Leo had only just begun to recover from the blood transfusion when the voices around him grew louder— sharper, more frantic.
"It's the boy's family! They're trying to rescue him. Don't stop them—call off the guards. Let them walk into the chamber willingly. If we contain them, we can test all of them at once," one of the scientists said, his tone brimming with twisted excitement.
The words struck Leo like a bolt of lightning, every warning bell in his mind going off at once.
'Why are they here?' he thought, panic creeping in, as he began to restlessly struggle against his binds.
"It's too late," the second voice replied in a rising pitch. "There's no intercom, no way to contact them from here. I'd have to run to stop them manually—"
"You fool! I told you a hundred times to install basic intercoms. You're a disgrace of a disciple!" the first snapped.
"I'm sorry, Master. I'm unworthy—"
"Don't bow, run! Try to salvage the specimens if you can!"
Leo heard the hurried clatter of footsteps as one of them sprinted away.
He began to thrash against his restraints, heart pounding, breath quickening.
His body was still weak, but the thought of his family walking into the same nightmare as him, lit a fire inside him that overpowered pain and exhaustion alike.
"Arghhh stop squirming you rat… looks like your sedative is wearing off," the first voice said, as he walked towards Leo to give him yet another sedative injection, however, before he could, Leo suddenly broke free from one of his restraints, and used his free hand to break free of another.
"DON'T TOUCH MY FAMILY!" He lashed out in anger, as he jumped onto the frightened scientist and placed him in a chokehold, slowly draining the life out of him.
"Grgh…Kyaak–"
Squirming and thrashing, the scientist tried to claw at his arm with trembling fingers, his legs kicking weakly against the floor, but his resistance only prompted Leo to tighten the choke even more.
Leo's body was still trembling from the blood transfusion, every nerve raw, but his fury was stronger than his pain.
He didn't let go.
Not until the scientist's limbs were twitching in slow, fading spasms… and then they went completely still.
*Thud*
The lifeless body dropped to the floor, slumping sideways in a heap of crumpled robes and lab gear, as Leo rose unsteadily, his legs wobbling beneath him as he staggered toward the wall-mounted control console.
His fingers shook violently as he reached for the interface, pressing at random until the dusty screens flickered back to life.
A row of grainy visuals lit up in sequence covering everything from the facility corridors, security doors, various observation labs, to the exact area his family was currently fighting in, as Leo breathed a sigh of relief when he saw them.
The camera feed showed Amanda, Luke, Alia, Elena and Jacob being escorted through the eastern hallway.
Two guards flanked them with rifles drawn, while the second scientist led the way, talking animatedly as if preparing for a grand performance.
Leo's eyes narrowed.
He didn't need to hear the audio to know what was going on. They were being brought in for testing.
Without wasting a moment, Leo crouched beside the dead scientist and began stripping him of his robe, gloves, and mask. The coat was damp and smelled of blood and chemicals, but Leo pulled it on anyway.
Before grabbing the glasses and face covering as he finished the disguise.
At the same time, he activated [Mirror World].
A perfect illusion of himself materialized in front of the operating table, as Leo laid the clone down exactly where he had been and secured the restraints again, replicating the earlier position to the last detail.
From a distance, everything looked untouched and soon footsteps echoed in the hall right outside the lab.
Hurriedly, Leo stepped near a stack of instruments, hunched his shoulders, and lowered his head, mimicking the posture of a scientist running tests.
As the doors slid open with a–
*Hisss!*
"LEO—!" Amanda's voice cracked as she rushed forward, only to be struck across the face by the butt of a rifle.
She collapsed to her knees with a grunt of pain.
"Shut up, bitch," one of the guards muttered.
"That's enough," the second scientist said, raising a hand. "I'll take them from here."
The guards nodded and turned to leave, the heavy door sealing behind them.
"I did it, Master," the scientist said with a proud smile, turning toward Leo. "I saved them."
*Step*
*Step*
The second scientist stepped closer, lowering his head respectfully… However, right as he came within striking distance, Leo raised his hand and drove a scalpel straight through his throat.
[Kill Strike]
The man staggered back, gurgling in confusion, clutching at his neck as blood spilled across his robes.
Leo caught him before he hit the ground, whispering coldly.
"Shouldn't have gone after my family"
Before turning to face his family, who were all smiles and joy to see him.
"Leo, my baby!" His mother said first, running quickly to give him a hug, however, was unable to because of her restraints.
"Mother you're bleeding—" Leo replied in response, looking shocked as he hugged her before quickly looking for antiseptic to clean her wound, as he hurriedly began to treat her.
"Leo!"
"Leo~"
"Leo,"
"Leo"
The rest of his family members said, one after another, as Leo unshackled them after treating his mother and gave them all except their father a tight hug.
"Thank You so much for coming to save me, I'm sorry to put you all under so much trouble," Leo apologized heartily, as his brother gave him a tight smack on his head.
"Don't thank us… find a way for us to get out of here!" Luke said, as Leo's eyes sharpened once again.
"The lady who saved me, she did teach me a method to find her if I ever got seperated…. I guess I could give her a call–" Leo said, as he began searching for an external communication console within the lab's various control panels.
It took him a while, but eventually he did find it and sent out an SOS with his current location attached.
However, what he did not know was that the channel he sent the SOS out to, was not limited to Mu Fan only, but rather open to the whole Evil Cult network, with every Evil Cult operative within the same solar system, getting the alert.
As of all the mistakes he made, somehow this one just happened to be the worst of them all.
—---------
(Meanwhile, Mu Fan)
Mu Fan observed the emotions playing out across Leo's face with careful attention, her eyes scanning every twitch, every flicker in his expression, as though reading a battlefield for signs of a turning tide.
He looked shocked. He looked angry. He looked moved.
But he didn't look betrayed.
Not yet.
That part hadn't returned to him.
Not the memory of the final night. Not the memory of the deal she made.
*Gulp*
She gulped hard, as the fear of his memories returning scared her.
Her hand trembled faintly as she pressed more mana into the memory retrieval circuit, praying as she waited for his anger to show.
'I only did what I had to. For the cult. For the mission. For him.'
Her gaze softened, but the weight in her chest only grew heavier.
'I just hope… when the truth finally resurfaces, you'll understand why I chose the path I did. I hope you'll remember the reasons, not just the pain.'
'Because if you don't… if you see only betrayal in my actions… then everything that comes next will be so much harder for both of us.'
Her fingers tightened around the mana conduit.
And silently, she prayed that the boy she protected over the past year, the young dragon she molded, would still see her as an ally when the final veil fell.