Cassian was magnificent. His power was beyond all expectations.
But he was also flawed.
He was a wild animal; a naive being devoid of strategy or tactics, acting solely on instinctual rage.
His combat experience was zero.
And Dr. Aris knew, with the cruel foresight that every genius possesses, that even the most powerful storm could be distracted.
And that was precisely his plan.
"NOW!" he sent a mental command to the Chimera.
The command pierced the Chimera’s brain like a bolt of lightning. The beast, which had been circling Cassian until that moment, suddenly launched an all-out assault.
Claws harder than steel tore through the earth, dozens of snake-like tails cracked like whips simultaneously, tentacles pierced the air, and deadly fluids spewed from acid-spitting mouths.
This barrage of attacks from every direction forced Cassian, by sheer instinct, to focus on defense.
As his eyes glowed dangerously, he created a shield of black flames that swirled around him like a vortex. The flames melted the incoming claws and vaporized the acid.
It had created the split-second opportunity Aris had been waiting for.
At that exact moment, Dr. Aris played his strongest card.
Instead of a physical attack, he focused all his mental power into a single point, targeting Cassian’s senses. This was not an attack trying to enter his mind; it was a pure psychic shockwave designed to collapse his nervous system.
Although the ancient aura in Cassian’s mind protected him, his senses were betrayed for an instant.
His vision went completely white, and the roar of a thousand screams exploded in his ears.
It lasted only a millisecond, but it was enough.
When his senses suddenly returned, like a shattered mirror, the first thing he felt was an icy pain that seared his very soul, piercing the left side of his chest, right over his heart.
His gaze drifted downward.
The energy sword, hurled from Dr. Aris’s hand, was embedded deep in his chest.
But this was no ordinary energy. The sword was coated in an ominous, purple glow that absorbed life force and poisoned regeneration.
"How does that sword taste, brat?" Aris hissed. "It’s coated with a special energy that nullifies that monstrous regeneration ability of yours!"
The sword was lodged in the left side of Cassian’s chest, exactly where his heart should have been. This pain was different. It wasn’t just a physical wound; the sinister energy on the blade was poisoning his regenerative power, preventing his cells from repairing themselves.
"HA-HA-HA-HAAA!" Dr. Aris’s laughter echoed with triumph. He pushed the sword in deeper.
"You see? Every power has its counter! Now die!"
But there was something Dr. Aris didn’t know: a cornered, dying beast is the most dangerous of all.
Because it has nothing left to lose.
Cassian staggered back a few steps, clutching his wounded shoulder. Pitch-black blood seeped through his fingers, dripping onto the ground with wisps of hot steam.
But the calm expression on his face remained.
The moment the sword had pierced his body, Cassian had managed to shift the position of his heart, narrowly avoiding a direct hit, but the wound was still severe.
His time was also running out; soon, his mana core would be completely destroyed, leaving him defenseless.
Enough games.
Cassian began to focus the full power in his body into a single point. A sphere, made of mana and containing all the elements, began to form in his hand.
With each passing second, the power of the sphere in his palms grew.
The arrogant smile on Dr. Aris’s face gave way to a pale horror. He took a step back, but he knew there was nowhere to run.
This power wasn’t just a spell; it was an apocalypse.
"Child... do you realize what you’re doing?!" he shrieked, panic in his voice. "This... this will kill us both! Stop it right now! Don’t you want to live?!"
Cassian slowly lifted his blood-covered face. His eyes were glowing madly, filled with a craziness that transcended the limits of reason, a madness that mocked death. The corners of his lips stretched into a grin that reached from ear to ear.
His answer was short, clear, and chilling:
"I am perfectly aware."
...
The sphere exploded in Cassian’s palm like a nova.
Pure energy spread out in an explosive wave. The Chimera howled, trying to protect itself with a wall of energy, but it was futile. The wave passed through the beast, tearing it to shreds, leaving behind only smoke and molten earth.
In a final act of desperation, Dr. Aris flapped his wings and shot toward the sky. But the energy blast Cassian had created was not just a horizontal attack.
The elements within the sphere had formed an upward-spiraling vortex.
Aris felt himself being pulled into the center of the explosion, unable to escape no matter how desperately he struggled.
"No! Nooo!" his scream was drowned out by the roar of the blast.
His psychic powers were nothing against this pure elemental force. His body was disintegrated in the energy hurricane spinning at the speed of light. All that remained were a few atomic dust particles, glittering in the moonlight...
The battle was over.
The earth’s scream had subsided, leaving behind only the terrible beauty of its own creation.
The force of the explosion had wiped the forests, mountains, and valleys within a radius of several kilometers from the face of the earth, replacing them with a massive, smoking crater.
The ground, vitrified from the extreme heat, had turned into a black, smooth surface that shone like a broken mirror under the moonlight. A deadly silence reigned, broken only by the faint crackling of cooling rocks and the hiss of smoldering smoke.
At the very center of this absolute destruction, in the heart of the crater, lay something small and broken.
The body that once held invincible power was now the wreckage of a boy, clinging to life, covered in blood.
The bright star within him, his mana core, had shone one last time before scattering into the universe, extinguished forever. What remained was an emptiness deeper than any physical wound, a void that no power could ever fill.
One of his arms had been torn from his shoulder by the ruthless force of the blast, leaving only a charred stump in its place. His other arm was a mangled heap of flesh and bone; shards of white bone gleamed painfully in the moonlight.
The wound from Dr. Aris’s ominous purple sword, where his heart should have been, was still there.
That wound had become a curse, greatly weakening his miraculous regeneration, frustrating his cells’ desperate efforts. His body was trying to repair itself, but it could only slow the bleeding; it no longer had the strength to close the wounds.
He was holding on to life by only those last, stubborn threads.
The pain was now like a distant whisper. He couldn’t even hear his body’s screams.
He fixed his eyes on the silver witness in the sky watching him from the edge of the crater. The moon...
The ancient eye that did not judge, did not question, but simply watched in silence.
The cool wind that gently brushed his ear, sending a shiver across his burnt skin, seemed to whisper a lullaby he had never heard in his life.
It was the sound of chains breaking.
It was the declaration that the game was over.
It was the whisper of freedom.
The absolute, dearly paid-for freedom he was tasting for the first and last time in his life...
He was no longer a lab rat.
He was no longer anyone’s toy.
A faint smile appeared on Cassian’s face as he watched the moon. It wasn’t wild or crazed this time.
Just a tired and peaceful acceptance.
His consciousness was slowly seeping into the earth, like the last drops from a broken jug. His eyelids grew heavy and, like a final curtain, fell upon the world he had known.
Cassian was now dead...