Chapter 386: Igniting Fear

Third-person POV

The night outside the palace was quiet, but the tension near the front gate was anything but.

Electra stood a few feet away from the tall metal gates, her posture relaxed even though more than ten security guards had surrounded her. The palace lights shone down over the wide driveway, throwing shadows across the pavement, but none of that seemed to bother her. In fact, she looked almost bored as she studied the group of guards standing in front of her.

One of the men stepped forward again, his expression tight with frustration. He had already warned her more than once that she should leave, letting her know that he was not going to let her in, but she had not moved an inch.

“Princess Electra,” he said firmly, trying to keep his voice steady. “I understand that you feel entitled to being here because of your status, but that is no longer the case at the moment, and if you do not leave the palace grounds right now, we will be forced to remove you.”

Electra slowly tilted her head to the side as she looked at him. The movement was small, almost curious, like she was observing something mildly interesting rather than someone threatening her. Her eyes moved briefly across the rest of the guards standing behind him before returning to the man speaking.

There were about ten of them in total, all wearing the same dark security uniforms and carrying the equipment they needed to control situations like this. Under normal circumstances, they would have been more than enough to handle any intruder who tried to cause trouble at the palace, but the problem was that the person standing in front of them was not normal.

Electra let out a quiet breath before speaking.

“Are you sure you don’t want to get out of my way?” she asked calmly.

The guard frowned slightly at her tone, but she continued before he could respond.

“You and I both know you’re not a match for me,” she added, her voice still steady and casual. “So if you don’t want to get seriously hurt, you and your friends should step aside and let me pass. I only came here to see the queen, and I’m not leaving here until I see her.”

Her words were not loud, but there was something about the way she said them that made the guards shift uneasily.

Another guard stepped forward from the side, clearly unwilling to let the situation continue like this.

“The Queen does not want to see you,” he said bluntly. “We already told you that. It’s already too late to meet the queen, so please leave.”

Electra’s eyes flicked toward him.

“It would be better if you left now and never came back,” he continued. “You are not welcome here anymore, and your title doesn’t change that.”

For a few seconds Electra said nothing. Then she let out a slow sigh. The sound carried clearly through the quiet night, and it was filled with a level of irritation she was no longer trying to hide.

She had come all the way from Elysium to get here. The walk alone had taken her almost two hours, and she had followed nothing but instinct to reach the palace in the first place. She did not know the city well, and she barely knew the kingdom she supposedly belonged to, yet somehow she had managed to find her way here anyway.

Now that she had finally arrived, there was no chance she was leaving without seeing the person she came for, and the guards had already wasted more of her time than she was willing to tolerate.

Electra rolled her shoulders slightly, as if loosening them.

“I’ve done enough talking with humans to last me a lifetime,” she muttered under her breath.

Before any of them could react, she stepped forward. The guards immediately moved to block her path. Several of them rushed closer, forming a tighter line between her and the palace gate.

“Stop right there!” one of them shouted.

Electra didn’t stop, and the very next second several hands grabbed her at once.

One guard caught her arm while another grabbed her shoulder, trying to hold her back before she could take another step forward. A third man moved behind her to help restrain her, pressing his hands down firmly against her shoulders.

For a moment everything went still, and Electra looked down slowly at the hand gripping her shoulder. The man’s fingers were digging into her skin through the thin fabric of her shirt, his grip tight and determined as he tried to force her backward.

Something inside her snapped instantly, and her eyes darkened. Without warning she reached up and grabbed his wrist.

The movement was so fast the guard barely had time to react. Her fingers tightened around his hand, and for a brief second there was nothing unusual about the scene. Then the heat came.

It started as a faint glow under her skin, spreading from her palm and up through her fingers. The warmth turned into heat within seconds, and then the heat became fire, and the guard screamed.

The sound tore through the quiet night as he tried to yank his hand away, but Electra’s grip was far too strong.

Flames licked across his skin where she held him. They were not large or wild, but they were concentrated and fierce. The heat burned straight through the fabric of his gloves and into the flesh under.

“Let go!” one of the other guards shouted.

Two of them rushed forward, grabbing their teammate’s arm and trying to pull him away from her, but it didn’t work.

Electra stood perfectly still as they struggled. Her expression remained calm, almost thoughtful, as she watched the man twist in agony. The fire continued spreading across his hand, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air.

The guard’s screams became louder as the pain intensified. His knees buckled as he tried desperately to break free, but the more he struggled, the tighter Electra’s grip became.

The other guards pulled harder, their faces filled with panic now as they realized they were completely powerless to stop her, but none of them, no matter how hard they tried, could match her strength.

They could only watch as the flames grew hotter.

The skin on the guard’s hand began to blister and darken rapidly, turning an ugly shade of red before shifting into something worse. Within seconds the flesh looked burned and damaged beyond recognition, the skin blackening as the heat continued to destroy it.

Electra didn’t look away. Her eyes stayed fixed on the damage she was causing, and there was no hesitation in her expression. In fact, she was enjoying this a little too much, especially the way all of them looked like they were on the verge of a panic attack.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity for the screaming man, she released him, and the guard collapsed to the ground instantly, clutching his ruined hand against his chest while gasping for breath.

His friends rushed toward him immediately, kneeling beside him and trying to help while he continued crying out in pain.

Electra stepped back slowly. For a moment the only sounds in the air were the guard’s ragged breathing and the distant hum of the palace lights.

Then she turned her attention back to the others, and her lips curled into a small smirk.

“Well,” she said calmly, glancing from one guard to another, “are you still sure you don’t want to let me in?”

No one answered her right away. The guards just stared at her with wide, stunned expressions, and the confidence they had shown earlier had vanished completely, replaced by fear they were no longer able to hide.

Electra crossed her arms loosely over her chest.

“I really don’t mind making the rest of you scream like your friend,” she added lightly.

The threat hung in the air, and for several seconds no one moved. The guards looked at each other nervously, unsure of what to do next. They had been trained to handle dangerous situations, but nothing in their training had prepared them for someone like her.

Electra was not just strong; she was something else entirely, and every single one of them knew it.

Electra watched their reactions with quiet amusement. She could practically see the fear spreading through them as they realized the truth of their situation.

They could not stop her.

She had only burned one of them, and even that had taken almost no effort at all. If she truly decided to fight them, none of them would walk away from it. She uncrossed her arms and took another step toward the gate, and this time the guards did not immediately grab her again.

Instead they hesitated, and that hesitation was all the confirmation she needed.

Her smirk widened slightly. “So?” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Are you moving… or should I start with the next one?”

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