That laughter, crisp as silvery bells yet carrying a bone-chilling coldness, echoed through the hall.
Wesker's step toward the main gate froze mid-air.
Behind his lenses, those crimson vertical pupils constricted to their limit in an instant.
Wesker slowly turned around, his movements carrying a mechanical stiffness.
He looked up, his gaze crossing the empty hall to land precisely on the figure on the second-floor circular balcony.
Alexia Ashford.
She stood there quietly, looking down at him like a queen inspecting a lowly ant that had intruded into her garden.
In Wesker's mind, alarm bells rang out.
An unprecedented sense of danger that made him feel extremely uneasy surged through his body like countless tiny electric currents.
Yet the eternal coldness and arrogance on his face reclaimed everything in a very short time.
"Have you finally appeared, Alexia?"
His voice was deep as always, carrying a commanding tone.
"You have to come with me."
Wesker slowly took off his sunglasses, his crimson vertical pupils releasing an inhuman, eerie light in the dim hall.
He tucked his sunglasses into his jacket pocket and began walking unhurriedly toward the wide, spiraling staircase.
His leather shoes clicked against the black marble steps, sounding exceptionally clear in the deathly silent space.
"You created the perfect t-veronica virus," he said in a matter-of-fact tone as he walked.
"And now, that unique sample is inside your body."
He stepped onto the first stair and looked up, his crimson eyes meeting Alexia's golden pupils in mid-air.
"Although it would be troublesome for me to act personally..."
His voice suddenly rose several levels, echoing throughout the hall!
"Now, I must have it!"
"Haha... Hahahahahaha!"
Alexia looked as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world; she threw her head back and let out a series of crisp, frenzied laughs.
Her laughter was filled with blatant contempt and mockery.
"You want me?"
She stopped laughing and slowly lowered her head, her golden eyes containing only cold ridicule.
"If you can do it, then show me!"
The moment the words fell, Alexia slowly walked down the stairs step by step.
With her steps, an indescribable golden flare suddenly erupted from within her body!
Like an ultimate sublimation of a life form!
The white dress she wore couldn't last even a second in that golden flare, instantly turning into the finest ash and dissipating into the air.
The golden flare receded.
What was revealed to Wesker was a body so perfect yet so terrifying that it took even his breath away.
Her skin was completely covered by a layer of blue-gray stratum corneum shimmering with a metallic luster.
That outer layer was covered in complex biological patterns as exquisite as works of art, making her entire being look like a perfect blue-gray sculpture carved from unknown metal and jade.
Her waterfall-like golden hair also completely changed form at this moment, turning into bundles of strange, blue-gray seaweed-like matter swaying slowly in the deep sea.
Wesker was completely stunned.
His super-senses, enhanced by the virus, sent him the most shrill warning at this moment!
He could clearly feel a terrifying pressure, like a landslide or a tsunami, rushing at him from Alexia! It wasn't just a suppression of power, but an absolute crushing weight from a higher level of existence!
He had miscalculated.
This thought, like black lightning, split through his mind filled with arrogance and confidence.
In the very instant Wesker was stunned—an instant that lasted less than a tenth of a second!
Already having walked down the stairs, Alexia moved.
Her movement was simple to the extreme; she just casually raised her hand and gave a light wave in Wesker's direction.
An afterimage rapidly expanded in Wesker's pupils!
"Bang—!!!"
Before Wesker could even react, an irresistible, terrifying force slammed hard into his chest!
He was sent flying backward as if hit head-on by a heavy truck traveling at high speed, falling heavily from the stairs back onto the cold floor in the center of the hall!
"Cough!"
Unable to catch his breath, Wesker knelt on the polished marble floor and coughed violently.
A burning pain radiated from his chest; it felt as if several ribs had broken.
Damn it!
For the first time, these words surged in his heart.
Shoot, I miscalculated; she's too strong!
Alexia's figure appeared beside Wesker, who had just steadied himself, as if she had teleported without warning!
Wesker's crimson vertical pupils constricted sharply from extreme shock! Every nerve in his body was screaming, and his survival instinct overrode everything!
Without a second thought, he pushed off hard, retreating backward like an arrow from a bow!
Seeing his panicked state, a cruel smile curled at the corner of Alexia's mouth.
She raised her left hand; her once fair and slender fingers were now covered in the blue-gray stratum corneum, and her nails had become sharp as blades.
Using the sharp nails of her right hand, she gave her left palm a light slice.
Tear—
The tough outer layer was easily cut open, and deep red blood with a hint of eerie gold welled out.
She swung her hand forward in the direction Wesker was dodging!
Over a dozen drops of blood shot toward Wesker like buckshot!
The moment the blood left her palm, it burst into flames in mid-air, turning into clumps of eerie, blood-red fire!
Wesker's mind went blank!
He could only rely on combat instinct to dodge frantically and pathetically through this deathly barrage of blood-colored flames!
Whoosh—!
A clump of blood-fire grazed his cheek; the scorching temperature instantly singed a few strands of his black hair!
He rolled on the ground, dodging another clump of fire attacking from behind.
Alexia watched like she was enjoying an amusing game of cat and mouse, looking with great interest at the man who usually stood high above others and toyed with everyone in the palm of his hand, now scurrying about like a stray dog before her.
One of Wesker's dodges was a beat too slow after all.
A grain-sized drop of burning blood landed precisely on the shoulder of his black trench coat.
Boom!
blood-red flames suddenly flared up!
The fire seemed to carry a curse that couldn't be extinguished, frantically devouring the expensive trench coat made of special Materials.
A piercing pain radiated from his shoulder!
Wesker let out a muffled groan; no longer caring about poise or image, he used all his strength to roll violently on the cold floor!
He used his body to pin the eerie flame firmly against the marble floor.
The fire finally went out.
A hideous hole was burned into the shoulder of his signature black trench coat, revealing the charred flesh beneath.
Wesker climbed up from the ground, gasping for air. His crimson eyes stared intently at Alexia not far away; for the first time, his gaze was a mix of terror, anger, and a hint of... disbelief.
He began frantically searching for an escape route with his peripheral vision.
Just then, Alexia seemed to have grown tired of the game, and she raised her hand once more.
Wesker's heart sank to rock bottom.
And at that very moment!
Rumble—!!!
A deafening, massive sound of impact suddenly came from the direction of the hall's main entrance!
The two massive door panels made of heavy oak burst inward toward the hall...