Chapter 159: A Familiar Fight

Jonah hit the street and started running. The rain stuck his dark hair to his forehead, but he didn’t feel the cold. He was completely focused on the end of the alley. He saw Draven, fighting off the wrong versions of Nyx and Maul. He saw Seraph, moving so fast and taking out soldiers with blue energy shots.

And he saw him. Subject Beta.

He stood in the middle of it all, completely untouched, his dead eyes watching the chaos he had unleashed.

Jonah slid to a stop, his boots slipping on the wet street. He was just outside the main firefight, partially hidden by the shadow of a large cargo container.

The fight was horrifying and strange.

Beta didn’t create. He didn’t weave essences or shape life. He just… used things. He pointed, and his broken puppets attacked. There was no synergy, no clever strategy, no bond between him and his Progeny. They were just weapons for him to use.

The corrupted Maul charged at Draven with a mindless roar. It swung its broken tusks in a wide, clumsy attack. Draven blocked the hit easily, his sword meeting the tusks with a loud CLANG. The force of the hit shook Draven’s arms, but the beast felt nothing. It just swung over and over, like a monster that only knew how to attack.

The wrong version of Nyx flew in a jerky way, its torn wings beating strangely. It shot dark energy at Seraph, making her hide. She shot back, and her blue energy hit one of its wings. The creature screamed a high, awful sound, but it kept coming. It was being controlled by someone else.

Jonah watched, feeling sick to his stomach. He was watching a terrible version of his own special power. Thorne and the Bureau hadn’t just copied his ability. They had taken the soul out of it. They had turned the beautiful art of creation into the crude, ugly act of manufacturing disposable weapons.

Subject Beta saw him.

His head turned and his is dead eyes looked right at Jonah. He did not seem to recognize him or be surprised. He just looked at him like a machine finding a new target.

He raised a hand and pointed at Jonah.

The corrupted Nyx immediately left Seraph alone. It turned in the air and shot at Jonah like a black arrow.

Jonah didn’t have time to think. He just reacted.

“Nyx!” he yelled.

A fast, silver-gray shape burst from his side. His own Nyx, healthy and strong, met the bad version in a messy crash of wings and claws. The two creatures tumbled through the air like a storm of light and shadow.

But this was exactly what Beta wanted. The moment Jonah called his own creature, Beta’s blank face almost showed a hint of something. A focused interest. He was studying, learning.

A sudden, sharp pressure hit Jonah’s mind. It wasn’t an attack. It was a scan. A weird feeling, like a machine trying to get information from him.

He’s trying to copy my connection, Jonah realized with a jolt of horror.

“Maul, now!” Jonah commanded.

The real Maul appeared next to Jonah with a ground-shaking roar. It was a terrifying beast of pure rage. It was twice as big as the evil copy that was still mindlessly attacking Draven.

When Beta saw the real Maul, a hint of what might have been surprise crossed his empty face. He clearly did not know how much power and rage a real one would have.

He immediately changed his tactics. He didn’t try to fight power with power. He simply pointed at the corrupted Maul. It stopped its attack on Draven and rushed at Jonah’s Maul with a wild and angry charge.

“He’s using it as a distraction,” Seraph yelled, seeing the move.

Jonah knew she was right. Beta was using his broken puppets in a cruel way, like they didn’t matter, which made Jonah feel sick. He was giving up his own creatures without caring, just to make a chance to attack.

While the two Mauls smashed into each other with a loud sound, Beta made his move. He didn’t attack Jonah himself. Instead, he turned his eyes to the side, to the twitching creature that had been his first evil creation.

He quickly flicked his wrist, and dark power went from his hand into the broken creature. The damaged Shard shook strongly. The deep breaks in its body started to glow with a flashing red light. It got up on its wobbly, broken legs.

It did not attack. It just ran forward, its broken shell making a rattling sound, and positioned itself directly in front of Jonah.

“It’s going to self-destruct!” Vanessa’s voice screamed over the comms. “He reactivated it! He turned the broken one into a bomb!!”

Jonah was forced to defend. The attacks weren’t powerful, but the whole thing was a nightmare. He had to fight evil copies of the creatures he had made. He had to destroy the things he had brought to life. It was a sick fight, meant to crush his spirit.

He threw himself out of the way just as the corrupted Shard blew up. BOOM! A wave of dark energy went through the alley, and both Maul and Draven had to hold their ground.

Jonah hit the ground hard and rolled on the wet street. He got up on one knee, and his ears were ringing. He was shaken, not by the explosion, but by how effective his enemy was.

He looked up and saw Subject Beta standing there. His expression still blank. Another corrupted Progeny, a wrong looking Echo, was already forming at his side

Jonah felt a rush of pure anger. This was not a fight. This was an insult. An insult to him, his creatures, and his special power.

He slowly got to his feet, his eyes glowing with a faint, golden light. He was done being on the defensive. He was done being horrified.

He was going to end this. And he was going to show this empty puppet the true difference between a tool and a creation.

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