Awakening Domination System: But I'm a Slave?-Chapter 294: Attack [3]

Then, suddenly, the air fell oppressive.

"What a lovely reunion~"

A playful, melodic, voice came from behind.

Alaric froze. He turned slowly.

Behind him, maybe ten meters away, a girl stood. Brown hair framing her face, hazel eyes bright with something that wasn't quite sane.

She looked like she was enjoying a pleasant afternoon stroll.

His jaw tightened. "Elena."

"Mmm, you remembered my name~" She tilted her head, that smile widening. "I'm touched. Really. After all, you've been so busy lately, playing hero, saving pretty girls..."

Her eyes flicked briefly toward where he'd left Jasmine with Verelia. "You're quite the knight in shining armor when it suits you, aren't you?"

Her essence pulsed.

[WARNING: HOSTILE ENTITY DETECTED]

[RETREAT!]

"What do you want?" Alaric's hand moved subtly, essence already gathering in his channels despite his depleted reserves. Fire flickered along his fingertips.

"Want?" Elena laughed. "Oh, Alaric. My dear, dear Alaric. I don't want anything. I'm just here to play."

She moved hand extended, fingers curled like claws. Aimed at him, but...

WHOOSH-CLANG!

A blade of pure shadow intercepted her wrist before it could reach Alaric's throat.

Nyra materialized between them, her expression neutral but her presence radiating lethal intent.

"Leave," Nyra said calmly.

"Oh, you." Elena's smile didn't falter. If anything, it widened. "Shall we dance?"

"If you insist."

They exploded into motion, too fast for normal eyes to track.

CRACK-BOOM-CRASH!

Stone walls shattered. The floor cracked. Essence detonated in bursts of light and darkness that left afterimages burned into Alaric's vision.

Nyra drove Elena backward with a flurry of strikes, each one perfectly placed, each one lethal. Elena laughed the entire time, weaving between attacks with unnatural grace, her form flickering like a candle flame in wind.

They disappeared around a corner, their battle taking them deeper into the building.

Alaric didn't waste the opening she'd given him.

He turned and ran toward where Elina and the professors were fighting.

A corrupted figure lunged at him from a side corridor.

[Flame Sphere!]

BOOM!

The sphere detonated on impact with the creature's chest, engulfing it in flame. It shrieked and collapsed, burning.

Alaric kept moving.

He reached the main battle just as Elina drove her fist through another corrupted figure's skull.

She spun, breathing hard, blood splattered across her face and uniform. Her eyes were wild, filled with adrenaline and barely controlled fury.

Then she saw him.

Their gazes locked.

Relief flooded her expression for a fraction of a second, before her features twisted into something between anger and frustration.

"You—" she started, her voice sharp. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought—"

"Still alive," Alaric cut her off, moving past her to engage another corrupted figure that was flanking Professor Grimwald.

[Dominion's Gaze!]

The creature's advance stuttered.

[Lightning Bolt!]

CRACK-BOOM!

The electrical discharge speared through its chest, punching out its back in a spray of blackened corruption.

Professor nodded his acknowledgment without taking his eyes off the remaining threats. "Good timing, boy."

The other two professors were holding a defensive line near a collapsed wall, their combined essence creating a barrier that three corrupted figures were hammering against with relentless fury.

"Where the hell are the Dean and Headmaster?" Alaric demanded between breaths, his side throbbing, blood seeping through his fingers where he pressed against the wound. "This is a full-scale assault."

"They're not here," Professor replied tersely, his hands moving in complex patterns as earth essence formed into spiked barriers. "Administrative summit in the capital. Left two days ago. Should be receiving emergency messages any moment and expected back within the hour if they can secure emergency transport."

"Fuck."

CRASH!

One of the corrupted figures broke through the barrier. The female professor with gray hair caught it with an earth spike through its leg, pinning it in place.

The lightning-wielding professor finished it with a devastating bolt that turned its head to charred ruin.

"How many?" Alaric asked, scanning the corridor. More corrupted figures were visible in the distance, shambling through smoke and debris.

"Too many," First professor admitted. "At least thirty in the immediate area. Unknown total across the academy. They hit simultaneously, library, dormitories, administrative center, arena, eastern gates..." He paused to create another barrier as two more creatures charged their position. "This wasn't random. This was planned."

Of course it was planned, Alaric thought grimly.

He glanced at Elina. She was standing a few meters away, her chest heaving from exertion.

She caught him looking and scowled. "What?"

"Nothing," he said, turning away.

"Don't give me that, you're bleeding everywhere, you idiot!" Her voice carried an edge of something that wasn't quite anger. "What did you do, throw yourself at every monster between here and the arena?"

"Something like that."

"Idiot," she repeated, but quieter this time. Almost... concerned?

"Miss Glimor," Professor interrupted, her tone sharp and commanding. "We need to fall back to the main hall. Too exposed here. The defensive formations—"

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the building. The ceiling above them cracked, and chunks of masonry began to rain down.

"Move! Now!" A professor's earth essence shot upward, creating a temporary barrier to deflect the falling debris. "Main hall, go!"

The other professors began retreating in formation, covering each other's backs, launching essence attacks at pursuing corrupted figures.

Elina started to follow, then paused, looking back at Alaric.

"Come on!" she snapped. "What are you—"

ROAR!

A loud sound came from everywhere and nowhere, reverberating through the building's bones.

From the smoke ahead, four corrupted figures emerged. But these were different. Larger. More defined.

Professor Aldwyn's expression went grim. "Thaddeus, get the girl out. We'll hold them."

"Professor—" Elina started to protest.

"That's an order, Miss Glimor!" Professor Grimwald grabbed her arm. "You're injured, depleted, and not equipped for this level of threat. Move!"

He physically pulled her backward, toward the main hall corridor where the other professors had already retreated.

Elina resisted for a moment, then her eyes found Alaric's one last time.

Then Grimwald dragged her around the corner, and she was gone.

The four elite corrupted figures focused on Alaric.

Slowly. Deliberately. Like predators that had just identified prey.

One of them, taller than the others, tilted its head. When it spoke, its voice was like grinding metal:

"You... smell of her. Of Mother."

Alaric's blood ran cold.

WHAT?

The creatures lunged.

All four. Simultaneously.

He moved on instinct.

[Burst Step!]

Blade-arms carved through the space where he'd been standing, leaving deep gouges in the stone floor.

Can't fight them.

One of them closed the distance with impossible speed. Its fist hammered toward his chest.

Alaric crossed his arms.

BOOM!

The impact felt like being hit by a battering ram. His bones screamed. He flew backward, crashed through a wooden door, and rolled across the floor of what used to be a classroom.

Pain exploded through his entire body. His vision blurred. Blood filled his mouth.

Get up. GET UP.

He forced himself to his feet. His entire left side was a mass of agony.

The four elite figures entered the classroom, moving with casual, terrifying confidence.

They didn't rush. Didn't need to.

They had him cornered.

And they knew it.