The Spare's Second Chance in Apocalypse-Chapter 286: Ch 285: Do you think you can Steal?- Part 1

Zara’s heart pounded as she turned away from Madam Verta, her steps unsteady but determined.

She had made her choice—she wasn’t going to be anyone’s puppet, no matter how dire her condition felt. Noah and Orion flanked her on either side, silent but alert.

Madam Verta’s voice cut through the air like a blade.

I truly do feel sorry for you, Zara."

Zara stopped walking, fists clenched.

"Keep your pity."

"But I can’t let you leave like this. It would be cruel to do nothing."

Verta continued, her tone soft but deadly.

Zara turned sharply, ready to snap back—but she never got the chance.

A blur of movement. Instinct screamed.

Zara ducked just as Isabelle lunged from the side, a blade of compressed air slicing through the space her head had just been.

The force of the missed attack kicked up dust and tore through the ground.

Zara stumbled back, eyes wide.

Isabelle didn’t pause. She struck again, this time with flames licking around her fists.

A whip of fire came crashing toward Zara—but Noah intercepted her, slamming the fire aside with a burst of water from his core.

Orion appeared a second later, dropping shimmering hexagonal barriers around Zara.

"Don’t touch her."

He said, his voice shaking but firm.

Isabelle stepped back and glared at Madam Verta.

"All deals between us are off."

"What? Isabelle, don’t be reckless. You’ll ruin everything."

Verta’s eyes widened.

"I don’t care. I’m too pissed off to care."

Isabelle’s eyes glinted with feral rage.

Verta tried to reach for her, desperate.

"I’ll help you. I’ll guide you. Let me look into your future, help you win this."

Isabelle scoffed.

"Save your visions. I’ll win this my way."

Madam Verta took a shaky breath and accessed the system, scanning the lines of fate with practiced ease. Her lips curled into a smile.

"It’s fine. The future says you’ll win. You’re still strong enough."

But even as she watched, the lines shifted.

The system pulsed—

[Prediction changed. Event outcome: FAILURE. Target: Isabelle Thorne. Status: DOOMED.]

"No...How—?"

Verta whispered, the color draining from her face.

Before she could finish her sentence, a crack of lightning split the sky, summoned by Orion, and Noah launched forward in a flash of speed enhanced by Zara’s buffs.

Isabelle fought back fiercely, but the numbers had caught up with her. She wasn’t fighting a child anymore.

It didn’t take long. She was powerful, yes.

But not enough anymore.

She went down, hard—pinned by Noah, disarmed by Zara’s paralyzing aura, and encased in one of Orion’s shimmering domes.

Madam Verta stared, trembling. If Isabelle had fallen... then she was next.

______

Meanwhile, Selene arrived late to her volunteer shift.

The moment she stepped through the gates, the supervisor sneered at her.

"You’re late."

She met his gaze with a cold stare, saying nothing.

Something in her expression—or perhaps something in her aura—made the man flinch, stepping back as if scorched.

He coughed, then forced a fake grin.

"I-I’ll let it slide today. We’re short on manpower, anyway."

Selene didn’t respond, walking past him without a word.

But she could feel his eyes boring into her back.

The mistake hit her hard. He was watching her now—closer than before.

Too close for her to slip away and explore the facility like she’d planned. She had drawn too much attention too fast.

She cursed silently under her breath.

Then, she made a decision.

Her fingers tapped her amplify slot, and Nora’s name slid into place.

A pulse of energy surged through her body as she accessed Nora’s fire-based skills.

Heat rose around her hands, then slipped unseen into the nearby pipes and systems.

Within minutes, the facility’s alarms screamed to life. Steam burst from a corridor vent, followed by sparks and a flash fire in one of the lower wings.

Panic spread like wildfire.

"Code red! System overload in Sector 3!"

"Shut it down! Shut it down before it spreads!"

The volunteers and staff bolted toward the chaos. Even the supervisor forgot about Selene, yelling orders as he ran to the source of the problem.

Perfect.

Selene vanished into the shadows, slipping deeper into the inner facility.

She passed hallways she remembered from her youth—cold and sterile, lined with unmarked doors. Her boots barely made a sound as she moved quickly and quietly.

She wasn’t sure where her father was, or what she would find once she reached the core of the estate. But one thing was clear.

She was done being a pawn.

If she was to change the fate of this world, then the answers started here—in the heart of the Vale family mansion.

Selene’s breath came shallow as her boots clicked against the cold, sterile floor.

The deeper she went into the facility, the more her instincts screamed at her to turn around.

Her heart pounded in her chest—not just from fear, but from the crushing weight of memory pressing in on all sides. These halls were too familiar. Too quiet. Too wrong.

She felt it in her bones—something wasn’t right.

’Am I walking into a trap?’

The thought echoed in her mind like a whisper from the voice that had gone silent since this morning.

But she didn’t stop.

Couldn’t.

She was certain that the moment she turned back, alarms would go off, doors would lock, and everything would spiral out of control.

Her only option was to keep moving forward and hope that whatever lay ahead wouldn’t kill her before she got what she came for.

The corridors stretched endlessly, each one looking like the last, lit by dim overhead lights that flickered now and then.

Shadows shifted behind her.

No footsteps, no sound, just the gnawing sense that she wasn’t alone.

She swallowed hard and turned a corner, reaching the second junction corridor—a long stretch that branched into three separate paths.

The air here was colder, heavier, like it hadn’t been touched in years.

A faint hum buzzed from the walls, and she knew surveillance systems were watching. She was being observed.

Selene paused at the center of the junction, scanning each path.

Her heart thudded harder now, her fingers twitching toward the weapon tucked beneath her cloak.

She couldn’t afford to hesitate. She needed answers. She needed to find her father.

So she picked the path furthest to the left—silent, unlit, and ominously inviting—and stepped into the darkness without looking back.