Trapped In Elysium: A Virtual Reality Nightmare-Chapter 186: There’s no turning back

Their blades clashed again, but this time, the weight of the blow nearly brought Liam to his knees.

His arms shook violently under the force of it, his wrists crying out in pain as he strained to hold his sword upright. The king’s strength was otherworldly, his blows landing like thunder, each one threatening to split Liam in two. His dark, ancient blade—no longer ornamental but pulsing with an eerie, jagged aura—rained down with relentless power. Every strike the king made sounded like cracking bones and breaking stone.

Liam gritted his teeth and rolled aside, gasping, sweat stinging his eyes. He raised his sword just in time to parry a downward slash aimed at his head, the impact sending him sprawling onto the cold ground. He tumbled backwards, shoulder grinding against rough stone before he came to a breathless halt against a ruined column.

His chest rose and fell in shallow bursts. His fingers ached. His whole body screamed.

The king approached slowly, his footsteps echoing like war drums. His towering form loomed, backlit by the swirling energies of the broken altar. His once-regal cloak trailed behind him, now torn and smeared with blood. But his face—his face was calm, almost amused.

"You’re fighting well," the king said, stopping just out of range. "Better than anyone who’s stood in this chamber before."

Liam spat blood onto the floor and climbed shakily to his feet.

"I’m not trying to impress you."

The king chuckled. "You already have."

He raised his sword again.

"But you’re still flesh. Still breakable."

Then he surged forward.

Liam barely raised his blade in time. The strike came like lightning—fast, precise. It slammed against his sword with such force that Liam’s knees buckled. He stumbled backward again, then again, each hit forcing him to retreat. The king didn’t even appear winded.

Liam’s body, however, was failing him. His muscles burned. His shoulders were raw. Every breath rattled inside his lungs like broken glass.

One strike finally got through.

The king’s blade swept low and caught Liam’s thigh. A deep gash tore open and Liam cried out, nearly collapsing as blood poured down his leg. He fell to one knee, breath ragged, sword dragging beside him.

The king stopped, standing over him, the blade hovering just inches from Liam’s throat.

"This," the king said softly, "is why you cannot win."

Liam’s hand trembled on the hilt of his sword.

Anna’s voice echoed inside him—urgently, desperately.

You have to move. He’s not done yet. Liam—

But Liam couldn’t. His body refused. His fingers clenched harder, but the strength just wasn’t there.

The king knelt in front of him now, eyes locked with his.

"You have heart," he said. "But I have eternity."

He leaned closer.

"You can’t protect her. You can’t protect anyone."

His eyes flicked briefly toward the queen’s body, crumpled against the pillar, unmoving.

"You can’t even protect yourself."

Liam’s jaw clenched.

He wanted to strike. Wanted to scream.

But his arm wouldn’t rise.

Then the king smiled.

It was cold. Final.

"I’ll make it quick."

He raised his blade—

And Liam closed his eyes.

But the killing blow didn’t come. Not yet.

Because the king hesitated.

Something flickered in the air behind Liam. Something... subtle.

He felt it.

So did the king.

That presence again. That wrongness.

The king’s head tilted slightly, like a hound catching a scent.

His lips curled.

"...No," he whispered. "It’s still here. That damned essence—it’s still here."

And for the first time, something shifted in his voice.

Not confidence. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Not anger.

But... unease.

He stood back, scanning Liam again—not just the body now, but through him.

He could feel Anna still. Still clinging. Still resisting.

She hadn’t given up.

And neither had Liam.

His grip tightened.

Even if his body was failing—his soul wasn’t done yet.

He lifted his eyes, breathing hard.

Blood ran down his chin, down his leg, soaking the floor beneath him.

But still, he stared up at the king.

Defiant.

Refusing to fall.

The king’s expression hardened.

This wasn’t over.

Not yet.

Liam’s breath came in ragged gasps as he pressed his hand to his wounded thigh, the blood hot and steady between his fingers. His vision blurred, but he kept his gaze locked on the king—looming just a few feet away, sword still raised, radiating that suffocating pressure like a god carved from shadow.

He wanted to rise.

His fingers itched to swing his blade again, even if it meant falling for good. But his body... his body had limits. And he was nearing them.

Then, softly—within the storm of pain and fatigue—he heard her.

Anna.

Her voice slid through his mind like a thread of cold silk.

"Liam."

He didn’t respond aloud. He couldn’t. But his heart answered her.

"You’re bleeding out," she whispered. "You won’t last another minute like this."

I know, he thought, barely able to form the words in his mind.

There was a pause. And then her voice returned, quieter now. Not afraid. But heavy with meaning.

"I didn’t want to do this."

The air around him seemed to tighten. Something ancient stirred just beneath his skin.

"But I have to," she continued. "We won’t survive if I don’t."

Liam blinked slowly, struggling to understand.

Do what?

There was a silence. And then, with solemn finality, she said it:

"I have to fully invoke my power."

Liam’s breath hitched. He could already feel her energy coiled inside him—light as mist until now, barely brushing the edges of his soul. But what she was speaking of... this was no mere whisper. This was something deeper. Heavier.

"My power from the underworld," she said, voice now tinged with something colder—graver. "The part of me that doesn’t belong in this realm anymore."

The very idea made his blood go still.

"It will feel like dying, Liam. Your bones will feel like they’re breaking. Your veins will burn. And your heart will want to stop."

He swallowed hard, feeling his grip tremble slightly on the hilt of his sword.

But Anna wasn’t finished.

"This power is not meant to live inside the body of the living," she said. "But I will protect you from the worst of it. Just long enough to give us a chance."

The world around him slowed—the king’s gaze narrowing, sensing the shift, his lips twitching in anticipation or confusion.

But Liam wasn’t looking at the king anymore.

His eyes dropped, his head bowed slightly as Anna’s voice whispered once more into the corners of his soul.

"I’m sorry, Liam. But it’s the only way. Brace yourself. Because once I start..."

She hesitated just for a heartbeat.

"...there’s no turning back."