Brute 289

Chapter 289 

Atasha’s POV 

I did not have time to think about the wall behind me. 

The Shadow screamed. 

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It was not the mocking laugh he had used before. It was raw and furious, ripped out of Rio’s throat as if something inside him had been struck where it did not expect to be touched. 

I turned. 

Cassian’s sword had gone through Rio’s abdomen. 

The blade jutted out from his back, buried to the hilt, steel sunk deep enough that even I felt the force of the impact in my >wn gut. Blood poured around the entry wound, dark and thick, soaking Rio’s shirt, sliding down over Cassian’s gauntlet. 

For a second, even the Shadow looked stunned. 

His red eyes dropped to the blade piercing him. His mouth parted. 

‘Beast,” he spat, disbelief cutting through the word. 

Cassian did not pull back. He drove the sword in harder. 

The Shadow’s expression twisted. Then he lunged backward with violent force, ripping himself off the blade. Flesh tore 

round the steel as he withdrew, and the sword came free with a wet sound that made my stomach tighten. Blood splattered cross the stone. 

He landed several steps away, one hand clamped over the wound. 

t was already closing. Seeing this, my eyes widened. 

The torn flesh pulled together beneath his fingers. Bone shifted back into place. The hole sealed with the same unnatural peed my own body used, but his healing looked wrong, as if something inside Rio’s frame was stretching beyond its limits. o keep up. 

He lifted his head slowly and glared at Cassian. 

How dare a filthy beast attack me?” he demanded, voice vibrating with rage. “You dare lay steel on your creator?” 

Cassian did not answer. 

de lunged again. 

The distance between them vanished in a breath. His sword cut toward Rio’s neck, then shifted mid–are for the shoulder when the Shadow twisted aside. Steel flashed in the tight space, forcing Rio to give ground. 

Rio snorted as if amused, then without warning he pivoted and slammed his fist into the cave wall behind him.. 

The impact shook the chamber. 

Stone cracked outward from the point of contact, thin fractures racing across the surface like veins. Dust fell from the :eiling in a thick sheet, and the ground shuddered under my boots. 

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Chapter 289 

Panic surged through me. 

“Stop him!” I shouted. 

I did not know how I knew, but I knew. 

He was not trying to escape. 

He was trying to reach something. 

“Stop him!” I screamed again. “No. Stop him!” 

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King Xylas moved at once. He stepped between Rio and the wall and slashed for his arm, forcing the Shadow to withdraw before he could strike again. 

Cassian closed in from the other side, sword angling for Rio’s ribs. 

The Shadow shifted his attention in an instant. 

He did not block. 

He vanished from between them and came straight for me. 

His speed was unnatural. One moment he was in front of the King, the next he was a blur crossing the chamber, dagger raised for my throat. 

Cassian intercepted him mid–stride. 

Steel met steel inches from my face. Cassian planted himself between us, sword braced to absorb the downward stab. The force of it drove him back half a step, boots grinding against stone, but he held. 

The Shadow’s lip curled. 

That single heartbeat was enough. 

He twisted away from Cassian’s blade and pivoted toward the wall again, fist drawing back to strike. 

King Xylas was already there. 

The King slashed across Rio’s side, not deep enough to kill, but enough to turn his body and break his momentum. Blood sprayed again, and the Shadow snarled. 

Cassian glanced back at me. 

“Are you injured?” he asked without looking away from Rio. 

“I am fine,” I said, forcing my voice steady. “Stop him from breaking the wall.” 

Cassian nodded once and attacked again. 

This time Rio did not retreat. 

He stepped into the assault. 

The dagger flashed low, not at Cassian but at the King. 

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Chapter 289 

I saw the movement too late. 

The blade drove straight into King Xylas’s chest. 

It sank deep. 

The sound that left my throat did not feel human. 

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The King’s body jerked as the dagger buried between his ribs. Blood spilled instantly, dark and heavy, soaking his armor as the Shadow leaned close, eyes blazing. 

“Filthy mutts,” he snarled. “Do you think you can defeat me? Your creator?” 

He kicked. 

The King’s body flew backward and hit the wall hard enough that stone cracked behind him. He slid down, leaving a smear of blood in his wake. 

Cassian roared and attacked. 

He did not hesitate. His sword came down in a brutal arc aimed to cleave Rio from shoulder to hip. The Shadow barely avoided it, twisting aside, dagger slashing for Cassian’s exposed flank. 

Steel rang again and again as they traded strikes in rapid succession. Cassian pressed forward with relentless force, driving Rio across the chamber and away from the King’s fallen form. 

I ran. 

I dropped to my knees beside King Xylas. 

Blood was pouring from his chest, pooling beneath him. His breathing came shallow and uneven, his eyes unfocused for a second before finding mine. 

“Stay still,” I ordered. 

I pressed both hands over the wound. 

Heat exploded through my palms. 

The damage was severe. The dagger had pierced deep, tearing through muscle and likely grazing his lung. Blood filled the cavity, and his pulse was weakening. I knew then that the Shadow truly aimed to kill Xylas. 

So, I pushed harder. 

The healing surged from me in a wave that made my vision blur. Bone shifted back into alignment. Torn muscles pulled together under my hands. The bleeding slowed, then slowed again. 

Behind me, steel clashed violently. 

The Shadow moved with increasing aggression now. He drove Cassian backward toward the center of the chamber, each strike aimed to maim rather than kill outright, testing, calculating. 

Then a loud boom echoed through the space. 

The ground shook. 

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Chapter 289 

I looked up. 

The wall behind where Rio had first struck it was splitting. 

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Cracks widened from the earlier impact, spreading outward in jagged lines. Stone fractured with a grinding sound that vibrated through the floor. Dust poured from the ceiling, small rocks began to fall around us. 

Cassian slashed for Rio’s throat. 

The Shadow ducked and seized Cassian by the front of his armor. 

He lifted him. 

The strength behind the motion did not belong to a human frame. 

With a violent twist, he hurled Cassian across the chamber. 

Cassian’s body smashed into the weakened wall. 

The stone did not hold. 

It exploded outward in a thunderous crash. 

Rock burst apart under the impact, fragments flying in all directions as the entire section of wall gave way. Cassian. disappeared through it as if he had been thrown into open air. 

Cold wind rushed in through the new opening. 

Not wind from outside. 

Wind from below. 

The chamber shook harder now, not just from the fractures but from something deeper. The floor trembled under my knees. A low vibration rose from beneath the stone, like something vast shifting in its sleep. 

The Shadow turned toward the broken wall. 

His grin returned. 

The opening Cassian had created was not a simple breach into another corridor. 

Beyond it was darkness that moved. 

The air that spilled through carried that same suffocating pressure that had pressed against my lungs earlier. 

The source, 

The thing behind the wall. 

It was no longer sealed behind stone. 

It was exposed. 

And the Shadow stepped toward it with a smile on his face. 

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