Apocalypse Baby

Earlier...

Alex's clones were locked in battle, relentlessly tearing through the monstrous army.

BOOM!

Explosions shook the battlefield.

The ground was littered with shattered bones, the remains of the undead piling up with every passing second.

Yet, the clones did not slow down.

They attacked without hesitation, their strikes merciless and precise.

Each clone wielded [Vigor Strike], making their stamina virtually infinite as long as they remained in motion. They could fight endlessly.

At the center of the chaos—

One Alex clone stood out.

The one clad in [Spectral Warden Armor].

Unlike the others, this clone was a force of destruction, its movements swift and precise, each strike lethal.

The armor enhanced its power, turning it into an unstoppable reaper, carving through the undead horde like a death god.

Then...

A Titan Undead emerged.

CRASH!

It swung its massive weapon down with earth-shattering force.

The ground split open, dust and debris flying into the air. Read latest chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

But, itmissed.

The Alex clone had already moved.

Before the weapon even landed, he was climbing the Titan's massive arm, using its bony structure as a path.

Then alfway up, he twisted his body—

And hurled his axe in a spinning motion, the weapon slicing through the air, heading straight for its mark.

The axe spun like a deadly disc, carving straight through the Titan Undead's skull.

CRACK!

A deep fissure split across its head before...

BOOM!

The massive creature collapsed like a crumbling tower, shaking the battlefield.

But Alex was already in motion.

He leaped.

Soaring through the air, he caught his midair sword and—

SLASH!

He landed with a powerful downward strike, cleaving through several undead as his blade ripped through their bodies.

The surge of power within him was electric.

He wasn't slowing down.

Another Alex clone, Gauntlet Alex, was tearing through the undead.

BAM!

He punched straight through an undead's skull, his fist shattering bone like glass.

Then—

THWACK!

He caught the heads of two undead, one in each hand, then smashed them together with enough force to splinter their skulls into dust.

With a sharp inhale, he activated the Fury Gauntlet's special effect.

His strength tripled instantly.

Then...

BOOM!

He swung his fist like a meteor, sending the undead flying in all directions.

Bones shot into the air, scattering like debris from an explosion.

Another clone, who wielded Eclipse Edge, stayed behind.

He moved like a shadow.

A blur of motion.

Every step was precise, every strike lethal.

He cut down the undead one by one, his blade leaving black streaks of energy in its wake.

At the same time, he focused on thinning out any undead that tried to break away and attack Freya and the others.

The final Alex clone stood behind them, gripping the Staff of Power.

His voice boomed across the battlefield—

"You guys, retreat!"

There was no hesitation.

The three immediately understood the reason behind his words, them pulled back.

A relentless wave of rotting bodies rushed toward them, eyes burning with an unnatural glow.

The staff-wielding clone didn't flinch.

He stood firm, gripping the Staff of Power tightly.

The long, ancient staff pulsed with raw energy.

It wasn't just a weapon—it was an amplifier.

It boosted his mana and multiplied his attack power.

And he had already set the entire battlefield ablaze with hidden explosives.

Each one was supercharged.

He only needed to snap his fingers.

But instead...

He lifted his staff high, letting the moment sink in.

Then, in a voice that echoed across the battlefield, he roared:

"Let there be explosions!"

A pulse of invisible force rippled outward, twisting and distorting the space around them.

For a split second, everything went silent.

And then...

BOOM!

BOOM!

KABOOM!

A chain reaction of destruction erupted.

Explosions detonated in perfect succession, ripping through the battlefield like a rolling inferno.

Hundreds of undead were caught in the blast.

Their bodies tore apart midair, bones shattering, dust and debris filling the sky.

The shockwaves surged outward, scorching the land, leaving nothing but craters and flames.

The force of the explosion rushed toward the four clones like an unstoppable storm.

But, they were ready.

In perfect sync, they activated [Aegis Arcane].

A radiant barrier of energy shimmered into existence around them, absorbing the violent shockwave.

As flames roared and debris rained down, the four clones stood.

Unmoved.

The Staff-Wielding Alex lowered his hand, dismissing the shimmering [Aegis Arcane] barrier.

The battlefield was a scorched wasteland.

The air was thick with smoke, embers flickering like dying stars.

The Alex responsible for this damage tilted his head back and let out a low, victorious cackle.

His eyes gleamed as he took in the aftermath— a masterpiece of destruction.

A few feet away, the rest stood watching him with a mixture of awe and concern.

There was only one thought running through their minds:

Madman.

Seeing him like this—laughing at the devastation— made them realize this was how they looked from the outside.

This was how insane they were.

The flames died down.

The explosions had settled.

And the battlefield?

Completely wiped clean.

Not a single undead remained.

For a brief moment, the clones let out a sharp exhale.

Was it over?

Then a deep rumbling.

The ground trembled.

In the distance, a new wave of undead materialized.

Endless. Relentless. Unstoppable.

They weren't coming from the ground.

They weren't crawling out of the shadows.

They were spawning from thin air.

The clones all sighed at the same time.

This was never ending.

The only way to stop this endless horde was to defeat the Grim Lord.

And that was exactly what the original Alex was trying to do.

The newly spawned monsters would take some time to reach them.

So the clones decided to use this time to let their bodies finally able to relax for just a moment.

But then..

A shadow appeared before them.

It was not one of the undead.

It was something worse.

A tall humanoid figure stood before them, its body encased in armor-like scales that gleamed under the eerie battlefield light.

Two sharp, jagged horns curved from its forehead, crackling with electricity.

In its grip, a massive sword hummed, sparks of lightning dancing along the blade.

A demon. No...

A name burned into their minds:

[Varkos, the Fallen Archfiend.]

The air grew heavy.

The pressure around them shifted.

This was no mindless undead.

This thing had intelligence.

It had power.

The clones immediately tensed.

Even without a single movement from Varkos, they could feel it—

This was not an opponent they could take lightly.

Stormforged Alex stepped forward, his armor crackling with residual energy.

Gauntlet Alex clenched his fists, his knuckles glowing with raw strength.

Staff Alex instinctively took a step back, positioning himself behind the others.

Varkos' eyes flickered.

A cold, calculating intelligence lay behind them.

Then...

Varkos moved in an instant, its mouth snapping open—

A sphere of lightning energy began to form, bright, unstable, and deadly.

Then...

BOOM!

The lightning blast erupted, cutting through the battlefield like a thunderbolt from the heavens, straight at the clones.

Alex's clones all had high-speed reflexes, thanks to [Danger Sense].

They moved instantly, their bodies reacting before their minds could even process the attack.

The lightning blast struck the ground behind them with a deafening crackle, sending up a storm of dust and debris.

It missed.

But, Varkos surged forward.

And Stormforged Alex barely had time to register the movement before the Archfiend's lightning-coated sword came crashing down toward him.

"Tch!"

With a sharp exhale, Stormforged Alex swung up his axe, intercepting the blow.

BOOM!

The impact shook the ground, creating a deep crater beneath them.

Sparks flew as lightning snapped and hissed around them.

Varkos pressed down, pouring its monstrous strength into the attack.

Alex gritted his teeth, muscles straining as he held his ground.

But he was losing.

Gauntlet Alex charged in from the side.

His fist glowed with power, aimed directly at Varkos' ribs.

The Archfiend barely reacted.

It twisted, swatting Gauntlet Alex away with a backhand strike, sending him crashing into a pile of bones.

But, that brief distraction was enough.

Stormforged Alex roared, pushing up with all his might.

Varkos staggered back, losing the pressure on his sword for just a moment—

And that was all Swordsman Alex needed.

Like a shadow, Swordsman Alex appeared at Varkos' blind spot.

His blade gleamed, slicing through the air.

He aimed straight for the Archfiend's neck.

But Varkos vanished.

A crackling bolt of lightning shot past them, and before they could react, it was already behind them.

It wasn't attacking them.

It was going for Staff Alex.

Varkos had been playing them.

From the start, its real target was Staff Alex, the one who had just unleashed the devastating explosion.

Why?

Because out of all the clones, Staff Alex was now the most vulnerable.

But if Varkos had rushed at him too soon, it would've been obvious.

So it distracted the others first.

Staff Alex barely had time to process what was happening.

His instincts screamed at him.

Move! Defend! Do something!

His hands shot up as he summoned [Aegis Arcane].

A shimmering arcane shield materialized in front of him, a desperate attempt to block the incoming strike.

But...

He had miscalculated.

Severely underestimated the power the fiend possessed.

Varkos' blade swung down.

And then...

BOOM!

A shockwave blasted through the battlefield.

The air rippled from the sheer force.

The ground trembled.

Dust and debris filled the air.

And then—

A sharp, sickening crack.

The smoke cleared.

[Aegis Arcane] had shattered.

The shield had taken the full force of the attack—

But it wasn't enough.

The remaining clones watched in horror.

Varkos stood there, its lightning-clad sword humming ominously.

And at its feet was Staff Alex.

His body, split in half.

"Damn…"

One of the clones muttered.

The realization hit them all at once.

This wasn't just any enemy.

Varkos was different.

It was a monster on a completely different level.

And it had just wiped out one of them in an instant.

Varkos saw the shock and tension in their eyes.

And it grinned.

A cruel, evil grin.

Then it spun its sword, lightning crackling around it.

And in the next instant, it lunged forward, towards the rest, to finish the job.