The explosion was a blinding, roaring wall of fire. The deadly gel ignited in the narrow tunnel. A massive wave of orange flames and crushing heat rushed straight toward the terrified civilians and the exhausted soldiers. Commander Oliver did not have time to move his people. He did not have time to build a wall. He stepped directly in front of his mother, Elise. He stepped in front of his squad. He threw his arms wide open. Oliver pushed every drop of dark magic into his black metal right arm. The alien steel glowed with a fierce, blinding purple light. He thrust his metal palm forward and met the roaring fire head-on. The blast hit him like a speeding train. The flames washed over his black armor. The intense heat scorched the metal on his face. He stood his ground. He acted like a physical shield, splitting the wave of fire perfectly in half. The deadly flames rushed past him on the left and the right, burning the stone walls but completely missing the soft, fragile humans hi

Boom. Boom. Boom.The giant rusted metal door at the bottom of the empty riverbed shook. The sound echoed heavily across the dark underground cavern. Commander Oliver stood on the high stone bridge. Half of his face and his entire right arm were made of smooth, pitch-black Wraithborn metal. In the very center of his chest, the alien black coin pulsed. Suddenly, the coin flared. A sharp, burning heat spread through Oliver's ribs. Oliver closed his eyes. The purple map inside his head grew a hundred times clearer. It was not just glowing lines anymore. He saw deep through the dark rock. He saw hidden rooms. He saw glowing red traps waiting in the shadows. He saw massive staging zones packed with thousands of sleeping monsters. "The coin is speaking faster," Oliver said smoothly. His metallic voice was perfectly calm. "It is giving me the complete blueprint of the enemy's world."Lira, the pale-eyed ghost woman, floated beside him. "Do not listen to it! It is showing you too much! It

The perfect clone floated above the broken bone bridge. Red fire poured from its eyes. The Overlord controlled this stolen human face. It raised the black glass spear, ready to strike Commander Oliver. "I will erase you," the clone whispered. The dark voice shook the massive cavern. Oliver did not speak. He did not draw his gun. He did not run complex equations out loud. He simply watched the clone’s shoulders. He looked at the red mist swirling under the clone's boots. The mist was lifting the clone into the air. The mist was the power source. Oliver drew his sharp titanium combat knife. The clone lunged forward. The black glass spear stabbed straight at Oliver's heart. It moved incredibly fast. Oliver did not block the heavy spear. He stepped exactly three inches to the left. The deadly glass weapon passed right by his ear, slicing a tiny cut on his cheek. Oliver did not blink. He stepped smoothly inside the clone's guard, right into the red mist. With his black metal right ha

The massive green lines on Oliver’s sonar visor pulsed brightly. The walls around them were breathing. The floor beneath the thick purple ice was breathing. They were standing inside the throat of the Overlord. Sergeant Miller stepped forward on the ice. He looked around in the pitch blackness. "Commander. What do you see? Why did we stop?""Do not speak loudly," Oliver commanded. His metallic voice was a tiny, cold whisper. "The cavern walls are biological. We are inside the enemy."The human soldiers froze. Private Davis dropped his rifle slightly. His hands shook. "Inside him? We walked into his mouth? Boss, we have to go back!""We cannot go back," Oliver stated flatly. "The entrance is miles behind us. The ice will not hold forever. We must go forward.""Forward into its stomach?!" General Vega hissed. "The Overlord’s core intelligence must be housed centrally," Oliver explained cleanly. "If we are inside his physical form, we have a direct path to his brain. We will cut it ou

The heavy metal boats drifted on the pitch-black water. There was no light. There was no sound. The deep, flooded cavern was completely dead. Commander Oliver stood at the very front of the lead boat. His body was awake. The dark magic had rebooted his heart. The black alien metal now covered almost his entire face. Only his human gray eye remained. His other eye burned with a bright, evil red fire. He held the alien black coin in his metal hand. Billy had given it back to him. Only Oliver was strong enough to hold it. "The water is too deep," Billy whispered from the second boat. His hands shook as he held his cracked computer tablet. "My radar is blind. The magic in the water is blocking all our cameras.""Keep your guns raised," Oliver commanded softly. His voice was a cold, robotic hum in the dark. "I will be your eyes."Oliver closed his human eye. He turned on the sonar inside his helmet. A thin wave of green digital light swept across his dark visor. It bounced off the cave