Strongest Incubus System

Chapter 333 333: Clash

Something changed in Morgana's gaze.

It wasn't immediate like a surge of anger. Nor explosive like the hatred she had been carrying since the beginning of that night. It was worse. Much worse.

Something simply went blank inside her.

Damon realized this the instant she turned her gaze from the Duke's imprisoned figure to her own mother. Until that moment, there had been conflict within Morgana. Pain. Hesitation hidden beneath the anger. Part of her still saw the Duchess as family, even after everything.

But now…

Now she finally understood.

The woman before her was no longer trying to save Arven.

She had already sacrificed Arven long ago.

The black chains bound to the Duke's body pulsed violently along with the runes scattered throughout the entire mansion. Every wall. Every column. Every chandelier. Every piece of that house was connected to that man. The very heart of the Arven lineage had been transformed into a living ritualistic core.

The Duke breathed heavily as black veins slowly advanced beneath his skin.

He was still conscious.

And that was the worst part.

Because it meant he was feeling everything.

The Duchess slowly opened her arms as the arcane energy around her made the stained glass windows tremble violently.

"You don't understand what I've built," she said, her voice now rippling through multiple distorted echoes. "Arven will survive the decay of this kingdom. The corruption. The weakness." Her eyes gleamed feverishly. "We will become eternal."

"You're killing him," Morgana replied.

"I'm preserving him."

"You've turned my father into an anchor."

"He was always the heart of this family."

"You've chained him."

The Duchess finally lost her patience completely.

"WHY WAS HE GOING TO ABANDON US!"

The scream echoed throughout the mansion.

The walls literally trembled.

The floor beneath the upper balcony cracked again as an explosion of dark energy coursed through the house's corridors. Downstairs, several deformed creatures began to move even faster, as if emotionally fueled by her fury.

Damon barely had time to react when one of the aberrations emerged from the side of the staircase and attempted to tear his throat out with its teeth. He blocked the blow using his armored forearm and immediately felt the fangs partially pierce the metal.

Pain exploded through his arm.

He roared and struck horizontally, tearing half the creature's face off before shoving it down the stairs.

But others were already coming right behind.

Many.

The fight had ceased to resemble an organized battle.

Now it was brutal survival.

Cedric appeared beside Damon covered in blood, breathing heavily as he struck another creature directly in the collarbone.

"They keep coming!"

"Because she's feeding the runes!" Elizabeth replied from right behind them. "As long as the Duke is connected, the mansion will continue to sustain it!"

Cherry fired another bolt from the lower floor. The projectile pierced the eye of a creature climbing the side column like a grotesque animal.

"GREAT!" she shouted. "So all we need to do is destroy the demonic mansion fueled by traumatized aristocracy and forbidden magic!"

"Basically!" Elizabeth replied.

"I HATE WHEN YOU SAY THAT SO CALMLY!"

Another rumble echoed from the west wing.

This time much closer.

The fire had already reached interior parts of the property. Smoke began to slowly invade the upper corridor as the heat intensified under the violent storm winds.

The Duchess noticed.

But she didn't retreat.

She no longer seemed to care. Her eyes remained fixed only on Morgana.

And Morgana continued advancing.

Step by step.

Slowly.

Coldly.

Determinedly.

Two creatures appeared before her almost simultaneously. The first tried to grab her shoulders. Morgana twisted her body and completely severed the creature's arm before slicing through its throat in one continuous motion. The second advanced right behind, roaring grotesquely—

She didn't even look.

Her father's sword simply pierced the creature's skull as Morgana continued walking.

Black blood flowed down the steps.

The Duke watched everything with exhausted eyes.

And Damon noticed something else terrible at that moment.

He was trying to move his hands.

The chains.

Very slowly.

Like someone fighting against something inside their own body.

Elizabeth saw it too.

"The bond isn't complete," she murmured quickly. "He's still resisting."

The Duchess listened.

Her face contorted immediately.

"NO."

The black currents pulsed violently.

The Duke's body arched in his chair as dark veins advanced further down his neck. A muffled sound of pain escaped his throat.

"MOTHER!" Morgana finally lost control.

She lunged forward.

The Duchess raised both hands.

And the corridor exploded.

The very shadows of the upper balcony violently warped, transforming into black masses resembling living roots that shot at Morgana like monstrous spears.

Morgana dodged the first.

The second partially pierced her shoulder.

She didn't stop.

The third destroyed part of the wall behind her.

Fragments of marble flew down the corridor.

Damon immediately rushed to reach her, but three deformed creatures blocked his path at the same time. One of them struck him directly in the chest with monstrous force, throwing him against the stair railing.

The marble cracked under the impact.

The creature came right after, trying to crush his head—

CLANG.

Cedric intercepted the blow at the last second using his short axe, but the impact nearly ripped the weapon from his hands.

"GET UP!" roared the veteran.

Damon reacted immediately, piercing the creature's jaw from below.

Another came right after.

Ingrivid emerged from the shadows and severed the creature's tendons before it reached Damon. The assassin moved almost invisibly now, disappearing among smoke, corpses, and chaos like a silent specter.

But even she was beginning to tire.

Everyone was.

Because the creatures simply wouldn't stop.

Down the lower floor, the old guard veterans were beginning to lose ground. Two men already lay dead near the central columns. Another screamed as a mutilated creature tried to tear off its armor with its own broken hands.

Cherry fired again.

The bolt pierced the monster's head.

"STAY. DEAD!"

Another thunderclap shook the mansion.

And then—

The Duke managed to move his arm.

Very little.

But enough.

His hand partially grasped one of the black chains fastened to his chest.

The Duchess paled instantly.

"Stop."

The Duke slowly raised his eyes to her.

For the first time that night, there was something alive in that gaze.

Hatred.

"You…" Her voice came out weak. "Destroyed… everything…"

The Duchess's expression shattered completely.

"I did it FOR US!"

"No…"

The chains began to tremble.

Elizabeth understood immediately.

"The bond is unstable!"

Morgana noticed it too.

She advanced again.

This time, the Duchess attacked personally.

There was no warning.

She simply appeared in front of her daughter in a movement too fast for someone normal. Dark energy partially distorted her silhouette as she struck Morgana with a short blade shrouded in shadows.

CLANG.

The Duke's sword intercepted the blow.

The two stood face to face for the first time.

Mother and daughter.

The storm illuminated them both through the broken stained glass.

The Duchess fought with elegant movements.

Precise.

Refined by aristocracy and magic.

Morgana fought like someone trying to uproot their own past.

The clash of blades echoed violently across the upper balcony.

The Duchess tried to pierce her daughter's abdomen.

Morgana dodged and struck horizontally.

The blade partially severed her mother's arm.

Dark blood spurted.

But along with it…

Mana.

The black substance oozed from the wound like liquid smoke.

Cherry saw it from below and immediately made a horrified expression.

"OH, SHE'S GETTING PHYSICALLY WORSE!"

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes.

"She's partially fused with the ritual."

"YOU KEEP SAYING HORRIBLE THINGS SO CALMLY!"

The Duchess struck again with increasing violence.

Now there was anger in her movements.

Out of control.

The shadows around the balcony began to stir violently as parts of the mansion responded emotionally to her mental state. Chandeliers fell. Walls cracked. The corridors seemed to breathe.

Damon finally reached the top of the stairs just as Morgana was hurled against a side pillar by a burst of energy.

The Duchess turned to face him immediately.

Her eyes now seemed utterly insane.

"YOU."

The hatred in that single word was monstrous.

"You brought this to my house."

Damon slowly raised his sword.

"Your house was already dead before we arrived."

She attacked.

Violently.

Shadows darted down the corridor again.

Damon barely dodged before feeling part of the floor explode behind him. The Duchess was moving too fast now, propelled by the mansion itself.

Morgana rose again.

Blood trickled from her shoulder.

But she still advanced.

Relentless.

The Duchess noticed.

And for the first time…

She seemed frightened.

Because Morgana was no longer fighting for revenge.

Nor for anger.

She was fighting to end it.

Definitely.

The Duke moved the chains again.

Stronger now.

The runes began to fail.

One by one.

Elizabeth practically screamed:

"SHE WILL LOSE CONTROL OF THE RITUAL!"

And then everything happened at once.

The remaining creatures went completely mad.

The walls began to crack in multiple places.

The fire from the west wing finally reached the central corridors.

And the Duchess…

The Duchess began to scream.

Not from pain.

From despair.

Shadows exploded around her in a grotesque living mass as the runes of the mansion gleamed like open veins. The floor of the upper balcony partially gave way beneath her feet.

"I DID EVERYTHING FOR THIS FAMILY!"

Morgana stepped through the shadows.

"No."

Her father's sword rose slowly.

"You did this for yourself."

Then she struck.