Chapter 276 - Barak’s Resolution

The polished stone floor of the training hall was cold against Barak's bruised cheek. The taste of blood and humiliation was thick in his mouth. The phantom pain of Elysia's black lightning still danced along his nerves, a cruel reminder of his own staggering weakness. The initial, white-hot fury had burned away, leaving behind a colder, harder substance: a mortifying, soul-deep frustration that threatened to crack his very spirit.