The hum of the life-support machinery was the last sound that registered in my fading consciousness before total blackness claimed me.
For how long I lay cold on the polished tile floor beside Lina's bed, I didn't know. Time seemed to lose all meaning, dissolved into an oceanic expanse of dark, agonizing heat. My mind felt like it was being stretched across two entirely different dimensions at once.
Then, without warning, the darkness didn't shatter—it magnified.
What... what is this?!
Panic seized my soul as a terrifying explosion of sensory information flooded my brain. I wasn't just lying on the floor anymore. Suddenly, I possessed a second set of eyes, a second sense of touch, and a second vantage point—except it wasn't human.
My vision split into a dual perspective. On one side, I could feel the cold tiles against the cheek of my human body. But on the other... I was looking at monstrous, towering translucent spheres drifting through a thick, crimson fluid like giant red moons in space. Massive, glowing strands floated around me like cosmic dust, vibrating with raw, feral energy.
As a scientist in my previous life who spend most his time in lab looking at microscopic world, I slowly understand the things in front of my view, its not that I have gone into some celestial place, or outer space, no this view in front of me is view of microscopic world.
Microscope view? No... I'm looking at my own cells! I'm looking at blood plasma!
I tried to move in this strange new reality, and to my absolute terror, my second consciousness actually responded. I had legs—six delicate, spring-like protein fibers extending from a geometric, twenty-sided crystal head.
I wasn't just controlling a magic spell or an energy aura. I had literally gained a second body inside myself. I was a single, microscopic bacteriophage floating through my own bloodstream.
The sensory overload was dizzying. I could feel my human heart beating weakly on the floor, while simultaneously feeling the frantic, microscopic currents of my own circulation pushing my tiny viral body along a massive biological river. The dual inputs made my head spin with vertigo, sending a wave of blind panic through my mind.
Calm down! Amar, breathe! Think like a scientist! I screamed at myself in the darkness.
I forced my biotech background to take over, wrestling control over the rising terror. I focused on the dual rhythm. Slowly, agonizingly, I began to separate the two streams of consciousness. My human body was the main hub; this tiny, microscopic entity floating inside my veins was an extension of me—a literal microscopic clone.
I flexed my viral fibers, anchoring my microscopic clone onto a nearby blood cell wall. The moment I touched it, a wave of pure, concentrated energy rushed through my tiny clone's senses, feeding a strange vitality directly back into my main human body.
"Master Ryuk!"
A panicked voice shattered the mental link, snapping my primary focus back to my human eyes.
A sudden, cold pressure pressed against my shoulder, shaking me violently. The dual perspective receded into the background of my mind, settling into a quiet, secondary sensation—like keeping one eye open while the other is closed.
My eyelids felt as heavy as lead, glued shut by dried sweat. I let out a low, ragged rasp, my throat so dry it felt like I had swallowed broken glass. Slowly, agonizingly, my human eyes cracked open.
The clinical white ceiling of the medical suite swam into focus. Standing above me was Dr. Keller, his usual calm demeanor completely shattered into raw panic. Beside him, Ronald was on one knee, supporting my shoulders to help me sit up against the side of Lina's medical pod.
"Master Ryuk, thank God!" Ronald breathed out, a rare tremor in the old butler's voice. "What happened? You collapsed right beside Miss Lina's bed! Dr. Keller, check his vitals immediately!"
"I... I'm already scanning him, Ronald, but..." Dr. Keller stared at the portable bio-scanner in his trembling hands, his eyes wide behind his thick lenses. "This makes no sense! His biological readouts are fluctuating wildly—it's as if his consciousness is split across two distinct life signals!"
"Quiet, both of you," I muttered, my voice rough and commanding despite the exhaustion weighing down my limbs.
I leaned my head back against the cold metallic base of Lina's bed frame, taking deep, measured breaths. The blinding, agonizing pain in my skull had finally receded, replaced by an unbelievable, ice-cold clarity.
In the quiet background of my mind, I could still feel it—my second body, the microscopic clone, sitting safely inside my own bloodstream, quietly observing the red blood cells drifting past it.
It's not just a talent... it's a second body. A microscopic clone inside my own physical form. A dark thrill ran down my spine. I can exist in two places at once. I can spawn clones inside my own body, adapt, and eventually deploy them into anyone else to observe or tear them apart from the inside out.
"Master Ryuk," Ronald said softly, handing me a glass of room-temperature nutrient water. "Please, drink this. If your body was under such immense strain, you should have let us handle the Vice Principal and the Chief of Police!"
I took the glass, draining it in a single gulp before wiping my mouth with the back of my hand.
"I am fine, Ronald. It was merely... a reaction to an internal breakthrough," I lied smoothly, forcing my human body to stand up.
My legs were slightly wobbly at first, but as my microscopic clone inside my bloodstream processed a tiny fraction of my spirit energy, a surge of vitality rushed through my human limbs. I felt lighter, faster, and infinitely more dangerous.
I turned my head to look at Lina. She remained fast asleep beneath the transparent dome of the medical capsule, her pink hair spread over the white pillow.
"How long was I unconscious?" I asked.
"Roughly two hours, Master," Dr. Keller replied, quickly adjusting his glasses. "During that time, Miss Lina's condition has completely stabilized. As far as any external scanner is concerned, she possesses a solid, high-grade Martial Lord talent—exactly as your concealment device dictated."
"Good," I said coldly. "What about the situation outside?"
Ronald stepped forward, adjusting his suit jacket. "Chief Vane and Vice Principal Rosette have officially cleared the perimeter. Chief Vane took Arthur and the students into custody personally for disturbing the peace and attempting to breach private estate grounds. Arthur was forced to leave with his head down, thoroughly disgraced."
"Let him feel disgraced," I said, a faint smile touching the corners of my lips. "A pampered golden boy thinks he can play hero at my doorstep. He has no idea how close he came to dying today."
"Master," Ronald hesitated, dropping his voice. "Rumors are still spreading among the upper class of Lock Night City about the initial energy anomaly. Factions in the academy might try to pry into Miss Lina's talent."
"Let them try," I replied calmly, walking over to the wide glass window of the medical suite that overlooked the inner courtyard. The sun was setting, casting long, crimson shadows across the pristine gardens.
While my human eyes stared at the sunset, my secondary consciousness—my microscopic clone inside my own heart—quietly flexed its fibers, floating gracefully through my circulation like a silent guardian.
The world thought I was merely a wealthy orphan with a Martial Lord talent—a pampered young master who used money to buy his way through life. They had no idea that I now possessed a dual-body existence. One human, one microscopic.
"Ronald," I commanded, turning back to my butler. "I want you to double the security detail around the perimeter. Activate the grade-4 dampening array at full capacity."
"It will be done immediately, Master," Ronald replied with a firm nod. "And what about your schedule for tomorrow? Will you be attending Golden Star Academy?"
I looked down at my hands, feeling the seamless connection between my human skin and my microscopic clone inside my blood.
"Of course I will," I said, my voice dropping into a chilling, smooth tone. "Vice Principal Rosette and Arthur tried to drag my name through the dirt today. Tomorrow, I am going to show them what happens when they provoke someone who can see—and control—every microscopic inch of this world."
"Understood," Ronald bowed respectfully before stepping out of the medical suite alongside Dr. Keller to carry out my orders.
Left alone in the quiet room beside the sleeping Lina, I walked back to her pod. I reached out, my human fingers gently touching the glass.
I'm right here beside you, Lina, I thought. In this body, and in the microscopic world... no one will ever touch you again.
Suddenly, as I stared at my reflection in the glass, the air in front of my vision flickered. There was no sound, no artificial voice, and no prompt asking for my input. Cold, silent, semi-transparent blue light coalesced in the air right before my eyes, displaying a static interface that only I could see:
MAIN BODY
Name: Amar Roy
Age: 16 years
Talent: Ice world (Martial saint level talent) concealed, Dual consciousness
Physical realm: Martial apprentice
CLONE BODY (BACTERIOPHAGE)
Level: 1
Class/Rank: Z rank (Unknown??)
Active Bodies: 1
Genetic Mutation: None
Ability: Genetic assimilation (Passive), Genetic Hijack (Active)
The panel hovered silently in the dim light of the medical suite, completely unmoving, offering no guidance or voice. It simply existed—a stark, cold confirmation of the biological anomaly I had just become.
A slow, dark smile carved its way across my face as I stared at the data flickering in front of me.