Semua Bab ASHES OF THE LUNA QUEEN: Bab 151 - Bab 160

The wind that swept through the courtyard carried a bitter edge, sharp enough to bite through layers of fur and leather. Sera’s breath crystallized before her eyes, each exhale a puff of ghostly vapor against the twilight-blue haze.Her pulse thrummed in her throat as she tightened her grip on the dagger, her last weapon after the frantic fight in the southern hall.The frost-cloaked figure didn’t move at first. They stood at the far edge of the courtyard, a silhouette wrapped in drifting shards of ice, each flake spiraling unnaturally as if held in orbit by unseen hands.The torchlight caught in the frost, scattering tiny rainbows that only made the figure more otherworldly.“Who are you?” Sera demanded, her voice cutting through the silence like steel scraping on stone.No answer.A single step forward, and the ground beneath the figure’s boots cracked, a sound like glass breaking under pressure. Frost spiderwebbed across the flagstones in their wake, racing toward Sera’s feet. She

The world hung still.Snowflakes frozen in the air, Adrien hanging beside her mid-fall, his face locked in a grimace. The black fire from the creatures above was caught in place like molten glass suspended in time.Sera’s breath came out in a visible puff, but it didn’t move away from her lips, it hovered, suspended in front of her face, And then, the frost-cloaked figure lowered their hand.The snow resumed its fall, but slower. Sera hit the ground softly, as though the earth had turned to air beneath her boots. Adrien landed beside her with equal ease, dropping into a crouch, sword still in hand.The figure stepped forward. Their cloak was stitched from pieces of white fur, edges glittering with ice crystals. The hood shadowed most of their face, but Sera could see pale skin beneath, lips tinged blue, not from cold, but as if frost was part of them.“You’ve brought them here,” the figure said in a voice that was neither man’s nor woman’s, but something in between.Sera opened her mo

The spear split like brittle glass, shards of frozen light spraying across the snow. The frostbound staggered, their breath hissing in fury, but the molten creature didn’t even flinch. Its armor pulsed brighter, heat cracking the stone beneath their feet.Adrien yanked Sera back, ignoring the sting of burns along his arm. His eyes locked on the creature, jaw tight. “Move, Sera. Now!”But her legs wouldn’t obey. Her veins were still alight with shadow, threads of darkness slithering toward the molten figure like strings drawn to a puppeteer.The creature tilted its head at her, golden eyes blazing with amusement. “Do you feel that? That pull? It’s not me dragging you, it’s you reaching for me.”Adrien swung his sword, a clean arc of steel and willpower. The blade struck the molten chest with a ringing crack. Sparks and fire erupted, but when the smoke cleared, the creature stood unbroken, grinning with her mouth.Adrien’s hands tightened on the hilt, knuckles white. “Then I’ll cut you

The courtyard didn’t just collapse, it ceased to exist. Stone became dust, dust became ash, ash became nothing under the Ancient’s first step. Its body blotted out the moon, its shadow devouring the flames that once resisted the night.Sera’s scream had not ended. It rang still, a note too sharp for human ears, too vast for mortal lungs. It was a scream of a soul splitting in two.The molten one pressed close against her, whispering into her ear though the roar of ruin drowned everything else. “Yes. Sing us back into the world.”Adrien staggered to his feet, ribs burning with every breath, sword in his hand once more though his body begged him to collapse.He forced his eyes up to the Ancient towering above. Each breath from the creature warped the air into mirages, every exhale like the heat of an exploding star.His throat was raw. “Sera! You have to fight it!”The molten double turned her gaze on him, amusement flickering across her stolen features. “Every time you speak her name,

The courtyard was unrecognizable. Walls lay broken, the sky was a bruised red, and the air trembled under the weight of the Ancient’s presence. Shadows writhed like snakes, fire scorched the stones, and at the center of it all stood Sera, her body transformed, her soul consumed.Her skin glowed with molten fissures, veins of light and shadow threading through her like cracks in glass. Her hair whipped in a wind that wasn’t there, her eyes molten gold.And her hand was raised, Pointed at Adrien. The man she had fought for, bled for, loved with the last pieces of her humanity.Adrien’s body sagged, every bone aching from battle, every drop of blood soaking into the shattered stones. He should not have been standing. Yet he did, shoulders squared, gaze locked on her, chest rising in ragged defiance.“...Sera.” His voice was hoarse, broken. But steady.The ground beneath her feet cracked, flames blooming in her wake. The Ancient’s voice coiled inside her chest, vast and terrible.End him.