Chapter 140
Alpha Louis's POV
Eight years later.
The air in the underground chamber was thick as rotting blood. I sat elegantly in the high-backed chair, fingertips tapping the armrest as I surveyed the barely human wreckage on the torture rack.
Ivan Price—once the bearer of the lightning element, now clinging to his last breath.
His body was covered in crisscrossing scars, teeth ripped out by the roots, left leg severed cleanly at the knee. But what satisfied me most were those eyes that once burned with defiant fire, now utterly hollow and numb.
"A perfect work of art." Space witch Elvira caressed obsessively a freshly forged white bone spear, crafted from Ivan's entire leg bone. The spear shaft gleamed with a ghostly white luster, like frozen moonlight.
"Look at this grain, this texture... His bones are naturally immune to and can contain elemental power. Simply the perfect vessel."
She turned, eyes blazing with fanatical light. "The seven teeth extracted earlier have been forged into the 'Seven Claw General's Necklace,' a defensive treasure capable of absorbing elemental magic. And this spear crafted from his leg bone..." She stroked the shaft, voice trembling with excitement, "is a divine weapon capable of killing elemental bearers!"
My thoughts drifted involuntarily to these eight years of torment.
To break Ivan's will to resist, necromancer Morena continuously sent those Thunder Pack members controlled by dark magic before him. His wife's father Tyler, his wife's friend Grace, even that Jordan who once provoked him—one after another, they all became his nightmares.
I watched him struggle in despair, watched him try again and again to awaken those long-dead souls, watched his spirit crumble piece by piece.
Finally, Elvira stripped the lightning element from his body and transferred it into my hands. That feeling of power flooding into my body... simply intoxicating.
I thought that would be the end of it.
But Elvira discovered Ivan's bodily secret—his natural immunity to elemental forces made his bones and flesh perfect materials for crafting magical artifacts. So these eight years, he lived only to be "utilized" bit by bit.
Now, the spear's forging was nearly complete. I noticed the mate mark on Ivan's neck flicker several times, then fade completely and vanish.
The sign of life's utter extinction.
"Finally," I commented coldly, "wrung completely dry."
I rose and walked toward the rack, picking up the spear gleaming with ghostly white light. The shaft instantly coursed with violent blue currents, thunder leaping and roaring across the bone surface, yet submissively calming in my grasp the next second.
This feeling of control... this was true power.
The chamber door was knocked upon.
"Enter," I said indifferently.
Nicholas pushed through, kneeling respectfully on one knee.
"Alpha, the duel between Crimson Flame Warlord Xavier and Silver Moon War Mother Stella is about to begin." He raised his head, face bearing a smile seeking credit. "Your subordinate has successfully informed Stella of Xavier's old lightning wound at his waist."
A smile curved my lips. Excellent. As long as Xavier showed weakness in this battle, it would be my perfect opportunity to legitimately purge the Scott family and seize the flame element.
That stubborn old Xavier had been paying lip service while harboring other intentions all these years. Time to make him understand who the true master was.
"Well done." I waved casually, the thunder bone spear tracing an arc through the air.
A terrifying bolt of lightning didn't destroy the wall but instead caused the magical defensive array it touched to instantly annihilate into nothingness. I watched this scene with wild joy—this was a true "divine weapon."
It wasn't simple destruction, but negation and devouring of elemental power itself.
With this spear, even elemental bearers would be as fragile as paper before me.
My eyes burned with endless greed: "Flame, ice, wind, earth... all of these will be mine!"
Nicholas bowed his head respectfully, a trace of fear flashing through his eyes.
He knew that when the Alpha showed this expression, it meant someone was about to have a very bad time.
I caressed the thunder bone spear in my hand, mind already planning the next steps.
Xavier's flame, Silver Moon's ice, Stone Ridge's earth element... none would escape.
"Morena and Elvira," I commanded coldly, "coordinate with Nicholas and prepare. Once Xavier and Stella are both wounded, we can legitimately purge the Scott family."
"Yes, Alpha," the three answered in unison.
I stood alone in the dim underground chamber, the bone spear in my hand radiating cold white light. On the rack, Ivan's corpse had gone completely cold.
His death opened the door to absolute power for me.
This world would eventually prostrate itself at my feet.
And those so-called elemental bearers were merely stepping stones on my path to the throne.