The sounds were visceral and horrifying, wet tearing and agonized screams filling the bunker.
Most of the guilty died screaming. Bodies littered the floor as Bloom's commanded massacre continued with chanical precision.
Arthur watched coldly as his revenge was dispensed, feeling nothing but satisfaction as those who'd wronged his family paid the ultimate price.
When the slaughter finally ended, the bunker floor was painted red. Bodies, or what remained of them, lay scattered like discarded refuse throughout the chamber.
But several figures remained standing or kneeling, spared from the massacre through Arthur's selective rcy.
**Jas** survived. **Donald** survived. **Raymond** survived.
As for the six A-Class awakeners who'd served under Jas, as well as the two won from Ryker's social circle who'd mocked Arthur during his holessness… they were all dead. Bodies cooling among the carnage.
They all had blood on their hands. None of them were truly innocent. All guilty, all deserving punishnt in varying degrees.
In total, perhaps thirty awakeners remained alive from the original two hundred. The rest lay dead or dying, their screams finally silenced.
Arthur surveyed the survivors with calculating eyes, deciding their ultimate fates.
"Release them, Bloom. I'm not done… just yet."
"Yes, Master."
The psychic control lifted, and consciousness returned to the survivors in a rush. Jas gasped, his eyes clearing before imdiately filling with horror as he registered the carnage surrounding him. His hands were covered in blood, bodies of forr comrades scattered everywhere.
Donald vomited imdiately, his stomach rejecting the reality he found himself in. The bureaucrat who'd orchestrated so much suffering from behind a desk now knelt in the physical manifestation of consequences.
Raymond simply stared with wide, terrified eyes, his guard's training completely useless in this nightmare scenario.
"Now then," Arthur's voice cut through the shocked silence, "you might be wondering… why are we still alive?"
He let the question hang for a mont, watching their desperate faces search for hope.
"Well, because death is the easy way out for you three." Arthur's gaze settled specifically on Raymond, Donald, and Jas. "You don't deserve quick deaths. You deserve sothing far more… morable."
Then he looked at the other awakeners, the ones who'd been identified as unwilling participants forced through circumstance rather than malice.
"You guys are fine. I know you were forced into this. You can leave."
The awakeners who'd been spared stared at Arthur with disbelief before several broke down crying with relief and gratitude.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"We're so sorry for everything! We never wanted—"
"Blessed be the Fate family! Thank you for rcy!"
Arthur ignored their tearful gratitude, his focus remaining fixed on the three figures before him who represented his true targets.
Jas suddenly moved, his broken arm forgotten as survival instinct overrode pain. His remaining functional hand summoned blue flas with desperate intensity, bringing them toward his own head in an attempt at suicide.
Better to die by his own hand than suffer whatever Arthur had planned.
The flas reached inches from his face when suddenly his entire body ceased to move. The fire that was about to incinerate his head stopped, frozen in place as spatial manipulation locked every molecule of Jas's body in position.
"Tsk tsk," Arthur clicked his tongue with dark amusent. "I told you, you're not allowed to die just yet. In fact, even when you do die, I have a special place prepared for you."
Arthur circled the immobilized Jas slowly, like a predator examining caught prey.
"I will make sure you never rest. You picked a fight with the wrong person, Jas. Others might have just killed you and moved on. But ?" Arthur's smile was terrible. "I will kill you, then revive you, then kill you again, then revive you again, until I'm satisfied."
He leaned close to Jas's frozen face. "Maybe a couple thousand years of torture might suffice. I'll let you know in a couple thousand years. As for now? I want to enjoy torturing you with my own hands."
Jas's eyes were the only thing he could move, and they reflected absolute terror at the promise of eternal suffering.
Arthur turned his attention to **Donald**, the bureaucrat who'd been trembling throughout the exchange.
"Donald," Arthur said conversationally, "you were the cause of my pain and my sister's suffering. You were the one who made the initial decision to separate us. To use Charlotte's illness as leverage. Every mont of agony she experienced while I couldn't reach her… that's on you."
Donald's mouth opened and closed soundlessly, trying to form words of apology or explanation that wouldn't co.
"You sat in your comfortable office and made decisions about our lives like we were chess pieces. Well, congratulations. You've finally left your desk. How does the real world feel?"
Next, Arthur's cold gaze settled on **Raymond**.
"Raymond. Just a guard in the dormitory, right? Just following orders?"
Raymond nodded desperately, hope flickering that maybe Arthur would see him as a minor participant.
"Except you weren't just a guard," Arthur continued, his voice hardening. "You snitched on multiple tis. Reported everything I did to your superiors. And Bloom's mory search revealed sothing particularly disgusting."
Arthur's expression twisted with revulsion. "You watched through the caras when I was in my dorm room. Not for security purposes. Just… watched. Like so creep getting entertainnt from observing a prisoner. That's beyond following orders, Raymond. That's personal violation."
Raymond's face went pale as his hidden perversions were exposed publicly.
Finally, Arthur returned his focus to Jas, and his expression shifted to sothing even colder.
"But you, Jas… you're special. Want to know what Bloom found in your mories?"
Jas's frozen eyes widened with terror.
"You're **Director Hawthorne's son**. Sothing nobody else knew about. Your father kept it secret to avoid accusations of nepotism, but you've been his inside operative the entire ti."
Arthur's voice carried betrayal beneath the rage. "You acted all nice. Tried to get close to , played the role of reluctant soldier just following orders. I thought you were just brainwashed by the system. But it seems you were the brainwasher all along."
He grabbed Jas's face roughly, forcing the immobilized man to et his eyes.
"You knew everything that was happening. Every decision your father made about how to exploit Charlotte's illness. Every manipulation tactic. Every contingency plan. And you volunteered to be my handler, my 'friend,' gathering intelligence while pretending to sympathize."
Arthur's grip tightened. "You bastard. You were acting all nice, but you were a snake the entire ti. Playing for a fool while your father pulled the strings."
Jas couldn't defend himself. Couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Could only stare in fear as Arthur's rage finally found its true target.
Arthur's smile promised horrors beyond imagination.
"You're going to experience pain that makes Ryker's death look rciful. And then I'm going to resurrect you as my servant, just like I did with the President. Except unlike him, who gets to maintain his position and dignity, you're going to spend eternity as my personal punching bag. Every ti I feel stressed, every ti I need to vent frustration… I'll kill you again. And again. And again."
He released Jas's face and stepped back.
"Welco to immortality, Jas . I hope it's everything you never wanted."
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