Vale's POV
Vincent's corruption spread through my mind like poison.
The five kings' voices, which had been working together moments before, suddenly turned hostile.
"The girl is weak," the Dragon King snarled in my thoughts. "She let the necromancer manipulate us."
"We should have chosen the vampire as our anchor," the Vampire King said coldly. "He would never have fallen for such tricks."
"Pack loyalty means nothing if the alpha cannot protect us," the Werewolf King growled.
"All connections are lies," the Demon King whispered. "Only power matters."
"I should have stayed dead," the original king said with despair. "This world deserves to burn."
"No!" I screamed, fighting against the corruption. "You don't mean that!"
But Vincent just laughed as he finished draining Ryker's power. The ancient king collapsed, his body aging rapidly as centuries of borrowed time caught up with him.
