Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power Chapter 442: Escape

Chapter 442 – Escape

Loup strained every fiber of his being to avoid swearing at the forefathers of the fellow sprinting alongside him.

He couldn't quite grasp why he was fleeing himself, save for the way his gut feelings had overpowered his judgment. But at this point, turning back was impossible.

The identity of the one chasing them slipped from his frantic and overwhelmed thoughts, though Loup realized that halting right then would seal his doom.

'Ancestral Grandmother, grant me your protection!!' He wailed silently in his head, tears welling up as he weaved through the narrow lanes of Fenrir’s city, venturing further into sparsely populated areas.

He had no clue how he managed such velocity, but pure survival instinct drove him forward in that moment.

Though the gale battered his features fiercely, Loup still caught the furious shouts of their hunter.

It drew nearer. Perilously near.

Next to him, the striking figure kept whispering nonstop beneath his breath, his gaze—rose-colored, with irises formed from layers of heart-like shapes—scanning wildly as though hunting for an exit from this crisis.

Yet if that was his goal, no such path appeared.

Loup started to despair, sensing the woman gaining ground. He nearly felt her heavy exhales brushing his nape.

A chill ran through him.

But abruptly, amid the roaring gusts, a new sound pierced the air. All three whipped their heads toward the source.

There, a tiny damaged wheel spun endlessly, round and round.

However, that wasn't the focus of their notice.

"Over here!" Dancer roared, jabbing his forefinger toward a shadowy narrow passage right where the wheel had rolled out from.

Adjacent to that passage lay a T-junction.

Dancer bolted toward it, with Loup and White trailing on pure reflex. In moments, they arrived and plunged into the darkness without delay.

Loup observed as the odd fellow extracted a pair of diminutive spheres from his storage ring, then smashed them forcefully against the earth.

They shattered, unleashing a thick haze of fumes and particles that concealed their forms.

Jade burst onto the scene mere heartbeats later, her sinews bulging and relaxing, her amber feral gaze seething with raw fury.

"Think this will rescue you?" Jade snarled in vexation.

She lifted an arm, then balled it into a solid knuckle. A minor blast wave burst forth, furious lines veiling her arm and fist completely.

She assumed a striking pose, the atmosphere snapping as she drew back her right arm, set to demolish all before her.

But precisely then, as her fist neared the ghostly mist ready to disperse it utterly, Jade froze on impulse upon spotting a little white feline exploding from the fog, fleeing off in a different route.

That tiny pause proved short, yet ample.

A grasp, unyielding as forged steel, halted her strike.

"What’s this, Jade?" Daggy snarled, yanking her offspring around to confront her with a sharp twist of her wrist.

Exactly then, in Jade's shadow, Dancer and Loup slipped away nimbly, heading after the white cat's path.

Masking it from her expression, Daggy’s spirit eased profoundly.

Jade glanced back next, detecting the aura vanishing. Her features contorted as she spun toward her mother.

"I ought to be the one demanding what in hell you’re up to." She hissed, batting away the hand gripping her.

Daggy released her hold, retreated a few paces, and eyed her child with unyielding scrutiny.

"Am I the parent, or are you?" She stated, folding her arms beneath her ample bosom, "Or must I refresh your memory of your station?"

Jade barked a bitter laugh, "Mother, quit dodging the issue."

She advanced a pace, nearer to her mother, their sturdy torsos pressing together,

"Why was some guy in your atelier, and why did he bolt when I entered?"

She demanded, her expression rigid as granite,

"Mother, are you—!"

"We’ll discuss it afterward." Daggy cut her off, seizing her hand with force, "After your little stunt, your sire will catch wind of this soon enough."

She tsked in annoyance.

Before Jade could utter a word, Daggy hauled her daughter off, her form blurring in a surge of velocity, abandoning a swirl of haze and grit behind.

…

A barrage of fumes and particles crashed upon Rea as she veered aside—Kaden strapped to her back—dodging the lethal claw of those terrifying beasts.

The strike's collision with the terrain hurled her skyward like a hurled boulder, forcing her to adjust her stance in flight, Kaden’s protective shell adhered to her torso, as she plummeted harshly.

Her spine snapped.

Her eyes bulged, air expelled from her chest momentarily. There, dim stars mirroring her dire plight, swarmed her sight.

The agony tore at her.

Still, Rea understood she couldn't afford to wallow in the torment.

The creatures advanced from every angle, and she had discovered that battling them was sheer folly. Particularly within this realm.

The massive gash along her left abdominal side served as stark evidence. Her crimson flow continued to gush in pulses, scarcely contained by her ability.

Yet even that ability faltered. The beasts' assaults—or perhaps the domain itself—eroded her strength.

Something within this haze and grit caused Rea to occasionally blank on wielding her gift.

Her thoughts eroded like weathered rock, recollections and routines fading gradually.

It drove her to insanity.

'Curse you, Kaden!' Rea swore, her complexion ashen, her mouth parched as she attempted to rise once more.

At best, she managed a try. But her limbs, drenched in gore and inflamed, buckled immediately, dropping her onto the foggy surface.

The suffering intensified.

Her pulse faltered, and she craned her neck barely to witness two fiends lunging downward.

The breeze appeared to keen and divide as the blow descended.

Channeling every ounce of her might, Rea roared fiercely, sinews bulging across her visage, summoning pale blossoms resembling falling tears to sprout ahead of her.

Thus, a barrier formed.

But the Divine-Afflicted understood it wouldn't endure. So she poured all her energy into bolstering her limbs, scooped up Kaden, and sprinted off.

Kaden’s enveloping shell gradually withdrew, signaling his revival neared. Nevertheless, Rea doubted her endurance until then.

She lost track of time’s flow—if chronology even functioned in this cursed void—but she teetered on collapse.

'May despair claim me, is there naught but fumes and grit here?' She lamented within, surveying her surroundings.

Merely haze, debris, and cinders prevailed, yet the further Rea fled, faint outlines of formations emerged.

And eventually, her terror-glazed eyes, dimmed with dread, caught sight of a distant span.

Optimism ignited in her core like a beacon in void.

She peered over her shoulder, noting alterations in the fiends.

As she pressed toward the span, the creatures grew more humanoid, their contours shifting to familiar silhouettes.

But such alteration only amplified the peril haunting her psyche and soul.

Thus, she faced ahead once more, expending her full force to accelerate.

Possessing fear’s might amid this ordeal proved both boon and bane. For fear had bounds before shattering the spirit.

Rea’s threshold soared. Remarkably so.

Yet even hers approached swiftly. And regardless of her psyche’s prior fractures...

'Swift! Swifter! Swifter still!' She thundered in her thoughts, sensing her consciousness fracturing, an insidious presence creeping in.

...this fracture would scar even Rea beyond mending.

—End of Chapter 442—