The Extra's Rise-Chapter 458: Mind Break (3)

Lucifer touched his chest, still panting, as Arthur crumpled to the ground beneath the radiant mark of Rachel’s final spell.

Six-Circle Purelight Spell: Crucifixion Nullification.

A name far too long for something so brutally efficient. It hadn’t just restrained Arthur—it had erased the fight from his body. It wrapped him in divine light like a cosmic parent saying, "Enough now," and the body had listened. Or maybe it was the soul that had.

Rachel let out a breath, ragged and wet with grief, tears pouring down her face as if her heart had decided to break in every direction at once. She was still holding him, arms locked around his chest like she could keep him from fading if she just held tight enough.

A moment later, Lucifer felt fingers grip his collar and yank.

Seol-ah.

She hauled him upright with one hand, eyes calm in the way storms are calm before they remember they’re supposed to be destructive.

"Prince Lucifer," she said, her tone like polished steel, "why did you stop me from joining the battle?"

Lucifer met her golden gaze. Even now, bruised and spent, his eyes shone verdant and steady.

"I didn’t want you to get hurt for no reason," he said.

Seol-ah’s nostrils flared. "Hurt?" she repeated, as if the word itself was an insult. "You think I’m that weak?"

Lucifer shook his head. "No. But you had no reason to get involved—"

Crack.

The slap hit like a gunshot in a closed hall. It sent him straight back to the ground, blinking up at the ceiling with the kind of expression normally reserved for people who just watched their plan backfire with artistic flair.

A moment later, something thudded softly onto his chest. A potion. Healing, no doubt. The kind that said "I’m angry, not cruel."

He heard her boots moving away, echoing down the corridor. She didn’t look back.

But someone else was arriving.

The steps were slow. Deliberate. And far too cheerful for the occasion.

Alyssara Velcroix entered like someone arriving fashionably late to a scene they’d choreographed from the beginning.

Bubblegum-pink hair. Eyes like frozen cyan fire. A smile that didn’t quite reach either.

The four girls noticed her instantly—and turned, like a pack of wolves suddenly catching the scent of something both wounded and unwelcome. The air crackled. Mana coiled. Rachel’s fingers clenched tighter around Arthur.

Alyssara ignored all of it.

She walked to Arthur’s side as if none of them existed, knelt beside him, and gently touched his cheek. Her touch was featherlight, almost reverent. She didn’t acknowledge Rachel’s arm wrapped around him. Didn’t even glance at it.

"So close," she whispered, smiling faintly. "But not yet. It wasn’t time."

Rachel’s sapphire eyes flared gold at the edges. A quiet warning that screamed do not.

"Get your hands off him," she said. Calm. Measured. Lethal.

Alyssara tilted her head. "Or what?"

She didn’t wait for an answer. Her eyes drifted across the others—Seraphina, Rose, Cecilia. Weighing. Measuring. The fingers on her left hand twitched once. A single motion.

Kill them, a thought that didn’t need to be said. Her power hummed just beneath her skin, aching to be released.

But then her eyes returned to Arthur.

And they softened.

Not now.

Arthur Nightingale was still too weak. Even with all that fury and brilliance. Even with the Lich’s Gift and his precious swordplay and those pitiful emotions dragging him in every direction—he was still just an ant.

A useful ant. A special one. But an ant nonetheless.

She leaned in, brushing Rachel’s grip aside like it was a curtain in her way.

And she kissed him.

It was brief. But real.

The reaction was instant.

Rachel shoved her off with more mana than muscle, pure instinct and boiling wrath. Alyssara staggered back a step, unfazed, licking her lips like she’d just sampled something intriguing. She stretched her arms above her head, back arching with feline indifference.

"I’ve stabilized his body," she said casually. "And I’ll hide this incident from Lord Daedric."

"Why?" Rose asked, voice sharp with suspicion and disgust.

Alyssara rolled her shoulders. "Because I do as I wish."

There was no pride in her voice. No drama. Just fact. Cold, quiet fact.

She turned to leave, not bothering with goodbyes.

Because in a world full of chains and rules and consequences, Alyssara Velcroix walked alone.

And that, perhaps, made her the most dangerous one in the room.

_________________________________________

Alyssara glided into her room, her face unreadable, every step a calculated ripple on still water. She paused briefly, her lips curving into a fleeting smile before vanishing into her usual impassivity.

"Alyssara," a low, commanding voice called from the shadows. Cassius stepped forward, his crimson eyes gleaming as they locked onto hers.

"Your Highness," she replied smoothly, tilting her head ever so slightly. "What brings you to my quarters?"

Cassius hesitated, momentarily caught in her gaze. It was a look he had chased for years, one that always seemed to evade him, slipping through his grasp like smoke.

"I came to find you," he finally said, his voice quieter than he intended. "What were you doing?" fгeewebnovёl.com

"Nothing that concerns Your Highness," Alyssara replied lightly, her tone as elusive as her smile. "What is it you seek from me?"

His jaw tightened, his frustration simmering beneath the surface. Her words were polite, deferential even, yet they carried the weight of a chasm he could never bridge.

"You know what I want, Alyssara," he said, stepping closer, his voice thick with frustration. "Must you always deny me?"

Her eyes flickered, the barest hint of amusement in their cyan-green depths. "The only one capable of commanding me is His Majesty," she said, her tone light yet final.

"I am the future Vampire Monarch!" Cassius snapped, his voice rising with a mixture of anger and desperation. "Can you not love me?"

Alyssara’s lips twitched, a soft giggle escaping as she regarded him. "Your Highness," she said, her voice low and lilting, "you do not want my love."

Her steps were deliberate, closing the distance between them with the grace of a predator circling its prey. Cassius’s breath hitched as she drew closer, her presence an intoxicating force that threatened to drown him.

"My love," she whispered, her breath a feather against his ear, "is far too dangerous for you."

Cassius trembled, his body rigid with a mix of desire and fear. He wanted to move, to seize her and claim the connection he craved, but he couldn’t. Her words were chains, her presence a snare. The air seemed heavier, charged with an unspoken challenge.

He breathed deeply, his chest heaving as she leaned even closer, her proximity a deliberate provocation. Cassius felt powerless, bound not by force but by the sheer weight of her being.

Alyssara stepped back, her gaze cool and untouched. "If Your Highness truly desires something dangerous," she said, her voice dripping with mockery, "then perhaps you should reconsider what you’re asking for."

Cassius said nothing, his crimson eyes narrowing as she turned away, dismissing him as easily as one might swat a fly. The door closed softly behind him, leaving Alyssara alone once more. Her fleeting smile returned, curling at the edges of her lips as she whispered to herself, "How amusing."