The light pouring from May is not gentle.
It crackles—wild, ancient, furious—like a storm that waited centuries for permission to rise.
Bits of the room lift into the air—papers, glass shards, broken wood—caught in the silver current swirling around her.
Nathel stares at her like he's seeing a ghost.
Or a miracle.
"May…"
His voice barely makes it past his lips.
"You—your power—"
But the villain cuts him off with a low, guttural snarl.
"That bond should have stayed buried."
May turns her glowing eyes on him.
The villain's shadowy body recoils.
For the first time—
he looks unsure.
"This is impossible," he hisses.
"I sealed your memories. I sealed your power. I sealed you."
May steps forward, the silver aura sharpening like a blade around her.
"You sealed the wrong part," she says quietly.
"You only sealed what I remembered—"
The force around her darkens, deepening into something older, fiercer.
"—not what my soul never forgot."
The villain tries to speak, but the light slams him back.
He crashes into the opposite wall, the impact cracking the plaster.
He looks up, sneering—but there's fear in it.
"You don't know what you're doing."
May's voice is steady.
"I know exactly what I'm doing."
The villain tries to stand—
but the bond surges again, this time connecting her and Nathel in a blazing arc of silver light.
Nathel gasps, clutching his chest.
He feels everything she feels.
Every bit of awakening power.
Every shard of returning memory.
Every echo of the love he once tried to bury.
And May sees a flash in her mind—
not her memory,
not his memory,
but their memory.
A past life.
A battlefield.
May standing in front of Nathel, shielding him.
The villain towering above them, furious that she chose Nathel over him.
Her heart slams back into the present with violent clarity.
She fires a bolt of silver energy—
and the villain dives out of its path, the attack slicing clean through the wall as if it were air.
"Nathel," May says, voice tight but unwavering.
"I need you to stand up."
He pushes shakily to his feet, still stunned by her power.
"May—you shouldn't be able to do this. Not this fast. Not this strongly."
Her eyes brighten.
"That's because I've done it before."
The villain roars, "ENOUGH!"
Dark tendrils lash out from him, dozens at once, all aimed at her.
Nathel moves without thinking—
"May, WATCH—"
But she raises her hand—
And the shadows disintegrate mid-air.
The villain stumbles back.
"No… no, this isn't possible—she should be broken—she should be—"
"Powerless?" May finishes, stepping closer.
"That's what you wanted."
His eyes blaze with hatred.
"You were supposed to stay forgotten."
"And you were supposed to stay gone," she replies.
Silver light coils around her arms like armor.
The air hums with rising energy.
"Nathel," she says softly, not looking away from the villain, "I need you to trust me."
He swallows hard.
"I trust you more than my own breath."
Her heart tightens—
just enough to make the bond pulse warm between them.
Then the villain stops retreating.
He straightens.
And his voice drops, cold and venomous.
"You think you've awakened, little one?"
He spreads his hands.
"Let me show you what REAL power looks like."
The shadows behind him surge like a tsunami—black, towering, monstrous.
The room shakes.
The ceiling cracks.
Nathel grabs May's hand.
"Brace—!"
The villain throws the full force of his darkness at them, a wave large enough to crush the entire house—
And May meets it with light.
Silver and black collide.
The impact rattles the foundation, throws Nathel against the wall, and nearly knocks May off her feet.
But she holds.
She stands firm.
And she pushes back.
The darkness splinters.
The shadow wave distorts.
The villain roars in disbelief—
"THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE!"
May steps through the shifting storm, eyes blazing brighter than ever.
"It is," she whispers.
"Because for the first time—"
The silver around her surges like a heartbeat.
"—I'm fighting with all my memories."
A second heartbeat answers hers—
Nathel's.
Strong.
Sure.
Unbreakable.
The villain's darkness begins to collapse.
May raises her hand for the final strike—
But the villain's eyes widen suddenly.
Not in fear.
In realization.
And a slow, awful smile spreads across his face.
"Oh," he murmurs.
"So that's where you hid it."
May freezes.
"Hid what?"
The villain's grin widens into something twisted.
"The last piece of the bond."
He points at her chest.
"No… not you."
Then he points at Nathel.
"Him."
Nathel's whole body goes still.
May turns sharply toward him.
"Nathel… what is he talking about?"
Nathel doesn't answer.
He can't.
Because deep in his chest—
something begins to glow.
Something he didn't know was there.
But the villain did.
He whispers:
"You hid the source of your bond inside him. Deep. Locked. Forgotten."
May's entire world tilts.
Nathel's knees buckle.
The villain steps back with a triumphant sneer.
"And now that it's waking…"
His eyes turn pitch-black.
"I can finally take it."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR ends with the bond core awakening inside Nathel—and the villain ready to rip it out.