The blood moon split open completely, like an invisible giant eye overlooking the earth—cold yet blazing. The Gray Realm's sky roiled, and endless gray flames erupted from the rifts, accompanied by shrill wails.
Elea and Lucian stood at the center of the broken altar, surrounded by a world slowly collapsing. The soul-scorching fire burning on their bodies clashed with the blood moon's radiance, gnawing at each other.
"He is about to descend," Elea's voice was hoarse, beads of sweat on her forehead sliding down her neck, catching the faint glow of the soul flame brand.
Lucian reached out to brush her trembling cheek, murmuring, "Then we will greet him—and before that, I want you to remember: you are not alone."
His lips covered hers, hot and urgent as flame. The soul fire of their pact erupted the moment their lips and tongues intertwined, as if the entire void had been ignited. Elea trembled in response; her body, already hypersensitive from the backlash of the soul-scorching pact, felt every touch like a thunderous strike.
Her hands clutched Lucian's shoulders, fingertips digging into his skin as flames flowed from her palms into his body. No boundaries remained between them—only the burning of their desire and souls.
"Lucian… if this is our last night, let me memorize every part of you," Elea whispered, her voice breaking with a tremor.
"Then we'll carve tonight into the edge of the Gray Realm," Lucian lifted her, pressing her back against the broken altar's stone wall, the heat beneath him invading without pretense.
She couldn't help but let out a low moan, legs wrapping tightly around his waist. Embers of soul fire swirled around them, each thrust lighting up the night sky like unfurling phoenix wings. Battlefield and desire merged in this moment; their gasps and moans intertwined with the roar of the crumbling world, weaving a melody of destruction and rebirth.
The Gray Realm trembled at their union, yet the power of the Shattered Moon in the depths of the void. A colossal blood-colored shadow took shape, its wings spanning the sky, countless eyes opening within the blood moon to gaze upon the mortal realm.
Elea wept softly under the dual impact of desire and pain, yet she still pressed close to Lucian's shoulder, murmuring, "As long as I'm with you, I'm not afraid to fall."
Lucian bit out a vow-like whisper in her ear: "Then let us fall together, and burn this sky to ashes."
Their soul flames intertwined into a ring, piercing the blood moon's light to strike directly at the true form of the Shattered Moon King.
The world's ultimate confrontation, amid the blazing fire of desire and sacrifice, was finally ignited.