Awakening Domination System: But I'm a Slave?-Chapter 293: Attack [2]

A scream cut through the noise.

Near the eastern dormitory entrance, a group of first-years was trapped.

Five of them, pressed against a wall, facing down two of the corrupted figures. One of the students—a girl with auburn hair—was trying to conjure a fire barrier, but her essence was flickering, unstable from panic.

The corrupted figures advanced slowly, almost leisurely, savoring their fear.

"Jasmine!"

Alaric's essence flooded his channels in an instant.

Whoosh!

He vanished, and he materialized between the first-years and the corrupted figures, fire and lightning already crackling along his arms.

The nearest creature didn't even have time to react.

[Dominion's Gaze!]

Alaric's eyes locked onto the corrupted figure, and his essence pulsed, not an attack, but a command. An assertion of superiority.

The weight of a higher will, pressing down on the creature's consciousness like a boot on an insect.

Its advance stuttered.

Alaric's hand snapped forward.

[Lightning Bolt!]

CRACK-BOOM!

The bolt carved through corrupted flesh and essence, exploding out the thing's back in a spray of blackened fragments.

It collapsed, twitching.

The second creature snarled and lunged at him with clawed hands extended.

But Alaric was already moving.

[Jolt Step!]

His form blurred with lightning-enhanced speed, sidestepping the attack by inches.

He pivoted, essence gathering in his palm.

[Regnant Strike!]

His fist slammed into the creature's exposed side. The essence he'd compressed into the strike carried his will.

The creature's essence shuddered under the impact. Its movements became sluggish, uncertain, as if its body was no longer responding correctly.

[Scorchblade Arts: Second Form – Flame Slash!]

Fire essence erupted along his arm, forming a blade of pure flame that extended from his hand. He swung in a vicious arc.

WHOOSH-SLASH!

And carved through the creature's neck. The head tumbled free, and the body collapsed in a heap.

Alaric didn't pause to admire his work. He spun toward the first-years, his eyes immediately finding Jasmine.

She was pale, trembling, her fire essence still flickering unstably around her hands. But alive. Unharmed.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice sharp but not unkind. His gaze swept over her, checking for injuries, assessing her condition.

"I... yes, I think..." Jasmine's voice shook. "Thank you, I—"

"We need to move. Now." Alaric cut her off, already scanning their surroundings. More corrupted figures were visible in the distance, and staying in one place was suicide. "Stay close to me."

He started moving toward the main courtyard, and Jasmine followed without question, her hand instinctively reaching out to grab the back of his uniform jacket, a lifeline in the chaos.

The other four first-years scrambled to follow, but Alaric didn't slow his pace. If they couldn't keep up, that was their problem.

CRASH!

An explosion erupted twenty meters to their left. One of the first-years took a chunk of masonry to the shoulder and went down screaming.

Alaric didn't even glance back.

"Wait—" one of the other students started.

"He's just dead weight," Alaric said coldly. "Keep moving or join him."

Jasmine's grip on his jacket tightened, but she didn't protest.

They rounded a corner and nearly ran straight into another corrupted figure, this one was taller, broader, with arms like tree trunks and a face that was more shadow than flesh.

It saw them. Grinned with too many teeth.

Fuck.

Alaric's essence was depleting. The fights were taking their toll, and this thing looked stronger than the previous two. He couldn't take it alone, not quickly enough.

But suddenly...

WHOOSH-CLANG!

A blade of pure shadow intercepted the creature's downward strike before it could connect. Nyra materialized beside them, her expression neutral but her movements were deadly.

She twisted, redirecting the creature's momentum, and slammed her palm into its chest.

CRUNCH!

The thing flew backward, crashing through a stone bench and rolling across the courtyard.

But she wasn't alone. Three more corrupted figures emerged from the smoke behind her, larger, more defined, radiating power that made the air shimmer with distortion.

"Young master," Nyra said calmly, not taking her eyes off the three advancing threats. "Continue to the main courtyard. I'll handle these."

"Nyra—"

"Go."

Her tone left no room for argument.

Shadows were already coalescing around her hands, forming weapons. The three elite figures spread out, surrounding her, and she shifted into a combat stance that was simultaneously beautiful and terrifying.

Alaric grabbed Jasmine's arm and pulled. They ran.

Behind them, the sounds of combat erupted, inhuman shrieks mixing with the crack and boom of devastating impacts.

They burst into the main courtyard and found controlled chaos.

Verelia stood near the fountain, ice essence swirling around her in a defensive perimeter. Four other students flanked her, two Silver Crown second-years and two first-years Alaric vaguely recognized.

They were battling three corrupted figures, working in coordination, using Verelia's ice constructs as cover while launching counterattacks.

One of the creatures lunged at a male first-year.

Alaric's hand swept forward.

[Wind Blade!]

WHOOSH-SLASH!

An invisible crescent of compressed air carved through the space and caught the creature mid-leap, slicing across its torso. It wasn't a killing blow, but it disrupted the attack, sending the thing sprawling.

Verelia capitalized instantly.

"Frozen Spear!"

SHHUNK!

A lance of ice materialized and shot forward like an arrow, punching through the creature's chest while it was still off-balance. It convulsed once, then went still.

"Alaric," Verelia acknowledged. Her ice-blue eyes assessed him in a glance, the blood on his uniform, the way he favored his left side, the depletion evident in his essence signature.

"You're injured."

"Functional," he replied curtly. He turned to Jasmine. "Stay here. Help them."

"But—" Jasmine started.

"Verelia will keep you alive if you follow her. Don't do anything stupid."

He met Verelia's gaze. She gave him the smallest of nods, acknowledgment that she'd accepted responsibility for the girl.

Another corrupted figures emerged from the smoke, targeting students.

[Burst Step!]

He materialized in front of a female first-year with silver hair and green eyes who was about to be blindsided by a different creature.

Pretty thing, maybe eighteen, with delicate features that would look good beneath him under different circumstances.

Worth the effort.

[Static Field!]

Electrical essence burst from his body in a crackling dome. The creature that had been lunging at the girl ran straight into the barrier.

ZAP-ZAP-ZAP!

And convulsed as electricity coursed through its corrupted form. It staggered backward, smoke rising from its flesh.

Alaric's hand shot forward.

[Flame Arrow!]

Bolt of fire shot from his palm and struck the thing's head, detonating on impact.

The silver-haired girl stared at him with wide eyes, her lips parting in shock and gratitude—

"Don't stand there like an idiot. Fight or hide." He was already turning away, scanning for the next threat.

A male student was being overwhelmed by a corrupted figure. The thing had him on the ground, claws raised to strike.

Alaric watched for half a second.

Not my problem.

He turned his attention elsewhere as the claws descended. The scream that followed was brief.

"Alaric!" Verelia's voice cut through the chaos. "Northwest... more incoming!"

He followed her gaze and saw four more corrupted figures emerging from the smoke, heading straight for their position.

He gritted his teeth.

Too many. Need to thin them before they converge.

[Immolation Aura]

Fire essence exploded from Alaric's body in a sphere of intense heat.

The air around him became a furnace, distorting vision, making every breath feel like inhaling flame.

One of the corrupted figures charged anyway, either too stupid or too corrupted to recognize the danger.

It entered the aura's range and ignited. Its flesh began burning, essence destabilizing from the intense heat. It managed three more steps before collapsing, writhing, consumed by flame.

The other three hesitated. Smart enough to recognize a trap.

Alaric used the moment to catch his breath. His essence reserves were depleting dangerously.

The aura was expensive to maintain, and he'd been burning through techniques since the attack started.

Can't keep this up much longer. Need to find cover, regroup...

"Good luck, Verelia," he said, already moving toward the eastern corridor. He didn't wait for her response.

Jasmine remained with Verelia's group, as she helped create barriers alongside the Ice affinity user. She looked back at Alaric as he left, her eyes welling with complex emotions.

He ignored it. And went forward.

The corridor was a warzone. Bodies littered the ground. Smoke choked the air. Distant explosions continued to shake the building's foundations.

BOOM!

Another blast, closer this time. Alaric staggered as the floor trembled beneath him. His left side throbbed where a creature's claw had caught him earlier, not deep, but bleeding steadily, weakening him with each passing minute.

He pressed his hand against the wound, applying pressure, and kept moving.

Ahead, the sounds of intense combat echoed through the hallway. Multiple essence signatures clashing against the corrupted taint.

He rounded the corner and found Elina.

She was fighting alongside three professors.

Elina moved like a wild thing, golden essence coating shimmered as she launched herself at a corrupted figure, fist connecting with its chest and cratering the thing's torso.

CRUNCH!

It flew backward and crashed through a wall.

Relief flooded through Alaric.

She's alive.

Elina's head turned, and her eyes found his across the chaos.

For a moment, everything else faded. The battle. The screams. The destruction.

Just her gaze meeting his, golden eyes wide with something that might have been relief or fear or fury, he couldn't tell, and it didn't matter.

She was alive.

That was all that mattered.

Then suddenly, the air around them became heavy.

And—

"What a lovely reunion."