Chapter Fifty

Blood and Dawn

The shadows shifted before the wind did.

Lucien felt it first — a ripple across the threads of his domain, faint but deliberate. It wasn’t Mona’s corruption this time. It was something older. Something desperate.

He turned sharply, his black eyes flashing. The ruins around him fell silent. Even the wolves sensed it.

Kimberly stepped closer. “What is it?”

Lucien raised his hand, the shadows coiling between his fingers like smoke. “A signal.”

“From Mona?”

“No,” he said slowly, his expression darkening. “From someone inside her ranks.”

He closed his eyes, listening. The air around him grew cold, the whispers of the realm bending toward him in faint recognition. When he spoke again, his voice was low. “It’s Derrick.”

Kimberly froze. “Derrick?”

Lucien nodded. “He’s alive… and he’s fighting her control.”

She stared at him, disbelief flickering across her face. “He’s warning us?”

Lucien’s voice hardened. “She’s coming. Tonight. Her army marches at moonrise.”

A silence fell over the temple ruins. Even the air seemed to tremble under the weight of the truth.

Kimberly turned toward the horizon. The moon hung low and swollen, bleeding crimson through the clouds. Each heartbeat brought it closer to full.

Lucien’s shadows stirred restlessly. “Once it reaches its peak, the veil will break again. This time, she won’t stop until she consumes everything — my realm, your world, the balance itself.”

Kimberly lifted her blades. “Then we make our stand here.”

Lucien looked at her for a long moment — studying her not as a student, not as a mortal, but as an equal. “You realize what that means?”

She met his gaze steadily. “If she wins, there’s nothing left. If I fall, you stop her.”

He stepped closer. “If you fall, the world falls with you. You carry more light than you understand, Kimberly. That’s why she wants it — why she needs you broken.”

“I’m not breaking,” she said quietly. “Not anymore.”

Something in Lucien’s eyes shifted — pride, maybe, or something deeper. “Then I’ll fight beside you until the last shadow fades.”

Before either of them could speak again, the earth trembled. A low rumble rolled across the valley, followed by the distant, rising sound of howls — countless and terrible.

The wolves behind them tensed, growls rumbling in their throats. Kael, their Beta commander, stepped forward. “They’re coming.”

Lucien turned to his army of shadows. “Form the barrier.”

The ground split as black flame erupted around the temple’s perimeter, forming a dome of shimmering darkness. The wolves moved into position, their claws digging into the soil, their eyes glinting silver.

Kimberly moved to the center of the ruins, the moonlight catching her blades. Her hair whipped around her face, her aura pulsing bright. “We hold the line. No one crosses.”

Kael nodded. “For Luna.”

The title no longer felt foreign. It felt right.

Lucien stood beside her, his presence vast and cold. “When she appears, her power will corrupt everything it touches. Keep your focus on her heartbeat through the bond. If you lose that connection, you’ll lose yourself.”

Kimberly nodded once. “I’ll hold it.”

Lucien’s lips twitched — a faint ghost of a smile. “I know you will.”

The sound of marching filled the air.

Through the crimson haze on the horizon, figures emerged — first a few, then hundreds, then thousands. Wolves twisted by blood magic. Shadows draped in red flame. And at their head, walking with the grace of a queen and the fury of a god, was Mona.

Her gown flowed like living fire, her crown of smoke and bone gleaming in the moonlight. Her eyes locked on Kimberly, glowing brighter than the moon itself.

“Little cousin,” Mona called, her voice carrying through the wind. “Did you really think you could hide behind him forever?”

Kimberly raised her blades, her silver aura flaring. “I’m not hiding anymore.”

Mona’s laughter rolled through the air, cold and beautiful. “Then step into the light and die in it.”

Lucien’s shadows thickened. “Hold your line,” he murmured.

The crimson army advanced, the earth shaking beneath their feet.

Kimberly’s heart pounded in rhythm with the rising howl. The mark on her palm burned, silver clashing against red. She felt Mona through it — her rage, her hunger, her madness.

Then she felt something else.

Derrick.

A whisper at the edge of her mind, faint but real. Kimberly… she’s using the moon. Break the light before it bleeds.

The vision flashed — Derrick, standing in the ruins of his hall, blood dripping from his hand as he carved a rune into stone. His voice was raw, desperate. End her before she becomes the moon itself.

The image vanished.

Kimberly’s grip tightened around her blades. “She’s using the moon to anchor herself.”

Lucien’s expression darkened. “Then we shatter her reflection.”

He raised his hand — shadows roaring to life around him, forming a wall of darkness. Kimberly’s light surged, flooding the air with silver radiance. The two forces collided, merging into something fierce and divine.

The first wave of Mona’s army hit the barrier like a storm. The night exploded with power — red against black and white, fury against faith.

Lucien’s voice thundered across the battlefield. “Now, Luna!”

Kimberly lifted her blades high, her voice breaking through the chaos. “For every soul she’s broken… for every drop of blood she’s spilled… this ends now!”

The silver light burst from her body, cutting through the crimson haze, slicing straight toward Mona.

Mona raised her hand, catching the beam — their powers colliding in a blinding explosion that split the sky.

The moon screamed.

And the world itself began to tremble.

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