Chapter 136
Ivan's POV
Chloe had escaped safely. I had no more worries holding me back—I could fight with everything I had.
I clenched my jaw, lightning dancing wildly at my fingertips.
"Ivan!" Zeus roared in my mind. "Release me! Let thunder judge these filthy undead!"
I took a deep breath and let the lightning element within me explode completely. Blue-white electric light cascaded from my body like a waterfall, instantly flooding the entire hall with blinding brilliance. The corpse puppets lunging toward me hadn't even gotten close before they were incinerated to charcoal under the thunderous assault.
Morena let out an enraged shriek, waving her necromancy staff. A black magical barrier unfurled before her, attempting to withstand the lightning's impact. But against such pure destructive force, that barrier crumbled inch by inch, and even the staff itself cracked under the strain.
Elvira in the air fared no better. She summoned dozens of dark purple spatial blades slashing toward me, only to have them easily shattered by the lightning shield surrounding me. The fragments dissolved into nothingness mid-air, and her expression grew increasingly ugly.
"Kill them all!" Zeus howled in my mind. "They can't withstand thunder's judgment!"
I held the absolute advantage. Morena's undead army was helpless before lightning, and Elvira's spatial magic couldn't penetrate my defenses.
Just as I was about to corner both witches—
A cold gleam flashed in Elvira's eyes. She hovered in midair, looking down at the pack members trembling in fear throughout the hall, a cruel smile curling at her lips.
"Morena," her voice was cold as ice, "don't forget there's so much 'material' here."
Morena understood immediately. She raised her staff and began chanting an obscure incantation. The sound seemed to come from the depths of hell, each syllable making one's hair stand on end.
The elders, nobles, and servants in the hall suddenly let out piercing screams. Black thorny patterns crawled up their skin like living things, their eyes rolled back white, their consciousness sealed away, their bodies beginning to convulse uncontrollably.
"No—" My heart clenched.
The next second, those former pack members, friends, all stood up like the walking dead. Their eyes held no light, only hollow whiteness. Controlled by dark magic, they now had only one thought—to kill me.
The crowd surged forward like zombies, throwing themselves at me without regard for life or death.
"Connor!" I saw a figure stumbling through the crowd toward Elvira—the instigator himself. His face was full of terror and regret. "Stop! This wasn't our deal! I only wanted Ivan dead, I didn't tell you to touch my pack!"
Elvira dismissively waved her hand. A dark purple spatial barrier appeared from nowhere, violently flinging Connor away. He crashed heavily to the ground, blood spurting from his mouth.
"Deal?" Elvira sneered. "Only the strong have the right to make deals. If we want to obtain the lightning element, what does sacrificing a few ants matter? Connor, this is the door you opened with your own hands."
Connor collapsed to the ground, watching the hellscape before him as immense regret and fear destroyed his sanity. He clutched his head, letting out a shrill, deranged laugh.
The controlled pack members surged toward me like a tide. They felt no pain, knew no fear, biting and clawing at my lightning shield with teeth and nails. I tried to knock them unconscious with weak electrical currents, but Morena's necromancy was brutally domineering—as long as their bodies weren't shattered, the attacks wouldn't stop.
A controlled servant broke through my defenses and bit down on my arm. Blood flowed freely, searing pain striking me.
"Ivan!" Zeus shouted anxiously. "You must kill them! Otherwise we'll be worn down to death! They're already dead—they're puppets!"
I watched more and more "pack members" throw themselves at me, watched Morena's venomous smiling face hiding behind the human wall. Boundless pain and rage surged in my heart.
I thought of Chloe who had escaped, of the unborn child in her belly, of the promise I'd made to them.
To survive, to protect that promise, I had to become a demon.
I closed my eyes, two streams of tears flowing down. When I opened them again, my pupils were occupied by pure white lightning.
"I'm sorry..."
Thunder Prison Descent.
Countless violent lightning bolts bombarded indiscriminately within the barrier. Blinding white light swallowed everything, flesh and blood flew, screams instantly extinguished. The entire hall became scorched earth.
The smoke cleared.
Corpses littered the hall—not a single puppet from the first wave remained alive. Only I stood in the center, drenched in blood, like a demon returned from hell. Connor had survived by cowering in a corner, but watching the bodies of his pack members covering the ground, his mind completely shattered, and he let out a shrill, mad laugh.
But it wasn't over yet.
The second wave of controlled pack members prepared to attack again. My gaze swept across the crowd, and my heart seized violently.
Among the puppet horde, I saw Chloe's friend Grace. Her eyes held no light, black blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
I saw the Beta's son Derek, that young warrior who'd sparred with me on the training grounds.
I saw Jordan, that former opponent, now a walking corpse.
And even... I saw Alpha Tyler.
Chloe's father, that once ruthlessly cold leader, now also controlled by dark magic, only hollow whiteness remaining in his eyes.
Did I really have to kill them all?
Kill Chloe's friends? Kill her father?
I felt deep powerlessness and self-doubt. The lightning in my hands began jumping unstably, Zeus constantly urging in my mind, but my body was trembling.
"I... I can't do it..."
Tyler walked toward me step by step with hollow eyes. Claws gripped in his hands—what had once been an Alpha's dignity now became tools of slaughter.
I took a step back, my lightning shield wavering.
Grace, Derek, Jordan... they closed in around me.
Morena's laughter echoed through the hall: "What's this? The son of lightning has a weakness too? Then let your weakness become your grave!"
I clenched my jaw, my eyes full of despair.
Chloe... I'm sorry... I might not... be able to keep our promise...