God's Legacy

"Thud, thud, thud..."

Within the labyrinthine underground complex, the youths' ragged breathing and chaotic footsteps blended together. Behind them, heavy, dense footsteps pounded like war drums, accompanied by inhuman roars that relentlessly pursued them.

It was an army of over thirty Chimeras and cloned Mutants, far beyond the limit of what Miles could control in the current environment!

"Miles, can you make them back off?!" Rebecca shouted as she ran.

"No!" Miles fought back the growing dizziness. Madeleine's temperature on his back was terrifyingly high. "The suppression of psychic abilities here is too severe. I can't control this many!"

"Dani, what about you?"

"I... I'm still not very skilled with my ability..."

"Current enemy count: 136..." Aurora's duplicate spoke again. Clearly, the number of enemies was still increasing!

"Up ahead!"

Gideon cried out. At the end of the corridor ahead, more than twenty grotesque Chimeras appeared, completely blocking their path!

They were trapped between enemies, with no route of retreat!

"This way!"

Miles's eyes flashed. A tightly sealed alloy door beside them emitted a beep and slowly began to rise.

The others ducked under it one after another. Once Miles had passed through last with Madeleine on his back, he looked back at the Chimera Mutants about to rush inside. His psychic ability moved again, and before the alloy door could fully rise, it began descending, sealing off the passage entirely!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

A Chimera Mutant covered in spikes raised its hand and fired several long spines, which Miles narrowly dodged.

The spines embedded themselves in the nearby walls and pipes, giving off an eerie purple glow before exploding violently!

Boom! Boom! Boom...

The fierce explosions kicked up billowing smoke, and the shockwave sent them staggering in every direction.

"What was that thing that exploded just now?" Charlotte asked, still shaken.

"That Chimera was Barrage. It fused Hedgehog's ability to grow and fire Spike, along with Gambit's ability to charge things with energy and cause explosions. Every Spike he fires is an energy bomb!" As Miles spoke, his eyes shifted again!

The next instant, the Barrage Chimera outside the door suddenly stiffened. Then, with a low roar, dense purple bone spikes burst from all over its body and fired indiscriminately in every direction!

Clang!

The metal door finally shut completely.

Immediately afterward, a series of dull, rapid explosions erupted from behind the door. The entire floor shook violently, as though a small earthquake had struck.

The corridor fell temporarily quiet, leaving only the youths' heavy breathing.

"Works pretty well as a Claymore mine..." Miles muttered.

"Whew..."

With the temporary lull, the exhausted group finally relaxed a little.

Rebecca then stepped forward and asked, "Miles, where are we going next?"

"And what did you mean by that 'better plan'?"

"We'll talk as we walk." Carrying Madeleine, Miles endured the increasingly scorching heat against his back. He drew a deep breath and said slowly, "You all saw what happened just now. Who knows how many Chimera Mutants have been cultivated in this underground base, and we're still far from the exit... And don't forget, this is Obadiah's territory. He's definitely already sent people to block every exit. With just the few of us, forcing our way out clearly isn't realistic!"

"So what do we do?" Sam asked.

"So I'm planning to find someone in the base's containment sector." Miles explained, "The records from the data mainframe showed that even before us, Obadiah had secretly captured quite a few other Mutants with unusual abilities. After collecting their genes, he imprisoned them in several containment sectors. We need to find one of them!"

"Who are we looking for?" Rebecca pressed.

"A Mutant girl," Miles answered. "Obadiah's 'Spatial Teleportation' ability came from her!"

"Wait, you mean Obadiah's 'Spatial Teleportation' ability came from someone else?" Rebecca asked in shock. "Wasn't that originally Apocalypse's ability?"

"Because Obadiah and the original Apocalypse aren't exactly the same." Miles explained. "I don't know if Charles ever told you, but that Apocalypse's true core ability was actually only one thing: Consciousness Transference! He could transfer his consciousness into other Mutants' bodies, gain their abilities, and stack them on top of his existing powers. That was how he acquired so many powerful abilities over the long years!"

"Wait, Miles, are you saying..." Charlotte realized something and abruptly asked, "Obadiah Apocalypse only inherited the ability of Consciousness Transference?"

"...That wouldn't be entirely accurate."

As Miles led them onward, he gathered his thoughts and continued, "This starts with the battle between the X-Men and Apocalypse..."

"In that battle in Cairo, Egypt, Apocalypse's body was completely annihilated by the Phoenix Force. Nothing was left behind. Afterward, Dr. Nathaniel searched the site for half a year and found nothing, so he had no choice but to give up."

"However, what no one knew was that Dr. Nathaniel was a true genius! By investigating Egyptian history, he discovered that Apocalypse had ruled Ancient Egypt for a long time. That gave him another idea—he set his sights on the Sacred Remains Apocalypse had left behind."

"Sacred Remains?" Gideon asked in confusion.

"Do you remember what I said earlier? Apocalypse's core ability was Consciousness Transference. He transferred his consciousness from his old body into a new one, gaining new abilities and becoming even stronger." Miles spoke as he walked with Madeleine on his back. "According to the records Dr. Nathaniel obtained, after each transfer, Apocalypse's old body would be mummified and preserved by the people of Ancient Egypt. Those were his Sacred Remains, or rather, his Shed Husks."

"Every time Apocalypse gained a new ability, it meant a new Sacred Remains would be produced. Judging by the variety of powers he displayed, there should have been quite a few. Even after all those long years, one or two should have remained preserved."

"Based on that speculation, Dr. Nathaniel spent over a decade successfully excavating several Apocalypse Sacred Remains from pyramid ruins in Egypt. Through researching those Sacred Remains, he initially cracked the secret of Apocalypse's Consciousness Transference!"

"And then... he became the second Apocalypse?" Charlotte asked instinctively.

"It wasn't that easy." Miles shook his head. "Apocalypse's genes were extremely unusual, almost impossible to replicate or fuse through conventional methods. Dr. Nathaniel spent a long time trying, but he never succeeded..."

Before Miles could finish, the heavy metal wall around the corner ahead suddenly caved inward. Accompanied by the shriek of twisting metal, several even more grotesque Chimera Mutants tore through the wall and charged at them!

Metal and flesh had fused across their bodies, and their claws raked the walls, throwing up blinding sparks.

Everyone's hearts clenched as they instinctively took fighting stances.

But Miles merely narrowed his eyes. The Chimeras were as if invisible hands had seized their throats, instantly freezing them in place in mid-charge, unable to move.

"Get out of the way!"

Sam roared and transformed into an energy cannonball once more, slamming straight into them!

Boom—!

A dull thunderous impact echoed through the narrow passage, whipping up a violent gust. The foremost Chimera Mutant's body cracked apart on impact as it staggered backward, sending several behind it flying from the tremendous force.

"Whew..." After landing again, Sam took a hard breath. After battle upon battle, his legs had begun trembling uncontrollably.

"No time, move!" Miles urged them. His face looked no better, clearly showing that repeatedly using his abilities to suppress the enemy had drained him badly.

While the young people continued fleeing, in another laboratory within the underground base—

Purple light flashed as space tore open into a doorway. Obadiah Apocalypse emerged slowly, his body covered in horrific injuries, with Ms. Reyes hanging from one hand.

The researchers who had remained there were horrified by the sight.

"Lord Obadiah... how did you..."

"Activate the Gene Conduction Device. Now."

At Obadiah's command, the entire laboratory sprang into motion! One machine after another began operating at full capacity. Indicator lights flashed continuously as systems performed self-checks and then entered optimal condition.

"Stabilization chamber ready!"

"Gene restraint unit ready!"

"Stimulation device ready!"

Obadiah casually threw Reyes onto the floor, then slowly stepped forward and lay down in the cold chair at the center of the machinery. One after another, rubber tubes floated through the air and connected themselves to his body.

Several Adamantium needles attached to conduits then slowly pierced his chest, arms, and neck.

On the sample rack, several test tubes filled with blood rose one by one and slowly slid into the sample slots behind the machine.

Each test tube bore the name of a Mutant, including "James Howlett" (Wolverine), "Clarice Fong" (Blink), "James Proudstar" (Warpath), "Betsy Braddock" (Psylocke), and many others.

Then Obadiah fixed his gaze on a test tube labeled "Madeleine Pryor." He hesitated briefly before guiding that tube into a slot as well!

"Mr. Obadiah!" One of the researchers could not help reminding him, "In your current condition... can you really bear so many kinds of genes at once?"

Obadiah himself, however, did not seem concerned.

"Do it. Begin."

After shaking off the enemies again, Charlotte hurriedly asked, "Then what happened? Did that doctor successfully replicate Apocalypse's genes?"

"He didn't, but... what happened was even more terrifying." Miles took a breath and continued. "After his research failed, Dr. Nathaniel settled for the next best thing and began studying Consciousness Transference itself. Then... he succeeded!"

"He ultimately invented a Metempsychosis technique that could be applied to all humans. This technology could allow a person's consciousness and memories to be completely reborn in a new body!"

"Compared to true Consciousness Transference, Metempsychosis could not preserve the primary consciousness's original abilities, so it could not make someone endlessly stronger. But the most terrifying part was that Metempsychosis was not a Mutant ability—it was a genetic technology applicable to everyone!"

At this point, Charlotte, Rebecca, and the others' expressions finally changed.

"Changing into a new body..." Sam murmured. "Isn't that basically immortality?"

"Then..." Charlotte said instinctively, "Dr. Nathaniel is still alive?"

"He must be!" Miles stated with certainty. "His body may die, but his mind and consciousness have become something close to immortal! As long as he keeps changing bodies, he'll never die!"

"Actually, Charles should be able to do something similar besides Apocalypse. But what made Dr. Nathaniel so terrifying was that, up until the day his body died, he was still an ordinary human! He truly achieved the feat of a mortal body rivaling a god!"

"As for Obadiah Apocalypse... his situation is different." Miles continued. "As Nathaniel's heir, he was never taught the Metempsychosis technique. After Dr. Nathaniel developed the complete theory of Metempsychosis, he never revealed it to anyone else."

"Even so, Mr. Obadiah relied on intelligence no less remarkable than his father's to reverse-engineer some of Metempsychosis's principles from the materials Dr. Nathaniel left behind. Then he inherited the research on the Apocalypse Sacred Remains, and ultimately... he successfully implanted the residual genes from Apocalypse's Shed Husk into himself, gaining some of Apocalypse's abilities. That was how Obadiah Apocalypse came to be!"

"Perhaps because the genes from the Apocalypse Sacred Remains were incomplete, Obadiah did not gain Apocalypse's true Consciousness Transference ability. But he did gain Apocalypse's ability to bear multiple Mutant powers and bring them to their utmost potential: the Apocalypse Body. That was why his body became so similar to Apocalypse's."

"If Dr. Nathaniel obtained the god's soul, then Mr. Obadiah obtained the god's body! If either of them could combine the two, he would become the true Perfect Apocalypse—his consciousness undying and his body eternal!"

"And now, although the Apocalypse Body alone is incomplete, it is already enough for Obadiah. As a top geneticist, he has no need to seize other Mutants' bodies through an inefficient method like Consciousness Transference. He can directly expand his arsenal of abilities by researching and fusing other Mutants' genes, becoming a true second-generation Apocalypse! The genetic collapse caused when Chimera Mutants fuse different genes does not exist for someone with the Apocalypse Body!"

"Of course, because his abilities are incomplete, the Mutant powers he acquires through genetic technology are not permanent. Every so often, he has to inject Mutant genes again to maintain his strength..."

"That's why he needs to keep collecting other Mutants' genes. He needs this method to make himself stronger!"

"That's why he hasn't displayed Molecular Manipulation, because Mutants with that ability are too rare. He still hasn't found a suitable target!"

"But aside from that, he has already collected many abilities: super strength, superhuman physique, regeneration, Spatial Teleportation, Telepathy, telekinesis... Every ability came from another Mutant!"

"And because he needs to continuously inject Mutant genes over a long period, he usually needs to collect enough genetic samples at one time for reserves. That was why the Mutants at the medical center had to have their blood drawn continuously for three months... And for certain Mutants with particularly unusual powers, Obadiah would directly imprison them in containment sectors, keeping them secretly as consumables for his power!"

Miles carried Madeleine, his eyes faintly glowing. "So, taking that into account, I searched the core data records for the source of Obadiah's Spatial Teleportation ability... The files showed that this ability came from a Mutant named Clarice Fong, and she is currently imprisoned in a containment sector roughly eight hundred meters directly below us!"

"If we can get her help and use her Spatial Teleportation ability, we can escape very easily!"