I feel like I'm changing points of view a lot. Do you think it's better if I just use third person in general, occasionally switching to first person, or do you think it's fine the way I've been doing it so far?
Oh yea, I also used AI to correct grammar and spelling mistakes for me in this chapter, I must say, it helps a lot.
It also helped to improve the ambiance. Of course, I still reviewed it afterwards to see if everything was the way I wanted.
I don't know why people hate it so much. Honestly, as long as the reading becomes more readable and interesting for everyone, I don't mind continuing to use it.
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- 3rd POV -
- A few moments before Bel wakes up -
Umbrella's laboratory, once impeccably white, was now bathed in red. Whether from the blinding emergency lights... or the blood smeared across the walls.
Rat-tat-tat-ta-tat-tat-tat-ta!
"Kyaaaa!!"
"Ugh!"
"Run! Hide! If they see you, they'll kill you!" a scientist shouted amidst the chaos.
At that moment, the largest Umbrella facility in Siberia had been marked for [Eradication].
No one knew why. They just came in... and started killing everyone.
Soldiers in black uniforms and masks, with the Umbrella logo on their shoulders, shot on sight—no hesitation, no mercy.
And not just that. The moment the soldiers entered, the entire facility system was compromised. Everything went into lockdown. The massive scientific complex became a slaughterhouse.
No one could get in.No one could get out.
In the midst of all this chaos, Ironwall—the reason behind it all—was running, clutching Bel's unconscious body in his arms, his face twisted in fear and desperation.
'They got here too fast… too fast!' Ironwall panicked.
He had no idea what that strange black substance he injected into D-001 was, but whatever it was, its value far exceeded his expectations.
It was important enough for Oswell to dispatch Umbrella's Alpha Team—their deadliest and most elite squad.
He had expected an hour. Enough time to prepare.They arrived in less than thirty minutes.
No warning.
No demands.
Just death.
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Finally reaching his personal room—heavily modified long ago to bypass Umbrella's oversight—Ironwall activated the security panel and pressed his thumb to the scanner.
[Access granted.]
[Welcome, Doctor Ironwall.]
He rushed inside and gently laid D-001's body on the bed. As he turned to close the door, he caught a glimpse of someone running down the hall.
"Wait! Doctor Ironwall! Please! Let me in too!"
Long blonde hair. Brown eyes. It was his assistant—Sabrina.
The moment he saw her, his mind began calculating. Letting her in might delay the agents just long enough for D-001 to awaken.A human shield.
"Quick! Get in here!" he barked.
Sabrina sprinted and threw herself into the room just as Ironwall slammed the door shut.
She collapsed, gasping for air. "What... what's going on? Why are they killing everyone...?" she murmured.
She hadn't joined Umbrella to die like this. She was one of the brightest minds of her generation. She couldn't understand what had gone so wrong.
If she had known, she would've stayed in the quiet village with her parents.
But now... it was too late.
She looked at D-001, unconscious on the bed.A child, forced to endure months of unspeakable torture.
Sabrina bit her lower lip, hard.
'Is this my punishment for being part of something so inhumane? Is God punishing us all?'
But her spiral of despair came to a halt. Her mind began working again.
"Wait a second... why is D-001 in your room, Dr. Ironwall?"
She stared at him, waiting. He said nothing.
Then she realized.
"…It was you, wasn't it? You're the reason for all this!"
She stood up abruptly, fury on her face.
Ironwall sighed. "Now's not the time—"
"What the hell did you do?! You bastard! It must be you! Only you would be stupid enough to do something that would make them hunt us down!" she screamed.
Ironwall raised an eyebrow at her outburst.
'She dares call me stupid? Should I kill her now?' he wondered.
Then—
THUD!
Both froze at the sound of something heavy hitting the other side of the door. Their hearts pounded.
A voice followed:
"This is Martinez and Patrick. We've found a sealed door. Should we open it?"
"…"
"Okay, boss. Hey Patrick, get the cutting torch."
"On it."
Sabrina stared at the door, heart racing.She whispered, "Doctor… what are we going to do?"
Ironwall's face darkened. There were no weapons. No exits. Nowhere to run.
For the first time in years, he was cornered.
"All we can do... is hope for a miracle," he muttered, glancing at D-001.
Either D-001 wakes up…Or they die.
— On the other side of the door —
Two Umbrella agents in black began unloading equipment. One of them ignited the cutting torch and pressed it to the door.
KRRRRSSHH!
"Think there's anyone inside?" Martinez asked, keeping watch.
Patrick, operating the torch, shrugged. "Probably. We've got full access to everything in the facility—except this door. Would be weirder if there wasn't someone inside."
"True."
"And considering this is the head researcher's office? Wouldn't be surprised if the guy pulled strings to keep it off-grid," Patrick added.
Martinez chuckled. "Smart enough to be a lead scientist, dumb enough to mess with things he shouldn't."
Patrick smirked. "That's the thing about geniuses… they're always a little crazy."
The two laughed—as if they weren't in the middle of a massacre.
After almost ten minutes, the heavy door finally creaked open. The two agents, Patrick and Martinez, peered inside. Within the dim, flickering light of the room, two figures stood out... a bald older man in a lab coat and a trembling young woman beside him.
Martinez raised his weapon, finger already on the trigger, but Patrick placed a hand on his arm.
"Wait... That's the Chief Scientist. The boss wants him interrogated before we put him down. He's the only one who knows where the cargo is."
Martinez groaned in frustration and lowered his gun.
"Okay... Should we call Miguel?"
Patrick shook his head. "Nah, let him have his fun. I can make this old man talk."
Martinez's gaze shifted to the young woman.
"And the girl?"
Patrick didn't even glance her way. "Do whatever you want. Our target is him."
A grin crept across Martinez's face. Patrick moved forward, yanking Ironwall by the arm and slapping cuffs on his wrists. He turned to drag the old man out of the room, leaving the girl behind.
Ironwall exhaled, a fragile sense of relief washing over him. He wasn't going to die... yet. But Sabrina trembled, backing away as Martinez stepped closer.
"Come here, girly... Let's have some fun."
"D-Don't come near me! Get away!"
"Hey... Don't be shy. I swear, I'll be gentle."
"I SAID BACK OFF!"
TUMP.
Sabrina froze. Something... or someone... was behind her. Slowly, she turned around... and her eyes widened. With a gasp, she bolted forward.
"That's it...! Good girl!"
But she wasn't running to Martinez. She fell at his feet, trembling, not with fear of him... but something else.
Martinez narrowed his eyes. Something was off. He looked ahead into the darkened room. His demeanor shifted. He raised his weapon again.
"Oy, Patrick... Check this out."
Patrick poked his head in, annoyed. "What now?"
"Tell me I'm not hallucinating..."
Both men now stood at the threshold, eyes locked on the far end of the room.
A girl. No more than fourteen. Dressed in a hospital gown, standing completely still in the shadows. Her long white hair fell over her shoulders like silk. But it wasn't her age or her clothes that caught their attention.
It was the two pairs of jet-black horns sprouting from her head.
She looked like an illustration from a medieval manuscript... a child-shaped demon painted in holy colors.
"...Is that a kid?" Patrick muttered.
Ironwall heard him. He broke free from Patrick's grip and rushed forward.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I knew it! You woke up! My child! My future!"
He laughed like a madman. Martinez and Patrick didn't respond. They had been through hell, seen horrors under Umbrella's command. But what stood before them now radiated something different.
Something ancient.
Something wrong.
Martinez reached for his radio. His voice was hollow.
"Boss... We have a situation. Code Indigo... No. Code Black. We need to..."
SWOOOSH.
CRACK-SPLASH.
Patrick stood still, confused. His mask was wet. Red. His eyes shifted left.
In a blink, Martinez was half-gone.
Literally.
Half of his torso had been sheared away, flung across the room in a spray of gore. The sound of it hitting the wall echoed like a wet slap.
Patrick turned forward.
The girl hadn't moved.
But now she was staring at him. Her expression blank. Emotionless. Her eyes glowed like hellfire. Black sclera, blood-red irises, and emerald pupils that glimmered with unnatural hunger.
From her back, three pairs of wings unfurled... black, thorny, vine-like. Four serpentine appendages sprouted from her shoulders, shaped like the heads of demon-like dragons. Each one stared directly at him.
Patrick's hand twitched on the trigger. But his body refused to respond.
He'd faced monsters before. Creatures infected with the T-Virus. Aberrations of science and madness.
But this... This wasn't Umbrella's doing. This was something else.
His breath hitched. His vision narrowed. He was slipping...
Then Ironwall stepped forward, eyes gleaming with ecstasy.
"Oh, my child... You're divine! So beautiful!"
Patrick snapped out of it, spurred by the doctor's manic voice. He opened fire.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
"AAAAAAAAHHH! DIE YOU FUCKING MONSTER!"
Dozens of bullets tore through the air.
The girl didn't flinch.
Patrick knew the rounds were useless. He'd seen T-Virus mutants shrug off gunfire. But this wasn't about damage. It was about buying time.
Time to escape. Time to detonate the bomb they brought to bury this place... and her... with it.
Then... something impossible happened.
The bullets stopped.
Suspended mid-air, as if frozen in time.
Patrick's mouth hung open.
The rounds turned. Slowly.
Then they came flying back at him.
His body convulsed as the bullets tore through his armor and flesh. Blood painted the walls. He collapsed in a heap.
Bel finally stepped forward.
One step. Two steps. Three...
She stood over Sabrina, who lay curled on the ground, sobbing, trembling.
Sabrina looked up. Into those inhuman eyes.
"P-Please... Don't kill me..."
Her body lifted from the floor, as if pulled by invisible strings.
"W-Wait! I only followed orders! I cared about you! I did! Please, believe me!"
There was no reply. Only silence.
Bel stared.
Then Sabrina's limbs began to twist.
"PLEASE! NO!"
Her bones cracked. Twisted. Bent in ways they were never meant to. Her face swelled, bruised from blood pooling beneath the skin.
Then... POP.
Her arms, legs and head exploded, sending blood and brain matter splattering across the room.
Only Ironwall remained.
And he was smiling.
Bel turned to him, slowly.
He lit up like a child on Christmas morning.
"That's it, my dear! Come to me! Let's escape together!"
Bel laughed.
"You really think you're in control, don't you?"
Ironwall's smile faltered.
"D-001, what are you saying? It's me! The one who made you! Your owner!"
She stopped in front of him. Tilted her head.
"My owner, huh? In that case, let me show you a little trick I learned."
She touched his forehead with a single finger. Darkness began to spread from the point of contact, engulfing his skin.
"W-What is this?! D-001 what have you done to me?!"
"Relax. This is what you wanted, right? Immortality. To be something more. I'm just giving you what you asked for."
Her tone was sweet. Almost mocking.
His body melted. Warped. Shifted.
Bel hummed a soft tune as he screamed.
"You know... for a long time, I wondered how to kill you. But then I realized... death is mercy. So I chose something better."
She smiled, eyes glinting.
"Suffering. Forever."
"The Mutamycete gave me more than just power. It gave me Biomancy. Control over life. Over flesh. Living or dead. Of course, it has limits."
She gestured at the grotesque figure before her.
Where Ironwall had stood was now a nightmare.
A blobfish-like abomination. Fleshy, gelatinous, with arms and legs jutting out at odd angles. A distorted human head twitched at the top.
And deep inside... Ironwall's mind remained. Trapped. Screaming.
"You'll never die," Bel whispered. "Not truly. That's your reward. Also, I'm not D-001. My name now is Beelzebub."
Satisfied, she turned and walked away. There were still survivors in this facility. She had work to do.
Behind her, the creature that was once Ironwall flopped along the floor, his slimy body squelching with each movement.
His gelatinous eyes stared after her, filled with betrayal and despair.
Ironwall had truly believed he would be a god.
But in the end... he was just another monster, begging for mercy in a world that had none.