Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons-Chapter 597: Justice Slowly Being Served

The beasts worked, starting with extremities, ensuring maximum pain while keeping Ryker alive through supernatural means Arthur had commanded.

The sounds were horrific, wet, tearing, bone-crunching, Ryker's agonised attempts at screaming through his ruined throat. His body jerked and convulsed as teeth found nerve clusters, as claws peeled away layers of flesh, as his consciousness was kept forcibly aware through magical intervention.

Charlotte had to look away, her stomach churning despite her resolve. This was beyond anything she'd imagined, but she stayed silent, stayed present, kept her promise to stand beside Arthur. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The other awakeners watched in absolute horror, many losing consciousness simply from witnessing Ryker's torture. Those who remained awake understood that this was their fate if they failed to satisfy Arthur's vengeance.

They couldn't even think of attacking him. They had failed to even leave a scrach on his armour, how could they attack a person like that? That was just asking to die faster...or worse, die slower.

James watched with pale face and shaking hands, his mind recognising this as psychological warfare as much as revenge.

Ryker's suffering lasted far longer than any natural death would allow. Arthur's summoned beasts, under his explicit commands, kept him alive and conscious.

Finally, after what felt like hours but was perhaps only minutes, Ryker Fate's broken body stopped moving. His eyes stared sightlessly at nothing, his death coming as release rather than punishment.

The beasts withdrew, leaving behind remains that would haunt the nightmares of everyone who'd witnessed it.

Arthur looked down at what was left of his cousin with complete indifference, feeling nothing but cold satisfaction that one account had been settled.

Then he turned toward the remaining awakeners, his expression promising that Ryker's fate was only the beginning.

"Now then, let's discuss what happens to the rest of you."

And everyone present understood they would not be leaving this bunker alive—at least, not as the people they'd been when they entered.

Arthur's hand moved in a summoning gesture, and a familiar presence materialized beside him in a burst of twisted vegetation and malevolent energy.

Bloom, the legendary -rank plant monster whose psychic abilities had broken Lieutenant Adam's mind, appeared with its body swaying with anticipation. The creature's mental pressure alone made several awakeners whimper with instinctive terror.

"Bloom," Arthur commanded coldly, "search through their memories. I want you to let me know which ones were with the government wholeheartedly, with no hesitation about the way they did things, and those that participated willingly in doing evil."

Bloom cackled, the sound like branches scraping against glass, sending shivers through everyone conscious enough to hear it.

"Yes, Master," Bloom responded with obvious relish. "I will find every guilty thought, every willing participation, every moment they chose cruelty."

Golden pollen began releasing from Bloom's flower head, filling the domain with glittering particles that seemed to glow with their own internal light. The pollen spread through the air like fog, drifting toward every awakener present with inexorable purpose.

Arthur allowed the pollen to spread unchecked, his domain not interfering with Bloom's ability in the slightest.

James saw the pollen approaching and understanding crashed through him with terrible clarity. Once his memories were searched, once Bloom catalogued every decision he'd made, every order he'd followed, every moment he'd chosen compliance over morality… he was done for.

He'd been waiting for an opening, searching desperately for any possible escape route. This was it. The last chance. The final desperate gambit.

Since attacking Arthur was impossible, he had no other option.

"ATTACK THE BARRIER!" James roared with desperate authority, his blue flames erupting with renewed intensity despite his broken arm. "ALL OF YOU AT ONCE! IT HAS TO BREAK!"

He channeled everything into a concentrated blast aimed at a single point on the domain's boundary, pouring his entire mana reserve into the attack.

Everyone present, as if presented their last straws of hope, turned their remaining strength toward the same location James had targeted. Lightning, fire, ice, earth, every element converging on one specific point in Arthur's domain barrier.

The combined assault was genuinely impressive, representing the desperate final efforts of nearly two hundred awakeners fighting for survival.

Arthur simply laughed, watching them with dark amusement.

"Futile effort. You will never escape this place."

Most attacked with everything they had. A few didn't, either too injured or too resigned to their fate to waste energy on hopeless resistance.

Their combined attacks struck the domain barrier with explosive force… and accomplished nothing.

Not even a scratch appeared on the boundary of Origin Sanctuary. The combined effort of so many awakeners, including multiple S-Class and dozens of A-Class fighters, had proven completely futile against second-order territorial authority.

The pollen continued drifting closer, unimpeded by their desperate assault.

Awakeners began losing consciousness one by one, their eyes losing light as Bloom's psychic spores took control of their minds. Bodies slumped to the ground, weapons clattering from nerveless fingers, as mental domination overwhelmed their resistance.

James fought it longer than most, his S-Rank willpower and mental fortitude buying him precious seconds. His blue flames flickered desperately as he tried to burn away the pollen affecting his consciousness.

But even he couldn't resist forever. His flames died, his eyes went blank, and James dropped to his knees with vacant expression as Bloom seized control of his mind.

Donald collapsed without much fight, his

mind offering little defense against psychic assault. His body crumpled like a puppet with cut strings.

Raymond lasted a few micro seconds longer than Donald through sheer stubbornness, but he too fell, joining the growing collection of mind-controlled victims.

Within minutes, everyone in the bunker stood or knelt with blank expressions, their consciousness suppressed under Bloom's overwhelming mental domination. No matter how powerful they were, Bloom was now a second-order creature. Even without his own domain, he was still too powerful for these first-order humans to resist.

"Bloom," Arthur commanded with cold satisfaction, "those that supported the government wholeheartedly, that participated in evil willingly… order the others to eat them alive, make sure they feel pain throughout their bodies, just like they felt pleasure when they did evil."

Bloom's cackle echoed through the chamber. "With pleasure, Master."

"Those that didn't participate willingly, those that were forced to obey like I was previously… move them toward us. Separate them from the guilty, as long as they didn't commit any attrocities."

"Yes, Master."

The mind-controlled awakeners began moving with mechanical precision. Those identified as willing participants in Arthur's persecution remained in the center of the chamber. Those identified as unwilling participants, forced through circumstance or coercion rather than malice, shuffled toward Arthur's position with vacant expressions.

Then Bloom's command activated, and horror unfolded.

The unwilling participants, still under psychic control, turned on their former comrades with mindless aggression. Talents activated without conscious thought. Weapons rose and the slaughter began.

Lightning crackled as controlled awakeners turned their powers on the guilty. Fire consumed screaming victims who couldn't defend themselves, their own bodies locked under Bloom's control even as their bodies burned. They could feel everything, but they couldn't do anything to chanfe it. Ice spears impaled through chests. Earth swallowed victims whole, crushing them slowly.

But the worst were the physical attacks. Beasts literally tearing into victims with their claws and teeth, eating them alive as commanded.