CHAPTER 32: BROTHER VS. SISTER - PART 2
POV: Alen
School foundations crumbled around them like civilization reduced to rubble, reality hemorrhaging through dimensional wounds that Dark Josie's power had torn in cosmic fabric. Walls collapsed into geometric impossibilities while emergency lighting flickered between normal illumination and otherworldly radiance that hurt to perceive directly.
Dark Josie stood at the epicenter of destruction she couldn't control, ancient artifact feeding her abilities power that transcended her enhanced systems' capacity to contain safely. Black veins spread across exposed skin like infection while obsidian eyes reflected terror beneath layers of supernatural arrogance.
"She's losing control. The Mora Miserium is overwhelming her, using her as conduit for forces that belong in cosmic mythology rather than teenage consciousness. If this continues, she'll be consumed completely."
Alen turned toward Hope and Lizzie with expression that mixed desperation and terrible resolve, tactical assessment crystallizing around solution that could save his sister at potentially catastrophic personal cost.
"I can siphon the Mora Miserium out of her," he announced, words carrying weight of decision that would reshape everything between them. "But that much dark magic will corrupt me temporarily."
Hope's expression shifted through spectrum of emotions—understanding, terror, recognition that he was volunteering for damnation in service of family salvation. "How temporarily?"
"I don't know." The admission felt like confession and death sentence combined. "Could be minutes. Could be permanent. Ancient artifacts don't release their influence easily."
"I could become exactly what I've been hunting. Cosmic responsibility transformed into cosmic tyranny, enhanced abilities corrupted by centuries of accumulated evil. The Entity's curse prevents me from explaining transmigration knowledge that might help resist corruption."
Lizzie stepped forward without hesitation, twin bond overriding rational fear in favor of desperate hope. "Do it. Save my sister."
"Alen, no—" Hope began, tribrid nature responding to threat against someone she cared about despite understanding necessity.
"She's family," Alen interrupted, approaching Dark Josie with enhanced resolve that bordered on suicidal determination. "I failed her. This is my fault. If anyone's going to risk corruption, it should be me."
He extended his hand toward sister whose familiar features had become alien landscape, golden veins pulsing with power while dark magic prepared for extraction that would challenge every limitation he'd ever accepted.
"One more time. Let me help."
Dark Josie stared at offered assistance with expression that cycled between enhanced arrogance and genuine terror, ancient artifact's whispers warring with recognition that her brother was volunteering for sacrifice that could destroy them both.
"It hurts," she admitted, voice cracking on words that revealed vulnerability beneath layers of supernatural corruption. "The power hurts. It's too much, too vast, too angry. I can't contain it."
"I know," Alen replied, meaning it completely. "Give it to me."
POV: Alen
The moment their skin made contact, Alen began siphoning with intensity that exceeded every previous magical experience, dark energy flooding his enhanced systems like molten metal replacing blood. The Mora Miserium fought extraction with desperate fury, centuries of accumulated evil recognizing threat to its dimensional anchor.
Every cruel impulse humanity had ever conceived crashed through his consciousness like psychic tsunami—desire to inflict suffering for personal pleasure, contempt for weakness displayed by people too limited to embrace necessary darkness, rage at cosmic injustice that made innocence suffer while evil prospered.
"This is what corruption feels like from inside. Not gradual moral compromise but immediate transformation of fundamental values, empathy burned away in favor of power that makes compassion seem like character flaw."
His golden veins turned obsidian black, transformation spreading across enhanced physiology while ancient artifact attempted to claim new host through supernatural possession. The process felt like dying and being reborn as something fundamentally alien, consciousness expanded beyond human limitations while moral boundaries dissolved into cosmic indifference.
Josie screamed as power drained from enhanced systems, relief mixing with agony as ancient artifact's influence receded through systematic extraction. Her black veins faded gradually while obsidian eyes flickered back toward familiar blue, personality reasserting itself as corruption transferred to brother willing to carry burden she couldn't bear.
Alen screamed as dark magic flooded consciousness designed for cosmic responsibility rather than absolute evil, every enhancement fighting against influence that sought to rewrite fundamental nature. The extraction required five agonizing minutes—eternal suffering compressed into temporal framework while ancient artifact resisted transfer to host whose abilities might prove sufficient for complete domination.
Finally, the Mora Miserium existed between them—pure darkness crystallized into form that pulsed with malevolent intelligence, centuries of accumulated evil given physical manifestation outside human consciousness.
Alen crushed it with siphoned power enhanced by cosmic authority, ancient artifact shattering into fragments that dissipated harmlessly into atmospheric magic. The destruction felt like exorcism performed through supernatural violence, evil purged through application of enhanced abilities turned toward salvation rather than conquest.
Josie collapsed normal and unconscious while Alen stood with black veins receding slowly, eyes momentarily solid obsidian before golden light reasserted itself through enhanced physiology. The corruption fought for permanent foothold, whispering promises of unlimited power if he would just embrace darkness instead of resisting influence that made moral complexity seem irrelevant.
POV: Alen
School reality restored itself gradually—walls resuming proper architectural form while dimensional bleeding sealed through application of cosmic authority that functioned despite temporary corruption. Students emerged from nightmare-prisons while faculty regained consciousness, emergency protocols engaging to address supernatural crisis that had exceeded normal disaster parameters.
"What did I do?" Josie whispered, consciousness returning to reveal devastation she'd wrought through desperate ambition amplified by ancient evil.
Lizzie held her sister with fierce protectiveness that transcended rational fear, twin bond reasserting itself through shared trauma and family connection that had survived supernatural corruption. "You came back. That's what matters."
Alen staggered as dark magic continued coursing through enhanced systems, ancient artifact's influence requiring active resistance to prevent permanent personality transformation. Hope steadied him with physical contact that helped anchor consciousness threatened by cosmic forces beyond normal human comprehension.
"Fight it," she urged, tribrid nature responding to corruption that threatened someone she loved.
"I'm trying." The words emerged strained with effort required to maintain moral foundation against influence that made empathy seem like weakness. "It's so tempting. The power is vast, immediate, responsive to will rather than conscience."
"For terrifying moments, I consider keeping the darkness. Ancient artifact offered unlimited abilities without cosmic restrictions, enhancement beyond every limitation I've ever accepted as inevitable. No more Entity's curse preventing communication, no more moral complexity constraining action, no more guilt over necessary choices."
"But then I see Josie's tears. Remember why I chose cosmic responsibility in the first place—to protect people I love, to prevent tragedies that don't have to happen, to carry burdens that would crush normal people. The corruption is seductive but ultimately empty, power without purpose beyond personal aggrandizement."
"I push the darkness out through sheer will, dissipating ancient influence into atmospheric magic while golden veins reassert themselves through enhanced physiology. The effort leaves me collapsed and exhausted but fundamentally unchanged, cosmic responsibility intact despite exposure to forces that could have rewritten everything decent about my existence."
Alaric woke to find his children alive and school restored, administrative mind cataloging damage while paternal relief overrode professional assessment. The family embraced despite everything—broken but surviving, corrupted but redeemed, enhanced but essentially human.
Days passed in recovery that felt like emotional archaeology, excavating relationships from rubble of supernatural crisis while processing trauma that had reshaped everyone's understanding of power's true cost. Josie underwent intensive therapy while guilt and gratitude warred for dominance in consciousness that remembered being willing to sacrifice everything for recognition that ultimately meant nothing.
"I wanted to be you," she admitted during honest conversation that cleared air between siblings whose relationship had nearly been destroyed by cosmic forces neither fully understood.
"I want to be normal," Alen replied, meaning it more than any previous confession. "We're both chasing the wrong things."
But normalcy remained impossible for someone carrying cosmic responsibility that demanded choices normal people would never face, enhanced abilities that made moral complexity inevitable, and resurrection coins that could save lives at cost of harvesting villain souls through systematic magical destruction.
The Entity's curse remained absolute. Transmigration knowledge stayed hidden. Soul hunting would continue.
But family bonds had survived corruption, and that felt worth every sacrifice he'd made in service of cosmic responsibility that defined his existence whether he wanted it or not.
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