Chapter 1286. The Higher She Climbs on That Lie, the More Devastating the Fall

Chapter 1286: 1286. The Higher She Climbs on That Lie, the More Devastating the Fall

What followed was not a duel. A duel implies artistry, a calculated rhythm of strike and parry, and a mutual understanding that both combatants are engaged in a game of skill. This was something far more primal.

This was a slaughter attempt. Helena was not trying to win; she was trying to erase him from existence.

She was pouring every ounce of her grief, her betrayal, and her shattered identity into every spell she conjured, screaming names like incantations between ragged, desperate breaths.

"THIS IS FOR LILY!"

The scream tore through the smoke as Helena’s hands twisted in a sharp, jagged motion. "Frostbite Convergence!"

A volley of ice shards erupted from her fingertips with the force of crossbow bolts and twelve spears of translucent blue crystal, each as long as a man’s forearm and sharper than any surgeon’s blade.

They shrieked through the air, leaving trails of freezing mist in their wake. Rex tried to twist away, but the attack came from three vectors at once.

THWIP CRACK!

One spear punched through his left shoulder with a wet, tearing sound, punching through muscle and sinew before erupting out the back of his shoulder blade, pinning him against the wall for a terrifying heartbeat before the force of his own weight snapped the ice.

Another buried itself deep in his right thigh, the impact sending a shockwave through his femur that made his vision swim with white sparks. The third grazed his ribs, shattering against the floor with the sound of breaking glass.

The cold was worse than the piercing. It wasn’t just pain; it was an invasive, predatory frost that began to spread from the wounds.

Rex could feel the ice creeping along his veins like liquid nitrogen, turning his blood to slush and numbing his nerves with a slow, agonizing bite.

’Fuck,’ Rex thought, his breath coming in ragged gasps as he stared at the blue crystal protruding from his leg. ’She’s not holding back.’

’She’s trying to freeze me from the inside out.’ His Infinite Regeneration fought back, but the ice was a constant drain, forcing his body to burn through energy just to keep his heart beating.

"THIS IS FOR DIANA! "

Helena’s face was a mask of demonic fury, tears evaporating off her cheeks before they could even fall. She swept both arms downward in a violent arc, her fingers clawing at the air as if she were tearing the world apart.

"Earth’s Wrath: Titan’s Fist!"

The marble floor beneath Rex didn’t just crack; it screamed. The ancient stone plates ripped free from their foundations with a deafening CRUNCH RUMBLE, flowing together like liquid mercury.

The stone fused and swelled, forming a massive, grotesque fist of masonry twice the size of a wagon. It surged upward from beneath Rex’s feet in a devastating uppercut.

BOOM!

The impact was catastrophic. Rex felt his ribs shatter with a sound like dry kindling snapping under a boot crack crack crack.

The force lifted him off the ground effortlessly, launching his body upward with bone-breaking velocity. He became a human projectile, driven straight through the ceiling of the dining room.

SHATTER CRASH!

He tore through the reinforced floorboards of the second story, splinters of oak piercing his skin like tiny daggers, before punching through the third floor. Dust, plaster, and ancient debris exploded outward as he was hurled into the upper hallway.

Rex slammed into the heavy oak support beams of the upper corridor with enough force to make the entire mansion shudder. His spine connected with the wood with a sickening thud, the impact sending a shockwave through his entire skeletal system.

He hung there for a moment, suspended by the debris and the sheer momentum of the blow, blood streaming from his mouth and nose, dripping steadily onto the carpet below.

His vision swam in crimson and gold. His ribs were a twisted mess inside his chest cavity, and every breath felt like swallowing broken glass.

Through the ringing in his ears, he could hear Helena’s voice echoing from below, desperate, unhinged, and calling out yet another name.

"THIS IS FOR ELIZABETH!"

Helena’s voice rose to a crescendo that seemed to tear the very fabric of reality. She didn’t just cast a spell; she summoned a catastrophe.

Her palms turned skyward, fingers splayed as if she were reaching for the throat of God itself. High above, through the jagged hole Rex had punched in the mansion’s roof, the storm clouds swirled in immediate, unnatural response.

KRA KOOOOOM!

A column of pure, blinding lightning descended through the hollowed-out shell of the house like a celestial spear. It screamed through the air, vaporizing the crystal chandelier in a shower of molten glass and splitting the massive oak roof beam with the sound of a guillotine.

The bolt found Rex midair at the apex of his trajectory.

The impact was absolute. Every nerve in Rex’s body seized simultaneously as thousands of volts coursed through his marrow.

His spine arched in a grotesque, inhuman curve, his muscles locking with such violent tension that he feared his own tendons would snap. His jaw clamped shut so hard his molars ground together with a sickening "crrr ick," and his vision dissolved into a static of pure, brilliant white.

The air became an acidic cocktail of burning hair, scorched flesh, and the sharp, metallic bite of ozone.

When the lightning finally dissipated, Rex was no longer airborne. He became a dying star, plummeting through the ruined layers of the house.

He tore through the debris of the third floor, punched through the second, and finally crashed onto the grand staircase below.

CRASH, SHATTER THUD!

The ancient marble steps couldn’t withstand the kinetic force; three whole steps disintegrated under his weight, sending fragments of stone flying like shrapnel. Rex landed in a heap of broken wood and pulverized masonry, his body twitching spasmodically as smoke curled off his convulsing limbs.

"AND THIS IS... FOR MY MOOOOOOTHER!"

Helena descended the stairs like a wraith of vengeance, her eyes glowing with an unholy light. She was past the point of incantation; she was simply a conduit for annihilation.

She began to rain hell upon the broken form at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ignis Fatuus!" she shrieked, hurling a flaring ball of concentrated flame that struck Rex’s torso with a wet whoosh, scorching what was left of his flesh.

"Lithic Rain!" she screamed, and suddenly the very walls seemed to weep stone.

Jagged chunks of masonry tore themselves free from the plaster and rained down on Rex in a relentless hail of crushing debris.

Thwack crack crunch.

"Fulminating Lash! "A whip of crackling electricity spiraled from her fingertips, lashing across the staircase.

It struck Rex with a series of sharp snap-hiss sounds, leaving blackened, smoking gouges across the marble and searing through his already ruined clothes.

She wasn’t strategizing anymore. There was no tactical thought behind the onslaught, only the raw, bleeding wound of her trauma seeking an outlet.

Her spells were overlapping, chaotic, and desperate. She was a woman trying to drown a fire with more fire, throwing every weapon in her arsenal at the monster until her arms began to tremble violently from magical exhaustion.

Through the cacophony of explosions and breaking stone, the screams of her children pierced through the chaos.

"Mother, STOP!" Lily was on her knees at the landing, her face wet with tears, her hands clenched so tightly against her chest that her knuckles were white. "Please! You’re not saving us!"

"You’re going to kill him! You’re going to become the monster you’re fighting!"

"Please, Mother, please listen to us!" Diana’s voice tore through the air, cracking under the strain of pure terror.

She was reaching out toward Helena, her own magic flickering weakly, useless against the tidal wave of Helena’s rage. "Look at what you’re doing! Look at yourself!"

But Helena heard nothing.

The world had narrowed down to the broken, bleeding thing at the foot of the stairs, and the singular, obsessive need to watch it burn.