Zombie Domination

Chapter 441: Chapter 441- Merge

Julian didn’t respond to Nox’s reassurance immediately.

His dark blue eyes stayed fixed on him for several seconds, as if trying to confirm the man standing before him was truly real.

Then Julian finally spoke.

"...Why were you looking for me?"

Nox raised an eyebrow slightly.

"That’s your first question?"

Julian remained silent.

Nox let out a small breath before shrugging lazily.

"I just wanted to see you." His pale blue eyes shifted briefly toward Julian’s injuries. "I was worried."

Julian frowned faintly.

"I’m not weak enough to die that easily."

Nox stared at him for a second before giving a dry laugh.

"You were literally seconds away from dying if I hadn’t stepped in."

Julian clicked his tongue softly.

"That only happened because that mutant woman interfered."

At those words, the amusement in Nox’s expression faded slightly.

"She’s different," he said quietly.

Julian’s eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?"

Nox glanced back toward the distant throne room behind them, his pale blue eyes turning colder.

"She’s not like the previous mutants you’ve fought." The darkness around his fingers shifted slowly like smoke. "That thing..." He paused briefly. "It’s natural adaptation taken beyond normal evolution."

Fey frowned slightly after hearing that. freewebnoveℓ.com

"Beyond evolution...?"

Nox nodded once.

"Most mutants evolve through forced mutation, unstable growth, or external influence." His gaze darkened slightly. "But her body adapts naturally to everything around her. Skills, attacks, pressure, even combat patterns." He looked back at Julian. "The longer a fight drags on, the more dangerous she becomes."

Julian opened his mouth, about to respond but suddenly his vision blurred violently.

Blood dripped from his nose.

Then more followed.

Fey’s expression immediately changed.

"Julian!"

Zoe quickly grabbed his arm before he could lose balance completely.

"Hey, stay awake!"

Dori hurried forward in panic, pulling a handkerchief from her pocket before pressing it against Julian’s nose.

"There’s too much blood..." she whispered nervously.

Julian tried to steady himself, but his breathing had already become uneven.

Nox sighed quietly while watching him.

"You’re already at your limit," he said calmly. "Stop forcing yourself."

Julian frowned weakly, trying to speak again.

But exhaustion finally won.

His body swayed once and then he collapsed forward.

Thankfully, Fey and Zoe caught him before he hit the ground.

Silence fell for a brief moment.

Nox stared at Julian’s unconscious face before rubbing the back of his neck tiredly.

"...Good grief."

A helpless smile appeared on his face.

"As usual," Nox muttered quietly, "you’re seriously troublesome, Julian."

Nox stared at Julian’s unconscious face for a long moment. His pale blue eyes softened, just slightly, just enough for someone who knew him to notice.

Then he exhaled and turned to Fey.

"How long until we reach your base?"

Fey glanced toward the cockpit. The scarred-faced pilot caught her look and answered without turning around.

"Twenty minutes. Maybe less if the wind holds."

Nox nodded. He reached down and pulled Julian’s limp arm across his own shoulders, taking some of the weight from Fey and Zoe.

"Let me help," Nox said. "He’s lighter than he used to be."

Zoe’s golden eyes flicked to Nox’s face, studying him. "You really are his brother."

Nox’s lips twitched. "Unfortunately."

The helicopter flew on, the rotor blades chopping through the crimson-tinted sky. Below them, the wasteland stretched out in all directions—craters, ruins, skeletal trees, and the occasional cluster of lights from survivor settlements.

Fey watched Nox as he adjusted Julian’s weight. His movements were efficient, practiced, like someone who had done this many times before.

"Twenty minutes," Fey said quietly.

Nox didn’t look up. "I heard."

"You’re not going to explain who you are? Where you’ve been? Why you’re here now?"

Nox was silent for a moment. Then he let out a small breath.

"Julian can tell you that. When he wakes up." He glanced at Fey, his pale eyes unreadable. "It’s his story to tell. Not mine."

Fey’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t push.

Dori, still pressing the handkerchief to Julian’s nose, looked up at Nox with wide eyes. "Is he going to be okay?"

Nox looked down at Julian’s pale face.

"Yeah," Nox said quietly. "He’ll be fine."

The helicopter began its descent toward the Tech-Savants’ landing pad as the first light of dawn crept over the horizon.

The massive facility sprawled across the reclaimed industrial complex, a fortress of steel, concrete, and humming machinery. Solar panels covered every available roof surface. Antenna arrays bristled from the towers like metallic forests. And at the complex’s heart, the main laboratory building rose five stories tall, its windows glowing with the blue-white light of Aethel-infused equipment.

Dr. Aris Thorne was waiting on the pad.

Her white coat was wrinkled, her hair was a mess, and dark circles hung under her eyes. She had been awake for thirty-six hours, coordinating supply lines, analyzing data from the Eclipse operation, and preparing medical facilities for exactly this scenario.

She saw Julian being carried off the helicopter unconscious, pale, blood still seeping from his nose and her expression tightened.

"Bring him to the critical care wing," Aris said, her voice clipped and professional. "I’ve already prepared a regenerative pod."

Fey nodded, her arms still supporting Julian’s left side. Zoe carried his right. Dori walked behind them.

Emma was carried on a stretcher by two of Nox’s crew, still unconscious but breathing steadily. Her burns had been treated on the flight, but her body was exhausted beyond normal limits.

Nox walked behind them all, his pale eyes scanning the facility with quiet interest. His crew followed—the scarred-faced man and the tattooed woman—both of them carrying equipment bags and watching the Tech-Savants personnel with wary eyes.

Aris glanced at Nox as he passed.

"And you are?"

"Nox." He didn’t elaborate.

Aris’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t press. There would be time for questions later.

The regenerative pod hummed softly, its blue-white light casting gentle shadows across the critical care wing. Julian floated inside the transparent tube, suspended in a nutrient-rich fluid that pulsed with Aethel-infused energy. His eyes were closed. His breathing was slow, steady, but shallow. The wounds on his chest and side were already closing, but his face remained pale, his lips tinged with blue.

Emma lay in a separate pod on the opposite side of the room, her burns fading, her color slowly returning. She would wake in a few hours. Julian would take longer.

Outside the glass wall of the critical care wing, the women gathered.

Fey stood with her arms crossed, her blue hair still damp from washing off the blood and grime. Her eyes were fixed on Julian’s floating form, her expression tightened. Zoe leaned against the wall beside her, her wounded arm now properly bandaged, her golden eyes half-closed but refusing to shut completely. Dori sat on a bench, her hands clasped in her lap.

The door opened.

Veronica entered first, her long dark hair swaying behind her, her sharp eyes sweeping across the room. Her usual arrogant demeanor was absent, replaced by something rawer. Her lips pressed into a thin line when she saw Julian in the pod.

"This is what happened when we weren’t there?" Veronica’s voice was tight. "He almost died?"

Fey didn’t look at her. "He pushed himself too far."

"He always pushes himself too far," Veronica muttered. She walked to the glass and pressed her palm against it, her eyes tracing the lines of Julian’s face. "That idiot."

Aya followed behind her, quieter, her hands clasped in front of her. Her eyes were wide, worried, but she didn’t speak. She simply stood beside Veronica and watched.

Beatrix came next, her alchemist’s coat stained with old chemicals, her usually bored expression cracked by something fragile. She walked straight to the monitoring station beside Julian’s pod and began checking the readings herself, her fingers moving over the screens with practiced efficiency.

"His cellular regeneration is active but slow," Beatrix said, her voice flat but her hands trembling slightly. "The pod is doing its job. He’ll recover. It’ll just take time."

Celestia entered last, her silver hair catching the blue light, her silver-thread skill coiled around her fingers like anxious serpents. Her face was calm but her eyes gave her away. They were fixed on Julian with an intensity that bordered on desperate.

Clarissa followed close behind her, her warm presence usually a comfort, but even she looked strained. Her telekinesis flickered unconsciously, causing small objects in the room to drift slightly off their surfaces.

"What happened?" Celestia asked. Her voice was quiet, controlled, but there was steel beneath it. "Tell us everything."

Fey straightened. She turned to face the other women, her expression still unreadable but her posture shifting into something more formal. More report-like.

"Eclipse is destroyed," Fey began. "The faction itself. Darwin’s forces are scattered. Their supply lines are cut. Their leadership is gone." She paused. "But Darwin isn’t dead."

Veronica’s eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, not dead?"

"He fused with something called Subject Zero," Zoe said from the wall, her voice low and rough. "A creature from the Cradle. The original experiment. Darwin fed himself to it, and now they’re... one."

Clarissa’s hand went to her mouth. "That’s horrible."

"It gets worse," Fey said. "There’s another one. A mutant woman. She appeared at the end of the fight and disrupted the battle."