Chapter 0044: The Reckoning Begins
The city was no longer just ruins—it was a battlefield. The night pulsed with an eerie red glow from the fires still burning, casting long, flickering shadows over the crumbling structures.
Claire gritted her teeth, her fingers tightening around the dagger. Alexander stood beside her, his gun raised, eyes darting between the approaching figures.
Damian took another step forward, his movements slow but deliberate, savoring their shock. His bloodied grin stretched wider.
"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" he taunted. "This city is mine. And you? You're just players in a game you never understood."
With a snap of his fingers, the armed figures fanned out, their weapons glinting in the firelight.
It was a trap all along.
Claire's pulse pounded in her ears. "We take them down fast," she whispered to Alexander. "Damian is mine."
Alexander nodded, raising his gun. "Then let's make sure this ends tonight."
A gunshot rang out, the signal that chaos had erupted once more.
The final reckoning had begun.
The Final Gambit
The first bullet tore through the silence like a rip in reality. Then came another. And another.
Claire ducked, her dagger gleaming under the firelit sky as she lunged forward. Alexander was already moving, his gun firing in rapid succession.
Damian didn't flinch. He merely laughed.
"Pathetic," he sneered, sidestepping with unnatural speed. "You're still fighting like you have a chance."
Claire spun, her blade slicing through the air—only for Damian to vanish.
Impossible.
Then—pain.
A sharp, searing pain erupted in her side. Claire gasped, staggering back. He was behind her.
Alexander turned just in time to see the blood staining her shirt. His rage boiled over.
"You son of a—"
He fired. Point-blank.
Damian caught the bullet with his bare hand.
"No more games," he said, voice thick with menace. "This ends with me standing, and you—" He glanced at Claire, smirking. "On your knees."
Claire clenched her jaw, forcing herself to stay upright.
Not today. Not ever.
Summoning every last ounce of strength, she tightened her grip on the dagger and whispered, "Then let's finish this."
The true final battle had begun.
Blood and Ruin
The first shot shattered the night. Then came the storm.
Claire barely had time to react as the ambush closed in—gunfire, steel flashing in the chaos, boots pounding against the broken ground. This wasn't a battle. It was slaughter.
Alexander took down three men in quick succession, his gun a blur. But there were too many. Claire dodged a blade aimed for her throat, spinning into a vicious counterattack.
Her dagger found flesh. A scream followed. One down.
Damian watched, amused.
"Is this all?" he taunted, sidestepping another bullet. "I expected more."
Claire ignored the pain burning in her side. She had to end this. Now.
With a fierce cry, she charged—but Damian was faster.
Before she could land a strike, he **grabbed her wrist—**then snapped it.
Pain exploded through her arm. She screamed.
The dagger fell.
Damian smirked, twisting the knife deeper—literally. A second blade plunged into her shoulder, forcing her to her knees.
"Stay down," he whispered, voice dripping with cruelty.
Alexander roared in fury, unloading his clip. Headshots. Chest shots. Nothing worked.
Damian was unstoppable.
Then—he moved.
A blur. A shadow. He was behind Alexander before he even turned.
A sickening crack echoed.
Alexander collapsed.
Claire's vision blurred. No. No. NO.
She reached for her fallen dagger, but Damian's boot came down hard on her hand, grinding the bones beneath.
"You lose," he hissed.
Blood dripped from Claire's lips. Her strength was fading.
But deep inside, a single ember burned.
Not. Yet.
With the last of her power, she **lunged—**grabbing the second dagger hidden in her boot.
Damian's eyes widened for the first time.
And Claire stabbed him.
Deep. Straight through the ribs.
A gurgling breath escaped him.
His grip loosened.
Claire wrenched the dagger free—then stabbed him again.
And again.
Until he stopped moving.
She collapsed, gasping for breath.
Was it over?
Somewhere, Alexander groaned. Alive.
Claire let out a breathless laugh, the sky spinning above her.
"Yeah…" she whispered.
It was finally over.
The Devil's Last Laugh
The dagger was still buried in his ribs. Blood poured from the wounds Claire had inflicted. He should be dead.
But Damian…
Smiled.
Claire's heart slammed against her ribs. No. That's not possible.
She had stabbed him. Again. And again.
And yet—
Damian's hand shot out, gripping her wrist with inhuman strength.
"Did you think," he rasped, eyes glowing with something unnatural, "that a king falls so easily?"
Claire's breath caught. This wasn't human.
A low hum filled the air. Power surged.
The ground trembled beneath them.
Then—laughter.
Damian's lips curled into a twisted grin.
"Look around you," he whispered.
Claire's stomach dropped.
Slowly—she did.
And her blood ran cold.
The bodies of the fallen were moving.
Not just moving. Rising.
Eyes dull. Limbs twitching. A horrific army of the dead.
Alexander staggered to his feet, barely able to stand. His gun shook in his grip. "What the hell is this?"
Claire's mind raced. Magic? No. This was something else.
Damian chuckled, wrenching the dagger from his own ribs like it was nothing. The wound knitted together before her eyes.
"You thought this was war?" he murmured.
His gaze burned into her, full of dark amusement.
"This was only the prologue."
And with one command, the army of the dead charged.
The real nightmare had begun.
The Awakening
The dead charged. Not just mindless bodies—something worse.
Their movements were too fast. Too precise.
Not just reanimated flesh—possessed.
Claire's mind screamed at her to run. But where? There was nowhere left.
Alexander fired shot after shot, but the bullets did nothing. Nothing.
Damian grinned, watching the chaos unfold.
"Run, Claire," he taunted. "Or will you finally accept what you really are?"
Something inside her twisted at his words.
What she really was?
No. No, she couldn't—
But deep in her chest, something burned.
A heat unlike anything she had ever felt before.
A whisper in her mind, ancient and relentless.
"Let go."
Claire's knees buckled as the energy surged through her veins. Foreign, yet familiar.
The army of the dead lunged—
And Claire screamed.
The air shattered.
A shockwave blasted from her body, sending corpses flying. The ground split apart beneath her feet.
For the first time—Damian's grin faltered.
Claire gasped, her hands trembling. Power crackled at her fingertips, wild and untamed.
She looked up at Damian.
And for the first time—he looked afraid.
"Impossible," he whispered.
Claire smiled.
"Your move, Damian."
Unleashed
The ground trembled beneath Claire's feet, the energy within her raging like a storm barely contained. Lightning crackled through the air, the sky itself darkening in response.
Damian's smirk returned.
"That's it," he murmured, eyes gleaming. "That's what I wanted all along."
Claire's heart slammed against her ribs. What?
Alexander reached for her, but the sheer force of the energy surrounding her sent him flying back.
"Claire, stop!" he shouted, struggling to get up.
But she couldn't.
The power surged, uncontrollable. Her vision blurred as the world twisted and warped around her. Everything felt wrong.
Damian took a slow step forward, his hands raised—not in defense, but in satisfaction.
"You think this is your awakening?" he whispered, his voice like velvet. "No, Claire. This is your destruction."
The realization hit her like ice.
He wanted this. He planned this.
Claire tried to force the power back down, but it wouldn't listen. It had a will of its own.
The ground split open beneath her, shadows twisting out, reaching like hungry hands.
She wasn't just tapping into power.
She was becoming something else.
Damian's laughter echoed through the chaos. "And now, Claire—you belong to ME."
The Price of Power
The darkness within Claire surged, wrapping around her like a second skin. The shadows coiled and twisted, whispering in a language she didn't understand—but somehow, she knew exactly what they were saying.
"Give in."
"Let go."
"Power for a price."
Claire clenched her fists, trying to fight it back, but the force inside her was too strong, too ancient. The air around her vibrated, crackling with energy, and for a moment, she swore she could see something beyond the veil of reality—a glimpse of something monstrous, waiting.
Alexander staggered to his feet, eyes wide with horror. "Claire, STOP!"
She turned to him, but her eyes weren't her own anymore.
Damian grinned. "She can't stop. She's finally seeing the truth."
The shadows surged forward, and Claire wasn't standing on the battlefield anymore.
She was somewhere else.
A vast, endless void stretched in every direction, and at its center—a figure.
Not Damian.
Not anyone she recognized.
But it was watching her.
A deep voice rumbled through the void, sending chills down her spine.
"You have touched the forbidden, Claire. And now, you owe a debt."
Her breath caught. "What… debt?"
"Power is never free."
Suddenly, pain ripped through her. Her body burned, her vision swam, and a truth she had never known came crashing down upon her.
This wasn't her power. It never was.
It was borrowed.
And the one who lent it?
Had come to collect.
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(To be Continue...)