Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner-Chapter 296: The purge begins 2

He lunged forward, crossing the distance between them in a heartbeat. The leader fired a bolt of dark chi, but Noah sidestepped it with casual grace, then seized the man's extended wrist. With precision born from thousands of training hours, he hyperextended the joint until it shattered, continuing the motion to drive the operative's elbow backward into its socket. The man screamed as his arm bent in ways human limbs were never meant to bend.

Something about hurting these people gave him a certain thrill he was starting to fear he enjoyed. More so, now that the cat was out of the bag about his powers, he was at full liberty to unleash his true strenght.

The second operative attacked from the side, a blade infused with dark chi slicing toward Noah's neck. Without looking, Noah caught the attacker's wrist, redirected the momentum, and used it to drive the blade into the first operative's chest. As the leader collapsed, Noah twisted, using the second operative's arm as leverage to flip him over his shoulder and onto the ground. A precise heel strike to the temple ended the threat...permanently.

The third operative proved more skilled, delivering a series of chi-enhanced strikes that would have incapacitated a lesser opponent. Noah read the pattern, evaded the most dangerous blows, and accepted glancing hits on non-vital areas. When he spotted the opening in the operative's form, he struck—fingers rigid, targeting the throat with enough force to crush the trachea.

As the man collapsed, gasping futilely for air, Noah knelt beside the drained students. He could sense it clearly now—dark chi, like a malevolent shadow at the base of their skulls, suppressing their consciousness and abilities.

He placed his hand on the nearest student's forehead, channeling void energy with precision. The operation required delicacy—too much power would risk erasing the student entirely, too little would fail to neutralize the dark chi. Noah found the balance, creating a void barrier that isolated the foreign energy without destroying the host.

The student gasped, color returning to her face as awareness flooded back. "What—what happened?"

"You'll be okay temporarily," Noah explained. "Find Sophie Reign by the south stand. She's organizing defense."

He repeated the process with the other victims, each success requiring careful application of his abilities. It was draining, but sustainable for now.

Across the arena, Lucas and Jayden had encountered resistance—two Purge operatives unlike the others. They wore distinctive red and black armored suits, and the dark chi surrounding them was orders of magnitude more concentrated than the foot soldiers'.

"Be careful!" Lucas shouted to Jayden. "These are elites!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Jayden snarled back, plasma intensifying as he charged.

Noah returned his focus to the immediate area, scanning for priority threats. He spotted a group of students being cornered by Purge operatives and blinked toward them, arriving just as the first operative raised a draining device.

Noah didn't hesitate—his fist, coated in void energy, punched through the man's back, fingers closing around his spine before tearing it out through the exit wound. As the first operative collapsed, the others turned in shock.

"Move," Noah told the students, his voice calm despite the blood dripping from his hand. "East exit. Lucas Grey is holding it open. Don't stop for anything."

The year ones fled as Noah engaged the remaining operatives. These fights were shorter, more brutal—Noah no longer had patience for anything but efficiency. Three more Purge soldiers fell, their bodies broken or void-corrupted beyond recognition.

As the last one fell, Noah felt a strange sensation—like being watched by something hungry. He turned slowly to find Gigarose still seated in her original position, completely untouched by the chaos swirling around her. The look of bliss that had adorned her face during the start of the chaos had faded, replaced by something like...disappointment.

"Spoiling all the fun," she said, her voice somehow carrying to him despite the distance and noise. "Such a clever boy, always fixing things that aren't meant to be fixed."

An instinctive warning flared in Noah's mind—danger, far beyond the operatives he'd dispatched. He turned away, refusing to engage, and moved back toward Sophie's position.

He found her coordinating a defensive formation of about thirty students, most upperclassmen with combat training. She moved among them with natural authority, positioning barriers and ranged attackers to maximum effect.

"Barriers front, energy projectors second line, physical enhancers on the perimeter," she commanded, every bit the Minister's daughter. "No one engages alone—pairs minimum, trios preferred."

"Kelvin's cleared the air systems," Noah reported. "Students should start waking up within minutes. How's it looking here?"

Sophie's face was grim. "We've secured this section, but we're losing ground elsewhere. And..." She hesitated, eyes flicking toward the center of the arena.

Noah followed her gaze. Sophie's mother had moved to a command position, directing operations with cold efficiency. As they watched, she dispatched teams toward strategic points with hand signals that Sophie herself used—Academy military protocols.

"She's using our own tactics against us," Sophie whispered, pain evident beneath her professional demeanor.

Before Noah could respond, their attention was drawn to Commander Owen, who had just sent Vice Commander Albright crashing into a wall with a devastating punch. Owen stood among at least a dozen fallen Purge operatives, his uniform torn and bloodied but his stance unwavering.

"This facility is compromised!" Owen shouted, his voice carrying above the chaos. "All students, evacuate through designated exits!"

Noah's mind raced, calculating remaining threats and escape vectors. The Purge still held numerical advantage, but with the sedative clearing and evacuation routes established, they had a fighting chance.

"Sophie, I need to evacuate the critically injured," Noah decided. "Domain Travel can get them to safety immediately."

"Do it," Sophie agreed. "I'll hold—"

She froze, eyes widening as she stared past Noah's shoulder. He turned to see Sophie's mother approaching, flanked by four elite operatives whose hands pulsed with concentrated dark chi.

"Daughter," the woman said, voice carrying authority and regret in equal measure. "Stand down. This doesn't concern you."

Sophie stepped forward, placing herself between her mother and the injured students behind her. "How could you join them? After everything they stand for?"

"You don't understand what's coming, Sophie," her mother replied, genuine pain crossing her features. "This is mercy compared to the alternative."

Noah positioned himself beside Sophie, void energy gathering at his fingertips. "Back off," he warned the operatives. "Or this gets messy."

Sophie's mother studied Noah with newfound interest. "So you're Eclipse. The papers didn't do you justice."

"I said back off," Noah repeated.

The woman signaled her operatives. They attacked in perfect coordination, dark chi forming weapons of pure energy in their hands. Noah and Sophie moved as one, meeting the assault with practiced teamwork. Sophie dropped the first operative with a spinning kick that connected with his temple. Noah neutralized the second with a void-enhanced strike to the solar plexus that disrupted his entire chi network.

The third and fourth proved more challenging, forcing Noah and Sophie to separate briefly. Noah found himself facing an operative who wielded dark chi like whips, the energy extensions lashing out with deadly precision. He evaded three strikes before finding an opening, closing distance too quickly for the operative to adjust. His summoned the Eclipse blade and made quick work of the man by giving him a quick slash around the throat.

He turned to assist Sophie, only to find she had already dispatched her opponent with brutal efficiency. Now she faced off against her mother. And from the brief exchange he saw, her fighting style mirrored her mother's—the same economy of movement, the same deadly precision.

Mother and daughter now faced each other, separated by only a few yards of blood-spattered floor.

"You fight well," Sophie's mother observed. "Better than when I left."

"You didn't leave," Sophie responded, voice brittle. "You died. At least that's what they told us."

"A necessary deception. My work required it."

"And what work is that? Mass murder? Power draining? What exactly justifies this?"

Sophie's mother drew a weapon unlike anything Noah had seen, it was like a ravager blaster only it looked like organic and mechanical components fused into something that pulsed with dark chi. "Survival, Sophie. Humanity's survival."

"Mom, what are you doing?" Sophie's voice cracked for the first time, disbelief evident as her mother aimed the weapon directly at her.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. One day you'll understand."

The weapon discharged—a beam of concentrated dark chi shooting toward Sophie. Noah moved instinctively, placing himself in the path of the attack. He raised both hands, calling upon Void Absorption.

The dark beam struck Noah's outstretched hands and seemed to vanish into them. He felt it immediately—corrupt, wrong, antithetical to the void energy he channeled. He seizured briefly before getting back up to his feet.

Sophie's mother stared at Noah with open astonishment. "SSS ranked soldier," she whispered. "So it is true."

Before Noah could respond, a massive explosion rocked the far side of the arena. He turned to see Lucas and Jayden, still in their transformed states, battling the elite Purge operatives with catastrophic force. Each impact sent shockwaves through the structure, causing sections of the ceiling to collapse.

"We're running out of time," Noah told Sophie. "Domain Travel is our best option for mass evacuation now."

Sophie nodded, still watching her mother retreat to regroup with more operatives. "Do it."

Domain travel on this scale would drain most of his energy. That's why he hadn't used specialized skills so far—sticking to sheer physical dominance, conserving every ounce of power. But to travel this many people, he had to activate his Void Authority first.

Amid the panic and rapidly deteriorating battlefield, one figure remained perfectly still—seated daintily on the edge of a shattered viewing platform as if enjoying a private opera.

Gigarose.

While explosions rattled the air and screams painted the arena red, she sat with one leg crossed tightly over the other, chin tilted up toward the sky, watching him. Watching Noah.

"Look at him..." she muttered, the edges of her grin twitching like it couldn't decide whether to widen or collapse. "So serious. So dramatic. Mr. Void himself, always talking like he's the last thread holding this silly little show together."

She leaned forward slowly, eyes narrowing with a strange kind of fond disgust.

"Noah Eclipse… you're so boring when you're noble. And so loud when you try to play the hero. Always saving. Always planning. Always holding back like you're the only grown-up at a children's party..." Her eye twitched as her fingers curled, like she was clutching an invisible thread.

She let out a low, shaky breath—half sigh, half moan. "Ugh. It's getting annoying now. It itches in my head. That calm, cold, calculating presence of yours. You think the Void makes you special?" Her lips curled into a pout as she swung her legs childishly. "It's not fair. You get all the cool tricks and everyone listens when you talk."

A pause. Then her voice dropped to a whisper of revelation, eyes widening in manic wonder.

"But I could just... take it."

The pout disappeared. Her entire body went still. Slowly, achingly slow, the corners of her mouth stretched—wider and wider, her cheeks cracking ever so slightly from the strain, until her face was a perfect, maddened crescent moon of joy.

"I could make your silence scream," she whispered. "I could unmake your pretty little system and smear you across the stars like paint."

Her fingers snapped together with the finality of a guillotine.

Then, in the softest, sweetest voice imaginable:

"Domain."

From where he stood, Noah had heard it. Not out loud but like a thought. He'd heard that sweet impossible voice in his head.

[System Alert: Initiating Domain failed...]

[Warning: Interference Detected—Source Unknown]

[Stability Glitch: Void Authority compromised]

[Countermeasure Unavailable. Forced Override in Progress.]

Noah gasped, staggering as a foreign presence shoved its way into his connection with the void. It was vast, alien, and impossibly invasive—bypassing his mental defenses like they were wet paper. He tried to clamp down, reassert control, but the intrusion was merciless.

"Sophie!" he called out, reaching for her as the pull intensified. "Something's wrong—!"

His body began to dissolve into motes of void energy—against his will.

Sophie lunged, but her hands slipped through him like mist.

"Noah!" she screamed.

The last thing he saw was Sophie's terrified face and, just behind her, the multiple Miss Brooks turning in perfect unison. Their glowing blue eyes narrowed, flickering with synchronized alarm.

[Warning:

You are no longer in control.]

Then the arena vanished.

Noah crashed into existence on shifting red sand, coughing and disoriented. The sky above him blazed a sickly yellow-orange, alien and cloudless. A low, endless mechanical drone vibrated through the air like a distant war engine.

He turned, dizzy and nauseous, scanning the warped desert—rocks twisted into impossible angles, defying gravity. No plants. No life. Just dread.

"Welcome to my playground," came a voice behind him.

Noah spun.

Gigarose stood twenty feet away—but changed. Taller. Wrong. Her frame twisted subtly, her proportions off just enough to send instinct screaming. Her pink-tinged eyes were now deep maroon, her smile too wide, too sharp.

"Such interesting toys you have," she said. Her voice echoed from everywhere at once—the sky, the sand, his own mind. "Let me show you mine."

The ground trembled. She raised a hand. The desert moved—shifting like liquid, forming ominous patterns around them.

[System Alert: Critical Error]

[Domain Authority Nullified. Foreign Domain Overlapping Yours.]

[Recommendation: Retreat Unavailable. Survive.]

Noah's breath hitched. His mind raced.

She had overridden his Domain. That shouldn't have been possible.

For the first time since his Reawakening, since the Harbingers, Noah Eclipse felt something he'd almost forgotten.

Fear.