[A/N]: The Second GOAL of the week is to achieve 500 Power Stones and unlock TWO more bonus chapters. Comment, share, and you know the drill 😎✨
She spread her arms wide, encompassing the parking lot, the controlled Braddocks, the carnage. "And I am not going to be left behind. I will not be prey in the new world being born. So I looked for others touched by cosmic significance. Those who carry the spark to change reality itself." Her hand gestured to the Braddock brothers like presenting prizes. "And I found a merry little family. Every single member destined for greatness. Powers that reshape the world. Bloodline that breeds true to potential. Perfect vessels, perfect tools and most importantly, perfect servants."
She ran her fingers through Jamie's hair again. Like caressing property. "So I made my move. I'm Creating my own empire again. Starting with making them my first retainers. My loyal soldiers. My devoted... pets."
Domino's grip tightened on her guns "And how exactly did you manage that? Mind control ain't easy, especially not on reality warpers and mystical champions. These two aren't weak-willed civilians who fold under a stiff breeze. How'd you break 'em?"
Selene's smile returned. Predatory in a way that made the skin crawl. She ran her fingers through Jamie's hair, then Brian's, the gesture lingering.
"Tantric magic. Ancient Aghori techniques I learned millennia ago when the world was younger and crueler. When gods walked openly and humans knew their place." Her voice dropped to a purr. "The body and the mind are linked, you see. Control one with enough... intensity, enough pleasure mixed with pain, enough stimulation, and the other follows. Break them down to their most base instincts, then rebuild them. Condition them. Train them like the animals they are deep down."
She leaned close to Jamie, lips nearly touching his ear. "Such devoted students they became. Such eager participants once I showed them what their bodies could feel. What I could make them experience. Hours and hours of instruction. Breaking them. Rebuilding them. Making them mine."
The implication hung in the air like poison gas. Like something that made breathing painful.
Betsy didn't scream.
The sound that came from her was beyond a scream. It was something primal. Something that came from the part of the brain that predated language. Pure anguish and rage and violation given voice.
Psychic energy exploded outward. Purple daggers materialized in both hands, solid constructs of psychic force sharp enough to cut reality. The butterfly mark blazed across her face, wings spreading from her eye across her entire left side. All technique abandoned.
All the discipline beaten into her by years of practice and combat evaporated.
Just rage and the desperate, animal need to hurt the thing that had hurt her family. That had raped her brothers. That had stolen everything.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" The words tore from her throat. "I'LL TEAR YOU APART! I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFER! YOU FUCKING BITCH, I'LL—"
Brian moved to intercept.
The Sword of Might came up in a perfect guard position. Textbook defensive stance. The kind Brian had taught Betsy when they were children.
Sister and brother met with a clash of psychic and mystical energy. Betsy's dagger scraped against the flat of the blade, throwing sparks that burned purple and gold. The force of the impact sent shockwaves rippling outward. As the Car windows shattered and the ground cracked beneath their feet.
Brian's boot caught her in the stomach, launching her backward. The impact drove the air from her lungs. She hit the ground hard, pavement cracking beneath her, rolling, trying desperately to regain her footing.
But he kept coming.
The brothers advanced. Their movements perfectly synchronized. Mirror images of each other. Brian's sword came down. Jamie's strings lashed out. Working together with coordination that should have been impossible for two minds operating independently.
Because they weren't independent anymore. They were extensions of the same will. Selene's will.
Betsy rolled aside. The Sword of Might carved through where her head had been, gouging a trench in the pavement. She threw a psychic dagger. Jamie's strings caught it mid-flight, unraveled it back into raw psionic energy.
"Brian, please!" Betsy's voice cracked. "Jamie! I know you're in there! Fight it! Fight her! Please!"
Their faces didn't change. The pentagrams on their foreheads leaked more black fluid.
They raised their weapons again.
Selene watched with obvious delight. Clapping her hands together like a child at a puppet show. "Yes, yes! Fight your family! Show me that famous Braddock passion! Show me that fire I'm going to enjoy breaking out of you, little butterfly!"
Domino fired two Kill shots in rapid succession, both aimed at Selene's head with perfect accuracy.
Jamie's strings materialized between the bullets and their target. The shots struck the reality-warped constructs and simply... stopped. Hung suspended in mid-air for a moment. Then the strings twisted and bent space. The bullets doubled in size, then quadrupled and finally grew until each was the size of a baseball, spinning slowly.
Then reversed course. Heading back toward Domino with the same velocity they'd been fired with.
"Shit!" Domino's luck kicked in. She dove left. One bullet missed by inches, close enough to feel the wind of its passage. The other grazed her shoulder, tearing through cloth and skin. Blood welled up. "Luck ain't gonna be enough against that. Not when he's warping probability itself."
Her dagger came out, charged with tachyon energy. She sliced the air where the bullets came, cutting through the bullets in perfect halves.
Jay stepped forward. The Muramasa blade hung loose in his grip, point toward the ground. His completely white hair seemed to glow with converted Lightforce. But it was his eyes that drew attention. Every color of stolen power swirled in his irises.
"Selene!"
The External's attention snapped to him like a predator hearing prey. Her hunger returned, intensified. Looking at him now was like looking at a feast. At something she wanted to consume in every possible way. Devour, Possess and Own.
"Yes, Power Broker?" Her voice was silk over steel. Seduction over threat. "Have you reconsidered my offer? Join me willingly, and I release the Braddocks. We could rule together. Ancient power and modern might. Combine your reality-breaking abilities with my millennia of experience. Nothing could stand against us. We would reshape the world into paradise." Her smile widened. "And the things I could teach you. The pleasures I could show you. The ways I could make you feel..."
Jay's expression was cold. Carved from ice. His grip on the Muramasa tightened. The blade hummed, sensing blood about to be spilled.
"I don't negotiate with ancient whores who can't tell the difference between power and performance."
Selene's smile vanished. Wiped away instantly. Her beautiful face twisted into something ancient and terrible.
"You're gonna regret this, Boy!"
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