“What - what is that?!” “What the fuck!?” Though well-trained, many of Carol Summers’ team still had slightly panicked reactions to this creature.

“Shut up and be on guard.” Carol Summers walked to the side to take up weapons stashed inside the walls as the creature banged the ceiling of the bunker over and over again. And in just a few minutes, the alarms inside the bunker started ringing.

“The exterior shield was depleted, it’s attacking the structure directly now.” One of the team members reported to Carol Summers: “At this rate, it will reach us within just a few minutes.”

“Prepare the blaster array, aim at it.” Carol Summers sighed and said.

“But Ms. Summers, at this close a range, we would be right inside the blast radius.”

“Just do it.” Carol Summers stared at the creature’s giant eyeball, and locked “eyes” with the pupil that targeted her. Then, after a brief moment, she pointed at three of her team members who were on standby: “You, close your eyes, and try to shut down your hearing. I will give you a signal when you can stop.”

“Yes, Ms. Summers.” The three team members did not know what it was, but they still complied.

With these three members closing their eyes and temporarily shutting down their hearing, three pupils disappeared from the creature’s huge eyeball.

“Okay.” Carol Summers signaled these three team members of hers to open their eyes, then she turned to her maid: “Do we have anything that could stream video to the outside world? Something like a wireless camera outside?”

“I think we do.” The maide nodded: “What are you thinking, Ms. Summers?”

“That we could have a shot to distract it, even just for a little bit, when we activate the blast array.” Carol Summers looked around at the interior of the bunker and said: “Now, prepare the protective shield! You still want to live after we blast this thing right!?”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Just when she announced this command, the skylight cracked up some more, to an extent where they almost could not see anything above the bunker but a giant shadow. The maid was already at a control panel, and she just activated a small program, which started a livestream on several of the social media accounts owned by Carol Summers’ firm, and later when she activated a certain command, these livestreams would be linked to the video feed of the cameras outside of this bunker. She already guessed what these could do, and it would probably bring great horror and even real danger to those who could be watching the livestreams not knowing what they were for, but she did not have the intentions to do anything about it.

“Blast array ready.” Just this moment, a soft female voice came through the internal loudspeaker.

“Blast shields, up.” The same female voice announced after a few seconds, when debris and small pieces of rock fell off from the ceiling.

“Come out! Come out!” The voice of the creature was innocent like a lonely child.

Carol Summers stood at the center of the bunker, with the rest of her team surrounding her. Several layers of energy bubble shield glimmered and flickered around them, serving as layers of protection for them from inside the bunker.

“Livestream.” The maid pressed a button on the control panel remotely using a simple spell.

The creature on top of the bunker was just about to unleash another strike at the bunker ceiling, but then it seemed to get distracted by something - possibly the camera, or possibly the energy from the blast array.

Before this creature could deliver another strike, a harpoon made of pure white and light golden energy, connected to two chains with the same composition impaled its giant eyeball, along with the ceiling of the bunker, and the energy bubble shield covering Carol Summers and her team and pierced through Carol Summers’ chest.

“What the - ”

“Boom!” The blash array was activated, even with some aiming, the explosive energy it released still completely decimated three quarters of the underground bunker. The creature, previously impaled by the harpoon and the chains, did not even get a chance to resist or escape before it was turned into mere ashes and smoke. The formation of Carol Summers and her team remained unchanged from the blast, not even shaken by a little bit. It was as if the shock from the explosion was blocked off or absorbed by an invisible shield.

More strangely, not even one single drop of blood came out from Carol Summers’ body, even though the harpoon was buried into her chest, presumably having impaled her heart.

“Ms. Summers - Ms. Summers!” The maid tried to check on Carol Summers, and immediately realized that she seemed to have gone into some sort of state of paralysis or stasis, so she assumed command and started issuing orders to the team: “Stand guard! Take turns. And fortify the ground around us - I don’t want us buried.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Beverly Winters - I am the new holder of your name, therefore your path forward, your past, your present, and your future.” A gentle, and somewhat familiar voice resounded in Carol Summers’ head: “And I am here, offering you two choices of getting your name back and you no longer having to obtain new bodies to hold your soul. I have no use for your loyalty, your allegiance, or your sacrifice. All I need, is for you to make a choice.

“First option, you renounce your former self and become anew. Your old name will be burnt, and you will have a new name, a new soul, a new path;

“Second option, you atone for your crimes, and you renounce the easy ways out of your blood stained, cursed life. You still have everything, but you shall not rest, until you’ve paid your debt.

“Now, what say you?”