Subsequent Fall Part 32.15: Beacon Blue

Astral looked around the meadow as it was peaceful and quiet. Making a pure light construct he waved his hands and created a platform for them to stand on. "Adam, Make yourself useful."

"How?" Adam looked up as Astral lifted Zane onto the platform.

"Get creative and start killing." Astral pointed to the mass amount of pure black creatures of void. Adam rolled his eyes as he drew his pistol and started to open fire on the mass, each bullet searing through them and dropping the void creatures.

"So are you impressed with the clones?" Zane asked as the two sat down on a set of chairs that were constructed by Astral. "They excel in the individuality, each one that I meet has some different viewpoint on life, and working for this alliance."

"They have exceeded every expectation I made for you. They have done well and can be generals in everyone else's armies." Astral pulled a tea set out and started to pour them out a cup of tea.

'So this is my training regiment?' Adam thought to himself as he grabbed the mask at his side and looked at it as his right arm fired the pistol into more of the void creatures as the numbers slowly increased, was everyone else slacking or was it just scaling to their difficulty. Adam put the mask on as the red cape blew in the wind. Pulling out the second of his pistols as he opened fire on the creatures, they were much slower than they appeared even before.

Now it was trivial to outspeed them as even before it was easy. Their durability and persistence is what Astral wanted to have worked on. Not taking the easy way out. A massive bear creature came up from behind him as Adam sent a roundhouse kick into the bear as it evaporated.

'With the enchants on this mask, maybe prolonged exposure can help me long term.' Adam took a deep breath. 'It's still extremely draining to wear, but that's not my worry, work on the basics.' Adam saw how many creatures closed the gap and he couldn't rely on the pistols. Summoning a sword of his named Shadowbreaker from his booklet.

It cleaved through each and every void creature as it worked well. Adam focused on his form rather than the attack power and speed. The void creatures never had enough time to crawl upwards to the platform thanks to Adam.

"The newer batches of clones are having different issues due to their genome not being perfect. It'll require your attention to fix." Astral took a sip of his tea as he summoned Beacon to be at his side.

"What's the major problem?"

"They are partially disfigured or once they reach fighting age, one of their organs explode." Zane took a sip of tea as Astral pulled out a notebook and read it to look at what segments of it caused that problem.

"Defects happen, but is it consistent?" Astral asked as he took another sip from his tea.

"About one in every one hundred when our old rate was one in every one hundred thousand." Zane handed him a paper as it showed the current results of the clone batches and the numbers.

"If these clones are still viable for smaller scare jobs, we could use them for that, or use it for officer roles as well." Astral looked at the reports as he wondered if it had been tampered with without his knowledge. Astral pulled a screen up in front of them and examined it.

"What are we looking for?" Zane looked as Adam's gunfire increased. Using both the sword and the pistol.

Astral pointed at the red segment in the genome then pulled up his. "This segment is in control of the organ development, yours is normal. Theirs has been modified by a single chemical, something that wouldn't affect every clone."

"But if left unchecked would keep causing issues." Zane smiled as Astral fixed the genome. "As for the disfigurement, we modify the clones to be slightly larger than me. Outside of the first batch." Zane paused for a moment. "If we reversed that, do you think we could have one defect in every one million?"

"Possibly, the first batch of clones had zero defects with zero modification." Astral looked at the history of it all.

"A little bit of help!" Adam was slowly falling behind as Astral tapped the Beacon as a white radiant orb surrounded them and swallowed the void. Staying up as they would run into it and evaporate as Adam jumped up to the platform. "Now what do I do?"

"Run your exercise routine." Astral summoned a clone in gym shorts and a tank top with sunglasses. Looking back at the screen hovering above them Astral laughed for a second. "Ha, zero defects until we started playing with your genome. Outside of Sal and Jax."

"Those two had defects?" Adam questioned as the clone pushed him to the ground from the platform as the cape took him with Adam to the ground. The two raced around the light barrier as Adam needed to work on his evasion.

"I never knew that." Zane was shocked as Astral looked at what the defects were. "It makes sense why those two were my first picks for the higher command." Astral found the genomes that were defected as Astral compared notes.

"Sal and Jax both have a different thing wrong with them. Sal has higher critical thinking and faster neurons than Jax." Astral's eyes darted all over the place. "Jax however, has a muscle density of over four times Sal."

"So both defects became helpful. And the reason they stuck out is the reasons why you have them lead the clone forces on the ground, but my other commanders away from the frontline or with one of your generals?" Zane looked puzzled. "How did you know?"

"I had a gut feeling, why do you think I split it that way for the earth defense. The twins destroyed south america and all Pete had to do was be patient, something he did great with. Jaimie elevates anyone and pairing our most armored person with the two best clones." Astral extended his arms. "Is how we won back earth."

"Joe, have you ever had an ego check?" Zane asked in a snarky tone.

"Eh, I know it's out of control at this moment, but I feel like that time is coming sooner rather than later." Astral looked at the universe and the nearby galaxies with life. "We will be entering a dark age, but for now, the milky way is heavily defended and the safe point if anything goes wrong."

"Will it with you around?" Zane felt timid even asking.

"Can't be too prepared." Astral closed the map and the screen. "You ready to take on some of these void beasts?" Astral dropped the Beacon bubble as the clone held Muramasa in his hands.

Zane pulled out his rifle as he loaded a round into the chamber. "With pleasure." Zane started to open fire from the platform as Astral enhanced the three of them with a defensive spell. Creating a wall of light from Beacon for the creatures to pass and be trapped.

The first day passed with them doing well and having no problems. Into the night Astral was the awake one and kept the void at bay with Muramasa. Into the second day it was more of the same old standard as Astral stayed on the ground and let Adam and Zane fire from a safe range. The third day approached as they had a few hours left and were comfortably in first place.