Chapter 200: Chapter 200 The Last Stand?

Liam watched helplessly as the rusted blade descended toward his neck. His body screamed in agony. Every bone felt cracked, every muscle torn. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. But when that blade glinted in the factory light, when he felt death mere inches away—something inside him snapped.

“NO!”

He screamed at the top of his lungs, pure willpower tearing through his pain. With a desperate roar, Liam raised his hand. The motion was slow, trembling, broken—but it was enough.

Just as the blade neared his face, Liam felt something else.

Heat.

An intense, blistering heat.

His instincts screamed, and he pushed himself back with the last ounce of strength he had.

BOOM!

A fireball slammed into Dimitri’s chest with a thunderous impact. The force of it sent the massive man flying backward, smoke trailing from his scorched torso. The blade clanged to the ground with a metallic thud.

Liam gasped, blinking through the haze. He looked up, chest heaving.

That’s when he saw her.

A figure in all black, dressed in overalls just like him, stood between him and Dimitri. A scarf covered her face, but her black hair was tied back, tight and clean. At first, Liam’s battered mind thought it was Lana.

But no—Lana’s hair was dark brown.

This was black.

Yet those sharp green eyes glared with unmistakable intensity.

And that body—that full, curvy silhouette wrapped in tight cloth, commanding yet feminine—it was unmistakably her.

Lana.

What the hell?

Liam stared in disbelief. Since when did she learn to use her powers?

She didn’t look at him. She didn’t need to. Her stance alone said everything.

She was here for him.

Lana took a step forward, her back still shielding Liam, eyes locked on Dimitri. Her presence wasn’t just bold—it was defiant. She wasn’t backing down.

Dimitri groaned as he rose, the front of his shirt completely burned away. Black ash clung to his skin, but he didn’t look concerned. If anything, he looked annoyed.

Then Lana saw something that made her skin crawl.

Chains.

They slithered just beneath his skin, shifting like parasites under the surface. His flesh moved unnaturally, like something was alive inside him. And then, in full horror, she watched as they erupted out of his back, shoulders, and arms—vicious, serrated, and glinting with death.

It was the most grotesque sight she’d ever witnessed.

Dimitri grinned darkly.

“Do you know,” he said, his voice gravelly, “why they call these… the C.O.D?”

Lana furrowed her brows, every inch of her telling her to flee. But she stood her ground.

“Chains of Death,” Dimitri continued, letting the blades clink against the floor. “Because once I unleash them in your presence, there’s no escape. You’re already dead. No one—no one—has ever lived to tell the tales of these powers.”

Lana’s breath hitched. Her hands began to shake.

She wasn’t ready for this.

She wasn’t Liam.

She didn’t have his mentality, his experience. She was just a girl who stumbled into fire powers by accident.

And now here she was, face-to-face with a monster wrapped in metal and blood.

If it wasn’t for Liam lying behind her, she wouldn’t even be here.

Her knees trembled, the fire she summoned earlier now flickering weakly in her palm. Dimitri took a step forward, his chains slithering with hunger.

She backed away instinctively.

Liam saw it.

He saw her fear.

Her fingers trembled. Her breathing quickened. And in that moment, he knew she wouldn’t last. Not against this.

And he couldn’t help her.

His body was too broken. His limbs refused to move. He could only watch.

But then—he turned his head.

He saw Jack.

The coward was hiding behind crates, trying to make himself small and invisible.

Liam’s eyes narrowed.

He grit his teeth and began to move. He had to do something. If Lana died here because of him—

No. That wasn’t an option.

Not now. Not ever.

Liam burned every ounce of strength left in his shattered body as he dragged himself across the broken floor toward Jack. Every movement felt like knives tearing through muscle and bone. His ribs screamed. His back throbbed. Blood poured from open wounds. But he didn’t stop.

He couldn’t stop.

Dimitri saw him.

The hulking man’s glowing eyes tracked Liam’s movement, narrowing in fury. With a grunt, he pushed off the ground, his chains rising like vipers. He charged after him, boots slamming hard against concrete. He was fast—unnaturally fast for his size.

But so was Lana.

She moved.

She stepped right into his path and hurled another fireball.

BOOM!

The impact was strong enough to make Dimitri stagger again, the flames bursting against his shoulder and chest. He hissed in frustration, teeth gritted, the metal under his skin glowing faintly from the heat.

He hated fighters like her—elemental types who could hit from a distance, unpredictably, over and over again. If they kept up that tempo, they were a pain in the ass to deal with. Lana wasn’t skilled yet, not like Liam, but her power was real—and annoying.

Dimitri took one step forward, smoke rising from his arms—and saw his chance.

He grinned.

One of his chains shot forward like a bullet.

Lana barely saw it in time. Her eyes widened, and she twisted her body hard to the side.

CRACK!

The chain missed her by inches and slammed into the wall behind. The concrete exploded as if it had been made of paper. Shards of rock rained down, and dust clouded the air. Lana stared at the hole, her breath catching in her throat.

If she’d been even a second slower, she’d be dead.

Liam reached Jack.

The little coward had been frozen in place, eyes glued to the chaos, until Liam grabbed him by the collar and yanked him out from behind the crate. Jack yelped, eyes wide, spittle on his lips.

“U-Uncle!” he shrieked.

Dimitri’s eyes darted to the side, past Lana, who was still recovering. He scowled as his chains began to twitch unnaturally around his body.

Then he dropped low.

His entire frame curled into itself, and then—he rolled.

Fast.

Like a black-metal blur, he spun across the floor, his body sheathed in chains that sparked as they clashed against the ground and walls. Lana hurled fireball after fireball, but nothing worked. Each hit bounced harmlessly off the spinning defense, sparks flying, flames fizzling out on contact.

Bang! Bang! Boom!

Useless.

The moment she stopped to breathe, one chain uncoiled from the blur and lashed out.

She didn’t have time to dodge.

WHAM!

The chain slammed into her side with bone-breaking force. Lana let out a cry as her body was flung like a ragdoll, crashing through a pile of rusted garbage bins. Metal clanged. Dust flew.

She didn’t move.

Liam didn’t have time to check. He didn’t even have time to think. He had Jack by the throat now, lifted clean off the ground. The boy kicked and squirmed, face turning red, gasping for breath.

“You… little piece of shit,” Liam rasped, blood dribbling from his lips. His other hand trembled, ready to snap Jack’s neck with a single twist.

Then—

THWACK!

A chain ripped through the air and struck Liam in the back.

But it didn’t just hit him.

It pierced him.

The metal hook at the end of the chain burst through his back and punched out through the front of his chest, stained red and still vibrating from the force of impact.

Liam froze.

His fingers dropped from Jack’s neck.

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. All he could feel was pain—this unbearable, blinding pain as if something had been jammed into his soul.

He gasped, his vision flickering.

Instinctively, his hands went to the chain, grabbing it even as it cut into his palms. The barbs tore into his flesh, and blood poured from his hands as he tried to pull it out—but it wouldn’t budge. It was deep. Twisted. Almost alive.

It drilled inside him, moving slowly like it was trying to rip him apart from the inside.

He screamed—but nothing came out except a wet, choking sound.

Jack fell to the ground, gasping, coughing, crawling backward like a terrified worm. He looked like he was about to piss himself again—no, wait—he already had.

But even now, even with his pants soaked, even with blood staining his shirt, Jack was smiling.

A smug, hateful smile.

That sick little bastard was grinning.

Liam’s eyes burned—not just from the pain, but from rage.

Jack had wanted this. He knew his uncle would come.

He had set this all up.

Liam’s hands trembled harder around the chain.

His body refused to move.

His knees buckled.

He collapsed to the floor, the chain still sticking out of his chest like some cursed weapon from hell. His blood pooled beneath him, spreading slowly, warm and thick.

The light around him dimmed.

He heard footsteps.

Heavy, slow, inevitable.

Dimitri was coming.

Jack leaned over and spat blood beside Liam’s face.

“Should’ve killed me first,” he whispered with that damn smirk still curling his lips.

Liam’s vision was failing now. The factory ceiling blurred. The world tilted.

He could barely hear his own breathing anymore.

His body was shutting down.

He was losing it.

****

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