Chapter 157: How was my acting? Exemplary, wasn’t it?
Chapter 157: How was my acting? Exemplary, wasn’t it?
The group of unknown ’people’ stopped just a few meters away from Lucian’s group and they smiled.
Then, the fire safety man moved the extinguisher and pointed it towards the floor.
For a second, Lucian thought of dashing forward and attacking, then he remembered the mistake he had made before, so he only placed Evelyn between him and Alaric, making sure he was protecting her.
"Lucian..."
Evelyn’s face turned solemn.
Just then—
The hallway changed. The fireman pulled a trigger. Every single person in the hallway heard the click but...
Nothing happened.
Alaric and the others frowned in confusion.
But—
"Ackkk!!"
Lucian groaned in pain as his knees buckled and he fell to the ground.
"LUCIAN!!!"
Evelyn screamed in panic, crouching next to him in worry.
Alaric and the others frowned even more. Lucian, on the other hand, felt his entire body tremble as a heavy, crushing pressure fell on him. His fingers scratched the floor, trying to resist the feeling as he tried to stand, his muscles trembling, clearly being overpowered.
He tried to use his demonic energy to strengthen them, to push past his physical strength but—
The demonic energy inside him twisted unstably. He could no longer control it.
"Acckkkk!!!"
He groaned in pain, still trying to resist the pressure, this time without using demonic energy.
Alaric, Sarah, and Elise stood in front of them. Lila rushed towards Lucian. Evelyn quickly moved aside, letting her do whatever magic she did.
Lucian tried to stand, he couldn’t. The tile beneath him cracked from the pressure, a vein bulged near his temple, blood came out of his nose because of how much force he was using, but it didn’t do anything.
Lucian clenched his teeth and glared at the enemies in front of him with his violet eyes shining dangerously.
His bones, his blood, his breathing, everything inside his body felt unbearably heavy, and no matter how much he tried to force it, other than a slight tremble, he couldn’t move his body in any other way.
Heck, it was almost a miracle that he still wasn’t completely on the ground. He had still kept his hand plunged into the ground, not letting his head fall.
"Lucian..."
Evelyn whispered with a worried, terrified look on her face.
Lucian did not look at her, he kept glaring at the enemies standing in front of them.
"Stay... behind me..."
He spoke in a hoarse, rough voice, still thinking of protecting Evelyn in some way, even in the state he was in.
Just then—
More footsteps came from the doorway ahead. The Enclave members reacted.
"Commander."
Sarah lifted her gun.
"I see them."
Alaric nodded.
One by one, people stepped into the emergency corridor.
Fire safety staff, technicians, studio guards, emergency workers, two people in black maintenance uniforms, then more behind them.
There were easily twenty of them, maybe even more.
And Lucian—
He did not recognise any of them.
"Residue."
Elise spoke up, her usually calm face distorted.
"They are all Hosts."
She declared, and those words made the situation even graver.
The enemies were no longer hiding either. They all grinned in their own ways. Some of them glowed with demonic energy, some had turned completely black, some had veins spreading from their necks. One man’s jaw twitched too far to the side before settling back into place, another’s fingers bent backward, then forward again, as if whatever lived inside the body was still getting used to wearing it.
Lucian forced his head up and looked behind. His eyes moved past Evelyn and Lila and fell on Nolan.
The host of The Night Desk was standing behind his personal guards. The people who had protected him till now were terrified now.
Nolan, on the other hand.
He only smiled.
All his previous panic, terror, and adrenaline were now gone.
One of his guards, the woman with the headset, looked at his calmness and frowned.
"Sir...?"
Nolan did not say anything. Instead, the nearest Host moved, his arms elongated. The Enclave members didn’t move from their position. The woman was helpless, her eyes widening in horror. She tried to move her gun and shoot at the Host but—
BAM
The hand flicked her away. Her body struck the wall, hard enough to leave a dark smear before collapsing.
She was dead.
The other guards froze.
One of them shot a bullet at the Host who killed the woman, right in his forehead. The Host’s head moved back, but then it straightened, with the bullet still stuck in his forehead and blood coming out of it, and the Host—
He smiled.
As if he didn’t even feel the pain.
The guard was horrified.
Just then, another Host moved and clenched his hand.
CRACK
A loud crack was heard, the guard’s body twisted unnaturally and he—
He died as well.
"No, no, no—"
The third guard stumbled back, shaking his head with a terrified look on his face. Before he could react, another Host, who had somehow appeared behind him, caught him and lifted him off the floor.
"N-No! Please don’t kill me! Sir Nola—"
He tried to beg. Nolan did not even look at him, he was staring at Lucian instead and the smile on his face never disappeared.
Lucian glared back at him.
Nolan’s breathing was now slow, his eyes were clear, his shoulders were relaxed, and his posture had straightened. Even his heartbeat, that was screaming just a while ago, was now steady, as if everything was under his control.
And Lucian couldn’t believe it.
"Nolan."
He spoke in a frosty voice.
He had no idea how the man managed to control his heartbeat, but it couldn’t be more obvious.
Nolan was in on this.
All his tantrums about following Evelyn, it wasn’t about him wanting to be safe, it was him trying to delay their escape long enough for his ’friends’ to get here.
He was in on this.
And Nolan—
When he saw Lucian’s face as he realised the truth, his grin widened.
"Took you long enough."
He chuckled.
"How was my acting? Exemplary, wasn’t it?"