Chapter 235: Rage
"AAARRRHH!!!"
Daniel's scream tore out of him without restraint. It ripped through the battlefield and cut across the endless clash of steel and Ether, carrying a heavy weight that forced itself into the awareness of everyone within earshot, even those fully engaged in life-and-death struggles.
The sound continued to rise and break again and again, fueled by grief and twisting far more violently as his shoulders trembled and his body remained rooted in place for that suffocating moment.
He knelt in the spreading pool of blood. His voice echoed uncontrollably, until even the fighters locked in combat began to falter as confusion.
That scream didn't belong to someone still fighting to survive. It belonged to someone who had already lost something that could never be taken back.
The sound lingered before it finally broke apart. Leaving behind an unnatural silence, before Daniel moved.
He pushed himself up in one sharp motion. His body rose with sudden force as his hands tightened around his daggers until his knuckles turned pale.
His breathing uneven in harsh bursts of air as he lowered his head slightly before lifting his gaze again.
His eyes moved across the battlefield with a focus that had changed completely. He looked with grief but it no longer held him in place. It burned beneath the surface and hardened into colder and far more dangerous conditions that demanded release.
His teeth clenched as that emotion settled fully into his control.
Then he moved.
Daniel surged forward with terrifying speed. His body shot through the battlefield without hesitation as he locked onto the nearest figure he identified as one of Red's forces.
His daggers flashed in a clean and precise motion, slicing across the man's throat before any reaction could form.
Blood sprayed outward as the body collapsed. But Daniel didn't slow or even look at what he had done. He had already shifted his focus, moving again, and searching for the next target.
Enemy after enemy died under his blades. Each killing flowing seamlessly into the next as he carved a path through the battlefield with relentless intent.
His breathing grew harsher with every step. The scream that followed it rose again, no longer carrying grief alone but far more unstable emotions.
"AARRRGHHHH!!!"
The scream tore out of him once more as his daggers moved again and again, cutting through flesh without pause.
There was no hesitation left in him. No restraint holding him back. Only the singular purpose that drove his body forward as pain sharpened his attack and loss fueled his motion.
He didn't care about positioning anymore. He didn't care about risk. He only cared about killing.
On the other side of the battlefield, George froze for a moment as that roar reached him. His head snapping toward the source as his grip tightened instinctively around his hammer while confusion surfaced across his face.
Not far from him, Kade, Victor, Ethan, and Samantha reacted in the same way. Their movements slowed as their attention moved toward the violent figure cutting through the battlefield with mad aggression.
They didn't need to speak to understand that something had changed. Daniel's movements were different. He looks more reckless and far more brutal than before.
A silent realization began to form between them as their eyes moved quickly across the battlefield, searching instinctively for someone that should have been there.
But Clara was nowhere to be seen.
That absence struck hard, settling into their minds with growing certainty as their expressions tightened under the weight of that realization.
Something had happened to her. Something bad enough to push Daniel into this state.
Meanwhile, far from their awareness, Myles remained locked in his battle against Red.
His entire focus was consumed by the overwhelming force in front of him. Right now, every movement demands his full attention.
He didn't hear the scream that echoed across the battlefield. He didn't see Daniel's rampage, and he didn't realize that everything around him had already begun to fall apart.
George's grip tightened around his hammer as the echo of Daniel's scream settled deep into his chest.
His teeth clenched hard.
Samantha was gone.
The realization didn't arrive all at once. It crept in, slow and suffocating, until it settled fully in his mind with a crushing certainty that made his chest tighten painfully.
He didn't see her fall. He didn't hear her scream. But the absence was enough. In a battlefield like this, her absence only meant one thing.
A sharp breath escaped him as something twisted violently inside his chest.
Pain surged upward, mixing with the chaos around him until it became something else entirely.
His fingers tightened around the handle of his hammer as his arms tensed. The weapon trembled slightly under the force he unconsciously applied.
"Fuck!"
The word slipped out low and strained as he lowered his head for a moment. Then he lifted it again.
The pain didn't disappear. It burned just like Daniel.
Peter's next attack came in fast, his sword cutting toward George's side as he tried to press the advantage he thought he had.
But the moment their weapons collided again, the difference became instantly clear. The impact rang out louder than before as George met the strike. His strength surging with far greater force than anything he had shown earlier.
Peter's eyes widened slightly.
George didn't give him time to react.
He stepped forward immediately, his hammer swinging again with brutal momentum as he forced Peter back.
The pressure increased with every strike. Each attack heavier than the last, each impact driving Peter further off balance as the ground beneath his feet cracked under the force.
"What the hell—?!" Peter shouted, shock breaking through his voice as he struggled to hold his defense together.
George didn't answer.
His expression hardened. His eyes locked onto Peter with a cold intensity that hadn't been there before. The grief remained buried beneath it and now it fueled every movement he made.
Swing after swing came. One of them pushed harder, faster, more relentless than the last until Peter's footing finally broke.
His body staggered backward before he lost balance completely and fell hard onto the ground.
He barely had time to look up.
George was already there.
The hammer rose high above his head, held firmly in both hands as his muscles tensed with overwhelming force.
For a split second, Peter's expression froze in shock, unable to process the sudden shift in the fight.
Then the hammer came down.
It smashed into his head with devastating force.
The impact crushed through bone instantly. Blood and fragments scattered across the ground.
The force drove his body deeper into the dirt, leaving nothing behind but his broken and lifeless form.
George remained there for a moment, his chest rising and falling heavily as his grip on the hammer tightened.
He then starts smashing the enemies around him.
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