Chapter 346 — Hopeless

In the distance, Vermont’s voice roared with sound that carried over everything.

"Thundergod’s Wrath!"

Purple lightning exploded brighter than looking at the sun, a pillar connecting earth to burning sky.

Everyone on the battlefield turned to look despite themselves.

Elizabeth squinted through the glare and saw Vermont’s spear that seemed to tear reality along the seams.

Then one of the five S ranks simply wasn’t there.

Just blood mist and scattered pieces marking where he’d been.

CRACK BOOM

The shockwave rolled across the Domain, delayed sonic boom that made the ground shake.

Elizabeth’s eyes found Vermont through the afterimages burned into her retinas.

Gray streaked through hair that had been purple.

His face showed lines that hadn’t existed an hour ago.

’Forbidden skill... He’s killing himself to protect me!’

The remaining four S ranks pressed harder, sensing weakness.

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK

Continuous booms as combat exceeded what her eyes could track.

Blood kept spraying from Vermont’s body, wounds multiplying.

’He’s going to burn out and die and I can’t help him because I’m not strong enough.’

****

Then the ground changed beneath everyone’s feet.

Became cracked and desolate.

Sky darkened to bruised purple.

Chains materialized everywhere, hanging from nothing, swaying in winds that didn’t exist.

A masked figure’s voice cut through the chaos, hollow behind his skull mask.

"Domain of Hopelessness."

Mental Domains attacked consciousness itself, bypassed every physical defense, rendered armor and Aura reinforcement meaningless.

They came in two modes.

Internal froze both combatants physically while minds battled.

External projected the horror into reality while letting the user fight physically, targeting chosen victims with surgical precision.

This was External Mode.

****

Elizabeth felt pressure touch her consciousness like cold fingers wrapping around thoughts.

Chains appeared in her peripheral vision despite knowing they weren’t real.

Whispers started suggesting fighting was pointless.

’Damian’s Domain felt like being crushed under all my negative emotions... This is manageable.’

Her Will held firm, reinforced by years handling her Seer ability’s overwhelming side effects.

The assault slid off her mind.

But around her, Murdock warriors started falling.

A man fighting with perfect technique suddenly froze mid-swing.

His sword dropped from hands that stopped obeying.

Chains wrapped around him despite not touching his body.

His face twisted with despair that looked like physical agony.

"It’s hopeless... we can’t win..."

His voice cracked.

"Too many... I’m going to–"

A masked blade took his head.

Another warrior collapsed, tears streaming, hands shaking too hard to hold her weapon.

"Can’t keep... what’s the..."

Dead before finishing, spear through her chest.

’He isn’t targeting everyone... Too costly. Choosing the wounded, the exhausted, and the ones already breaking... Just pushing them over the edge.’

One by one, warriors gave up and died.

Not because they weren’t strong enough.

Because their minds broke first.

Then the Mental Domain user’s attention shifted.

Targeting her directly.

Pressure intensified a hundredfold, chains wrapping tighter, whispers becoming screams.

’Give up... You’re going to die anyway. All your visions showed it. Why fight? Just accept–’

Elizabeth’s Will blazed.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Her voice came raw, purple Aura exploding around her.

The Domain user recoiled slightly.

Then his voice carried across the battlefield, clinical and calm.

"Target the brother. If she can dodge, make her choose between herself and what she wants to protect."

Elizabeth’s blood ran cold.

****

’No. No no no–’

Adrian lay unconscious on burning ground fifty meters away, defenseless.

Three A rank awakeners broke from the main fight, moving with coordination that spoke to years of training together.

Elizabeth’s Tactical Foresight showed her what was coming.

One would create earth to block her path.

Another would send wind blades from angles meant to kill Adrian regardless of what she did.

The third would go for Adrian’s throat with a sword.

Too far away with too many obstacles.

’Can’t reach him in time... Can’t save him from here. Unless–’

Her body moved before she finished the thought, legs pumping, sword cutting through earth pillars that appeared exactly where her Foresight said they would.

"ADRIAN!"

The scream tore from her throat as she pushed past safe limits, muscles screaming protest, Aura burning reserves she didn’t have.

She reached him with maybe a fraction of a second to spare.

Her sword came up, intercepting the killing stroke aimed at her brother’s throat.

The impact sent vibrations up her arm hard enough to numb her fingers.

Wind blades were already coming, dozens of them, from every angle.

’Can’t dodge them all... Can’t block them all. But I can–’

Her free hand blazed with lightning, forming a defensive dome around Adrian’s body. It was her defensive skill.

Most of the wind blades exploded against her technique.

Most.

Not all.

But she’d accomplished what she needed.

Adrian was protected.

She’d turned her back on her own attackers to do it.

SLASH

But immense agony exploded through her left shoulder.

Not pain like being cut.

But the pain like being unmade.

She felt the blade cutting through muscle and bone, felt her arm separating from her body in a way that made her brain scream denials.

Time seemed to slow down.

Her severed limb hit the ground with a wet sound.

Her blood sprayed in an arc, painting Adrian’s unconscious face.

The pain was beyond description.

Beyond anything she’d experienced or imagined experiencing.

But worse than the pain was understanding.

’I-I’m going to die here.’

****

"MISTRESS!"

Vermont’s voice, raw with anguish, cutting through chaos.

Elizabeth’s remaining hand pressed against the wound, Aura trying desperately to stop blood that kept flowing anyway.

Her vision swam, darkness creeping in from the edges.

’No... Stay conscious... Have to stay conscious.’

She forced her eyes to focus, scanning the battlefield through a haze of agony.

Bella’s Domain flickered, her aunt’s concentration broken by seeing Elizabeth’s severed arm.

One of the lightning trees collapsed.

Vermont was still fighting four S ranks, his movements slower now, his Aura dimmer, his face aged beyond his years from forbidden skill.

Gray hair where there’d been none.

Lines on his face that spoke of years burned for moments of power.

’He’s dying... Bella’s failing... Everyone’s dying.’

’Because of me.’

Elizabeth activated Probability Sight, spending Will power she didn’t have much, to see futures that branched before her inner vision.

Every path.

Every possibility.

Every single timeline.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Her violet eyes found Adrian, unconscious but breathing, blood on his face.

’There’s one future... One possibility... Where he lives.’

The realization settled in her chest like ice despite the burning world around her.

’If I stop fighting... if I just give in... then they get what they came for... Me.’

’And once I’m dead, they leave. No reason to waste resources killing everyone else.’

’Vermont and Bella can escape with Adrian. They’re strong enough. They just need the enemies to leave.’

’The enemies leave... once I’m dead.’

The Mental Domain user sensed her thoughts shifting, and recognized the opening.

The Domain of Hopelessness pressed harder, chains wrapping around her consciousness, pulling her down into darkness.

The whispers became a chorus.

’You’re going to die anyway. Why drag them down? Why make them watch? Let go! Accept it! Save them by giving up. You’re HOPELESS.’

And this time...

This time, Elizabeth was too tired to fight it.

Her sword slipped from nerveless fingers, clattering against burning ground.

Her remaining arm dropped to her side, no longer trying to stop bleeding that wouldn’t stop anyway.

Her purple eyes went empty, the light in them dimming to nothing.

She stood there, one-armed and bleeding, surrounded by enemies who’d come to kill her, and simply... stopped.

Waiting for the end.

Choosing death so her brother might live.

The masked enemies closed in, blades raised.

And Elizabeth Murdock, Student Council President of Stormhold Academy, the girl with SSS rank Seer skill who’d been destined to save humanity, gave up.

Her last thought was a prayer.

’Adrian... live... Please just live.’

Then she closed her eyes and waited for the blade that would end everything.