The air thickened, growing heavy and oppressive, as if the very atmosphere inside the Blackwood facility was pressing against them. The walls, once eerily still, began to shift, the fleshy veins retracting and pulsating like a living organism waking from hibernation.

Leon took a slow step forward, his electricity-infused senses crackling with warning. Something was down here. Something ancient, powerful, and aware of their presence.

"You… are not them."

The voice whispered again, not through sound, but directly into his mind. It wasn’t human. It wasn’t mechanical. It was something in between.

Leon gritted his teeth and fought back the static crawling through his nerves. “Everyone stay close,” he murmured, scanning the darkness ahead.

Eric’s grip on his shotgun was white-knuckled. “I don’t like this. I really don’t like this.”

Dr. Carter, still transfixed on the grotesque half-formed corpses encased in the walls, muttered under her breath. “These aren’t just failed experiments… This place isn’t a bunker, it’s a tomb.”

Then the walls moved.

A deep, rumbling groan vibrated through the entire structure, sending dust and debris trickling from above. The glowing veins flared red, and something slithered in the shadows ahead, something big.

Leon flicked his wrist, electricity sparking to life in his palm. "Weapons ready."

A low growl echoed from the abyss in front of them, followed by the sickening sound of flesh tearing and bones grinding.

Then it emerged.

The creature was massive, a grotesque amalgamation of rotting flesh, metal plating, and glowing bio-matter, its form constantly shifting as if it was still evolving. Its arms were elongated and jagged, with bone spikes protruding like crude weapons. Half of its face was human, but the other half was something monstrous, a twisted fusion of mechanical implants and raw mutation.

Its voice, when it spoke, was a garbled mixture of human speech and synthetic distortion.

"You are… uninvited."

Leon barely had time to react before it lunged.

Leon dodged at the last second, the creature’s razor-sharp appendage smashing into the ground, leaving a crater where he had just stood. Sparks flew as his boots skidded against the floor.

Eric fired his shotgun. The blast hit the creature’s shoulder, sending chunks of mutated flesh and metal flying, but the wound sealed itself almost instantly, the red veins across its body pulsing as it regenerated.

“Regeneration?!” Eric cursed, pumping another round.

Dr. Carter ducked behind a rusted console, desperately scrolling through data on her tablet. “It’s… absorbing energy from the facility itself! If we don’t sever the link...”

Leon didn’t wait to hear the rest. His hands crackled with lightning, and with a snarl, he launched a surge of electricity directly at the creature’s chest.

The energy slammed into it, making the abomination stagger back, its limbs twitching and convulsing. But instead of falling…

It laughed.

A horrific, distorted laughter, as if a dozen voices were overlapping.

"Electricity… It feels… familiar…"

Leon’s eyes widened as realization struck. This thing had absorbed an evolved core before. It wasn’t just regenerating, it was adapting.

Leon gritted his teeth. If electricity won’t kill it, I need to overload it.

He turned to Dr. Carter. “How do we sever its connection?”

She was already working frantically. “There’s a backup generator still running beneath us! It’s the main power source for this floor. If you overload it with your electricity, you might disrupt the energy flow, cutting off its regeneration!”

Leon didn’t hesitate. “Cover me!”

Eric fired another shot, aiming for the creature’s legs to slow it down. The monster shrieked, its voice warping as it lashed out in fury. A massive, bladed tendril shot toward Eric’s head.

Leon reacted instantly, summoning a surge of electricity into his palm and hurling it forward. The lightning bolt struck the tendril mid-air, causing it to spasm violently and miss its target by inches.

“GO!” Leon shouted.

Dr. Carter sprinted toward the control panel while Leon dashed past the creature, evading another wild strike. His eyes locked onto a reinforced hatch at the far end of the chamber, the entrance to the power core.

The monster screamed in rage, its form shifting even more. It was desperate to stop them.

Leon knew he had only one chance.

He tore the hatch open and jumped inside, landing in a room filled with humming machinery. The core pulsed with raw energy, a massive containment unit filled with unstable electrical charge.

Leon reached out, his hands surging with power.

"I hope this works."

With a deep breath, he channeled every ounce of his ability into the generator.

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The room erupted in blinding blue light.

A shockwave of pure electricity exploded outward, surging through the entire facility. The walls cracked, the pulsating veins sizzled and burned, and above...

The creature screamed.

The regenerative red glow vanished as its connection was severed.

Leon staggered back, his vision blurring. He had used too much energy, his body burning from the inside out, but he couldn’t stop now.

Eric saw the monster stumble, its flesh deteriorating rapidly.

Now was the time.

Eric fired a final shot, hitting it directly in the exposed core of its chest.

The creature let out a final, unearthly wail before collapsing, its body disintegrating into ash.

The bunker fell into silence.

Dr. Carter exhaled, barely believing it was over. “That… was close.”

Leon swayed, exhaustion crashing into him like a tidal wave. His body screamed in protest, his energy reserves nearly depleted.

Eric rushed over, gripping his shoulder. “You okay?”

Leon gave a weak smirk. “I’ve been worse.”

They looked around at the now quiet, ruined bunker. The walls no longer pulsed, the veins fading to black.

Whatever had been here… was finally dead.

As the dust settled, Dr. Carter noticed something. In the ashes where the creature had fallen…

A core.

But this one was different. It wasn’t just a normal evolved core. It was something more.

Leon’s eyes darkened. He could feel the power radiating from it.

"This… is just the beginning."

***

The bunker was silent, too silent. The remnants of the battle still lingered in the air, the scent of burnt flesh and discharged energy filling the ruined facility. Leon’s body ached, the aftershock of his electrical surge leaving his limbs heavy, his vision swimming with exhaustion.

Yet, his eyes were locked on the core resting in the pile of ashes.

It was unlike anything he had seen before. The other evolved cores they had encountered were smaller, more defined, but this one pulsed like a living heart, its color shifting between deep crimson and electric blue. It radiated raw energy, an almost magnetic pull toward it.

Eric crouched beside him, breathing heavily. "That… doesn't look normal."

Dr. Carter adjusted her glasses, her fingers trembling slightly as she scanned it with her device. "This isn’t just an evolved core… it’s something else entirely."

Leon reached out, but before he could touch it, a deep vibration rumbled through the bunker.

Then, the voice returned.

"You were not meant to take it."

A cold chill ran down his spine. The voice was neither male nor female, neither human nor artificial, it was ancient, layered with something inhuman.

And it came from within the core itself.

Leon hesitated for a split second. Then, with a firm grip, he took the core in his hand.

The moment he did, pain exploded through his body.

His veins ignited with raw power, his mind splitting apart as something poured into him, not just energy, but knowledge, instincts, a presence.

Flashes of memories, but they weren’t his.

A lab. A failed experiment. A body, twisted into something monstrous.

A figure, clad in a black coat, watching with glowing eyes.

A whisper in the dark: "You will become more."

Leon’s body arched as the energy overwhelmed him, his hands trembling violently. His electricity, once a controlled force, now crackled wildly around him, his eyes flickering with an unnatural glow.

Then, suddenly, it stopped.

Leon collapsed to one knee, gasping for breath. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, but something was different.

His power felt… changed.

Stronger. Refined.

Eric stepped forward cautiously. “Leon? You okay?”

Leon exhaled slowly and stood up.

Then, he vanished.

For a brief second, he had blinked across the room, appearing ten feet away in an instant. Sparks flickered around him, but this wasn’t just speed.

It was something else.

Dr. Carter’s eyes widened. "That core… it’s evolved your abilities. You've gained something entirely new."

Leon clenched his fist, feeling the raw potential coursing through his veins. His electricity was different now, it wasn’t just raw energy, it had become something faster, more fluid, more lethal.

"This is just the beginning."

***

While Leon was processing his transformation, Eric’s gaze was drawn back to the remaining ashes. Something else glimmered inside.

Another core.

But this one was smaller, pulsating with a darker hue, almost like liquid shadow trapped inside a crystalline shell.

Dr. Carter picked it up, her breath hitching. "This one… it’s different from Leon’s. The energy is… unstable, but adaptable."

Eric crossed his arms. “And that means?”

Dr. Carter hesitated. “It might enhance someone in a completely different way."

Eric eyed the core, then looked at Leon, who was still testing his newfound abilities, lightning flickering across his fingertips.

He made a decision.

Without a second thought, he grasped the core.

The effect was immediate.

A dark pulse of energy surged through him, not crackling like Leon’s electricity, but flowing like liquid fire through his veins.

His breathing became shallow, his body rigid as something restructured itself within him.

Then, his vision shifted.

For a split second, he saw everything. The movements of the air, the flow of energy, the tension in every muscle of his teammates.

And then it hit him, his reflexes had evolved.

His body felt lighter, faster, his perception heightened to unnatural levels.

When he exhaled, it was as if the entire world had slowed down.

He clenched his fists and smirked. “Oh yeah. This’ll do.”

Dr. Carter, still reeling from what had just happened, turned back to the ruined bunker. There was something else here, something they hadn’t uncovered yet.

She scanned the surroundings and her eyes landed on a sealed door, half-buried beneath debris. A faded symbol was etched onto it, one she had seen before in old research documents.

Her heart pounded.

“This isn’t over.” She turned to the others. “We need to see what’s behind that door.”

Leon and Eric exchanged a glance, their newfound powers still settling into their bodies.

Then, without hesitation, Leon raised his electrified hand, and Eric readied his enhanced reflexes.

“Then let’s finish what we started.”

The tension thickened as Leon stepped toward the sealed door. Sparks of electricity arced between his fingertips, illuminating the faded emblem burned into the metal. Dr. Carter ran her hand over the etched symbol, her brows furrowing as recognition flickered across her face.

"This insignia… it belonged to Project Revenant."

Eric stiffened. "And what the hell is that?"

Dr. Carter took a breath, her voice uneasy. "A classified experiment. Something that was meant to..."

A sudden shockwave ripped through the bunker. The ground shook violently, dust and debris raining down from the cracked ceiling.

Then, a sound.

A deep, guttural snarl.

Something was awake.

Leon turned sharply, his enhanced senses picking up movement. From beyond the rubble, from the unseen depths of the facility, something stirred.

Then, a metallic scraping.

It wasn't a natural sound. It was slow, deliberate. Like claws dragging across steel.

Eric immediately unslung his weapon, his muscles tense. "Tell me that was just some collapsing debris."

Dr. Carter’s expression darkened. "No… something's down here with us."

The sound grew louder.

Then came the whisper.

A chilling, distorted voice echoed through the darkened halls.

"You should not have come here."

A sudden slam against the sealed door made Leon jerk back. The metal buckled, a deep dent appearing as if something had struck it with immense force.

Then, another hit.

Eric took a step back, gripping his gun tighter. “Tell me we can get out of here.”

Leon clenched his fists, his electricity crackling violently. "No. We're not running this time."

Then, the door burst open.

The air turned ice-cold, and from the darkness beyond, something stepped forward.

A figure, twisted and wrong.

Human once. But now… something more.

Its eyes glowed with an unnatural, predatory hunger. Its limbs elongated, claws gleaming like sharpened metal. Veins pulsed with an eerie black energy.

It smiled.

And then, in a voice filled with malice, it spoke...

"I've been waiting for you, Leon."