BLOOD MUTANT SYSTEM.-Chapter 440: CH: THE BETTER VERSIONS

[Planet Grania]

[Gravax’s Warehouses]

To call them warehouses would have been a gross understatement.

The structures built by the Granian Lord—now the second-highest-ranking Granian, second only to Lord Grania himself—looked nothing like ordinary storage facilities.

These complexes, as massive as they were eerie, were nothing less than Granian manufacturing plants.

What had once been a natural process—performed by female Granians within their communities over years of nurturing and care—had now been replicated and dehumanized to a large-scale, automated system that produced instant soldiers devoid of personality or individuality.

Why?

Because the Granians always resorted to desperate measures whenever they were pushed against a wall.

Abducting humans.

Creating Blood Mutants.

Foolishly experimenting with black holes.

Teaching their soldiers the sacred, forbidden ways of Eneraflux.

Those were only a few examples of how far they were willing to go in order to win.

And now, they redirected all their strength, time, and resources recreating their own kind. The race that feared no one was now playing God, tampering with forces never meant for mortals.

’Glorious.’

The sight within one of the so-called "warehouses" was glorious—a testament to technological advancement and scientific breakthroughs.

And at the same time...deeply unsettling.

Hundreds of thousands of cylindrical containers filled with green liquids were arranged in endless rows across all three floors of each building.

Each floor had about one hundred thousand containers, and since there were three floors in each building, each carried three hundred thousand containers.

In those containers grew Lord Gravax’s greatest achievement of all time—cloned Granian soldiers.

These soldiers were engineered from the genes of some of the Granian race’s strongest warriors...along with DNA taken from Ace and Cherry, their strongest Blood Mutants.

Gifted with the physiques of elite Granians and enhanced by the regenerative properties of Blood Mutants, the clones were designed and destined to be the ultimate organisms for war.

All the clones were identical to each other, neither having any trait that would separate it from the other. They stood tall at eight feet, were engineered for speed, agility, and strength, and reinforced with scales thicker than natural-born Granians.

Their skin bore a gradient blend of black, gray, and red; evidence of DNA drawn primarily from the Black, Gray, and Red-Scaled tribes.

Their tails were thicker, longer, and more muscular, making them the perfect extra limbs for combat utility. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

But their faces...

That was where the unease truly began. Behind their fierce, reptilian yellow eyes, there was nothing. No spark. No presence. No soul.

Nothing.

They were striking, almost unnaturally so. Taller, stronger, and more refined than the average Granian. Their very existence was intimidating enough that many within the Granian race opposed their creation altogether.

The idea of a cloned version of oneself—a bigger, stronger, faster, superior in nearly every way—did not settle well with a portion of the Granian population.

But their opposition meant nothing. If anything, their resistance only fueled Lord Gravax’s maniacal resolve.

Even if they yelled, complained, or showed distaste toward the creation of clones, it wasn’t going to stop their production.

"Astounding," the Granian Lord grinned from ear to ear, staring proudly at his creations, "this is, by far, one of the greatest achievements of my life. At long last,I have unlocked the code to creating perfect clones. Not even the Yyerejites’ clones can compare to mine."

Currently, the Granian Lord stood in front of the first two prototypes he made, the ones whose DNA leaned more heavily toward Ace and Cherry’s than toward his own.

Because of that, they resembled something disturbingly close to a Human-Granian hybrid.

The male had short, curly ginger hair like Ace once had. The female’s hair was slightly longer, yet similar in shade. Their facial structures mirrored the Blood Mutant siblings in uncanny ways.

"Interesting," Gravax thought, "the Human DNA in these two clones is competing with the Granian DNA for dominion. It explains why they tend to look more like the siblings and less like us."

"What the hell am I looking at?"

From the grand entrance of the facility hovered the Blood Prince.

The young human male, wearing a disturbed, angered, and confused look, levitated past the many containers and observed the madness taking place.

Each container contained what looked like a Granian but...better. These versions, by looks alone, looked superior to the average Granian alien, a realization that perturbed the Blood Prince.

And the fact that the entire building was filled from top to bottom with the cylindrical containers continued to rub Ace the wrong way. What were the Granians doing? Why did they feel the need to make cloned versions of themselves?

’And the fact that they’re bigger and look stronger is troubling.’

After levitating for what felt like a minute, the Blood Prince and the red-scaled Granian Lord, Gravax, crossed paths. As soon as Gravax laid eyes on Ace, he smiled. Ace, on the other hand, frowned because what he saw next bothered him even more.

"Ace Underwood," Gravax greeted, flashing a toothy smile at the Blood Prince, "you’ve finally awoken. It seems your body wasn’t suitable to handle all that...power you showed."

Curiously, the Granian circled the Blood Prince as he poked him all over.

"You levitate now?" He wondered and then came to his own conclusion. "Judging by the veins bulging from your knees to your feet, I think you’re manipulating the blood in your body to lift the rest of you off the ground, correct?"

Ace wasn’t listening. He was fixated on the Granian clones that disturbingly looked like him. Aside from the fact that it has scaly skin, claws, a tail, and other lizard-like features, the clone and he were identical... except for the short, curly ginger hair it had in contrast to the long, crimson hair Ace had.

"What are you doing, Gravax?" He asked, unaware of how Gravax created the clones. "Why does this look like me? Why does the one next to it look like Cherry?"

"Well, isn’t it obvious?" Gravax grinned while facing the rest of the cylindrical containers. "Because of you and your siblings’ DNA, I finally cracked the code to creating the ultimate Granian warriors. Ace, you are looking at what your DNA and the many days of labor have resulted in. My second greatest creation."

"Second greatest?" Ace glared at the Granian, who glared back with an eerie smile. "What’s the first?"