Chapter 217: A Fight To The Death

Chapter 217

The moment those chilling words left Celine’s mouth, her right arm shot out at a very terrifying display of speed, as her pale hand snapped sideways, pointing it directly toward Marcus’s trembling wife, who was still weeping on her knees.

At that exact second a shard of Deathfrost Bloom shot forward like a bullet, cutting through the air in a fraction of a second.

Before the terrified woman could even have the time to scream or at least raise her hands to cover her face, the lightning fast black streak pierced straight through the center of her skull, and then exited cleanly through from behind the back of her head.

The impact alone knocked her body backward, and her wide, lifeless eyes stared blankly at the dark sky above, never knowing she’d really be dying today. And all of this was precisely because of the two people she called her son and husband. That was the last thing she ever thought before slipping into eternal darkness.

Marcus and Nico could only watch in pure horror as the woman closest to them died right before their eyes.

That brutal and instantaneous execution by Celine left both men frozen in sheer panic, and their breath hitched together in their throats as their body began to tremble with a deep seated kind of fear one would feel when faced with death itself.

Without a single trace of emotion on her face, Celine slowly turned her wrist, redirecting her deadly palm toward Marcus.

Seeing the pitch-black frost swirling around her fingers once again, this ruthless underworld boss completely lost whatever remaining composure he possessed.

The powerful criminal who had once ruled over an entire network of illegal operations now scrambled backward on his hands and knees like a terrified child, with his single good eye now wide with sheer desperation.

"Wait! Celine, wait! Please!" Marcus begged profusely, his voice cracking as cold sweat poured down his bloodied face. "I’m begging you! Don’t do this! I gave you a home when you had nothing! I gave you power, money, and status! I know I made a mistake regarding your sister, but I can compensate you! I still have hundreds of millions of dollars stashed away in a hidden off-shore accounts! I can give you all of it! Just spare my life! Please!"

Alex couldn’t resist cursing Marcus under his breath. So the damn bastard still had that much cash hidden somewhere for himself?

Meanwhile Celine didn’t say anything; she just lowered her hand slightly, letting the ominous, dark ice float gently above her palm. Then she drifted her eyes slowly from Marcus’s bloodied face over to his crippled, crying son who was still clutching his now useless groin on the floor.

For several quiet seconds, the silence in the courtyard was so deafening that if someone where to walk pass there, they would probably mistake it for an abandoned mansion or a haunted mansion.

Then, a faint, but definitely terrifyingly glint flickered within Celine’s amber eyes.

"I’ll give you both one chance. Whoever among the two of you can kill the other first... I will consider sparing that person’s life."

Nico, who had been sobbing hysterically on the floor, suddenly stopped crying. His tear-streaked face turned slowly toward his father.

The guy’s chest was literally heaving up and down as various complicated emotions flashed through his eyes, from fear, to desperation, to hesitation, and finally, to a dark, primal urge to survive at any cost. Even if it meant killing his old man.

"A-Are you serious?" Nico asked timidly, his trembling voice barely louder than a whisper as he stared at Celine. "Are you really sure you’ll stick to your word and spare whoever survives between us?"

Celine gave a small, subtle nod of her head. "Hmm."

Nico swallowed hard, his mind racing frantically. He looked down at his crushed left leg, then back up at Celine. "Is... is it okay if we use weapons? Or do we have to use just our bare hands?"

"Anything is fine," Celine replied indifferently, her expression remaining entirely unreadable. "As long as one of you ends up dead."

Hearing his son actively ask about the rules of their deathmatch, Marcus’s blood boiled with overwhelming shock and fury. He stared at his own flesh and blood in complete disbelief, with his single good eye bulging out of his socket.

"You dumb, ungrateful brat!" Marcus shouted, his deep voice echoing across the courtyard with pure rage. "Do you even realize what the hell you are talking about right now?! I am your father!"

Nico deflected his father’s furious gaze for a split second, looking away before turning back with a burning, desperate stare. Whatever filial respect he had once possessed was completely washed away by his overwhelming desire to stay alive.

"I’m sorry, Dad!" Nico yelled back, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and madness. "I really am sorry, but I need to live! You’ve already lived a long, full, and rich life! You’ve experienced everything there is to experience! But look at me! I’m still so young! I haven’t even lived my life yet! So please, forgive me for what I’m about to do... and don’t make this any harder than it already needs to be!"

Marcus’s face contorted into a grotesque mask of unbridled fury that was impossible to keep down. Was this still his own son?! The more he thought about it the more his good eye turned completely blood-red as the veins on his forehead bulged dangerously.

"You animal in human form!" Marcus roared, his voice trembling with murderous hatred. "You’re actually thinking of killing your very own father?! After everything I gave you?! The cars, the money, the women, the protection?!"

Marcus stared heatedly at his son’s cold, determined expression, realizing that the spoiled brat he had raised was genuinely going to try to take his life to save his own skin.

"I knew it!" Marcus spat violently, coughing up a mixture of blood and phlegm onto the ground. "I knew I should have worn a condom on that night with your mother so that a pathetic, worthless dog like you would never have come into this world! But that was my mistake... and I am going to correct it right now! Now that you are even a crippled eunuch, there is really no reason for you to be in this world anymore!"

RAAAAAAHHH!!! With a terrifying, guttural roar, Marcus ignored the sharp pain shooting through his broken leg and threw his heavy body forward! Despite his severe injuries, the seasoned criminal boss lunged at his son with pure, bloodthirsty intent!

Nico let out a frantic shriek, dragging his broken leg across the floor as he hurled himself forward to meet his father head-on!

The two injured men collided violently on the hard concrete ground, tumbling over each other like two rabid beasts fighting over a scrap of meat. It was an incredibly pathetic sight watching a father and son fight so fiercely.

Marcus wrapped his bloodied hands tightly around Nico’s neck, squeezing with all his remaining strength in an attempt to strangle his unfilial son to death on the spot.

"Die! Just die, you ungrateful bastard!" Marcus snarled through gritted teeth, his face twisting as he applied all the pressure he could muster to his own son’s windpipe.

"Gack... huff...! Get... Off me old... Man!" Nico gagged, his face turning a dark shade of purple as his oxygen supply was rapidly cut off.

Driven by pure survival instinct, Nico raised his functional right hand and slammed his fingers directly into his father’s bloodied face! His thumb dug violently into Marcus’s remaining good eye, while his teeth sank deep into Marcus’s bare forearm, biting down with full force until his jaw locked around flesh!

"AAAARRGGGHHH!" Marcus screamed in agony, but he refused to let go of his grip around his son’s throat. Instead, he tightened his hands even further, using his full body weight to pin Nico against the cold ground.

While the two men engaged in their bloody, barbaric skirmish right in front of them, Alex casually took a step closer to Celine. Leaning his head slightly sideways, he spoke in a low whisper that was completely muffled by his demonic skull mask, ensuring that only Celine could hear his words over the chaotic sounds of the struggle.

"I really didn’t expect you to tell them something like that. But you’re not really going to spare whichever one of them survives this, are you?"

Celine didn’t even turn her head to look at him. Her gaze remained firmly fixed on the two monsters tearing each other apart on the floor, her expression as cold and unforgiving as ice.

"Just watch first and find out," Celine answered softly, her voice carrying a dark, chilling tone.

Meanwhile, on the floor, the battle for survival was reaching its brutal climax.

Nico’s vision was rapidly beginning to turn blurry as dark spots swam across his field of view. The hateful pressure around his neck was suffocating him, crushing his windpipe and draining the last remnants of life force from his body.

He could feel the strength in his hands growing weaker by the second, and his desperate attempts to gouge out his father’s eye were becoming increasingly sluggish.

He was dying. That he knew very well. In less than ten seconds, his brain would shut down from the lack of oxygen.

Desperate to survive, Nico’s dying gaze frantically swept across the blood-stained ground around him. His heart pounded like a jackhammer against his ribs as he searched for anything that could save his pathetic life. Anything would do!

And then, as if hearing his prayers, his bloodshot eyes quickly caught sight of something metallic.

Lying just a short distance away was a black handgun, which must have slipped out of the hand of one of his mother’s dead bodyguards when the man had been killed earlier.

Hope soon began slowly rising up inside Nico’s chest.

Feeling that dreadful feeling of darkness rapidly creeping into the edges of his vision, Nico strained every single muscle in his upper torso.

He stretched his right arm out desperately across the cold ground. With his trembling fingertips reaching out inch by inch toward the fallen weapon while his father’s heavy, crushing hands continued to squeeze the remaining life out of him...