Chapter 111:
The labyrinth's explosion didn't just roar in their ears—it shook their bones, as if the world had detonated inside them.
Aisha swayed on her feet, covered in ash and blood. But it wasn't her body that hurt most.
It was the absence.
Sanathiel gripped her arm, steadying her as if she might crumble like the ruins around them. Skiller gasped, eyes locked on the smoke coiling where the heart of chaos had been. Salomon stood silent, weapon stained, even the Nevri rendered speechless.
"We're not finished," Sanathiel growled, his voice rough, gaze fixed on the blood-red moon.
They weren't.
Because somewhere in the dark... Rasen was still trapped.
THE PRICE OF CONTROL
Blue fire crackled around Sariel's body, casting hellish light as he staggered to his knees. The ground blackened beneath him, energy searing the air. Sanathiel and Varek lunged—
Chains erupted from the earth.
Thick, living shadows wrenched them down, binding them like prey.
Sariel's eyes burned crimson—but for a heartbeat, something else flickered. Rasen's face twisted in agony, his voice bleeding through:
"Aisha...! Get away from me!"
Then Sariel's grin returned. He flexed his fingers—
Varek's chains tightened, crushing him to his knees.
"You've always tried to stop me, brother." Sariel's voice fractured, Rasen's presence surging beneath. "This time... you won't."
Another gesture. A chain lashed around Sanathiel's throat, forcing the Alpha's muzzle into the dirt.
"The mighty Alpha... reduced to a dog."
With his enemies subdued, Sariel turned to Aisha.
She stood pale, breath ragged, but her gaze never wavered.
"Now I see why you're special." Sariel closed in, voice dripping with hunger. "I want everything from you."
His hand caressed her cheek—
Then yanked her into the air, chains weaving a living cage as they ascended the labyrinth's peak.
A KISS LIKE A KNIFE
Aisha's whisper was barely audible:
"...Rasen."
She saw him—deep in those eyes.
The response wasn't words.
It was a kiss.
Hungry.
Consuming.
Their breath tangled—a violent, intimate exchange. She tasted iron and ash... but beneath it, mint and dried blood. The same scent Rasen carried after training.
That tiny truth speared her: even now, some part of him remained.
Her breath shattered at the contact. Energy drained with every second his lips claimed hers.
This wasn't love.
It was starvation disguised as tenderness—and it hurt worse than any wound.
Even as his fingers carded through her hair, the touch wasn't affection...
It was ownership.
Then—
A tremor.
Rasen's body jerked, every fiber of his being screaming this was wrong.
Like kissing her broke him inside.
Behind Aisha, chains sharpened into spears, poised to impale her.
"You love what I am," Sariel murmured against her lips. "No one else. Because Rasen and I... are one."*
Aisha felt the lie wrap around her like a second skin.
Yet her eyes stayed open. Unbroken.
"No." Her voice was steel. "You're not him."
"Rasen... protects what he loves."
THE FALL
In the final instant—
Rasen shattered Sariel's control.
The chains slackened. His eyes blazed with desperate pain.
"AISHA, NO—!"
The lurch freed her just enough—
Sariel roared and let her drop.
Aisha plummeted, wind screaming in her ears. She slashed her hair free of the chains with her dagger—
Impact.
Her body hit stone, blood painting the ground.
RECKONING
Sanathiel howled, the sound neither wolf nor man—just rage and grief. He shattered his chains, lunging for Sariel.
"ENOUGH!"
Varek rose, blood-tears streaking his face. He bit his arm, smearing his sword with immortal blood.
"You're not my brother anymore..."
"But I'm the only one who can end you."
He charged. Chains splintered one by one—proof of why he was the firstborn, the chosen.
His sword gleamed with his blood—but this time, something shifted. The droplets didn't slide down the steel... they hovered, forming Nevri runes in the air.
"What...?" Sariel whispered, stepping back.
Varek didn't understand either. But it didn't matter.
Because for the first time in centuries...
His blood answered to no one but him.
Their blades met. Fire and collapse. For a breath, there was calm.
Deep within Sariel's body—
Rasen's eyes opened.
No hatred. No fury. Just... understanding.
"Thank you..." Rasen's voice was fading. "For not leaving me alone."
Then—
Silence.
THE LAST SPARK
Aisha forced herself up, legs buckling but will unbroken.
"I WANT A LIFE WITH YOU, RASEN!"
Her scream pierced the chaos.
For a heartbeat—
Everything stilled.
Sariel staggered. His red eyes flickered.
"...Love?" he whispered, confused, as Rasen wrenched against his prison.
The blue fire dimmed. Chains crumbled.
Sanathiel and Varek moved for the killing blow—
But in the fading flames, one truth remained:
Aisha's voice still echoed inside Rasen.
Like a last spark of hope.
THE CAGE WITHIN
Sariel had taken nearly all of Rasen. Every struggle only tightened his chains.
Behind ethereal bars, Rasen hung from a phantom cross, memories and flesh pierced by shadow.
Each time he fought, Sariel squeezed harder.
"She... loves me."
It was his only light.
Then the venomous whisper came:
"Let her go. She doesn't want you anymore."
For the first time—
Rasen hesitated.
Until he heard her.
"I WANT A LIFE WITH YOU, RASEN!"
The cry speared his soul.
His eyes opened.
No more hope in them.
Now—
Only hunger.
The chains piercing his chest began to hum. Not with pain... but rage. Rasen lifted his head—and for the first time, smiled.
"You taught me to devour, Sariel," he thought as the shadows writhed around him. "But you forgot one thing...
You never taught me to let go."