186 THE END…. - Cryptomining Supervillain

186 THE END….

Damen realized that only by becoming stronger could he resist Sienna's psychic control… but he was clearly weaker than her in that realm.

Even with the Core of Blood active, he couldn't break free completely.

His thoughts raced. "I need something stronger than her psychic to override it… something that can dominate her mind before she dominates mine."

He scrolled through his phone again, scanning every function, every hidden command. There was nothing. No system upgrade, no override protocol.

Then a wild idea hit him. "What if I use my alien curse—the bloodlust? If the Core of Blood can restrain both bloodlust and psychic power, then maybe I can make them fight each other."

"If I increase my bloodlust… can I break free from her hold?" he muttered.

But execution was the problem.

He couldn't increase his Blood Rank here… he was still trapped inside the nightmare, and his bloodlust was already capped. Killing creeps like the Meat Heap wouldn't increase his blood by much.

"What if I deactivate the Core of Blood?" he brainstormed aloud.

That wouldn't work either.

Deactivating it would lift both blood lust and psychic control restraints, canceling any gain. He needed to raise his bloodlust without losing psychic resistance.

Then he remembered something.

His hand searched his pocket. To his shock, his fingers brushed against something cold and hard… his Bloodstones.

"I can still reach them… even from inside the nightmare."

Subconsciously, his real body was responding to his will. What he did here would echo into reality.

The Bloodstones were crystallized blood extracted during past infusions…. relics of his own blood essence. He'd kept them for no special purpose or reason.

These Bloodstones were the stores of his corrupted blood in crystal form.

Now, they might be his salvation.

"What if….", he wondered.

He focused his scanner on the first Bloodstone and pressed ASSIMILATE.

He didn't wait for completion… he grabbed another, and another, feeding them all into his system.

Bloodstone successfully assimilated.

Power flooded through him…. raw, boiling, impossible to contain powers. His live view blinked his stats alive:

Name: Damen Dark

Strength Rank: B Meta Rank: BB Blood Rank: AA

Indeed, by assimilating Blood Cores, he could increase his Blood Stats immediately.

The nightmare shattered like glass and mirrors splintering into nothing.

He was back in the real world.

"No… how can you break free from my psychic control?" Sienna screamed, disbelief twisting her face.

"Wait, he's turning…" Argent gasped.

Damen's body convulsed.

Metallic bones jutted from his back and elbows; blades unfolded from his knuckles. Darkness cloaked him in crimson light, in a living storm of rage and power.

He looked at Sienna as though she were an insect.

"Begone," he said, his voice hollow and godlike.

The psychic chains over him dissolved. Sienna staggered, her link to his mind obliterated.

"How can he become this strong?" Argent whispered. "Is that what was awakening inside him?"

The sky itself growled, clouds roiling in recognition of Damen's new state…. Rank AA, the level of semi-superheroes.

But freedom came with a cost.

Damen's thoughts blurred. Hunger and wrath swallowed his reason. He had escaped Sienna's nightmare, only to fall into another… the prison of his own lust for blood.

He moved before anyone could breathe.

His slash came like a streak of lightning. Erythos screamed as her body split, her tentacles snapping like cords. The beings hidden within her shell spilled out, gasping for air.

Damen didn't even look at them.

They weren't food… they were too weak to be looked upon. He didn't even care about Ralph.

His gaze fixed on Sienna.

"What do we do?" Argent cried. "He's gone insane!"

"His mind is ruled by primal instinct now," Sienna said, her voice trembling. "That's how he broke my control."

Damen lunged again, his clawed blades flashing.

"Die…"

They would have died… but Sienna ripped an amulet from her neck. Its glow spread like cool wind.

"Take this… calm your mind!" she cried.

"That's your most precious amulet…", Argent cried.

The light from the amulet touched Damen, and something inside him faltered. The fury dulled, just enough for thought to surface.

He seized the amulet from her instead of her life.

"I'm… getting back control," he thought, his breath heavy. "But not for long. I have to get out of here."

------

Clutching the Amulet of Calm, Damen ran.

The world blurred around him like shadows… and as he moved, he forced the system to assimilate the artifact into his body.

"Amulet of Calm successfully assimilated."

A cool pulse spread through his veins. Bit by bit, control returned…partial and fragile but effective.

He could move where he wished, think with some clarity, but the beast inside him still stirred. If he faced a living target, instinct would override reason again.

The predator would win.

"Where should I go now?" he wondered.

Silver City had been his original destination, but in this form he would be branded a monster before he took ten steps. Hunters, soldiers, heroes… they would all come for him.

There was only one place left.

He sprinted toward the Aur mine, the earth trembling beneath each stride. Without hesitation, he leapt into the shimmering rift that tore open the ground and vanished into it….his body swallowed by the cascading light.

Planet Anu awaited.

He didn't head for Fortress Myrone either.

His primal instincts were still too sharp and dangerous. If he went there now, he might turn on the soldiers.

So, he chose to go alone.

For now, Damen Dark would go into the deserts of Anu…until he could master the hunger that had finally awakened within him.

-----

Sienna watched Damen disappear, the echo of his power still humming in the air. There was nothing she could do…he had become far too strong for her mind to contain.

She turned slowly.

The battlefield was in ruins.

Erythos's body lay broken where Damen had struck her down, and Sienna felt a cold ache settle in her chest.

Erythos's death would have consequences.

Their entire plan had depended on her—to bring the people back into the city after the cleansing was complete. But now, a hundred thousand civilians had already returned, far too soon.

"What should we do now?" Argent asked quietly.

"First," Sienna said, her voice hoarse but firm, "lock down this train station. No one enters or leaves Melrose City. Then we relocate the people to a secure zone."

"And after that?" Argent pressed.

"We take back the city—plot by plot," she said. "It'll be harder with so many civilians behind us, but we don't have a choice."

Three of the Meat Heaps remained to seal off the station while the others lumbered into the streets, spreading out to secure each district. The metallic thud of their movements echoed through the ruins.

Kaiser Qiltera staggered toward Sienna, his eyes were wet and desperate. "Please… save my daughter."

Sienna paused, considering.

Then she said, "We go to GenSyn. There may still be some of Damen Dark's blood stored in his laboratory. It's the only thing that can revive Erythos."

Argent nodded grimly. Their path was set. Together, they moved out to reclaim what remained of the city.

Suddenly, the sky ignited with a spectacle never before witnessed—like a sun erupting in the night, shattering into a thousand stars.

A shower of magnificent light rained across the world, streaking from horizon to horizon, a sight so rare it felt unreal.

"What is that?" Argent asked, gripping his sister's arm.

Sienna stared upward, unease flickering in her eyes. "A meteor shower."

"A meteor shower?" Argent said. "Since when does a meteor shower fill the entire sky?"

"It's happened once before," she replied quietly. "When the dinosaurs went extinct."

Argent swallowed. "Are we going to die?"

"No." Sienna shook her head. "Quite the opposite. This meteor shower may have saved us. I was wondering why the League of Heroes hadn't arrived after the city was engulfed."

Argent frowned. "I still don't understand."

"Then don't worry about it," she said, a faint smile forming. "Nothing will stop our liberation of the city now. Consider it… help from heaven."

----

In another world, beneath twin suns, Damen stood on the cliffs of Planet Anu. The light burned against his metallic skin, fierce and holy, and for the first time he felt untouchable… invincible beneath their gaze.

He turned his eyes back toward the faint shimmer of Fortress Melrose on the horizon.

"I'll be back," he murmured. The promise carried across worlds.

-----

Chapter 185 - 186 THE END….