Awakening Domination System: But I'm a Slave?-Chapter 296: Attack [5]

Across the room, Nyra was a whirlwind of shadow and precision.

Her blade carved through one elite creature’s torso, separating it cleanly in half. The thing collapsed.

But even as it fell, two more converged on her position.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Blade-arms struck her shadow constructs in rapid succession, each impact releasing shockwaves that cracked the floor beneath them. She deflected, redirected, counterattacked, but they were learning her patterns, adapting to her movements.

One caught her with a glancing blow across her shoulder. Blood sprayed, and for the first time, her expression shifted. Not pain. Irritation.

"Persistent," she muttered.

She spun, shadows expanding outward in a dome that engulfed both creatures, but outside that dome, three more standard corrupted figures were attempting to flank her position, trying to break through to reach Alaric.

Young master is engaged. I cannot—

One of the elite creatures inside her shadow dome punched through it.

Its fist shattered her construct and emerged on the other side.

The dome collapsed.

Nyra’s eyes narrowed dangerously. She gathered her essence, preparing a more devastating technique, when a shimmer in the air caught her attention. A barely visible distortion, spreading across the room like a spiderweb.

An array.

It was centered around Elena and Alaric’s position, creating a barrier that would require significant concentration and power to break through.

She separated us deliberately.

Nyra shifted her stance, shadows coalescing.

Three elite creatures attacked simultaneously, forcing her backward, away from the array’s edge. They weren’t trying to kill her anymore. They were containing her. Keeping her occupied.

Her jaw tightened fractionally.

In the corridor beyond, Professor Kael struggled to his feet, blood pouring from a gash across his forehead. The elite creature he’d been fighting loomed over him, raising its blade-arm for a finishing strike...

CRASH!

Professor Aldwyn’s earth spike erupted from the floor, catching the creature’s leg and throwing off its balance. The blade-arm missed Kael by inches, carving a trench in the stone wall instead.

"Elric, move!" she shouted.

Kael rolled sideways, essence gathering in his hands, "Chain Lightning!"

Electricity arced from his fingertips, jumping between three corrupted figures attempting to breach their defensive line. They convulsed, but didn’t fall.

Too many. There were just too many of them.

A standard corrupted figure broke through their barrier and lunged at Professor Aldwyn. She raised her hand to counter.

Bur the creature’s claws raked across her chest. Blood sprayed. She gasped, staggered—

CRACK!

Professor Grimwald’s massive fist formed from compressed stone slammed into the creature from the side, crushing it against the wall.

But Grimwald himself was bleeding from multiple wounds, his essence flickering from depletion. He was old. Powerful, but old. And this fight was draining him faster than he could recover.

"Mira—" he started toward Aldwyn.

An elite creature appeared in his path.

It moved too fast. Its fist connected with Grimwald’s ribs before he could defend.

CRUNCH!

The professor flew backward, crashed through a doorway, and didn’t get up.

"THADDEUS!" Aldwyn screamed.

The elite creature turned toward her. Advanced slowly, deliberately.

Kael tried to intercept, lightning crackling desperately around his hands, but three standard corrupted figures swarmed him, bearing him down through sheer numbers.

His lightning flared once. Twice.

Then went dark.

----

Elena walked toward Alaric’s fallen form, her steps measured, unhurried. She crouched beside him, tilting her head as she studied his bloodied, broken body.

"You know," she said conversationally, "you’re not the first ruthless bastard I’ve met. Not even the first one who thought they were untouchable." She reached out and grabbed a handful of his hair, yanking his head up to meet her gaze.

"But you might be the first one stupid enough to think there wouldn’t be consequences."

Alaric tried to speak, managed only a pained wheeze.

"Tell me," Elena continued, her voice taking on an edge. "How does this feel? Being on the receiving end? Being helpless?" She released his hair, letting his head drop, then drove her fist into his already injured side.

CRACK!

Alaric’s scream was raw, involuntary, torn from his throat by pure agony. His ribs, already cracked, broke completely under the impact.

"That’s better," Elena said softly. "Lisa felt something like that too. Did you know?"

Through the haze of pain, Alaric’s mind struggled to process. Lisa? Who—

"Don’t recognize the name?" Elena’s voice cracked slightly, emotion bleeding through her cold exterior. "Of course you don’t. Why would you? She was just another tool to you."

She struck him again, this time across the face. His head snapped to the side, blood spraying from split lips.

"You ruthless monster," Elena hissed, and there was genuine pain in her voice now. Grief. Rage. "

Alaric coughed, blood bubbling between his lips. "I... don’t... know what you’re..."

"You don’t need to know," Elena cut him off. She stood, looking down at him with something that might have been hatred or might have been sorrow. "You just need to pay."

Her foot connected with his ribs.

CRACK!

He screamed again, the sound echoing off stone walls.

She kicked him again. And again. Each impact accompanied by that sickening crack of breaking bone.

"This is for Lisa."

CRACK!

"This is for thinking you could play with lives without consequence."

CRACK!

[WARNING: CRITICAL DAMAGE SUSTAINED]

[DEFENSE MECHANISMS FAILING]

[INITIATING EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS]

[DEFENSIVE INTEGRITY: 100%]

Elena grabbed his throat, her fingers digging into flesh, cutting off air. She lifted him off the ground, slamming him against the wall with enough force to crack the stone.

"Look at me," she demanded. "Look at me while I—"

[DEFENSIVE INTEGRITY: 90%]

She squeezed harder. His vision darkened. His lungs burned.

Behind her, Nyra was still fighting, shadows flaring desperately as she tried to break through the array, but the elite creatures were coordinating perfectly, preventing her from gathering enough essence for a breakthrough.

[DEFENSIVE INTEGRITY: 80%]

Elena’s corrupted essence seeped into his throat, his chest, his very core. It felt like acid in his veins, burning, consuming...

[DEFENSIVE INTEGRITY: 70%]

His hands scrabbled weakly at her wrist. No strength left. Nothing left.

...

[DEFENSIVE INTEGRITY: 60%]

...

Then suddenly, the temperature around the room dropped.

Elena’s eyes widened. Her grip loosened, just slightly instinctive reaction to the sudden, overwhelming pressure.

Alaric’s crimson eyes snapped open.

Glowing with an inner light that seemed to burn with its own existence.

Then he parted his lips and spoke in an utterly cold tone.

"How dare you touch me with your filthy hands."