CHAPTER 225: The Final Decisive Battle in the Clock Tower, Fenix Roger Vs Enid Drakewood - 3

CHAPTER 225: The Final Decisive Battle in the Clock Tower, Fenix Roger Vs Enid Drakewood - 3

Enid raised her gaze toward Fenix, still held by him.

—You… you're not going to kill me, are you? —she asked in a broken voice.

Fenix did not respond.

—Fenix… —she insisted—. Tell me you're not going to do it.

Silence.

She swallowed.

—Answer me…

Fenix clenched his jaw. Finally he spoke, in a low, controlled, almost clinical tone.

—Listen to me —he said slowly—. All of this… is already coming to an end. It won't hurt much. It will be over soon.

Enid's eyes widened a little more.

—What are you talking about…?

Tears began to slide down Fenix's cheeks.

—I know what I have to do —he continued—. The only way to stop you is to tear out your heart.

A tear fell onto the blackened floor.

—Everything will end soon.

Enid looked at him for a second… and something in her expression changed.

Suddenly, she reacted.

She spat blood directly into Fenix's eyes.

—You bastard…!

Fenix screamed and pulled away immediately, bringing his hands to his face.

—My eyes…!

Enid took advantage of the instant. She got up staggering, forcing a body that no longer responded well.

—Not yet… —she began to say—. I can still…

The sentence cut off abruptly.

A gunshot resonated in the tower.

The bullet pierced her back with violence, perforated the spinal cord, and exited through her abdomen in an explosion of blood.

Enid went rigid.

She turned her head slowly.

In front of her, with the weapon still smoking, was Joe.

—It's over —he said in a trembling voice.

Lucian raised his voice from behind.

—That's what you get, you bitch!

Enid fell to her knees… and then onto her side, hitting the ground without being able to move.

In her mind, everything became clear at once.

I can't feel my legs.

She tried to move her fingers.

Nothing.

The spinal cord…

She felt the wound closing, the flesh regenerating by force… but something did not fit.

It doesn't respond.

She understood then.

Silver.

The bullet had been silver.

The wound closed… but the damage is already done.

I'm never going to move again.

Her blue eyes filled with rage… and with something closer to fear.

—No… —she whispered barely—. Not like this…

Fenix, still wiping the blood from his eyes, looked at her from a few steps away.

Enid Drakewood lay on the ground, conscious, alive… but immobilized.

For the first time in her life, without any control at all.

Fenix wiped the blood from his eyes with the back of his forearm, breathing with difficulty. Each inhalation burned his lungs, but even so he advanced toward her. Enid lay on the ground, her body motionless, her gaze lost on an invisible point of the collapsed ceiling.

—This is over… —he murmured, more to himself than to her.

At that instant, Enid's body shuddered. A violent spasm ran down her back and, amid wet creaks and an unnatural sound of bones rearranging, she transformed again. The burned flesh twisted, the blackened skin opened to give way to the beast that still lived inside her. Her blue eyes, intact, gleamed with pure hatred.

Fenix felt instinct respond before reason. His body, still weakened, changed form. The muscles tensed, the claws emerged, the fangs descended. The pain was still there, the fatigue had not disappeared, but fury gave him one last impulse.

Both beasts launched themselves at the same time.

The impact was brutal. They rolled among debris and dust, growling, scratching, trying to dominate each other. Enid tried to dig her claws into his chest, but Fenix twisted his body clumsily and, guided by an ancestral reflex, sank his fangs into her neck.

A heart-wrenching shriek broke the air.

Blood gushed hot, thick, and the world seemed to stop for an eternal second.

And then… everything changed.

The smell of iron and ash disappeared.

Fenix opened his eyes.

He was standing on white sand, fine, warm beneath his shoes. The sound of the sea replaced any memory of explosions or screams. The sky was a clean, almost unreal blue, and the sun reflected on tranquil waters that stretched to the horizon.

A beach in Malaysia.

He looked at himself. His body was intact, without wounds, without blood. He was dressed as always: the impeccable Enid Corp uniform, dark jacket perfectly ironed, formal shirt, tie adjusted with precision. His hands did not tremble. There was no pain. There was no fatigue.

Only silence.

Fenix frowned, confused, while a strange sensation pressed against his chest. He knew something did not fit. He knew that this could not be real… and even so, the salty wind, the murmur of the sea, and the absolute calm seemed to tell him otherwise.

—What… is this? —he whispered, without getting an answer.

Fenix advanced a few steps on the sand, still trying to understand where he was, when he saw her.

Sitting on the shore, her bare feet touching the water, was Enid.

Her appearance was different from a moment ago. There were no burns or wounds, no trace of the pain that had deformed her body. She wore light, simple clothing, and the sea wind gently moved her hair. Even so, her eyes were still the same. Those blue eyes impossible to forget.

Fenix stopped dead. His heart skipped a beat.

—No… —he murmured, taking a step back.

Enid turned her head and looked at him calmly. There was no hatred in her expression, only a strange serenity.

—Hello, Fenix.

He did not respond. He stood still, his body tense, as if he expected another attack.

—Easy —she continued in a soft voice—. You have nothing to fear. It's me. The usual one.

Fenix swallowed. He hesitated for a few seconds, but finally approached and sat beside her, letting the sand sink under his weight. He kept a certain distance, without taking his eyes off the sea.