Talent Awakening: Draconic Overlord Of The Apocalypse

Kira slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, and her head pounded as if someone had struck it with a hammer.

The room around her was filled with faint sounds of machines, the beeping of monitors echoing in the otherwise quiet space.

Her body felt heavy, as though weighed down by invisible chains, and when she tried to move, she realized she was hooked up to a cluster of medical equipment.

Her left eye felt strange—something sleek and metallic was covering it. She raised a trembling hand to touch it but stopped when a sharp pain shot through her head, forcing her to gasp.

She squeezed her other eye shut, gritting her teeth against the sudden sting of pain.

"Where… am I?" she whispered, her voice hoarse.

Her mind was a haze, memories swirling and slipping away before she could grasp them.

Flashes of moments appeared before her eyes—faces, voices, Union officers rushing her through the hall on something she thought might be a stretcher—but none of it made sense.

She let her head fall back onto the pillow, staring up at the sterile ceiling. The faint blue glow of the tech around her reflected dimly on the walls.

Why did everything feel so disjointed? Why couldn't she remember?

The sound of the door sliding open drew her attention. Two figures stepped in: one was a man she recognized instantly—Claus. The other was a woman in a crisp Union medic uniform, holding a tablet in one hand as her eyes scanned over Kira.

"Kira!" Claus exclaimed, hurrying to her side. "You're awake! Thank god, I was starting to worry."

Kira blinked, trying to focus on him. "Claus?" Her voice was still raspy. "What… what happened? Where am I?"

Claus hesitated, glancing at the uniformed woman as if seeking permission to speak. She gave him a nod, and he turned back to Kira.

"You… you passed out," he said softly, his brows furrowing. "I thought you were just taking a little longer than usual to come back to the test staging room, but when it started getting weird, I asked one of the female officers to check on you."

Kira's eyes narrowed slightly. "And?"

Claus sighed. "They found you in the restroom. You'd collapsed. They brought you here to the medical wing."

Kira frowned, her fingers brushing against the strange device covering her left eye. "Okay, so I passed out. But…" She gestured vaguely to the array of equipment surrounding her. "If it's just that, what's with all this? This doesn't feel like overkill to you?"

Claus took a deep breath, his expression turning grim as he pulled up a blue holographic projection.

A graph of Kira's body materialized before her, floating in midair. It was an array of complex lines and glowing dots, but the glaring red zones spreading across her torso, arms, and head were impossible to miss.

"Kira… you're infected. Your body's transforming—mutating, to be precise. Your cells are undergoing rapid, unnatural changes. If we don't figure out how to stop this soon, you'll…"

He hesitated, the words catching in his throat. "You'll turn into one of those mutated humans from the factory. You'll lose all sense of reason."

Kira's breath hitched as her eyes locked on the glowing red zones on the projection. Her mind needed a moment to process this. Her memory suddenly flashed back to what she had seen in the bathroom—the veins around her eye and how red it was—all coming back to her in an instant replay.

She gripped the edge of the bed tightly, her knuckles turning white.

Claus sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "We traced the source of the mutation. It's from a cut—an injury you got during the mission. Your leg, wasn't it? One of those monsters from the factory… it grazed you, didn't it?"

Kira swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest. Her gaze dropped to her leg, now completely healed, though she remembered the faint scratch she'd shrugged off at the time.

"Y-Yeah," she admitted reluctantly. "It was nothing serious, though. It didn't even bleed much."

Claus shook his head, his voice edged with frustration and worry. "That was the cause, Kira. Whatever infected those creatures, it's inside you now. The mutation didn't take root right away, but it's accelerating now."

"No," Kira whispered, her voice trembling. "No, you're joking, right? This is some kind of sick joke."
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Claus's eyes softened. "I wish I was. But I'm not." He moved closer, pulling up a chair and sitting by her bedside. His gaze locked with hers, unflinching.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? When did this start happening?"

Kira looked away, regret creeping into her voice. "I… I thought it was just regular headaches. Nothing unusual. But…" Her voice weakened, and she clenched her fists. "It wasn't until I looked at myself in the mirror. My eye—" She reached for the metallic device covering her left eye. "I saw something worse happening to me. I just didn't know what to do."

Before Claus could respond, Kira doubled over, coughing violently. Blood spewed from her lips, staining the pristine white sheets. She gasped for air, clutching at her chest as her body shuddered.

Claus's expression darkened. He turned sharply to the nurse. "Get the alchemists in here. Now!"

The nurse nodded and rushed out, her tablet clutched tightly in her hands.

Through ragged breaths, Kira managed to ask, "Why… why not a healer? Wouldn't they do a better job?"

Claus shook his head, his voice filled with regret. "No. Healing magic is useless against this. It's not just an injury, Kira. Whatever this is, it's rewriting your DNA—your entire cell structure. Healers can only heal wounds. This… this is something else entirely."

Kira's blood ran cold at his words. "So… no one can fix this?"

Claus's jaw tightened, and he looked down, his hands gripping the edge of the chair. "Currently, the healers haven't been effective, so I called in alchemists. I still have our research group performing tests on that crystal. With all these combined efforts, we'll get you better in no time."