Free Web NovelChapter 264: Self Destruction (GT Bonus)
A huge thank you to ReadingMan123 for the Golden Ticket! Your support truly means a lot and keeps me motivated to continue writing and improving the story.
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Hearing Victor Draven’s words, Carol slowly stepped forward. Her eyes remained completely calm as she stared directly at the Vampire Baron. freewebnovёl.ƈom
"Someone needed to stop you," she said coldly. "You slaughtered thousands of humans. This time... I’ll take revenge."
Victor suddenly let out a cold laugh. "Last time you already lost. What exactly can you do now?"
Carol slowly raised her head. A faint purple glow gradually appeared in her eyes.
"Because last time... I didn’t use my real ability."
Her voice turned icy. "This time... I will."
The atmosphere inside the laboratory changed instantly. A strange, heavy pressure silently spread outward. Even the surrounding Vampires subconsciously stepped backward in fear.
Vikram felt a brief wave of dizziness, not because Carol had targeted him, but simply from the sheer mental pressure she was releasing.
The next moment, Carol’s ability fully activated.
[Mind Games]
A pink-purple energy silently expanded across the entire laboratory. There was no explosion. No visible destruction. Only silence.
Then suddenly, Victor’s expression froze.
At the same moment, his consciousness was violently dragged into Carol’s mental domain.
---
Inside the illusion world, Victor slowly opened his eyes.
He found himself standing inside a massive crimson palace illuminated by endless candlelight. Soft, seductive music echoed faintly through the air.
Carol sat calmly upon a grand throne at the center of the palace. In this realm, she looked even more dangerously beautiful. Every movement, every glance, and every smile carried overwhelming temptation.
This was her true battlefield, the domain where she controlled everything.
[Lust Domain]
The illusion immediately began attacking Victor’s mind. Around him, endless visions appeared: admiration, desire, worship, affection, and obsession. Every hidden weakness in his heart was forcefully amplified.
The domain continuously tried dragging him deeper into emotional and sensual hallucinations.
Carol slowly descended from the throne, observing him with calm eyes. "You think strength alone makes you powerful? Pathetic."
Victor immediately tried to resist. Blood aura exploded violently around him, causing the entire illusion world to tremble. However, Carol’s power targeted the mind itself, not physical strength.
Soon, Victor’s surroundings began shifting rapidly. He started seeing loyal subordinates betraying him, humans worshipping Carol instead of fearing him, and even himself unconsciously kneeling before her.
Carol’s voice echoed softly throughout the illusion. "You’re already trapped. The moment you looked into my eyes... you lost."
---
Back in reality, Victor Draven’s body had completely frozen in place. His crimson eyes remained wide open as he stood motionless like a statue.
The surrounding Vampires grew terrified as they watched their Baron suddenly stop moving entirely.
Carol slowly approached Victor’s frozen body. She leaned close to his ear and whispered softly:
"Your mind... belongs to me now."
---
Seeing Victor Draven completely defeated without even engaging in a physical battle, Vikram was genuinely shocked.
This was the first time he had witnessed Carol using her full abilities seriously. A Baron-level Vampire, someone capable of massacring entire Hunter squads, had been mentally subdued within minutes.
Vikram looked at Carol with newfound seriousness. "Your abilities are terrifying. Then why did Victor say you lost last time?"
Carol’s expression turned slightly helpless. She replied quietly, "Because my abilities consume enormous mental energy. Especially against strong opponents. If I fully use Mind Games and Lust Domain... I become very weak afterward."
She glanced at Victor’s frozen body. "Last time, I came here alone. If I became weakened after defeating him... I wouldn’t have survived the rest of the Stronghold."
Vikram slowly nodded. She was right. Mind-type abilities were incredibly powerful, but also extremely dangerous if the user lacked protection afterward.
For the first time, Vikram genuinely acknowledged Carol’s strength. Not only was she beautiful, her intelligence, confidence, and terrifying mental abilities made her even more dangerous. Unconsciously, his impression of her began to shift positively.
"Then let’s retrieve the information and evidence," Vikram said. "We should leave before more enemies arrive."
Carol nodded lightly. However, the next moment, her body suddenly became unstable. She staggered forward weakly.
Vikram instinctively stepped forward and caught her before she could fall. Carol leaned her body against his chest, breathing softly.
The moment he touched her, a faint pink-purple aura silently spread around them. Carol’s passive seduction abilities had unconsciously activated. It wasn’t strong enough to completely control him, but it was enough to amplify hidden emotions and desires deep within his heart.
Under the influence, Vikram suddenly felt strange emotions rising inside him. Carol no longer looked dangerous or scheming. Instead, she appeared strangely pitiful, fragile, lonely, and desperately in need of warmth, affection, and love.
His protective instincts surged rapidly.
He held her more gently, one arm wrapped securely around her waist while the other supported her back. His fingers unconsciously brushed through her silver-black hair, stroking it with unexpected tenderness. He lowered his head closer, inhaling her scent as a wave of possessiveness and desire washed over him.
"You’re trembling..." he murmured, his voice lower than usual. His hand moved slowly down her spine, pulling her even closer against his body as if trying to shield her from the entire world.
Carol’s eyes softened as she looked up at him. She wrapped her arms gently around his neck, pressing her body against his.
Before Vikram could fully realize what was happening, he leaned down and kissed her deeply. The kiss grew more intense, filled with raw hunger and suppressed desire. His hand slid down her side, gripping her waist firmly as his fingers began moving toward the edge of her clothes, slowly starting to undress her.
---
After solving the final puzzle and defeating Victor Draven, time passed quietly inside the underground laboratory.
While Victor remained frozen in place, soft moaning sounds echoed through the room.
Meanwhile, Isha and the rest of the team had finally solved their own maze routes and reached the hidden laboratory. However, the moment Isha stepped into the chamber, her expression froze completely.
She saw Vikram and Carol lying together on the ground, completely nude. Red blood stained the floor beneath them. Their clothes were scattered messily nearby, and Carol was still leaning weakly against Vikram’s chest, breathing softly.
For a brief moment, complete silence filled the laboratory.
Then, Isha’s expression darkened with pure anger.
"CAROL!"
Her sharp voice echoed throughout the chamber.
The sudden shout immediately snapped Vikram back to clarity. The strange emotional fog clouding his mind finally weakened.
Carol slowly opened her eyes. The moment she saw Isha standing there, she awkwardly looked away.
Isha was furious. She walked straight toward them, glaring coldly at Carol.
"What exactly are you doing?!"
The surrounding Team Members who had just arrived were stunned by the scene. Sana and Kavya stared with wide eyes. Even Bushra looked completely dumbfounded.
Vikram gradually realized something was wrong. His earlier thoughts and actions had felt unusually impulsive and emotional. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Carol.
He immediately understood.
It was her abilities, the passive seduction aura from her Lust Domain had unconsciously influenced him.
When Isha fully took in the situation, her anger exploded.
"CAROL!"
Her furious voice echoed sharply throughout the laboratory.
Carol quickly stood up, still partially undressed, and tried to explain herself. "Sis, it wasn’t completely my fault—"
However, Isha immediately cut her off, her eyes burning with rage. "You planned this."
She stepped closer, glaring coldly at her sister. "The moment you insisted on bringing Vikram with you... the overly emotional conversation in the vehicle... and now this. You intentionally created this situation."
Carol’s expression stiffened. She quickly defended herself, "That’s not true! I didn’t force anything. My ability activated unconsciously because I was mentally exhausted after fighting Victor. I didn’t mean for it to affect him like that!"
Isha laughed bitterly. "Unconsciously? You really think I’ll believe that? You’ve been acting strange since we left Cameron City. All those nostalgic stories, the sudden closeness, the pitiful acting, you were clearly setting this up!"
Carol bit her lip, still trying to defend herself. "I only wanted to get closer to him! I didn’t expect my domain to affect him so strongly. It was never my intention to—"
"Enough!" Isha snapped. "You always do this. You always cross the line and then act like it was an accident. Ever since we were children, you’ve manipulated situations to get what you want. This time you crossed a line I can’t ignore."
The argument between the two sisters grew heated, their voices echoing through the laboratory.
Meanwhile, Victor Draven’s frozen body suddenly began trembling violently.
His bloodshot eyes flickered. The mental chains Carol had placed on him started cracking under his sheer willpower and rage as a Baron. With a guttural roar, Victor shattered the illusion completely.
"AAAARGH—!"
His consciousness forcefully returned to reality. His body jerked upright as dark crimson aura exploded outward. Blood vessels bulged across his face, and his eyes burned with murderous fury.
"You... dare use such cheap tricks on me?!" Victor snarled, glaring at Carol with pure hatred. "You will pay for this humiliation!"
Before anyone could react, he slammed his palm onto a hidden blood-red mechanism on the wall.
"WARNING. SELF-DESTRUCTION ACTIVATED. STRONGHOLD CORE COLLAPSE INITIATED."
The entire underground facility began shaking violently.
Victor laughed maniacally as cracks spread across the ceiling. "You fools! You think you’ve won? You won’t get a single piece of information from here! Everything will be buried under these ruins along with your corpses!"
His body rapidly dissolved into a massive swarm of black bats. The swarm surged upward through hidden ceiling tunnels, escaping in an instant.
The moment the alarms blared and Victor Draven escaped in a swarm of bats, Vikram’s expression changed drastically.
"Enough!" he shouted, stepping between the two sisters. "We don’t have time for this! The entire place is going to collapse!"
Both Isha and Carol froze for a split second. Their argument was instantly cut short.
"Run!" Vikram roared.
The laboratory descended into absolute chaos. Explosions erupted from deep within the structure. Huge chunks of the ceiling began collapsing violently. The ground shook so hard that many struggled to stay on their feet.
"Move! Move!" Isha yelled, grabbing the closest team member.
Debris rained down like deadly hailstones. Corridors started caving in behind them. Cracks spread rapidly across the walls. The entire underground facility was tearing itself apart at terrifying speed.
Shade and Phanty moved like black lightning through the collapsing maze. They grabbed and pulled slower members forward, saving them from falling rubble multiple times.
At one point, a massive stone slab crashed down toward Sana and Kavya. Shade instantly appeared above them, using shadow vines to shatter the debris and pull them to safety just in time.
Moments later, a section of the corridor floor suddenly collapsed beneath Raghav and Imran. Phanty shot forward, extending shadow tendrils to catch them mid-fall and yank them back onto solid ground.
Suddenly, a violent explosion erupted ahead, collapsing the corridor walls and trapping Sana between two falling stone slabs. She was seconds away from being crushed.
Shade shot forward like a blur, wrapping shadow vines around her body and pulling her through a narrowing gap at the very last moment, just before the heavy stones slammed shut behind her.
Explosions continued to echo from every direction. The heat grew unbearable. Dust and smoke made breathing difficult. At another critical moment, a collapsing pillar nearly crushed Deepak. Shade barely managed to pull him away at the last second.
The group sprinted desperately through the collapsing tunnels. Behind them, entire pathways were swallowed by destruction. The ceiling continued caving in, forcing them to change routes multiple times.
After several terrifying, life-or-death minutes of running through falling rubble, choking dust, and constant explosions, the surviving Hunters finally burst out from the outer entrance of Bloodfang Stronghold.
Only seconds later, "BOOOOOOOMMMMM—!!!"
The entire Bloodfang Stronghold erupted in a cataclysmic explosion. Massive crimson flames and shockwaves lit up the night sky as the fortress collapsed into ruins.
The ground shook violently. All the Hunters collapsed onto the ruined ground outside, coughing heavily, covered in dust, sweat, and minor injuries.
They had escaped... at literally the final possible second.
