Chapter 246: EMERGENCY PURGE INITIALIZING

Chapter 246: Chapter 246: EMERGENCY PURGE INITIALIZING

?? Small Content Warning: This Chapter contains intense violence, blood, injuries, and distressing scenes involving children. Please read with care. ??

...

It was Soren’s turn to look at him.

"You can cross."

"And you?"

"I cannot."

Kael looked toward the twins.

Soren’s daughters.

Crying.

Soren’s jaw tightened.

"You can."

For the first time, Kael saw something ugly and helpless in Soren’s eyes.

Not jealousy.

Not rivalry.

A father choosing the only male who could reach his children.

Kael shifted.

Human to panther.

Black fur.

Golden eyes.

Soren leaned his massive head closer.

"If you drop one of my daughters..."

Kael bared his teeth.

"I won’t."

Soren’s pupils narrowed.

"And Swanly."

Kael growled.

"She was mine before you."

For any other moment, that might have started a fight.

Soren only said:

"Then prove useful."

Kael’s tail lashed.

He backed up.

Prepared to jump.

Then Swanly screamed.

Both males froze.

A Hollowmaw had hit her from behind.

She flew into stone.

Her shoulder struck with a sickening crack.

Kael felt it through the bond.

Pain.

Shock.

Swanly.

His whole body lurched forward.

Soren’s coils crushed a fallen beam.

"SWANLY!"

The Hollowmaw climbed over her.

On the platform, every child began screaming.

"MAMA!"

Kairo tried to climb down with one injured arm.

Nilo tackled him.

"NO!"

"She needs us!"

"She said stay!"

Miko crawled beneath both of them.

"I’M GOING!"

Kairo grabbed him.

Eira fought Nilo’s arms so violently she nearly slipped free.

Sira screamed until her voice broke.

"MAMA! MAMA! MAMA!"

Below them, Swanly shoved one forearm against the Hollowmaw’s throat.

Her injured shoulder did not work.

Its mouth opened beside her face.

The System appeared.

Red.

Furious.

Terrified.

HOST LIFE FAILURE RISK: CRITICAL.

"Busy!"

EMERGENCY PURGE INITIALIZING.

Swanly’s eyes widened.

"No."

A red radius expanded across her vision.

Her children were inside it.

The trapped civilians were inside it.

Part of Soren’s body was inside it.

Kael was at its edge.

"Cancel."

NEGATIVE.

"CANCEL!"

IF CARDIAC FUNCTION CEASES, PURGE WILL AUTOMATICALLY DISCHARGE.

"What happens?"

The fairy did not answer.

Swanly screamed:

"WHAT HAPPENS?"

ALL HIGH-ACTIVITY ORGANIC MATTER WITHIN THE MINIMUM RADIUS WILL BE DISRUPTED.

Swanly understood.

The Hollowmaws would die.

So would everyone else.

The System could save its host.

It could not save Swanly’s entire world.

"No."

The Hollowmaw pushed closer.

Two inches.

One.

The System shook.

FIGHT.

Swanly’s arm trembled.

"Trying."

FIGHT HARDER!

The fairy screamed it.

Not like a machine.

Like someone afraid.

Above her, Kairo sobbed:

"Mama!"

Swanly looked up.

Saw five children.

Saw Kael on the other side of the collapse, pacing backward for a jump he might not survive.

Saw Soren’s huge white body beside him, unable to cross without killing the people underneath.

Saw the entire impossible mess.

The old Swanly came back.

Not mother.

Not mate.

Not leader.

Survivor.

Stop wasting strength.

Let the enemy believe it won.

She stopped pushing.

The Hollowmaw surged forward.

Swanly waited.

Its mouth opened.

Closer.

Closer.

Now.

Her good hand snapped upward.

A blade materialized directly into her palm.

She drove it through the soft palate.

Deep.

The Hollowmaw convulsed.

Black fluid exploded over her face.

Its hooked limbs stabbed into stone beside her head.

Then the full body collapsed over her.

The cubs screamed.

Then stopped.

Because Swanly disappeared.

Nothing moved.

Kairo stared.

"Mama?"

No answer.

"Mama?"

Kael made a sound from across the collapse that no one in Ironwood would ever forget.

A panther grieving before he knew whether he had lost anything.

He launched.

Soren’s tail snapped around his waist and ripped him backward.

Kael turned on him with murder in his eyes.

"LET ME GO!"

"The beam moved!"

"I DON’T CARE!"

"I DO!"

Soren’s voice thundered.

"BECAUSE IF IT FALLS, YOU DIE BEFORE YOU REACH HER!"

Kael went still.

The corpse moved.

Everyone stopped.

A hand appeared beneath it.

Then Swanly’s blood-covered face.

She shoved.

The Hollowmaw rolled partly aside.

Swanly gasped.

Air.

She lay still for one second.

Then two.

Then forced herself onto her knees.

Her shoulder sagged.

Blood ran from her lip.

Black fluid covered her hair.

But she was alive.

The System’s countdown froze.

PURGE CANCELLED.

Swanly spat blood.

"Good."

The fairy flew directly into her face.

Its tiny hands were shaking.

DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN.

Swanly coughed.

"What?"

ALMOST DIE.

Despite everything, a weak laugh escaped her.

"Wasn’t really on my schedule."

The fairy’s eyes shone.

I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER HOST.

Swanly swallowed.

Something warm hurt in her chest.

"Love you too."

The System flashed furious gold.

THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID.

Then Swanly looked up.

Five children were staring down at her.

Kairo was sobbing openly.

Nilo’s face was soaked.

Miko could barely breathe.

Eira and Sira were both reaching for her.

Swanly forced herself up.

"I told you..."

Her knees almost buckled.

She caught herself against the wall.

"I told you I wasn’t dying."

Kairo’s face crumpled.

"You lied!"

The words hit harder than the monster.

"You said you wouldn’t get hurt!"

Swanly’s smile disappeared.

"I know."

"You lied!"

"I know, baby."

Kairo hid his face against Nilo’s shoulder and sobbed.

Another crack.

The platform dropped.

All five screamed.

Swanly’s head snapped up.

The System flashed:

STRUCTURAL REINFORCEMENT: THREE MINUTES, TWELVE SECONDS.

Swanly went cold.

Not sixteen anymore.

Damage had accelerated it.

Three minutes.

A Hollowmaw crawled over the wall.

Then another.

Then another.

Swanly raised the bow.

Her bad arm barely lifted.

The System immediately warned:

SHOULDER FUNCTION COMPROMISED.

"Adjust draw resistance."

The bow flashed.

POWER LOSS: TWENTY-NINE PERCENT.

"Still enough?"

AT CLOSE RANGE.

"Good."

Across the collapse, Soren looked at Kael.

Three minutes.

He had heard the System countdown through Swanly’s shouted responses even if he could not see it.

He looked at the roof beam.

Then at the tree.

Then at Kael.

"Go."

Kael crouched.

Someone trapped beneath the rubble whispered:

"Please..."

Kael looked down.

The man’s face was visible between stones.

Terrified.

If Kael landed on the wrong slab, he would crush him.

Kael shifted his weight.

Calculated.

Panther.

Balance.

Silence.

Predator.

He did not need the ground.

He needed three points.

Broken roof.

Tree limb.

Remaining wall.

Soren’s massive tail rose beneath the first beam.

Not touching the unstable rubble.

Creating one additional platform.

Kael looked at him.

Soren’s eyes were on Swanly.

"Use me."

Kael stepped onto the snake’s tail.

Soren braced.

Kael backed up two paces along the huge white coil.

Then ran.

One.

Two.

Jump.

Black fur flew through smoke.

Behind him, Soren held completely still.

Ahead of him, Swanly fired at three Hollowmaws alone beneath their breaking children.

Kael hit the first roof beam.

It cracked.

He did not stop.

Jumped again.

A Hollowmaw climbed onto the beam from below.

Kael landed directly on its back.

The creature twisted.

Its sideways mouth opened.

Kael’s claws sank into the softer seam beneath its armor.

It bucked.

The beam groaned.

Below them, trapped survivors screamed.

Kael could not fight normally.

Could not thrash.

Could not let the creature drop.

So he did something much worse.

He lowered his body.

Went utterly still.

Waited for the Hollowmaw to turn its head.

Then his jaws closed around the exposed underside of its neck.

One bite.

One violent twist.

The creature went limp.

Kael left it balanced across the beam because even dropping the corpse might shift the rubble.

He jumped again.

The tree branch.

It bent under his weight.

His hind paw slipped.

Swanly saw him.

"KAEL!"

His claws ripped through bark.

For one horrible heartbeat, he hung over the collapse.

Below him?

Hands reached from darkness.

Not Hollowmaws.

People.

Trapped survivors looking up at him.

Kael looked down.

Then up.

Swanly.

The cubs.

His family.

His muscles bunched.

He hauled himself onto the branch.

Across the gap, Soren watched.

His daughters screamed.

"Pa!"

Sira had finally seen him.

Tiny arms reached across the impossible space.

"Pa!"

Soren’s enormous head lifted.

His silver eyes locked on her.

"I see you."

His voice carried through the chaos.

Sira sobbed.

Eira crawled to the railing.

"Pa."

"I see you too."

He could not cross.

He could not hold them.

So the ancient white snake did the only thing he could.

He wrapped his body around the entire unstable collapse.

Not squeezing.

Bracing.

His coils pressed against outer walls, broken posts and surviving foundations.

Taking some of their weight onto himself.

Stone dug into his scales.

One jagged beam tore a long line down his side.

Blood ran white scales red.

He did not move.

The trapped survivors felt the shifting rubble stop.

One whispered:

"He’s holding it."

Soren’s muscles trembled.

He was.

He looked at Kael.

"GO!"

Kael jumped.

And this time, there was nothing beneath him except open dark and screaming people.

Ahead?

Swanly.

Five cubs.

And the last standing wall.

Kael flew toward them.