Cryptomining Supervillain

Chapter 184 184: 185 ONLY THE STRONG DESERVES VENGEANCE

185 ONLY THE STRONG DESERVES VENGEANCE

The three hung unconscious, their faces pale, their chests faintly rising.

Erythos's smirk returned, trembling but triumphant. "Let's see how long your resolve lasts, Black Halo."

Damen's fists clenched, plasma flickering at his knuckles but not releasing. "Damnit… Ralph, are you looking for death?" he muttered under his breath, the rage building in his chest warring with the horror in his eyes.

His halo dimmed. For the first time in the battle, Damen hesitated.

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Damen glanced at his live display. The data shimmered like heat over asphalt and he laughed, low and surprised.

He hadn't gained much from draining the meta-humans under Erythos …. his system refuses power weaker than his own.

Name: Damen Dark

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

Strength: 863 | Charm: 961 | Meta: 1015 | Command: 1016 | Blood: 1610 | Armor: 3130

His Meta had climbed a notch, now solidly BB…. but Charm had jumped the most. That, he thought, was the real prize: it was the buffer against psychic intrusion.

"This is where the real battlefield is," he told himself.

Not the fight with Erythos, or whatever came next.

Sienna's voice cut through the room like a razor.

"Damen, I brought you gifts." She pointed to the faces …. the people he hated most- Ralph and his family. "You now have a chance to kill them."

"You are sick," he spat.

She smiled, untroubled. "You've never thought about it? About killing Ralph and his lot?"

Damen allowed the memory to surface …. Having to work in mine at night, the stolen support money, the beatings. He had cursed Ralph and his family a thousand times. Ralph had made him work while the other kids slept.

Killing them would be simple and satisfying… they were merely collateral damage in his fight against Erythos Monarch.

"That thought occurred many times", Damen replied.

But something tightened in his chest. They were still family and connected by blood. His father would have hated this if he killed them.

"Do what you want with them… the blood is on you…not me. I may not kill these creeps but if you do if for me… I would not stop you", Damen said with certainty.

"Damen, save us", Ralph cried.

Damen ignored him and turned, "Erythos, you've already lost. I'll spare your life this time," he said, turning away.

"Argggghhh", suddenly Melody screamed as her body was crushed by Erythos' tentacles.

"I'll kill her first", Erythos cried.

Damen was motionless. "Be my guest," he replied.

Snap. Melody was crushed…. Her body falling to the ground.

"No….", both Ralph and Beck screamed.

But Damen made no reaction. His heart was hardened.

"I am not a hero… it is not my responsibility to save her… her death is not on me", he said.

Then Erythos crushed Beck.

Damen didn't help.

Beck too was broken and dropped.

Only Ralph was left.

"Damen, please save me…. I beg you", Ralph pleaded to him.

A streak of tear fell from his eyes… it wasn't because of love or care or kindness…. There was nothing of such between them. Damen cried because he was losing the last of his humanity.

"Be content I didn't kill you myself Ralph", Damen said to him before talking to Erythos, "Using these pawns against me…. is useless."

Erythos was about to crush Ralph when Sienna stopped her. "Save him…. it's obvious he wouldn't bend to your blackmail", she said.

Then Damen turned to leave.

Sienna warned him without moving. "Come back here. I didn't let you leave."

"What are you going to do to stop me?"

She didn't answer.

Hundreds of drones and autocannons erupted from hidden ports, whirring into the air. Argent's silver hair flashed as he steeled himself.

"What, drones?" Damen laughed.

Damen snapped his fingers.

Lightning forked from his fingers, arcing through the air in quick, hungry strikes. The bolts found the drones' circuitry chained between them with instantaneous efficiency. Chips were fried, rotors stalled, the sky became a shower of collapsing metal.

The weapons crashed harmlessly to the ground.

"Silver hair, this battle doesn't have a place for you", Damen screamed.

Argent stammered. Sienna's grin thinned.

The battle, plainly and finally, was between Sienna and Damen Dark.

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Suddenly Damen's view flickered. Images folded into his reality … he wasn't there but the memory shoved into his mind like a pressed coin.

He was back in the apartment with Ralph. Ralph reeked of cheap whiskey and fury. Melody and Beck hovered at his side, pointing, laughing, spitting curses that landed like pebbles.

"What have I ever done to you people to deserve this?" Damen mouthed, more to the room than to them.

The world snapped.

Damen's mind cleared for a moment.

"Wait …. this is the past. I'm fighting Sienna now," he thought, but the thought felt thin, like a paper shield.

The nightmare wouldn't unspool. Ralph drew a rusty belt and flailed it. The pain wasn't only skin-deep; it invaded his mind, a hot, echoing brand.

Damen let out a raw, animal sound. Tears carved hot tracks down his face.

Every misery repeated in his mind: the mine's cold stone, the stolen money from his child support, the bullies on the streets, the nights he'd slept in the cold floor, shivering and trembling.

The loop played like a warped recording, each strike louder than the last.

"Keep calm. This is not real," he told himself suddenly.

It was a momentary clarity of mind again.

"Where is it?" he asked as his hand busily found his pocket.

The phone was there. It was a relief.

He thumbed the screen while Ralph's blows fell in phantom arcs over his back, but he ignored them.

They weren't real.

"Core of the Blood Level 3 activated: 4/5," the phone chimed.

Damen had been under psychic assault before; he knew the procedure. The Core of Blood was the solution to lock the mind down and stop the psychic assault.

As Ralph lunged again, Damen moved first.

He rose, planted both feet, and with a clean, hard kick sent Ralph slamming into the wall. "I told you… it is mercy for me not to kill you myself."

The phantom staggered and crumpled.

"That's right," Damen said to the air, his voice steadier than he felt. "I'm controlling the narrative again."

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Sienna's face was pale and drawn, her eyes glassy with strain.

"What is it, sister?" Argent asked softly.

She waved him off, her hand trembling. "He's resisting… how can he resist me?"

Argent blinked. "He's just a boy. That's impossible."

"The Oracle warned me not to press him too hard," Sienna muttered, pacing. "Said there would be… consequences."

"But he's human, not a psychic. How could he fight you?" Argent pressed, disbelief creeping into his voice.

Sienna shook her head.

"There's something inside him… something far stronger than I ever imagined. Every time he tries to probe my mind, I have to fight just to keep my sanity. It feels like… my mind is splitting apart."

She steadied herself on floor of the station… breathing hard.

Damen had tried before to check her stats with his live view function, to measure her strength but each attempt was repelled by her psychic defenses.

But every rejection cost her focus, draining her mental energy in waves.

That was why she'd always avoided confronting him directly. She understood what slept inside the boy…. something buried and dangerous.

Awake it at her own peril.

But this time was different.

Their years of planning, their fragile hopes and calculations, all depended on Damen remaining here… on keeping him within the prophecy.

Sienna straightened, resolve settling over her like steel.

"He cannot leave Melrose city," she whispered. "Even if I must break my own mind to stop him."

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The nightmare changed.

Damen watched with grim irony as Ralph and his family cowered before him, their faces twisted in fear. The three- Ralph, Melody and Beck were tied, their heads placed inside guillotines.

"Ralph please spare me", Melody pleaded before the blade fell…her head rolled off.

This was supposed to be Damen's vengeance for a very long time…. To roll these people's heads down the drain.

The power had shifted. The nightmare belonged to him now… yet he was still trapped inside it.

"How the hell do I break free from this damn nightmare?" he muttered.

He scrolled through his phone again, searching for something—anything—that could sever psychic control.

There was nothing.

Every app, every tool was useless against the invisible grip on his mind.

"Stop it! You can't hurt us, even if you're stronger than us!" Beck shouted defiantly, .... just as the guillotine was about to drop.

"Wait a minute…", Damen said when he realized something from his words.

"Did you say 'Stronger'?"

The words hit Damen like an echo.

"Yes…" he whispered, with realization dawning upon him. "The stronger party. It is not guilt or compassion or enlightenment that can withstand this nightmare…. Only the stronger can resist."

His eyes hardened.

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