CHAPTER 182: The Masterless Dog

CHAPTER 182: The Masterless Dog

The basement corridor was half-lit by emergency lights. The smoke from the explosion still hung in the air, and amidst that atmosphere heavy with ashes and silence, Fénix emerged. He walked slowly, the silver bar clutched in his hand, blood streaming down his face and blinding his left eye. His footsteps echoed on the metal floor while Enid, kneeling against the remains of a broken wall, watched him.

In her eyes, for the first time, there was something different: fear.

"F-Fénix..." she murmured, with a mix of disbelief and contained fury.

He stopped in front of her, his breathing heavy, and lifted his icy gaze. His voice came out deep, cold, as if speaking from an abyss.

"Do you notice? The roles always reverse... the same thing happened with Alex. The prey... becomes the hunter."

Enid swallowed, retreating barely an inch, as if that single phrase had penetrated her mind more than any blow.

Fénix gripped the silver bar tightly, and in one motion, let it fall to the side. The metallic sound reverberated in the silence like a sentence.

"But I'm not going to kill you, Enid." His eyes blazed with contained rage. "You don't deserve that privilege."

Enid looked at him with overflowing fury, her jaw clenched, her nails digging into her palms.

"You can't leave me like this!" Her voice cracked between hysterical laughter and a desperate scream. "You're my dog, Fénix! I am your master! I saved you when no one else did!"

Fénix took a deep breath and leaned slightly towards her, with a calm that hurt more than any blow.

"You didn't save me. You used me." His words were blades. "And you disappointed me more than I ever thought possible."

Enid trembled, and for the first time she seemed truly broken.

"If you ever come looking for me again..." he added, straightening up, his voice firmer than ever, "I won't hesitate. But now, I don't want to see you. I don't want to kill you. I want to forget you."

He turned on his heel and began walking towards the elevator. Each step felt like a definitive sentence, an echo marking the distance between what had been and what would never be again.

Enid crawled forward, screaming in desperation, her mask of control completely destroyed.

"You can't leave! You can't leave me! You're mine! MINE!"

Fénix didn't stop, didn't even turn. He pressed the elevator button and waited. The "ding" of the device broke the tension in the hallway. He entered with a slow step, and as the doors closed, his thoughts were cold and clear:

"I'm not your dog... I never was."

The steel doors sealed shut, leaving Enid alone, surrounded by smoke, ruins, and her own broken laughter.

The elevator rose slowly, its metallic hum filling the silence. Fénix leaned his forehead against the steel wall, breathing deeply. He felt the dried blood on his face and the weight of everything that had just happened.

When the doors opened into the Enid Corp lobby, artificial light hit his eyes. Everything was empty. A cold echo ran through the enormous hall, barely interrupted by flickering emergency lights.

Fénix walked to the counter, took the keys to one of the service cars hanging on a panel, and headed for the exit. His boots echoed on the marble.

Just as he reached out to open the main door, a bright blue spark ran across the entire frame. An electrical blast roared in the air.

—Tzzzack!—

An electric arc threw him backward like a ragdoll, slamming him hard against the floor. His body convulsed briefly from the shock; the smell of ozone filled the air.

Fénix gasped, propping himself up on one elbow. His good eye blinked with fury and pain.

"Three thousand volts..." he thought, clenching his teeth. "That would have killed anyone... but not me."

While the smell of burnt electricity dissipated in the lobby, in the lower levels of the building Enid crawled, leaving a trail of blood and ash. Her nails were broken, her legs trembled, but her gaze shone with a dangerous intensity.

She reached a metal table in the dimly lit laboratory, illuminated only by a flickering red light. On it rested several syringes, each filled with a dark liquid that seemed to move on its own. A poorly stuck sign read: "Definitive Uber Lycan Serum."

Enid reached out a trembling hand and touched one of the syringes. Her breathing was ragged; her thoughts, a storm.

"No... he's not leaving."
"He can't leave. He's mine."
"My creation, my dog, my masterpiece. I made him stronger, faster... I made him perfect. How dare he turn his back on me?"

She smiled, lips stained with blood, as tears fell from her eyes.

"Fénix is mine. No one else can have him. No one else can touch him. If I can't control him with love, I'll do it with force. If I can't possess him alive... I'll possess him any way I can. He's my work. My creature."

The syringe gleamed under the faint red light as she raised it with both hands.

"He doesn't understand it yet... but I'm the only one who understands him. He's not going to leave me. He's not going to escape."

Her smile curved into an almost childish, sick rictus.

"We're going to be one. This serum will make us equals. He mine. Me his. Forever."

Enid raised the syringe, her silhouette outlined against the darkness, and the flickering red light reflected in her deranged eyes.

"Fénix... you can't run from me. Because even if you don't want to... I'm already inside you."

Fénix moved through the building's floors hugging the shadows, navigating offices, machine rooms, and maintenance corridors. Each door he crossed was a reminder of how much it had cost him to get there and everything he had to leave behind. His goal was clear: the underground parking lot. Open twenty-four hours, with cameras off at night, less staff, and a direct exit to the street. If he could get out of there, he'd have a minimal chance to regroup and form a plan.