Chapter 351: The Fear of an Abomination

Third-person POV

Jella froze when she finally realized what was happening.

Electra, who should have been helpless, cuffed, weak, and moments away from public execution, was now walking straight toward her, not just walking. Moving with a calm, steady pace that made every guard on the platform shrink back like frightened children.

All around them, the crowd was screaming, some were running, and others were recording with their shaky phones, but everything else felt far away compared to the sight of Electra turning every bullet into ash like it meant nothing.

Reality hit Jella all at once.

She needed to run.

She spun around so fast her crown almost slipped off her head. “Get me out of here!” she barked at the four guards standing behind her on the balcony. “Hurry!”

They scrambled instantly, grabbing her by the arms and trying to lead her toward the palace doors. Jella could barely focus; her heart was pounding too loudly. She didn’t even know where she was supposed to go. She only knew that she had to get away from Electra, or she would be dead within minutes.

Her feet stumbled as she rushed toward the nearest entrance. Her mind raced, full of panic. She was just about to enter the palace doors, her hand already on the handle, when a sudden rush of wind hit her from behind.

It wasn’t natural wind. Heat brushed the back of her neck, and for a moment, she felt like the air itself was warning her that she had no hope of running far.

The guards all gasped behind her. Jella turned around slowly, dread twisting her stomach, and nearly screamed.

Electra wasn’t on the ground anymore, she was floating, floating right in front of the balcony. Her feet weren’t touching anything, and her hair moved gently as if carried by invisible flames. Her eyes, cold and empty, were fixed directly on Jella.

The guards stepped back instantly, fear plastered on their faces. One of them actually dropped his weapon because his hands were shaking so badly.

Jella felt her knees weaken, her throat tighten, and her breath stutter.

She had never believed the stories about phoenixes being this powerful. Even after having to raise Electra, who was a half phoenix, she still thought they were a slightly exaggerated myth with too many weaknesses, but the thing floating in front of her wasn’t a girl.

She wasn’t even human.

“Stay away from me!” Jella screamed, her voice trembling so hard it cracked.

Electra didn’t blink, didn’t flinch. She simply stared at Jella with the same cold, expressionless look she had given the guards.

Then. calmly, almost politely, she spoke. “Why do you want to kill me?”

The question was simple, but the tone was empty, and somehow, that made it scarier than if Electra had screamed.

Jella blinked at her, baffled. “Why?” she repeated. “Did you really ask me why?”

Electra tilted her head a little, like she was trying to figure out if Jella was the one acting strange.

“I have no memories,” Electra said plainly. “I don’t know who I am. So I definitely don’t know why you want me dead.”

Her voice held no emotion, no anger, or confusion. Nothing, just cold honesty, and it made Jella’s skin crawl.

Electra didn’t even know her own name. That realization hit Jella like a slap.

“You… don’t remember?” Jella whispered, staring at her in disbelief.

“No,” Electra answered flatly.

That was it.

Just no.

Jella’s disbelief turned into a twisted sort of anger. She couldn’t believe that the girl she hated so much didn’t even know who she was. All her years of bitterness, of disgust, of hiding the truth, of pretending to be patient, all of it suddenly felt pointless.

Electra didn’t even know.

Jella let out a sharp scoff. It wasn’t even a laugh, more like a noise of pure disgust.

“Of course you don’t know,” Jella muttered. “Perfect, just perfect.”

Electra watched her silently.

Jella looked her up and down, at the glowing aura, the inhuman calm, and the flames flickering faintly around her skin. This wasn’t the spoiled princess she had spent years despising, this was something else, something closer to a monster.

“You are an abomination,” Jella spat. “That’s why I want you dead. That’s why everyone wants you dead.”

Electra didn’t react. She didn’t even raise a brow.

Jella continued, fueled by the fear swirling in her stomach. “You are a disgrace to this kingdom, a creature that should never have been born, and a problem that should have been solved years ago.”

Electra blinked once, slowly, like she was watching an insect talk. Jella felt a shiver run down her spine.

The girl wasn’t human anymore, but worse, she wasn’t emotional, she wasn’t afraid, she wasn’t offended, and she wasn’t sad.

She was nothing, and nothing was unpredictable.

“And I will kill you,” Jella added, even though her voice was shaking now. “If not today, then soon.”

Electra tilted her head again. “Why would you kill someone you barely understand?”

“Because you’re a threat!” Jella shouted. Her fear was rising again as Electra floated a few feet closer. “A cursed thing born from betrayal! You should never have existed!”

Electra blinked again, as though trying to process words she didn’t fully understand.

“Abomination,” Jella repeated coldly. “That is what you are.”

Electra stared at her in silence for a long, tense moment, long enough to make every guard on the balcony hold his breath and long enough that Jella began to tremble harder.

Finally, she spoke again, her tone still empty. “That word doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Jella’s jaw fell open a little.

Electra continued, “But you seem very afraid of me.”

Jella stiffened.

Electra drifted forward another inch, her eyes never leaving Jella.

“And people don’t fear abominations,” Electra said softly. “They fear power.”

Jella’s heart hammered against her ribs.

Electra stepped, or more accurately, floated, even closer. The heat around her grew warmer, hotter, like a warning flame. “So,” she said quietly, “what exactly are you afraid of? The part where I exist? Or the part where you cannot kill me as easily as you want to?”

Jella stumbled backward until her back hit the palace door. Her hands shook so badly she couldn’t even find the handle.

“I SAID STAY AWAY!” she screamed again, her voice cracking.

Electra didn’t respond. She just stopped moving, watching Jella with the blank eyes of someone who wasn’t angry, just curious. Curious the way a predator got curious when prey did something strange.

Jella felt her knees weaken again.

She had never felt this powerless in her life.

The guards behind her finally broke out of their frozen state and tried to grab her arms, pulling her toward the door.

Electra let them. She didn’t chase, didn’t threaten, or make any move at all. She just tilted her head again and watched Jella run like a coward.

Jella forced the guards to shove her inside, slamming the palace door shut behind her. Her breath was shaky, her palms sweaty, and her heartbeat loud enough to echo in her head.

She leaned against the door, panting, terrified to the bone.

She finally whispered, “She doesn’t remember anything… and she’s even worse like this.”

Outside on the balcony, Electra slowly lowered herself to the ground, her eyes still locked on the door Jella had escaped through.

She didn’t blink. She just whispered one quiet sentence into the air, as if talking to herself.

“I still don’t know who I am,” she murmured. “But I know exactly what you are.”

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