The battle inside the dome was still getting hotter with each passing moment, but the feral chaos on the outside finally began to die down.
Unlike Ashton's summons, Anna was forgiving towards the undead and allowed those who surrendered to live. While she took a break, the Inhumans and the Metahumans were busy restraining them.
At first, Alina and her team wanted nothing more than to rip and torture the undead endlessly. But Viper put them in their place. In Ashton's absence, Anna was their leader. Thus, her commands were absolute and were to be followed to the T.
That said, Ashton had instructed them to kill anyone who stepped out of the dome, and Viper did not want to upset Ashton or Anna. As such, he decided to clear things up before making a mistake.
"We did as you told, lady Anna. But I'm afraid the lord would've wanted them dead," Viper asked her while wiping off the bloodstain on his face, "Should we-"
Before Viper could continue, Anna raised a finger, gesturing for him to wait. Standing next to a pile of corpses, she summoned a flame spirit to rid of the corpse before they spread some disease.
If it had been a living race, Anna would have absorbed their life force to get stronger instead of burning them. Unfortunately, the undead and vampires were useless to her in those terms.
"You were saying?" Anna calmly inquired.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtHer beauty was amplified even more in the red hue of the cackling flames. Countless admirers kept gazing in her direction. Even the undead couldn't help but feel their long-lost desire for love resurface again. Even on their death bed, their dormant primal need had been awakened.
"I'm afraid Ashton's vision has been clouded by revenge," Anna replied, "If we want to take over Nirvana, we would need undead on our side. At least a few of them. Do you think the undead would allow us to rule over them peacefully after mercilessly slaughtering their family?"
Viper nodded. If the lord desired to rebuild the rotten city under his image, he would need support from the undead, and whether he was happy with it or not was an entirely different matter.
"As for Ashton, don't worry. I'll reason with him."
***
"P-Please! Just hear me out once!" The President begged with pleading eyes.
However, Ashton's eyes didn't have a tinge of mercy in them. The undead had no dependence on air, but since they were fighting inside the dome, they often gasped to consume the corpsification gas.
The President was doing the same thing. However, his ragged breathing style wasn't helpful in the least. On top of that, he wasn't in good shape physically.
His left arm and right eye had been torn away by Ashton as some sadistic torture. At the same time, his legs had been shattered to pieces, with shards of bone rupturing through the skin.
The President begged and pleaded. Screaming that he couldn't feel any pain, hoping it would deter Ashton's onslaught. But it seemed the predator did not care whether his prey could feel pain or not. He was solely messing him up for the sake of it.
Ashton's behaviour scared the President even more. He slowly turned around to witness the everlasting nothingness behind him. Roughly a minute ago, a military base existed there, but now only its ruins remained.
With a swing of his arm, dark clouds emerged out of nowhere. First, everyone thought it was some advanced corpsification gas form. But their expressions turned sour when the clouds rained hellfire over the military base.
People rushed inside the building, hoping it would shelter them from the disastrous downpour. But nothing and no one was safe under the [Scorching Rain]. The building itself fell apart, and not even the underground base remained untouched by the calamity.
However, Ashton saved the President from dying. The undead was confused at first. But now he realised why the enemy saved him from a quick death.
Despite not ending the President's miserable life, Ashton ensured the bastard learned the full extent of his strength. To feel the despair, he felt after having to kill his father.
"1,231,117, that's how many people you killed in your lust for power and prosperity." Ashton coldly whispered, "That's also how many time's I'll kill you before 'killing' you."
"No... NO... PLEASE!" The President begged again, but all his pleading fell on dead ears.
Even though he didn't know what Ashton meant, from what the President had seen so far, it couldn't have been anything remotely pleasant.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAshton chuckled. Seeing an undead being afraid of death was quite amusing. But the President wasn't going to remain undead for long.
For once, Ashton wanted to toy with him more, but Astaroth intervened again.
[End it now, Ashton. You can kill him as many times as you want later.]
Ashton quietly nodded. The entire situation was getting a bit too sadistic, even to his taste. Without any further delay, he summoned Raphael.
Initially, he wanted to subject the President to the same punishment as Phantom. However, he decided against it at that moment. The bastard deserved to die by his hands, slowly and painfully.
'Raphael can manipulate time in his domain, right?' Ashton asked Astaroth.
[Affirmitive.]
"Good," he mumbled before sealing the President inside the domain.
"What is... this place..." The President grumbled absentmindedly.
But instead of replying, Ashton removed a phial from his inventory and forced its content down the captive's throat. The President tried his best to resist but suddenly became entangled with black restraints, wasting his efforts.
Coming to terms with his final moments, the President shot a dirty look of defiance towards Ashton, who promptly slapped him. At that moment, he felt pain in his cheek, where Ashton slapped him.
It was then a sickly realisation dawned upon the 'undead'. The vial he was forced to consume... it was the 'cure'. At that moment, the undead leader lost his identity and slowly transformed into a 'primitive' being, as he used to call humans.
The President stared at Ashton in horror and disbelief, who smiled at him and said, "Welcome to the world of the living."