Lionel's Empire part 2

Alexander's voice was hoarse, his body barely able to lift itself against the weight of the chains. "Why don't you kill me already?"

Lionel chuckled, stepping closer, his blood-red eyes gleaming with amusement. "Oh, Alexander… You're so persistent." He leaned down slightly, his smirk deepening. "I bet you want to join your family."

Alexander's bloodshot eyes locked onto him, burning with unshaken resolve. "The reason I'm alive is because my family is still alive. You don't want to risk my ability getting out…" His jaw tightened. "Coward."

For the first time, Lionel's smirk wavered. His fingers twitched. A flicker of irritation crossed his expression, but he quickly masked it. Slowly, he exhaled, then grinned again.

"Very clever… very, very clever," he mused, pacing in front of him. "But tell me…" He tilted his head, his voice dripping with mock sympathy. "Why are you so sure… that all of your family is alive?"

Alexander's breath hitched.

Lionel's grin widened as he stepped even closer, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You are correct… But we have some of your family here."

Alexander's fingers curled into fists, his breathing heavy.

Lionel's voice was sickly sweet, laced with cruelty.

"Your wife, son, and daughter."

Alexander's eyes darkened, his body tensing despite the pain.

Lionel leaned in, his expression twisted with pure delight. "What reason do I have to lie?"

His face was flushed, his breath uneven, as if savoring every moment of Alexander's torment. There was no greater pleasure than this—the unraveling of a man's spirit.

"But first… it's time for your meal."

He snapped his fingers.

The door creaked open, and another figure entered—a Demon User, draped in a pristine white chef's uniform, his face hidden behind an eerie, expressionless mask. He carried a silver tray, covered by an ornate lid.

Alexander clenched his jaw. "I'm not hungry."

Lionel chuckled. "Oh, don't worry," he cooed. "I'll eat it for you."

With a flourish, he lifted the lid.

Alexander's breath caught. His stomach twisted. His pupils shrank.

His mind couldn't comprehend what he was looking at.

On the tray, resting atop a bloodied silver platter—

Was Kaori's severed, rotting head.

His daughter.

Her once-bright eyes were frozen in terror, lifeless and hollow. Her delicate face, now pale and decayed, was overrun with writhing worms. The remnants of her hair clung to her skull, matted with dried blood. The stench—putrid, suffocating—clawed at his senses.

Lionel grinned wickedly.

"LOOK AT IT! LOOK AT HER! SUCH A BEAUTIFUL GIRL!" He threw his arms wide, his voice dripping with mock admiration.

Alexander's body trembled violently. His breathing became ragged, uneven. His mind screamed, rejecting the reality in front of him.

But Lionel wasn't finished.

"Oh, but I have a few others," he purred.

Two more trays were placed before him.

Alexander wanted to look away. He wanted to shut his eyes, to will this nightmare away. But he couldn't. His body refused to move.

The lids were lifted.

Ichigo.

His son's severed head lay beside his sister's, his young features twisted in agony, his lifeless gaze frozen in a silent plea. His soft, raven-black hair, just like his father's, was stained crimson.

Then—

His wife.

Her delicate features, once so full of warmth, now a ghastly mockery of the woman he had loved. Her lips were parted slightly, as if whispering a final prayer before death claimed her.

Lionel reached out, gently stroking their cold, lifeless faces with the back of his hand.

"What a loving father," he sighed, rubbing Kaori's severed head against his own cheek. "Such a loving father."

Alexander couldn't breathe.

The walls were closing in.

Lionel's fingers gripped Kaori's chin, twisting her head toward Alexander. His voice took on a high-pitched, mocking tone.

"Why, Daddy? Why did you let this happen to me?"

Something inside Alexander snapped.

A sound ripped from his throat—a raw, guttural, bloodcurdling scream.

Tears streamed down his face, endless, uncontrollable. His body convulsed, shaking so violently that the chains holding him rattled against the stone walls.

"DADDY'S SORRY!" His voice cracked, breaking under the weight of his agony. "DADDY'S SORRY! DADDY'S SORRY! DADDY'S SORRY!!"

His mind spiraled into the past—

To before the raid.

To the promise.

Handerfall had sworn to him.

"We'll get them out first. You have my word."

A lie.

A broken promise.

They never got out.

Alexander's screams echoed through the chamber, drowning in Lionel's laughter.

Lionel smirked as he let the severed heads drop to the cold, bloodstained floor. The sickening thud echoed in the chamber, mixing with the shallow, broken gasps escaping Alexander's lips.

The demi-wolf trembled, his entire body shaking with grief, fury, and despair.

"The reason you're alive and not with them…" Lionel's voice was smooth, taunting, dripping with amusement. "Isn't just because I enjoy torturing you." He chuckled darkly. "I mean, I do, but that's not why."

Alexander's bloodshot eyes snapped up, burning with pure hatred.

Lionel leaned in closer, whispering with cruel delight, "Your son, Markus… is still alive."

Alexander's breathing hitched.

"I need to kill him first," Lionel continued, his claws tapping against his chin in mock thought. "He will… he will…"

Lionel's smirk grew, his fangs glinting under the dim light.

"He will do nothing."

Alexander's vision blurred with rage.

"You see…" Lionel stood back up, stretching his arms lazily. "Mars is going to fall. And soon after, the entire universe."

A sudden shift in the air.

An unnatural chill.

Lionel froze.

The air in the chamber thickened, suffocating, vibrating with something dark, something… ancient.

Then—

A wave of raw, monstrous bloodlust exploded from Alexander.

The alarms blared.

Red emergency lights flickered as warning sirens howled throughout the fortress.

Lionel's smile finally faltered.

"CONTAIN HIM! NOW!" he barked.

But his voice was drowned out.

A scream—no, something beyond a scream—erupted from Alexander's throat. A sound so unearthly, so gut-wrenchingly wrong, that it sent a cold shiver down even Lionel's spine.

The chains rattled violently. The ground beneath them cracked.

Alexander's head lifted.

But it wasn't just him anymore.

His expression twisted, his bloodshot eyes glowing with something inhuman. His entire presence warped, something else pushing through, something buried deep within his blood.

A voice—ancient, unrelenting—rumbled through the chamber, layered over Alexander's own.

"DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE OUR BLOODLINE."

The walls trembled.

Lionel took a half-step back.

"GOOD ALWAYS DESTROYS EVIL."

The fortress groaned, as if the very structure itself feared what was about to happen.

Alexander's lips curled, a haunting snarl tearing through his throat.

"IF NOT MY SON—"

The chains shattered.

"THEN THE FIRST MUTANT WILL SEVER YOUR HEAD."

A monstrous blast of energy erupted from Alexander, engulfing the chamber in raw, unfiltered power.

Lionel took one last glance at the raging force before him, then scoffed, turning on his heel.

How pathetic…

The alarms still blared, the fortress trembling under the sheer force of Alexander's energy, but Lionel walked away unfazed, his coat billowing behind him as he exited the heavily guarded chamber.

His smirk returned, slow and confident, stretching across his face as he stepped into the dimly lit hallway.

Mars will be mine in a matter of weeks.