Tear A Path 213 Unison

She really didn't think something that came out of herself could be so dumb, she thought as she watched Gren9 with a confident smirk on her face. Instead of killing her slowly, she was actually making her even stronger, even the contaminated mana was being purified by her and added into her own storage. If she absorbed everyone's mana back she'd at the very least be several levels higher in her own abilities, something completely unheard of from her parents research.

There were of course drawbacks, for example, she was severely weakened during the wait. And of course there was the potential psychotic clone who would decide to takeover the original consciousness but every thing has risks even one which would ruin her self-image for years to come.

But Gren9 pulled one out from Grendolyn's worst nightmares, from behind her emerged all the Grens that were under her control. Every Gren from the whole compound besides Gary came, their lifeless puppet like eyes staring at her as they marched forward in unison.

Even those who Zhao Wei had cemented into the walls showed up. Somehow they had chiselled the parts of the concrete they had been bonded into and moved here while lugging them on their bodies.

Hundreds of Grens came forward until the surrounded the both of them, standing as if they'd practiced this very formation before. The bizarre visual didn't stop as they raised their right hand and put it onto the next Gren over until all of them were interconnected as those closest set their hands on Gren9.

"No..." I took a moment for Grendolyn to get it but it wasn't because she didn't understand but because she didn't want to believe it. Her counterpart was about to use the rest as fuel to finish what she started.

"Yes, since I'm moving in there anyway, I don't want to have to spend all that time trying to catch all these other mistakes you've made. Who knows if another one like me is going to come out of it." Gren9 gloated, laying her plan out in front of her creator.

Before Grendolyn could say anything or do anything in retaliation the pain was amped up several times, almost scrambling her brains from the sudden jump, she didn't even have time to close their previous connection causing the energy to flow into her uninhibited.

Gren9 thought she was winning from the fear in Grendolyn's face, without knowing she was actually feeding herself back where she came from. Grendolyn thought the same at first, but now she could only watch the very thing she didn't want to happen while she raged impotently in Gren9's hands as she was being force fed the very life she chose to discard.

Everywhere around her, the Gren's were breaking apart. Their originally fleshy faces looked like the clean gloss of new vase before slowly bringing in that light yellowish hue that stained their skin as it turned into aged clay that began to show signs of cracking as webs began to spread across their cheeks.

Soon their skins began to drop of, the small pieces falling of like chiseled paint from all over. But unlike before, underneath the surface was just a gaping emptiness, there was no clumps of earth minerals that churned itself back to it's perfect form, all the pieces that fell did not miraculously comeback, instead more followed it's lead.

The pieces grew smaller and smaller as the Gren slowly broke apart into dust. Each Gren experienced this in seconds, starting from those at the back as they drained all their energy out. But being their creator and seeing how each of them had a part of her soul, each time another one disintegrated out of existence, she felt it.

And she felt all of the hundreds that were being brought to their knees every single moment, all of them flooding at her at the same time. With the mana and soul returning to her so did their memories, the life they led, the things they felt.

The worst was the fear. That gut-wrenching feeling and the screams of discontent from all of them as they awaited their moment of truth and yet unwilling to accept it.

Just as Grendolyn's eyes dimmed, no longer able to cope with the situation, a concrete slab acquainted itself with Gren9's head. It was Gren207, her arms still encased in the floor Zhao Wei bonded her to. Somehow unlike the rest of the Gren's, Gren207 was able to keep herself from being controlled, and Gren9 being in the position she was in, she actually had a chance.