Spear struck the wall.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the wall cracked.

Then it shattered.

The Void Spear continued toward Darwin's heart.

And stopped.

Darwin's hand was wrapped around it.

His empty white eyes were bleeding crimson. His arm was disintegrating, flesh flaking away, bone turning to ash. But he held the Void Spear in place.

"You're... strong," Darwin gasped. "But not... strong enough."

He crushed the Void Spear.

The explosion threw Julian across the chamber. He crashed into the wall, his vision darkening. Eclipse Breaker slipped from his grasp, clattering to the floor.

Omega was there.

Her claws closed around his throat, lifting him off the ground.

"Any last words?" Omega asked.

Julian's dark blue eyes found hers.

"Not... for you."

A blade of shadow pierced Omega's chest from behind.

She gasped, her grip loosening. Julian dropped to the ground, gasping for air.

Nox stepped out of the shadows behind Omega, his pale eyes cold, his dark matter blade still embedded in her back.

"Miss me?" Nox asked.

Omega snarled, spinning, her claws slashing at Nox's throat.

His body flickered.

Dark Matter.

Her claws passed through empty air. Nox reappeared three meters away, his pale eyes fixed on Darwin.

"I'll handle this one," Nox said. "You take the woman."

Julian nodded. He grabbed Eclipse Breaker and faced Omega.

Nox turned to Darwin.

The two stood across from each other—one wreathed in crimson light, one flickering with quantum uncertainty.

"You're the one who helped the Ghost escape," Darwin said.

"I'm the one who's going to kill you," Nox replied.

Darwin laughed.

"Try."

Nox moved.

Dark Matter made him untouchable. His body flickered in and out of existence, his strikes appearing from nowhere, his blades cutting through Darwin's crimson liquid like it was smoke.

But Darwin adapted.

His empty eyes tracked Nox's flickers, predicting his reappearances. His crimson liquid formed nets, barriers, walls—trying to trap Nox in a single location.

"You can't touch what isn't fully here," Darwin said, echoing Nox's own words. "But what if I make sure you're fully here?"

He slammed his palms against the ground.

Crimson liquid erupted from the floor, covering every surface. The walls. The ceiling. The stone. There was nowhere for Nox's shadow to go.

"Now," Darwin said. "You're trapped."

Nox smiled.

"Am I?"

His body dissolved—not into shadows, but into pure darkness. The crimson liquid beneath him rippled, then stilled. Then darkened.

Nox emerged from Darwin's own shadow.

His blade was at Darwin's throat.

"I'm not trapped in here with you," Nox said quietly. "You're trapped in here with me."

He swung.