Apocalypse System: I Evolve by Devouring Everything

Alpha Legion

The air around the ruined harbor suddenly went static. Dust particles and concrete debris floating in the air stopped moving completely, as if time itself knelt before a newly awakened authority. Jonathan felt every atom in his body vibrating violently, not from pain, but from a flow of energy too pure for a human soul to contain.

"Hey, System! What the hell? Why did everything stop?!" Jonathan shouted inside the void of his consciousness.

[100% Synchronization Achieved. Entering Zero-Point Phase.]

[Authority of the King of Destruction: Active.]

[World calibrating to welcome the Alpha.]

"I don't need calibration! I'm about to get decapitated by a girl who looks like my ex! Cancel the freeze now!"

[Command Accepted. Resuming Time Flow...]

ZZZT!

The world moved again in an instant. Sienna's white light sword slashed down at the speed of sound toward Jonathan’s neck. But before the energy blade touched his skin, Jonathan moved two fingers reflexively.

CLANG!

A sharp metallic ring echoed. Jonathan caught the massive sword with just his index finger and thumb.

"What?! Impossible!" Sienna’s eyes widened, her arm muscles tensing as she tried to push the sword harder.

"You said you wanted to kill me, Sienna? After everything I went through?" Jonathan’s voice was now heavy, echoing like thousands of voices speaking at once.

"You're not Jonathan anymore! You're just a shell for something that will burn this entire world!" Sienna jumped back, keeping her distance while catching her breath.

"I'm still here, damn it! I still feel hungry, I still feel angry, and I still remember how you betrayed me!" Jonathan stood up slowly. The black leather armor newly grown on his body glowed dark purple, adjusting to his now much more muscular and intimidating physique.

"Jon, listen to me! I'm not the Sienna you knew at the office! I'm the real Sienna, forced by Silas to be a test subject before you! The Sienna you dated for three years was just an organic clone programmed to monitor your DNA!" Sienna shouted, her sword glowing brighter.

"You think I'll believe that crap? Hilarious. Reymond said it, Silas said it, now you too? I'm tired of your family drama!" Jonathan dashed. His speed was now truly untrackable by the naked eye.

BOOM!

Jonathan slammed his fist toward Sienna. She managed to block with her energy shield, but the impact caused the ground beneath them to sink two meters.

"Crazy... this power... you've really crossed the line, Jon!" Sienna coughed, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

"Lines are for the weak, Sienna! And I'm done being weak!" Jonathan grabbed Sienna by the neck, lifting her into the air. "Now tell me, why should I let you live?"

"B-because... if I die... you won't be able to control the system... you'll become a mindless monster in ten minutes..." Sienna gasped, her hands trying to pry off Jonathan’s steel grip.

"Ten minutes, huh? Enough time to flatten this city if I want," Jonathan grinned wildly.

"Jon... stop..."

A weak voice came from the ruins. Emma woke up, staring at the horrifying scene in front of her with terrified eyes. She saw Jonathan, looking like an ancient demon, strangling a beautiful woman.

"Emma? You still alive?" Jonathan loosened his grip, dropping Sienna to the asphalt.

"Jon, that... why do you look like that? You're scary..." Emma sobbed, trembling at the black aura enveloping Jonathan.

"This is for us, Em. So no one dares step on us again," Jonathan tried to approach, but every step cracked and burned the asphalt around him.

"Stay back! You're not the Jonathan I know! Jon never had red eyes like that!" Emma backed away, her face showing pure fear.

"Damn... this 100% effect makes me look like a monster to her."

[Warning! High Authority Presence Detected in Atmosphere.]

[The Cleaners: Main Fleet Arrived.]

Jonathan looked up at the sky. The swirling black clouds split open, revealing a massive disc-shaped mothership covering almost the entire city sky. Thousands of combat drones descended like a rain of bees ready to sting anything below.

"Great. The toys are back," Jonathan clenched his fist, letting Alpha energy overflow.

"Jon! You can't fight them alone! That's a planet-destroyer fleet!" Sienna stood beside Jonathan, still clutching her bruised neck.

"Planet-destroyer fleet? Cool name. I want to see how strong they are against the King of Destruction," Jonathan replied arrogantly.

"You are so arrogant! They have anti-matter weapons! One shot and you'll be atomic dust!" Sienna pulled Jonathan’s arm. "Come with me! There's an underground facility with shields! We have to save Emma first!"

"I'm done running, Sienna. I'm tired of running," Jonathan shook off Sienna’s hand. "Emma, get in that bunker with her. I'll handle the giant frisbee up there."

"No! I won't leave you alone!" Emma screamed loudly.

"Listen to me, Em! Just this once! I promise I'll come back. But I have to finish them so they don't chase us forever!" Jonathan looked at Emma with a slightly softer gaze, though his eyes still burned red.

"Promise, Jon? Promise you'll stay human?" Emma looked at him hopefully.

"I promise. Now go!"

Sienna grabbed Emma’s hand and ran toward a hidden steel door behind a pile of containers. Jonathan stood alone in the middle of the harbor, facing a sky now filled with laser flashes.

[Main Mission: Destroy 'The Cleaners' Mothership.]

[Reward: Key to Transcendent Stage Evolution.]

[Warning: 99.9% Risk of Death.]

"Nice odds. I like impossible challenges," Jonathan laughed loudly, his laughter echoing across the harbor.

Suddenly, a heavy voice came from his newly active communication system. "Subject 00, this is a final warning. Surrender the Alpha Core voluntarily, or we will wipe this city off the map."

"Hey, who are you? The boss of these tin cans?" Jonathan asked, cracking his neck.

"I am General Zax of the Galactic Federation. Your existence is an anomaly endangering dimensional stability. We will not allow a virus like you to spread further."

"Virus, huh? Okay, General Zax. I'll show you what an Alpha virus infection feels like!"

Jonathan leaped into the air. He didn't fall, but hovered with a thrust of black energy from his feet. He shot straight toward the mothership in the sky at a speed that created a sonic boom behind him.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Hundreds of drones tried to block him with laser fire, but Jonathan just waved his hand, creating a shockwave that crushed the drones like swatting flies.

"System! Activate Mode: God Slayer!"

[Mode God Slayer: Active.]

[Consuming 1% Vitality per second.]

[Open Space Authority.]

Jonathan appeared in front of the mothership's energy shield. He placed his palm on the blue glowing barrier.

"Anti-matter, right? Taste this, pure energy from ten years of my pain!"

Black light exploded from Jonathan’s hand. The supposedly impenetrable shield cracked and shattered. Jonathan entered through the hole and landed on the ship's deck, vast as several football fields.

"Is this all your defense?!" Jonathan shouted.

Hundreds of soldiers in silver armor poured out of automatic doors, aiming long rifles at him. "Freeze! Hands up or we shoot!"

"Shoot me? With what? Those plastic toys?" Jonathan smirked.

Without waiting for an answer, the soldiers fired simultaneously. Thousands of laser bullets rained down on Jonathan. But Jonathan just stood there. The bullets stopped centimeters from his body, held by an incredibly strong Alpha Domain.

"My turn," Jonathan said quietly.

He flicked his finger like strumming a guitar string. The laser bullets suddenly reversed direction and shot back at the soldiers with double the speed.

"AAAAARRRGGGHHH!"

The deck turned into a slaughterhouse in seconds. Jonathan walked calmly over piles of destroyed silver armor toward the ship's control center.

"General Zax! Come out! Don't be a coward in the AC room!"

The control room door opened. A tall man with gray skin and four eyes looked at Jonathan with disgust. He held a staff emitting black energy similar to Jonathan’s.

"You think you're special because you have that system? You are just one of thousands of our test subjects across various planets," Zax said with a calm yet oppressive voice.

"Oh yeah? Then why do you look panicked? Your four eyes can't lie, Zax," Jonathan mocked.

"Panicked? No. I just regret having to destroy a specimen with such potential." Zax raised his staff. "But rules are rules. Destruction begins now."

Suddenly, the mothership floor shook violently. Jonathan felt his energy being sucked downward.

[Warning! Energy Absorption Trap Active!]

[This floor is an Alpha Siphon Core!]

"Damn! You trapped me?!" Jonathan tried to jump, but his feet were glued to the metal floor.

"This is a 'Siphon' class mothership. The entire structure is designed to harvest energy from creatures like you. The more you fight, the faster your energy drains to charge our main cannon aiming at the city below," Zax smiled coldly.

"I won't let you shoot that city! Emma is down there!" Jonathan roared, trying to pull his legs with all his might.

"Too bad. Your sacrifice will be very useful for our Federation's progress. Thank you for the energy, Jonathan."

The large screen in the control room showed the main cannon glowing bright red, ready to unleash a beam of annihilation toward the harbor ruins where Emma and Sienna were hiding.

"System! Do something! Anything!"

[Available Option: Alpha Core Overload.]

[Risk: Explosion will destroy this ship and a 50 km radius.]

[Host Survival Chance: 0.0001%.]

"If I die, the city gets destroyed too?"

[Negative. You can direct the blast upwards, into the atmosphere, but it will incinerate every cell in your body.]

Jonathan went silent for a moment. He looked at the screen displaying Emma’s bunker coordinates. He remembered his last promise to the little girl.

"I'll stay human, Em... even if just for one more second."

Jonathan closed his eyes. He stopped fighting the energy pull from the floor. Instead, he forced all his energy out.

"Hey, Zax! You want energy? Here, eat it all until you puke!"

"What are you doing?! Stop! The storage capacity will explode!" Zax panicked, frantically messing with the control panel.

"Too late, Bastard! We blow up together!"

Jonathan’s body began to glow blinding white. The massive mothership groaned loudly, bolts popping off one by one from unbearable energy pressure.

"NO! STOP!" Zax screamed hysterically.

"System... delete all data about me after this. So Emma doesn't have to remember her brother was a monster," Jonathan whispered.

[Command Accepted. Goodbye, Host Jonathan.]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

A giant light swallowed the city sky. The explosion was so massive that the dark night turned as bright as day. The mothership shattered into pieces, becoming a firework of death decorating the horizon.

Moments later, silence fell.

In the harbor ruins, Emma slowly stepped out of the bunker. She looked up at the empty sky. No more mothership, no more drones. Only hot metal fragments falling like black snow.

"Jon? Where are you?!" Emma shouted, her voice hoarse calling out in the silence.

Sienna stood beside her, staring at the sky blankly. "He did it... he was actually crazy..."

Suddenly, something fell from the sky and hit a sand pile nearby. Emma immediately ran toward it.

"Jon!"

Emma stopped in front of a charred object. It wasn't Jonathan’s body. It was a small triangular metal chip, just like the one installed by the man in the black suit. The chip pulsed weakly with fading purple light.

And above the chip, a final holographic message appeared:

[STATUS: HOST NOT DETECTED.]

[AUTOMATIC REINCARNATION PROCEDURE: INITIATED.]

[LOCATION: UNKNOWN COORDINATES.]

Suddenly, the ground beneath Emma’s feet opened again. But this time, no tentacles came out. Instead, a clean human hand, free of wounds, gripped the asphalt edge tightly.

Someone crawled out of the underground darkness.

Emma froze. Sienna drew her sword again.

"Who's there?!" Sienna shouted warily.

The figure stood tall under the moonlight just emerging from behind the clouds. He wore no armor, had no red eyes, and didn't look like a monster. He was just an ordinary man in a torn office shirt.

He turned to Emma and smiled faintly.

"I'm hungry, Em. Got any food?"

Emma was stunned, tears welling up. "Jon?"

But the man didn't answer. He stared at his own hand, which was slowly turning transparent, revealing digital circuits flowing beneath his skin.

"Where... where am I?" he muttered confusedly.

Suddenly, thousands of figures identical to the man began emerging from the shadows of the buildings around them. All had Jonathan’s face. All looked at Emma with the exact same smile.

"We are all Jonathan," they said in unison.

Sienna stepped back, her face pale. "Oh, no... the system wasn't destroyed. It just... spread itself to the entire population."

The message on the metal chip suddenly turned bright red:

[NEW EVOLUTION STAGE REACHED: ALPHA LEGION.]

[WE ARE ONE. ONE IS US.]

And at that moment, every remaining resident of the city in their hideouts suddenly opened their eyes. All with the same purple pupils.

Emma screamed as she felt a chill run down her spine. She looked at her own hand, and there, a number began appearing under her skin.

[SYNCHRONIZATION: 0.1%...]

Her world screen suddenly turned pitch black.