Lucian's body lay still on the Star Scar Altar, his sacred silver armor shattered, blood intermingling with blazing runes seeping slowly outward. The sundered rune on his shoulder blade glowed a purplish-red, like some abyssal creature writhing beneath his skin, or like fate twisting and reforging itself in his bones and blood.
Ilea knelt beside him, her hair disheveled, tears mingling with bloodstains on her cheeks. She placed a hand on his cracked chest, whispering his name:
"Lucian… you can't die. You haven't kept your—oath to me yet."
His fingertips trembled slightly, and those once ice-cold eyes slowly opened.
"I'm here," he murmured weakly. "I won't… let you go."
In that moment, Ilea felt the curse mark within her had emptied, but a new power surged in her heart—not blazing lust, nor fallen stars, but a seal from the depths of Lucian's soul, like a resonance.
She suddenly understood.
The covenant between her and Lucian was not merely the resonance of desire, but a "Oath Seal Link" at the soul level—an ancient, forbidden astral spirit vow.
As long as one of them still lived, this oath seal would burn forever.
She gently pressed her hand to his sundered rune, slipping off her tattered cloak from her shoulder, pressing her bare skin against his back.
"Then let me… complete this covenant seal."
She leaned down, nipping softly at his neck, her tongue licking over the wound as a low incantation escaped her lips:
"By desire as brand, by flame as vow. I, Ilea Phoenix, offer my flesh and blood to forge an undying covenant with Lucian Estar."
As the words fell, she slowly straddled his body, sinking deeply onto the heat that had once given her both frenzy and redemption, riding him like a mount.
Lucian let out a muffled groan, the echo of pleasure mingling with agony shooting up his spine into his brain.
"Ilea… have you gone mad?"
"I should never have existed," she said, tears and frenzy shining in her eyes. "But you gave me a name, a will, and love. I won't… let you bear this alone anymore."
She began to move slowly, warmth and tightness enclosing him, the sundered rune glowing strangely where their skin met.
Their gasps intertwined in the empty Star Scar Temple, pleasure pouring like a reversed galaxy, merging with the echoes of soul, blood, and fate.
Each thrust was a brand of the oath seal carved into their souls.
Each drop of sweat was proof of defying destiny.
Ilea panted, touching his face, crying out as climax overtook her:
"Lucian… I am yours!"
At that moment, the entire Star Scar Altar erupted in brilliant light, the void tearing open, a beam of radiance piercing the ceiling—
The oath flame was reforged, fate was torn asunder.
Lucian seemed reborn, his arm wrapping around Ilea, flipping her suddenly to press her against a stone pillar, a searing thrust shattering the last restraints—
"Then remember this too," he said, his voice hoarse and fierce. "You'll never escape."
They joined in the light, burning amid the ruins.
In the distance, the shadowed priest stood at the rift gate, but there was no panic on his face.
"The Oath Flame Seal?" he sneered. "That is merely… the beginning of another chain."
In the sky, a new star emerged.
Its name—Abyssal Oath Star.
And its arrival signaled that the true splintering of the world had only just begun.