[Scene:] The shuddering altar and the shattering barriers.
1.1 The Shield of Flesh and Blood
The golden holy light, carrying a wave of destructive energy, roared toward the motionless Eleanor. This was the judgmental power of the Council, accumulated over centuries, capable of vaporizing any supernatural entity in an instant.
"No—!" Lydon screamed in despair.
However, the expected annihilation did not occur.
Alistair lunged upward. His body, previously on the verge of collapse from the soul-stitching ritual, erupted with a shuddering power at that critical second. He spread his arms, using his back to shield Eleanor from the divine light.
BOOM—!
His black suit disintegrated instantly. His back was torn open, a mess of blood and flesh where bone was visible through the deep gashes. Yet, his feet remained rooted to the edge of the altar like iron pillars, ensuring not a single spark reached Eleanor behind him.
Due to the Blood Symbiosis, Eleanor coughed up a spray of blood. She could feel the inhuman agony Alistair was currently enduring.
"Tutor…" She reached out, her fingers trembling as they touched his burning, blood-soaked back.
1.2 The Declaration of Kin-Slaying
Alistair turned his head slowly. His left eye had turned completely pitch black—a sign of the Core Algorithm's total loss of control, consuming his humanity. He wiped the blood from his lips, letting out a low, beast-like growl.
"Uncle," Alistair stared at the leading elder, his gaze cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice. "Who gave you the audacity to touch what is mine?"
"Alistair! You are mad!" The elder shook with rage. "She is just a sacrifice, a replaceable part! For her, you would betray the entire Thorne family?"
"A part?" Alistair erupted into a wild laugh that echoed through the chamber, carrying a sense of suffocating despair. "She is my life. Since you treat my life as a part, I shall treat this family as scrap metal!"
He raised his hand sharply, and the soul circuits around the altar instantly turned from blue to blood-red. The power intended for stitching souls was forcibly warped into a destructive Black Domain.
1.3 Forbidden Darkening: Sovereign of Shadows
"Since you believe I am the perfect heir," black mist rose around Alistair's body—the energy of a desecrated algorithm—"I will show you how terrifying a perfect heir who has lost all control can be."
He blurred into motion, moving at a speed the Council's elite could not track.
CRACK!
The sound of snapping bone followed. Before a white-robed elder could even scream, his neck was snapped by Alistair's bare hands.
Alistair stood by the corpse, warm blood splattered across his pale face, looking like a Shura returned from hell. He no longer utilized elegant stratagems but employed the most primal, violent supernatural means to unleash a one-sided slaughter.
"Protect the elders!" The guards surged forward.
But Alistair was invincible now. He wasn't just using energy; he was weaponizing the shared destiny of himself and Eleanor.
1.4 The Final Breach and Departure
Blood flowed like a river. The Council's strike team was dismantled in less than three minutes.
The leading elder retreated in disgrace, terror finally surfacing in his eyes. "You… you desecrator! You destroyed the family's foundation for a girl!"
"Foundation?" Alistair stood before him, looking down with icy disdain. "From this day forward, the only foundation of the Thorne family is Eleanor Vance."
He didn't kill his uncle; instead, he threw him out of the altar room like trash.
He turned and picked up the unconscious Eleanor. Though the soul stitching was interrupted, the Blood Symbiosis was now unbreakable. His mangled back was healing rapidly, but the process left behind eerie black markings.
"Lydon," Alistair's voice was hoarse. "Prepare the helicopter. We are going somewhere the Council will never find."
"Tutor, where are we going?"
Alistair kissed Eleanor's cold forehead, his gaze filled with morbid tenderness.
"The end of the world. My new cage."
Author's Note:
Thank you for your continued support! 2.86k is an inspiring milestone. This chapter completes Alistair's total darkening. This "choosing love over the empire" trope, combined with violent aesthetics, is exactly the kind of explosion readers crave. In the next chapter, we will enter the mysterious "World's End" and face the ultimate survival crisis of Eleanor's body turning transparent!
BY : KHChing