Awakening Domination System: But I'm a Slave?-Chapter 297: Attack [6]

The eastern courtyard...

A corrupted figure lunged at a golden-brown haired from his left.

He sidestepped, hand already moving. Flames gathered in his palm, compressed, focused and...

WHOOSH-BOOM!

The fireball struck the creature’s chest at point-blank range and detonated, blowing a hole clean through its torso. It collapsed mid-lunge, dead before it hit the ground.

Two more appeared from the smoke. Caleb’s expression didn’t change.

His hands came together, fingers forming seals with practiced precision. "Flame Serpent."

Fire erupted from his palms and coalesced into a serpentine form, fluid, alive, burning with intense heat. It shot forward, weaving between the two creatures.

HISS-CRACK!

The serpent wrapped around the first creature’s torso and squeezed. Flames ate through corrupted flesh, reducing it to ash in seconds. Then it unwound and struck the second creature like a viper, punching through its skull.

Both bodies collapsed.

Caleb was already turning, scanning for the next threat, when he heard it.

A scream.

His head snapped toward the sound, and his blood ran cold.

Livia.

She was pressed against the wall of the dormitory building, her earth essence flickering weakly around her hands as she tried to conjure a barrier. Three corrupted figures were advancing on her position, cutting off her escape routes.

Caleb moved.

"Flame Step!"

He crossed thirty meters in a blur of heat and motion, materializing between Livia and the creatures. Fire exploded from his body in a protective corona, forcing them backward.

"Stay behind me," he said quietly, not taking his eyes off the threats. His voice was calm, controlled, but underneath... barely restrained fury.

"Caleb," Livia’s voice was small, trembling. "I tried to—"

"Not your fault. Just stay back."

The creatures recovered from their initial surprise and attacked simultaneously.

Caleb’s hands moved in a blur. "Blazing Torrent!"

Fire erupted in a wide cone, engulfing all three creatures in flames that burned hot enough to turn stone red. They shrieked, but they kept coming, pushing through the fire with single-minded determination.

Durable. More than the others.

"Flame Serpent!"

The same technique as before, but this time he didn’t send it forward. He wrapped it around himself and Livia in a protective coil, a living barrier of fire that burned anything that came close.

The creature ran straight into it.

HISS-CRACK-SCREECH!

It recoiled, flames eating into its flesh, but the third creature was already attacking from a different angle, trying to find a gap in the barrier.

CRASH!

An earth spike erupted from the ground beneath the third creature, punching through its leg and pinning it in place. It shrieked, trying to pull free.

Livia stood behind Caleb, her hands extended, her grey eyes wide but focused. Her earth essence was still flickering, still weak, but she’d acted.

Caleb didn’t waste the opening.

He released the flame serpent and lunged, his hand thrust forward, fire condensing into a spear-like projection.

SHHHHUNK!

The flame spear punched through the pinned creature’s skull. It twitched once, then went still. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The other creature—the one still burning from the serpent—tried one last desperate attack.

Caleb caught it by the throat with his bare hand. Fire essence flooded from his palm directly into its essence channels, overloading them, burning it from the inside out.

It screamed. Thrashed. Burned.

He held it until the screaming stopped. Until it was nothing but ash in his grip.

Then he let go and turned to Livia.

She was trembling, her hands still extended, tears streaming down her face. "I-I almost, if you hadn’t—"

"You’re alive," Caleb said simply. He gripped her shoulder, gentle despite the violence he’d just committed. "That’s all that matters."

Around them, the battle continued. Academy guards were forming defensive lines, their coordinated essence attacks creating kill zones. Students, mostly upper years, were fighting in groups, covering each other’s backs.

Professor Marcus Velrun—a broad-shouldered man with stone-grey hair—was coordinating the eastern courtyard defense, his voice cutting through the chaos with military precision.

"Third-years, reinforce the western flank! First-years, fall back to the main hall! Second-years, hold this position!"

"Can you move?" Caleb asked Livia quietly.

She nodded, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. "Yes. I-I can fight. I can help—"

"No." His tone was flat, final. "You’re going to the main hall with the other first-years. You’re going to stay there until this is over."

"But—"

"Livia." He looked at her directly, and something in his expression made her fall silent. "Please. Just this once. Do what I ask."

She stared at him for a long moment. Then nodded slowly.

"Okay," she whispered. "Okay."

He watched her go, joining a group of first-years being escorted by two academy guards. Only when she disappeared into the building did he allow himself to breathe.

Safe. She’s safe. That’s—

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the courtyard. Caleb spun toward the sound.

Two more corrupted figures were emerging from the smoke. Larger than the others.

Professor Velrun’s expression went grim. "All combatants, defensive formation! Do not engage alone!"

But Caleb was already moving forward, fire essence building in his hands, his lazy expression hardening into something cold and focused.

He’d keep fighting until his sister was safe.

Or until his body gave out.

Whichever came first.

----

The northern gardens, usually a place of peace, of contemplation, of carefully cultivated beauty, had become a killing field.

Lyria moved through the chaos like a ghost, her silver hair flowing behind her as her blade—a slender longsword with an elegant crossguard—carved through corrupted flesh with surgical precision with soft blue light.

"Azure Edge."

The blade’s glow intensified, and she swung in a horizontal arc.

WHOOSH!

The blue light extended from the blade in a crescent wave.

It caught two corrupted figures mid-charge, cutting through their torsos like they were made of paper.

They collapsed, bisected cleanly.

Lyria’s expression was exhausted, but her movements were flawless. A corrupted figure lunged at her from the left. Her blade came up in a defensive parry.

CLANG!

Deflecting clawed hands that would have torn out her throat.

She pivoted with the deflection, her sword tracing a precise arc that ended with the blade buried in the creature’s skull.

CRACK!

It dropped.

She yanked the blade free, already moving to the next target.

So much blood. Just like...

The memory flashed unbidden, watching—

Focus. FOCUS. People are dying NOW.

Suddenly she spun—

Three corrupted figures were converging on her position from multiple angles.

Can’t block them all!

Then...

Golden light erupted across the battlefield.

Seraphine Luminous stood ten meters away, her black blindfold removed. Her golden eyes, radiant, glowing with inner light that seemed to burn with divine authority, swept across the corrupted figures.

"Divine Judgment."

The three figures froze mid-charge. Their movements became sluggish, uncertain, as if fighting against invisible chains.

Lyria didn’t waste the opening.

"Azure Cascade!"

Her blade moved in a series of rapid strikes, too fast to follow individually.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

The three corrupted figures were carved apart in seconds, their bodies collapsing in pieces that dissolved.

Lyria’s chest heaved, her breath coming in gasps. Sweat and blood, covered her uniform. Her hands trembled slightly as she gripped her sword.

How many? How many have we killed? How many more—

"Lyria." Sera said gently. "Breathe. You’re doing wonderfully."

Lyria wanted to laugh. Or cry. Or both. Wonderfully. As if there was anything wonderful about this nightmare.

But she nodded anyway.

Sera’s hands moved in graceful patterns, golden essence flowing from her palms like liquid light. "Luminous Sanctuary!"

A dome of golden light expanded outward, encompassing a twenty-meter radius. Inside the dome, wounded students and guards began to glow faintly.

A Silver Crown second-year with a gaping wound in his side gasped as the injury began to close, flesh knitting together at visible speed. An academy guard with a broken arm felt the bones realign, the pain fading to a dull ache.

"Thank the gods," someone breathed.

But Sera’s golden eyes had already found the next threat. Four new figures were approaching the dome’s edge, testing its boundaries.

Her expression shifted.

"Radiant Lance!"

Golden light coalesced in her hand, forming a spear of pure radiance. She hurled it forward.

WHOOSH-CRACK!

And it punched through the first corrupted figure’s chest, continuing through to strike the second one as well. Both collapsed.

The remaining two hesitated, their primitive instincts recognizing something in that light. Something they feared.

Lyria stepped forward, her blade raised. "Azure Torrent!"

Blue light erupted from her sword in a wave, washing over both creatures. It didn’t cut them. It eroded them, dissolving corrupted essence, breaking down their forms layer by layer until nothing remained but dissipating darkness.

They collapsed.

Lyria lowered her blade, shoulders sagging with exhaustion.

"How many more?" she whispered, not really asking anyone.

Sera moved beside her, her hand finding Lyria’s. "However many it takes," she said softly. "We’ll face them together. "

She squeezed her friend’s hand.

BOOM!

Another explosion rocked the northern section. Part of the garden wall collapsed, and from the breach emerged more corrupted figures.

Too many.

Always too many.

Lyria’s grip tightened on her sword. Her purple eyes met Seraphine’s golden gaze.

No words needed.

They moved forward together, light and blade.

The corrupted figures charged.

Lyria’s sword began to glow blue once more.

Seraphine’s eyes blazed with golden radiance.

And the battle continued.