Awakening Domination System: But I'm a Slave?-Chapter 317: Hunt [1]

They grabbed whatever they could, essence crystals, preserved blood, weapons, anything small enough to carry while running.

Five minutes became three. Urgency stripped away sentiment. Thaddeus shoved Celeste’s pendant deeper into his pocket and nothing else. The portrait, the documents, the physical remnants of House Crimsonveil, all abandoned.

They fled through the cave system’s rear exit, a narrow passage that required crawling in places, that scraped skin and tore clothing, that forced them to abandon even the few possessions they’d tried to carry.

Behind them, distant but drawing closer, shouts.

As they emerged outside...

The sky had gone black with clouds so thick and heavy they blocked all light. Rain fell in sheets that reduced visibility to meters.

Thunder crashed overhead, making the mountain itself tremble. Lightning split the darkness in irregular bursts, revealing landscape in frozen moments, jagged rocks, steep drops, paths that barely qualified as paths.

Thaddeus led them northeast, toward terrain he’d scouted weeks ago. Rough country. Difficult to traverse. But difficult meant defensible. Meant pursuers would have the same problems.

Have to reach the ravine. Cross before they catch up. Lose them in the—

"They’re behind us!" A vampire gasped from the rear. "I can see, there’s at least fifteen—"

"Move!" Thaddeus barked. "Don’t look back, just move!"

They ran through storm and darkness. Rain made every surface treacherous. Wind threatened to blow them off exposed sections. Lightning revealed their position with each flash.

The path narrowed. Became a ledge barely wide enough for single file, with sheer drop to one side and vertical cliff to the other.

If they catch us here—

CRACK-BOOM!

Thaddeus risked a glance back and saw—

Malachai’s soldiers. All wearing the mixed colors of coalition houses, all moving with coordinated precision that spoke of military training.

And they were close. Maybe fifty meters back, closing the distance with speed.

"Contact rear!" One of their followers had stopped, turned to face the pursuers. "I’ll hold them, you keep—"

"No!" Serana’s voice cut through the storm. "We stay together—"

But vampire was already moving. Creating barriers on the narrow path that would slow pursuers, to buy time.

The first coalition soldier reached him. They clashed—

CRACK!

The soldier’s sword punched through vampire’s guard and into his chest. He gasped, staggered—

His shadow constructs collapsed.

He fell from the ledge, body disappearing into rain and darkness.

"Go!" Thaddeus roared at the others. "Move, now!"

They ran, racing along the impossibly narrow path while coalition forces pursued relentlessly.

Another of theirs took defensive position at a chokepoint. Created barriers. Bought them thirty seconds before coalition soldiers overwhelmed her position.

She didn’t fall quietly. Took two of them with her before a blade found her throat.

The path widened slightly. Became actual ground rather than ledge. Thaddeus led them down steep slope, using speed and desperation to navigate terrain that should have required careful descent.

Thunder crashed. Lightning revealed their surroundings in stark flash—

Open ground ahead.

"Almost there!" Thaddeus shouted over the storm.

But...

Coalition forces burst from the tree line to their left. Different group.

"They flanked us!" A vampire spoke, panicked. "How did they?"

The coalition soldiers crashed into their formation with overwhelming force. Thaddeus’s blade met the first attacker, parried, redirected, countered. His essence created barriers that deflected strikes meant to kill.

Beside him, Serana’s shadows lashed out like living weapons, cutting down two soldiers before they could close distance.

But their followers were falling.

Too many. There are just too many!

Thaddeus fought with desperate efficiency. Every strike economical, every defense calculated. Beside him, Serana moved like shadow given form, her techniques carving through attackers with lethal precision.

But they couldn’t protect everyone. Couldn’t be everywhere.

Then other vampires fell, fighting to the last, dying on rain-soaked ground far from anything resembling home.

Just us. Only us left...

They broke free from the immediate combat, ran toward the valley’s far side where more difficult terrain might offer escape.

Serana’s hand found Thaddeus’s. Gripped tight.

They sprinted across open ground, rain hammering down, thunder masking the sounds of pursuit.

Almost to the tree line. Almost to cover. Almost—

Coalition forces emerged from every direction simultaneously.

North. South. East. West. Surrounding them completely, cutting off all escape routes with practiced coordination.

Trap. This was always a trap. They were herding us here...

Thaddeus and Serana stopped in the valley’s center, backs pressed together, weapons raised, as they prepared for final stand.

Twenty coalition soldiers formed a circle around them. Maybe more, difficult to count in the storm, in the darkness, with rain and exhaustion making perception unreliable.

Then the pressure intensified.

Laughter echoed across the valley, cutting through storm noise, through rain.

The coalition soldiers parted, creating gap in their circle.

And through that gap—

Malachai Drakenmoor walked with casual grace, rain sliding off him as if even water recognized it shouldn’t touch without permission.

His midnight black robes were pristine despite the storm. His blood-red eyes blazed with inner light that cast crimson illumination across the ground.

"So there you are..." His voice carried despite the storm, smooth and pleasant and utterly without mercy. "The little rats who’ve been scurrying through my mountains for weeks."

Thaddeus’s copper eyes met those blazing red ones across the distance. His grip tightened on his blade. Beside him, Serana’s shadows coiled defensively.

"You thought you could run away like that?" Malachai’s smile widened. "Foolish."

He moved.

His blade, materialized in his hand.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

Five strikes. Too fast to follow individually. Five coalition soldiers who’d been standing in front of him simply fell, their bodies bisected, their blood mixing with rain.

Clearing the path.

Then he engaged Thaddeus directly.

The clash was catastrophic. Thaddeus’s blade met Malachai’s, and the impact released shockwave that cracked the ground beneath them. He tried to create defensive barriers—

Malachai shattered them. Casually. Like swatting insects.

"You abandoned your family to hide," Malachai said conversationally, his blade moving in patterns that forced Thaddeus backward.

Thaddeus blocked, parried, redirected, but he was losing.

Serana’s shadows struck from Malachai’s blind side, deadly, precise, aimed to kill.

But he didn’t even look. His free hand gestured casually, and her shadows dissolved. Just... ceased existing, unmade by superior will.

"And you," Malachai’s blood-red eyes found her. "The last Nightveil. Should have died with your house. I’ll correct that oversight."

He moved—impossibly fast—closing distance between him and Serana before she could react.

His blade descended in killing arc aimed at her throat.

Thaddeus lunged. Threw himself between them. His own blade coming up to intercept—

CRACK!

Malachai’s strike shattered Thaddeus’s weapon. The obsidian blade continued its arc.

But Serana was already moving. Already throwing herself forward, positioning her body between the strike and Thaddeus.

SHHHHUNK!

The blade punched through her back and merged from her chest.

Kept going until only the hilt pressed against her spine.

Time seemed to stop.

Serana’s black eyes went wide. Her mouth opened in silent gasp. Blood— began to flow.

Malachai withdrew the blade with casual efficiency.

She collapsed.

Thaddeus caught her before she hit the ground, his arms wrapping around her falling form, lowering her gently despite the chaos, despite the coalition soldiers surrounding them, despite everything.

"Serana," His voice cracked. "No,you can’t—"

Her eyes found his. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

"Had to..." she whispered. "Can’t... lose you... too..."

"Don’t," Tears blurred Thaddeus’s vision. "Don’t leave me, not yet, please—"

Her hand reached up weakly. Touched his face. Left bloody handprint across his cheek.

"Live..." The word was barely audible. "For... both of us..."

And... her hand fell.

Her black eyes lost focus.

Thaddeus held her body and something inside him shattered.

Around them, Malachai laughed,genuine amusement at the tragedy playing out.

"How touching!" He wiped blood from his blade with casual gesture.

The coalition soldiers finished with the remaining scattered followers. Executed the wounded. Secured the perimeter.

Only Thaddeus remained. Holding Serana’s dying body. Surrounded by enemies.

Alone.

Malachai approached slowly, savoring the moment. "Any last words? Traditional speech about vengeance? Curse upon my name?"

Thaddeus looked up from Serana’s body. His copper eyes met Malachai’s blazing red ones.

And what Malachai saw there made even him pause.

Not grief. Not defeat.

Hatred. Pure, absolute.

"You’ll die," Thaddeus whispered. "A brutal death. Screaming. Begging. Alone in darkness with nothing but your sins for company."

Malachai laughed. "Threats from a corpse! How entertaining!"

He raised his blade, positioning it for decapitating strike. "But I’m afraid your curse will have to go unfulfilled. Goodbye, Lord Thaddeus Crimsonveil. Last of your pathetic—"

But then suddenly.

Thaddeus’s hand moved.

Into his pocket. Withdrawing something... a small object, glowing faintly.

He crushed it.

The crystal shattered in his grip, and power exploded outward. His lips began moving, forming words in language that predated modern vampire civilization.

Malachai’s expression shifted,amusement fading, replaced by sudden wariness. "What are you—"

CRACK! 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

BOOM!

Crimson lightning erupted from clear sky and struck the ground directly in front of Malachai.

Malachai stumbled back, his blade coming up defensively.

But—

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Lightning stroke randomly across the valley. Two coalition soldiers died instantly, their bodies flash-burned to ash. Others scattered, seeking cover from impossible storm.

And the place where Thaddeus and Serana had been, was empty.

Just crater. Scorched earth. No bodies. No trace.

Malachai stood in the rain, staring at the empty space, his blood-red eyes blazing with fury.

"FIND THEM!" His voice carried essence-enhancement that made every soldier flinch. "Search everything! They can’t have gone far!"

But even as he gave orders, even as coalition forces began search of the surrounding area...

He knew.

They escaped.

Again.