The Villain Alpha's Cursed Mate-Chapter 278: No One Can Run

The gray wolf circled Karnath in a slow, deliberate arc, each step heavy with unspoken threat. Its hackles were raised, fangs bared, breath steaming in the cold air. Karnath only chuckled, sounding low, disbelieving and almost amused.

"A wolf," he drawled, "Is that how it is?"

He tilted his head, eyes narrowing with bored cruelty.

"You really think you can win against me? The pillar?" His smile thinned into something razor-sharp. "Now you're really starting to piss me off. I've changed my mind. Challenge accepted."

Cora instinctively stepped back as the demon's body began to contort. Bones cracked, followed by the wet grind of muscles reshaping. His limbs elongated, his spine arched, and shadows poured from his skin like black smoke. Within a moment, a massive black wolf crouched where Karnath had stood, its form dripping with dark mist.

He snarled as his eyes gleamed with violent malice, sounding deep, guttural and loud enough to rattle trees. But Leonardo didn't flinch.

His molten-gold eyes stayed fixed on Karnath, calm and unreadable, even as the ground trembled beneath the demon's weight.

Cora's gaze darted between the two wolves, and her heart pounded in her chest.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Leo," Cora whispered, already fearing for his life.

The wolves lunged, colliding with a thunderous impact. Teeth flashed. Claws raked. But as the battle intensified, Cora spun around upon sensing a moment behind her, and it was Mira.

The air around the witch was pulling inward violently, spiraling into a glowing vortex cupped between her palms. Her vicious eyes were set on Leonardo as she was ready to hurl the glowing vortex straight at his exposed flank.

"No–!" Cora launched herself forward.

She slammed into Mira before the spell could be released, sending both of them crashing into the dirt. The vortex flickered and collapsed, scattering sparks into the air. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"What are you doing?!" Mira shrieked, trying to shove her off. "Get off me!"

"Weren't you eager to fight?" Cora uttered, wrestling her down and forcing Mira's wrist apart to stop another spell from forming. "You're coming with us whether you like it or not. Tell us now, what you did all those years ago! The true bearer came to you and your accomplices for help, didn't he?! He came to seek solutions for his illness, right? So why did you turn him into a demon? Why did you do all of these and ruin so many lives?! Huh?!"

Mira abruptly stopped resisting.

Then she laughed, a sharp, bitter, hysterical laughter that made the back of Cora's neck prickle. She looked up at Cora as if staring at someone genuinely stupid.

"Is that the story he fed you?" She taunted. Did you really think I turned him into that without his knowledge?!"

"What do you mean?"

"How can I explain magic to someone who doesn't even understand the basics, let alone the complexities?" Mira spat, her eyes blazing. "What do you know about magic to question me?"

She laughed again, louder this time, almost delighted by Cora's confusion.

"Oh, Alucard," she crooned mockingly, turning her head as if addressing an invisible audience. "You're playing your cards so well. Deceiving these people for so long…"

Her gaze slid back to Cora - cold and pitiless. "He was very aware he would become a demon. He knew the price. He knew the sacrifices. He agreed to all of it willingly." Mira's lips curled into a cruel smirk. "It's not my fault you werewolves are so heartless. Take your friend and get out of here, cause I am not going anywhere with you, do you understand? If I wanted to kill you, do you really think I would have healed your sprained foot?"

The words hit Cora like a physical blow.

"Even if there was a chance," Mira continued, her voice shifting into something hollow. "It's too late now. The true bearer is unstoppable. There's nothing left for me to do. Do you see that?"

She flicked her gaze towards the tree standing a short distance away, its bark etched with ancient symbols, then at the figures hanging on the branches.

"My sisters had a premonition," Mira murmured. "Then I had it too. We created that tree because of what we saw. There is no one after Donovan. We never understood why it ended there, because the curse was meant to spread until it was broken… unless, the curse really does get broken. That is why the true bearer is after Donovan, to make him submit. I've never met anyone on that tree before, the faces of these people… yet one single mistake has linked us to their lineage."

She looked at Cora. "But then we twisted the fate of these signs. It'll all be over. You cannot kill Donovan."

She laughed. "So perish together."

Cora's breath caught.

Twisted the fate?

What did she mean by that?

Meanwhile, the clash between Leonardo and Karnath intensified.

"Where are your sisters?" Cora asked, catching the bitterness that seemed to mask something deeper in Mira's eyes. "I see, the true bearer got rid of them to silence you, didn't he?"

Mira's body went rigid.

"Shut up!" she screamed, the denial too immediate, too desperate. Her face twisted, fury and grief interwoven so tightly they were indistinguishable. "You know nothing!"

Before Cora could react, a pulse of dark magic exploded from Mira's chest.

Cora was thrown back as if struck by a charging beast, crashing onto the dirt several feet away. The force rattled her bones, and visions blurred, ringing filling her ears. By the time she blinked the haze away, Mira had already risen to her feet.

Her hair drifted weightlessly, as if lifted by a wind that wasn't there.

"They died because of their own foolishness," she hissed, her voice layered. "After everything we've been through, after even our own home tried to execute us, they wanted to reveal everything."

Cora scrambled to her feet, but Mira had already raised her hand.

Shadows surged.

A spear of dark magic shit toward Cora, and she rolled aside as it pierced the ground where she'd been. The ground sizzled as if burned by acid.

Mira staggered a little, panting, her expression twisting with pain and fury.

"Karnath," she called, shifting her attention to the shadow wolf. "What is happening?"

Leonardo, who seemed disoriented at first, tried to lunge once more when Karnath shifted back to human, narrowly escaping the gray wolf's gnashing teeth.

He looked at Mira who was still panting, and said, "My mission here is done."

He smiled.

Mira stared at him in disbelief. "What… do you mean? You were sent here to protect me! This isn't funny!"

"Not quite," he grinned. "I was only stalling for more time."

He tilted his head to savor her reaction. "Guess who runs this place now." He tapped his temple. "My master knew that to seize your dimension, he needed time. Your time. Your attention. Your focus. All he had to do was keep your mind occupied long enough so you wouldn't notice him slipping in through the cracks."

His grin stretched wider, monstrous in its delight as the ground trembled, making Mira and everyone else stumble back. "You were so desperate to hold onto your illusions, you didn't notice the foundation rotting out from under you."

The gray sky began shift into a bloody red, as though the sky were bleeding.

"Now no one can run."