<b>Chapter </b><b>560 </b>


    The cockpit was way more advanced than Danielle had imagined. She settled into a side seat, and the harness automatically clicked shut around her.


    Shermaine synced their visual feeds, and Danielle’s vision instantly expanded, panoramic and sharp. The second she saw Jason in front of them, she felt a rush of pure rage. ‘God, he’s hideous. I just want to stomp his face in,‘ she thought.


    Almost as if reading her mind, Shermaineunched forward and delivered a crushing kick. Jason felt the mecha’s overwhelming force bearing down on him. Before he could react, a brutal kick sent him flying over twenty feet through the air.


    A sword glimmering with faint blue light materialized in the mecha’s palm. Jets roared underfoot as Shermaine sted forward, closing the gap in the blink of an eye.


    Shermaine treated Jason like a ser ball, kicking him up, down, and back and forth at blinding speed. Jason couldn’t even react, let alone fight back.


    Danielle found the rapid perspective shifts disorienting–her head was spinning. But being fully immersed in the action, it felt like she was the one delivering the blows. ‘This feels fucking awesome,‘ she thought, utterly exhrated.


    Jason barely caught sight of the mecha’s silhouette and, with a desperatesh of his serpent tail, swept it across the ground. The strike kicked up a storm of sand and gravel.


    Shermaine’s instant counter was a powerful de cleave. The sheer disparity in strength saw the entire tail severed clean off, and in an instant, blood burst out like a fountain.


    Jason’s scream tore through the deste wilderness, echoing in the night and making the whole scene even more chilling,


    Above him, Shermaine hovered like an executioner in the sky. Jason crumpled to the ground, his monstrous half–serpent form fading away until he was fully human again, except now, his legs were gone.


    In that serpent state, his tail scales were supposed to be imprable, strong enough to shrug off any de or bullet. But that single strike had ripped through him like paper, and the pain was so intense it almost split his mind.


    Blood gushed endlessly from where his legs used to be, pooling around him in a grotesque fountain.


    Anyone else would’ve gagged at the sight. But Shermaine and Danielle, both trained in medicine and used to dissecting cadavers, barely flinched.


    Danielle felt nothing but deep, visceral satisfaction. She thought, ‘Normally, I’m a softie, and I’d pity anyone groveling on the ground like this. But him? I don’t feel a damn thing except relief.!


    Jason had warped himself into something monstrous, an abomination against nature itself. And all because he’d let hatred consume him, refusing to wake up from his obsession.


    The injuries were so severe that his legs would never regenerate.


    As Shermaine’s mecha stomped closer, raw terror gripped Jason’s eyes. Reduced to a pathetic, crawling insect, he dragged himself forward inch by inch, desperately trying to flee the inevitable.


    Shermaine didn’t show him any mercy and stepped on him, pinning him to the ground. Her voice travelled from inside the mecha. “You’re so terrified of dying. How did you have no problem destroying yourself from the inside out?”


    At her words, a deep, primal fear wed up Jason’s spine. Before him, Shermaine loomed like a deity, delivering divine judgment on the monster he had


    be.


    She stood above, untouchable, while he crawled in the dirt below. From the start, he’d gnty ever been able to look up at her.


    Jason roared, his voice seething with hatred, “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be in this wretched state! Weren’t you supposed to be dead? Why the hell aren’t you dead already?” His fingernails dug so deeply into the ground that they nearly ripped off.


    Shermaine said coolly, “How naive. How could you believe those baseless rumors?”


    Danielle chimed in yfully, “Exactly.”


    K77371


    Jason’s face spasmed, his entire body shaking violently. He tried to spit out another curse, but instead, rage overwhelmed him, and he hacked up another mouthful of blood.


    Shermaine’s eyes stayed as cold as a winter de. “Two years, and you’ve learned absolutely nothing.” Her sword gleamed with a sharp, biting chill as she lifted it slightly. “The Jean family has never owed you a damn thing.”


    Blood kept pouring from Jason’s mouth, but he only sneered. Deep down, he knew the truth–he had always known. Yet he refused to ept it.


    The Jean family didn’t owe him a thing. Still, he couldn’t stop hating them. He hated his own wretched fate, and he hated Shermaine,


    It was only natural that people envied her. She was that rare kind of brilliance that blinded everyone around her, a dazzling star no one could touch. It was as if she’d been born to stand above the rest of the world.


    It was as if she were heaven’s chosen favorite, untouchable and perfect in every way.


    A bitterugh escaped him as despair washed over his eyes. “Go on,” he rasped, his voice barely a whisper. “Finish it. Kill me.”


    Shermaine slid her sword back into its sheath and said coldly, “You won’t survive the night.” His HP was dropping fast; it wouldn’t be long before this ce became his grave. “If it hurts too much, do yourself a favor and end it.”


    Above them, moonlight spilled like silver, and a biting wind cut through the dark. Jason crawled desperately toward the wooden cabin. The next moment, mes roared to life, devouring the old structure in a raging inferno.


    In the distance, the sound of an approaching car broke the heavy silence. Ross had finally arrived.


    Shermaine let Danielle out of the mecha’s cockpit and helped her down, knowing Ross must be out of his mind with worry by now.


    Sure enough, Ross‘ face was etched with panic as he rushed over and swept Danielle into his arms, holding her as though he’d just reimed a lost treasure. He asked tenderly, “Are you hurt?”


    Danielle shook her head, snuggled into his arms. Leaning close to his ear, she whispered yfully, “Ross, Sheary is incredible.”


    Ross let out a soft breath, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Yeah. Thankfully, Sheary’s here. Otherwise, I would’ve lost you.”


    “Never gonna happen.” Danielle smiled.


    The truth was, if not for Shermaine’s presence, Danielle wouldn’t have dared provoke Jason the way she had. She would have endured everything quietly, buying time until Ross came for her.


    Danielle grinned and teased, “Ross, shouldn’t you be the oneforting me? How did we end up with the roles reversed?”


    Ross didn’t bother to reply. Instead, he lowered his head, found her lips<i>, </i>and kissed her deeply. Danielle’s cheeks turned bright red, and she thought, ‘Sheary is still here… and the driver too! How <i>could </i>he just kiss her like this?‘


    Her body was still weak from the sedative; she had no strength to push him away, even if she’d wanted to. Though if she was honest with herself, she didn’t really want to resist at all.


    Jason might not haveid a hand on her, but his filthy words had still left her feeling tainted, sickened to her core.


    She needed Ross to wash all that filth away, to cleanse her soul. Lost in that moment, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and the two deepened


    their kiss.


    After what felt like ages, Shermaine climbed out of the mecha and cleared her throat. Only then did Danielle snap out of it and hurriedly push Ross away. Ross didn’t seem to mind Shermaine’s presence at all, showing not the slightest bit of embarrassment. He took out a handkerchief and gently dabbed


    the lingering moisture from Danielle’s lips.


    Shermaine didn’t tease them. She had, after all, been a little toote for levity. Danielle was still somewhat shaken by the ordeal, and only Boss could trulyfort her.


    Later, Ross turned to Shermaine and said softly, “Sheary, thanks a lot.”


    Shermaine smiled and said, “We’re family. That’s no biggie.” Then, she checked the time. “I won’t be heading back with you guys. I left without saying goodbye to Grandma and Owen, so I should head back now.”


    Ross asked, “You’re noting with us to meet Joshua?”


    She hadn’t seen him in days–of course, she missed him, but she could hold out.


    Shermaine paused for a moment, then said with a yful smile, “We’re basically like an old married couple now. We video chat every day, so I’m not going back.”


    “Alright,” Ross said, his eyes softening as he affectionately ruffled Shermaine’s hair. “Please tell Grandma and Grandpa Owen I said hello.”


    Shermaine gave a slight nod, then returned to the mecha’s cockpit. With a roar of thrusters, she piloted the machine away, her silhouette quickly disappearing into the night.


    Meanwhile, Ross‘ assistant could barely contain his excitement when he saw the mecha up close. He thought, ‘No way. I saw the news about that ne crash and the mysterious hero who saved everyone.


    ‘I never imagined that a real–life superhero would turn out to be Shermaine, the legendary genius from Wallington, and Mr. Jean’s sister.”


    AD