At that moment, Aerea stood hand in hand with her younger sister Rhaella at the windowsill of the great hall.
Their eyes stayed fixed on the demons leaping across the walls outside. The tension made their palms damp with sweat.
"Sister, are you afraid?" Rhaella tilted her head slightly, her gaze filled with worry as she asked softly.
Aerea turned slowly, her eyes drifting to the door of the hall. Beyond it lay their mother Rhaena's chamber.
Pressing her lips together, determination flickered in her eyes. She drew a deep breath and said firmly, "I'm not afraid. We must protect Mother!"
The moment the words left her mouth, a terrifying surge of magic erupted from Aerea's body.
The power seemed alive, spreading upward like the petals of a blood lotus blooming from her feet. The massive petals folded inward, encasing both sisters until they were sealed inside a crimson bud.
On the rooftop opposite the windowsill, Tyanna—transformed into a skull-headed panther—watched intently with blood-red eyes. She muttered, "Empress Visenya's cocoon reinforcement… how could it possibly envelop others as well?!"
As she pondered, the crimson bud slowly unfurled.
The sisters emerged, their appearances drastically changed. In an instant, their young bodies matured into the forms of women in their twenties.
The dresses that once fit snugly were now stretched too tightly, their skirts shortened to barely cover their figures.
At the same time, Rhaella's own magic burst forth violently.
Fluorescent white energy rippled outward like waves, while a vast, terrifying psychic force radiated from both sisters, thickening the very air around them.
Standing side by side, the sisters turned to face each other.
Rhaella embraced Aerea and whispered, "Follow the flow of my magic and release your psychic power."
"Mhm." Aerea nodded.
Their matured bodies shimmered with white psychic light as they slowly lifted off the ground.
Tyanna, seeing this, was instantly reminded of Empress Rhaenys' magic techniques. She shouted, "Attack! Stop them—now!!"
At her command, demons sprang from the walls and rooftops, rushing at the sisters.
Those with ranged powers unleashed them—bone spikes and fleshy tentacles shot toward Aerea and Rhaella.
But in unison, the sisters curled together, their combined aura flaring outward. White psychic energy and demonic power enveloped them, condensing into a radiant full moon. Every projectile that touched it was instantly deflected.
Sensing the immense power within, Tyanna hesitated, retreating dozens of meters before watching from afar.
When the moon swelled to nearly four meters across, it suddenly burst apart, scattering into countless orbs of psychic energy. They shot outward in all directions, slamming into the charging awakened demons.
One demon with the body of a hunting dog, being at the front, was struck first. Its body seized violently before collapsing like a kite with its string cut.
The instant it hit the ground, veins on its head burst one after another with loud cracks, spraying purple blood like a fountain.
Those demons who tried to flee found themselves relentlessly hunted. The psychic spheres streaked after them like comets, chasing them into every hidden corner before striking true.
In moments, the courtyard outside the Visenya side hall rang with the sound of heads exploding like firecrackers. The air grew thick with blood.
Watching this, Tyanna's expression darkened further. She retreated again, her form flickering as she shifted back to her human self.
Naked upon the palace rooftop, she fixed her gaze on the sisters' distant figures, her eyes heavy with urgency.
The awakened demons who had barely escaped death clustered around her, clamoring for orders.
"Their magic can be shared—its combined force is terrifying! Stronger even than Empress Rhaenys' full moon attack!"
"Princesses Aerea and Rhaella are escorting Queen Rhaena toward the Dragonpit. They must be planning to escape on Dreamfyre and Balerion! Could this ruin King Maegor's plans completely?"
Tyanna raised a hand to brush her black hair aside, her eyes still locked on the three figures making their way toward Rhaenys Hill.
After a long silence, she spoke coldly: "Assemble the Imperial Guard at once. Arm the siege crossbows. Kill them from a distance—they must not reach the Dragonpit."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" A demon that had once been a commander of the Imperial Guard shifted back into human form.
The awakened warriors born from the Imperial Guard wasted no time. They sprinted toward the Sword Guard Tower, rallying the human troops for battle.
"You lot, help transport the ballistae—horses are too slow!" Tyanna barked her order at the other demons. "Those with ranged abilities, come with me to stall Aerea and Rhaella. We cannot let them advance!"
The beast demons responded in unison and immediately sprinted off in the direction the Imperial Guard Awakened had gone.
Another group of ranged demons, led by Tyanna, swept toward Rhaenys Hill like a fierce gust of wind.
Aerea and Rhaella were forced to move slowly, burdened with caring for their mother, Rhaena, who was just an ordinary human.
Tyanna and her band soon reached Rhaenys Hill and quietly set an ambush around it.
The moment the three women arrived at the base, a deadly storm erupted from the hilltop—bone spears, razor-sharp spikes, and foul-smelling acid orbs rained down in a merciless barrage.
Seeing no other choice, Aerea once again unleashed the Crimson Lotus Demon Qi. Demonic energy surged around her, instantly enhancing both her own power and her sister's.
Their forms shifted once more, transforming into taller, fuller, mature figures.
Without hesitation, Rhaella clung tightly to Aerea. A brilliant white aura of spiritual force flared from their bodies, wrapping around them and forming a massive full moon. It floated slowly above Rhaena, blazing with dazzling light.
Every attack from the hilltop shattered against the moon's immense power the instant it touched its surface.
But beneath that shining sphere, Rhaena clutched her head in agony, her face pale as death.
She was only human. Even being close to the spiritual moon formed by her daughters made her feel as though her skull were being split apart.
Seeing this, Aerea and Rhaella raised the moon higher into the air.
But that left Rhaena dangerously exposed.
The volleys of spikes were so dense that a few slipped through the moon's faint gaps, slamming into the ground near Rhaena. They carved out small craters and sent dust scattering.
Watching her mother caught in danger, Rhaella panicked and lowered the moon again. But its natural outpouring of spiritual force once more ravaged Rhaena's mind, driving her into unbearable pain.
"What do we do?" Rhaella cried, her voice trembling with helpless panic.
Aerea, however, stayed calm even in the face of this desperate crisis.
On her flight with Balerion to the Valyria Peninsula, she had survived countless brushes with death. Those trials had taught her how to remain steady, to protect herself and those she loved.
"I'll awaken. While I still have my mind, I'll slaughter these wretched demons. You must protect Mother and flee on Dreamfyre," Aerea said firmly, her eyes resolute.
"Absolutely not! You can't turn into a man-eating monster!" Rhaella protested, her face stricken with horror.
Just then, a squad of Awakened hauling bed-crossbows charged toward Dragon Square, with dozens of heavily armed human Imperial Guards close behind. Their pounding footsteps beat against the earth like a war drum, kicking up clouds of dust.
"If you don't awaken now, it will be too late!" Aerea shouted urgently to her sister Rhaella.
With that, she slowly released her arms from around Rhaella's waist and resolutely stepped down from within the full moon's psychic sphere. At the very last moment, her gaze softened as she looked into Rhaella's eyes and whispered:
"You must protect Mother."
"No! Sister!" Rhaella cried, desperately reaching out to grasp her hand.
But Aerea only gave a faint smile as her body drifted downward.
A surge of demonic energy erupted from her. Strands of hair fell away as her scalp hardened into bone plates. From the sides of her head, sharp, sword-like armor sprouted downward like bamboo shoots breaking through the earth. The armor's surface gleamed like a mirror, yet its chilling radiance was as deadly as twin broad blades. Her forehead was encased in thick bone armor, while the back of her head fanned out into a mane of blade-like structures—like a grotesque flower blooming in the dark.
Her arms transformed into massive mantis-like blades, her lower body warped into reverse-jointed hooves. Her awakened form, fluid yet powerful, resembled a work of art—an agile body honed for lethal precision.
To Rhaella's eyes, Aerea was like a flash of lightning—vanishing the instant she appeared. When she spotted her again, Aerea was already at the ballistae behind Dragon Square.
Though not towering in size, her awakened form carried speed beyond compare, rivaling even Aegon's phantom sword techniques. With a single flick of her metallic mantis arms, the demons dragging the ballistae were shredded before they could even scream, reduced to mangled heaps as blood sprayed like fountains across the ground.
Whoosh—her figure flickered again, ghostlike. In an instant, several ballistae were slashed apart, exploding into flying splinters of wood and shards of metal.
Yet instead of continuing her slaughter, she slowly walked toward the corpse of a demon. It was a sheep-like creature, cleaved in half at the waist, its entrails spilling across the ground as the stench of blood filled the air.
"Entrails… hungry!" Aerea's body trembled violently, beyond her control. Her eyes locked onto the demon's innards with a crazed hunger. She lowered her mantis blade, hooked the sheep demon's heart, and raised it slowly toward her mouth.
Her jaws opened, lined with sharp teeth. Though her face still bore a human outline, her lips had split back to her ears, turning her appearance into something horrifying.
Watching her sister about to consume raw flesh, Rhaella's heart filled with despair. She screamed with all her strength,
"No!! Never! Aerea!!"
At that instant, the white full moon above burst with a surge of overwhelming psychic power. The wave spread outward like a tidal force, rippling across Dragon Square.
Beneath the moon, Rhaena collapsed at once, struck unconscious by the shock. Aerea too faltered, her motion to bite into the demon's heart freezing midair.
Then, Rhaella's voice echoed softly in her mind:
"Don't eat it. Don't."
That voice was like a faint dawn breaking through the night, giving Aerea a brief spark of clarity.
In her mind, Aerea called out anxiously:
"Sister, where are you?"
But no answer came. Her fleeting rationality flickered like a dying flame, about to be swallowed again by darkness.
Above Dragon Square, the full moon that was Rhaella drifted overhead. Inside, her features had twisted into a ghastly grimace. She too was nearing the edge of awakening. Upon her head had sprouted a seven-pronged crown of flesh, like that of Empress Rhaenys, exuding a sinister and dangerous aura.
Rhaella suddenly reached out and gripped one of the crown's fleshy spires. With a resolute expression, she snapped it off with a sharp crack. In the moment Aerea was still stunned by the psychic shockwave, Rhaella drove the broken spire straight into her sister's eye socket.
She seized another spire and thrust it into Aerea's other eye with deadly precision.
"Sister, don't fight me. Let my psychic power take control of your awakened body. Drop your defenses and let me…" Rhaella's voice rang clear in Aerea's mind.
That voice carried a strange power, pulling her back from the brink.
With what little strength she had, Aerea whispered in her mind, faint yet steady:
"I'm counting on you, Rhaella."
By then, her features and ears were pierced through by seven fleshy spikes, each like an unbreakable lock. The beast within her was sealed.
Rhaella had taken full control of her sister's awakened body.