Mara’s voice ca out choked with rage and horror.
"You... how could you be so cruel?! You made my father eat my mother’s heart! How could you do sothing so monstrous?!"
Damian laughed, the sound carrying genuine amusent.
"You Nobles are truly fascinating. When it cos to commoners, you treat them worse than Monsters, torture them for entertainnt and kill them for sport. Use them as tools and dispose of them without thought."
His expression hardened.
"But when it cos to your own kind, suddenly you talk about cruelty? About humanity? About how wrong it is to inflict suffering?"
He leaned closer, his voice dropping to sothing quiet and deadly.
"When your father manipulated Zavier’s father to eat his own wife alive while both of them remained fully conscious and aware, where was his humanity then? Where was the concern about cruelty?"
Mara’s face went pale, her eyes showing confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
Damian sat down cross-legged on the forest floor in front of her, his posture casual despite the topic.
"When you complained to your ’little daddy’ about humiliating you, he didn’t just send assassins. He made it a ga by first targeting the families of students in my organization and made run desperately trying to save them."
His crimson eyes showed no emotion.
"And for Zavier’s family specifically, he used mind control to force the father to consu his wife while both of them were conscious...
Made them experience the worst psychological torture imaginable. Then... left a note bragging about his intelligence."
Mara’s voice ca out broken, desperate.
"I never said to do that! I only told them about you! I wanted you dead, not... not that! I didn’t ask for any of that!"
Damian just smirked, his expression showing he didn’t believe her or simply didn’t care.
"Why did you make my mother suffer?! She never did anything wrong! She was innocent!"
The desperation in her voice was palpable.
Damian’s smile vanished completely, his face becoming empty.
"And so were Zavier’s parents. Completely innocent. Their only cri was having a son brave enough to join an organization that challenged Noble authority."
He waved his hand.
Mara began screaming, the sound echoing through the forest as sothing inside her body started moving.
Below her navel, where her Aura core resided, the skin began distorting, bulging outward like sothing was trying to escape from inside.
The core – the crystallized manifestation of her accumulated Aura and the source of all her awakener powers – was being ripped from her body by telekinetic force.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!"
The pain was indescribable as it was not just physical but spiritual, feeling her very essence being torn away.
Her stomach stretched impossibly, skin tearing, blood beginning to flow as the core erged inch by agonizing inch.
Damian’s telekinesis was precise enough to extract it without simply ripping through her torso, making the process slower and infinitely more painful.
Puchi
The core finally ca free with a wet tearing sound, floating through the air to land in Damian’s waiting hand.
A sphere of crystallized energy, glowing faintly with her accumulated power, pulsing like a second heart.
He looked at it clinically, studying the structure, then closed his fist.
CRACK.
The core shattered like glass, fragnts dissolving into ambient Aura that rged back with the environnt.
Mara’s scream cut off as her entire power base vanished, leaving her completely human, unable to access any techniques or enhancents.
She hung there against the tree, blood flowing from the wound in her stomach, her eyes showing sothing beyond hatred.
"E-Ever since you arrived in the Student Council, I hated your guts!"
Her voice was venomous despite the pain.
"A commoner sitting among his betters! Acting like you fucking belonged! Acting like you were equal to Noble blood!"
Spittle flew from her mouth as she spoke.
"Commoners are nothing but a lower species of human! You’re animals that learned to talk! Only Nobles are true humans with value and purpose! The Federation would be better if all you commoners just accepted your place as servants!"
She continued ranting, pouring out every bit of hatred and superiority she’d been holding back.
"You should have died in that portal! Should have been killed by those Demons! Should have never been allowed in the Academy at all!"
Damian listened calmly, his expression showing nothing but mild interest.
’So... this is the ntality of Nobles. It is not just arrogance or pride. It is a genuine belief that commoners are a different species. That the hierarchy is natural law rather than social construct.
No wonder they see nothing wrong with torture and murder. We’re not people to them. Just tools to be used and discarded.’
Mara finally ran out of breath, her chest heaving, her eyes showing desperate defiance.
"Go ahead and kill ! I have nothing left to live for anyway! My family is dead! My core is destroyed! Just end it already!"
Damian smiled, the expression carrying dark amusent.
"Not so soon. I want to squeeze out the last bit of value I can from you first."
As soon as he finished speaking, a massive shadow passed overhead.
Kuro descended from the sky, his form still enlarged from carrying a passenger, a figure on his back.
The raven landed and imdiately shrank to normal size, hopping over to Damian and rubbing his head against his bond partner’s face with visible relief.
Then he started pecking Damian’s head with his beak, the strikes carrying actual force despite appearing affectionate.
’You nearly died, you stupid fool! Why didn’t you bring with you?! Why am I bonded with such an idiot human who goes into danger alone?!’
The emotional communication through their bond was crystal clear.
Damian smiled helplessly, allowing Kuro to vent his frustration and fear.
"I’m sorry. I won’t leave you behind again."
He stroked the raven’s feathers until Kuro settled down, then turned his attention to the person who’d been on Kuro’s back.
Zavier Wells stood there, his face showing exhaustion and barely contained emotion.
His eyes were red from crying. His posture showed soone carrying weight that threatened to crush him.
But underneath the grief was sothing harder and colder. More dangerous than the nervous student he’d been months ago.
Damian stepped forward and placed his hand on Zavier’s shoulder.
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