Three days passed since Queen Zahra's trials.
The pyramid's atmosphere had shifted not with celebration, but with tension.
The Veil Shards rested beneath the throne.
The bonded queens grew stronger.
But Azeriah's whisper had returned.
And this time…
She wasn't speaking through Zephyr.
Virellia — the Ice Queen, composed, graceful, loyal — had grown distant.
She skipped council meetings. Ignored the sacred rites. And her dreams had turned dark.
Zephyr found her standing alone in the Frost Garden, her hands trembling over frozen petals.
"You feel it too," she said without turning. "Don't you?"
Zephyr stepped closer. "Virellia, talk to me."
She turned, her skin pale blue, her lips cracked.
"She's inside me, Zephyr.
You took her in… and now she's leaking into us all.
I see her in the mirrors.
I hear her when I breathe."
System Warning(Ding)
Queen Virellia: Corruption Detected – 12%
Azeriah's Echo Influence expanding
System Core may fragment if emotional stability fails
New Status Effect: Mirror Haunting – Emotional projection from dormant queen
Zephyr cursed under his breath.
He wasn't just keeping Azeriah sealed. He was leaking her — into the women he loved.
Memory Trigger: The Ice Betrayal
When Zephyr touched her wrist, another memory unlocked.
A snow-covered castle.
Virellia in silver armor, weeping in the throne room.
Zephyr chained by the neck.
Azeriah standing over him — commanding his heart like a puppet.
"You promised me, Zephyr," Virellia had said. "But you let her take you."
"You chose her, again."
He had fallen to Azeriah's lust, centuries ago.
And now history risked repeating.
A Choice in the Frost
"I can fight her," Virellia said softly, "but only if you swear something."
Zephyr looked into her frost-glass eyes.
"Swear that when the time comes…
you'll choose me.
Not her.
Not the flame you once married."
Zephyr stepped closer, his aura pulsing.
"I can't promise the past won't haunt us.
But I swear… this time, I'll fight it beside you."
She fell into his arms, trembling.
"Then hold me.
And let me freeze her out of my mind."
System Update(Ding)
Azeriah's Echo suppressed in Virellia
Corruption Level reduced: 12% → 5%
Bond Strengthened: Ice Loyalty
Passive Unlocked: [Frozen Flame] – Temporary immunity to god-essence corruption
Harem Unity: 83%
Meanwhile… Elsewhere
But even as one queen was saved, another trembled.
Clarissa stood alone in the sanctuary, staring at her reflection.
Her hands were glowing red.
And in the mirror…
A different face smiled back.
Azeriah's voice echoed:
"He thinks he sealed me.
He forgets I'm not just inside him.
I'm inside all of you."
The sacred sanctuary once shimmered with divine warmth.
Now, it was cold… but not from frost.
From absence.
From a presence that didn't belong—yet lived in every reflection.
Clarissa stood in front of the obsidian mirror, her pregnant belly glowing faintly under her robe.
And behind her reflection?
Azeriah. Smiling. Watching.
The Voice in the Mirror
"Don't look away," Azeriah whispered.
Clarissa gasped. "You're not real—"
"I'm more real than the child you carry.
He will be my vessel.
And you, my perfect mother…"
Clarissa screamed—
—but no sound left her lips.
Instead, a red mark burned into her neck.
Her eyes shimmered gold for a moment… then returned.
She collapsed.
Zephyr burst into the sanctuary moments later, Virellia and Zahra behind him.
He found Clarissa unconscious, surrounded by shattered mirrors.
System Alert:
Clarissa: Azeriah Contamination 29%
Status: Soulbound Corruption – Spreading to Unborn
Mirror Realm Breach Level: 41%
Time Remaining: 48 hours before permanent host possession
Zahra turned to him.
"She's building a kingdom of reflections inside your queens.
A crown worn behind their eyes."
Virellia added, "If she finishes… she won't need your body. She'll rule from theirs."
Zephyr growled. "Then I'm going in."
Entering the Mirror Realm
With the help of the system and Zahra's flame sigils, Zephyr created a mirror gate and plunged into the reflection realm—a distorted dimension built from memory, lust, and Azeriah's will.
It was twisted.
Each queen's reflection walked these hallscorrupted, enhanced, or broken.
Clarissa's mirror-self stood at the center, her skin glassy, her womb glowing like a lantern.
Azeriah's voice echoed:
"You've brought them so far, Zephyr.
But the more they love you, the easier they are to crack."
Zephyr gritted his teeth.
"Then I'll break every mirror in this realm if I have to."
Mirror Trial Begins
System Triggered:
New Trial: Realm of Reflection
Objective: Free Clarissa's true soul
Enemy: Azeriah's Fragmented Self
Reward: 1 Memory Fragment, Soul Purification, System Stabilization
Time Limit: 1 Hour (Mirror Collapse Imminent)
The mirrored Clarissa hissed, launching chains of red silk at him.
Zephyr dodged, unleashed [Lust Clone], and shattered three walls of memory, revealing visions of:
Their first kiss
Clarissa mourning alone while pregnant
Zephyr laughing with another queen
He shouted, "I never stopped loving you, Clarissa! This… thing in you isn't stronger than us!"
The mirror cracked.
Clarissa's voice returned faintly.
"Z-Zephyr?"
Azeriah's reflection stepped forth, wearing Clarissa's face—her eyes golden, her body radiant with false motherhood.
"You can't fight love, Zephyr.
You only delay the moment they all become me."
Zephyr activated [Pleasure Bind], locking her arms, and stepped into the flames of the memory.
"I'm not fighting love.
I'm fighting your twisted lie."
He kissed Clarissa's real soul within the mirror—
—and it shattered.
System Update(Ding)
Mirror Trial Complete
Clarissa: Corruption Level reduced to 3%
Child: Cleansed of Azeriah Echo
New Skill Acquired: [Mirrorbane] – Immune to illusion-based seduction
Harem Unity: 86%
Memory Fragment Recovered: 8/11
Azeriah's Echo Suppression Level: 53%
Clarissa wept in Zephyr's arms.
"You came back for me," she whispered.
"Every time," he said softly, holding her. "No matter what she builds, we'll burn it down together."
But far away, in the deepest layer of the mirror realm—
Azeriah sat on a throne of broken glass, smiling.
"Good.
Break me once.
Bleed for me next."
The Veil Shards had stopped glowing.
Clarissa had been saved.
The mirror realm suppressed.
But the system still pulsed with danger.
System Notification:
3 Memory Fragments Remaining
Location: Unknown
Suggestion: Seek the Vault of Kings Who Were Erased
Zephyr stood beneath the desert stars, Zahra beside him. Virellia watched from the shadows, her hand resting on her frostblade.
"You're sure it's real?" Zephyr asked.
Zahra nodded. "The Hall exists. Built by kings too ashamed to be remembered. That's where she left it—the truth of your ninth queen. The one no one dares speak of."
They traveled east, past dead oases and broken shrines, until the dunes gave way to obsidian stone.
There, buried beneath silver sands, stood a door with no handle, marked only by a phrase:
"To enter is to forget.
To survive is to remember everything."
Zephyr touched it.
The door dissolved into light.
They entered a great dome of floating tomes, starlight ink, and rotating memory orbs.
The silence was holy.
And at the center sat a woman in robes of deep indigo, her silver hair flowing like ink in water.
Her eyes were closed—yet she saw everything.
"Zephyr Thorn," she said. "You've come for what should never be remembered."
He stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
She opened her eyes.
"I am Queen Eluriah, the Celestial Librarian.
Ninth of your forgotten wives.
The one who betrayed you… to save you."
Eluriah gestured, and a memory orb descended.
Inside: Zephyr on his knees. Eluriah standing before him, tears falling. Behind her… Azeriah chained in a glass coffin.
"I erased myself from your soul," Eluriah whispered. "Because Azeriah had already planted a seed of madness in you.
You were unraveling.
I was the only one strong enough to choose to be… forgotten."
Zephyr clenched his fists. "Why now?"
She rose, stepping barefoot down the silver steps.
"Because the final veil is close. And once Azeriah's last memory returns… she will rewrite all of you."
The Ninth Memory Fragment
She placed the orb into his chest.
System Update:(Ding)
Memory Fragment Recovered: 9/11
New Skill: [Truthweaver] – Immune to memory corruption
New Passive: [Cognitive Flame] – Allies within 10m gain clarity against lust-based illusions
Bonded Queen: Eluriah – The Forgotten Mind
Harem Unity: 89%
Zephyr gasped as images flooded his mind
Eluriah sealing Azeriah's godseed
Zephyr swearing love to her in secret
A final kiss before she sacrificed her name
He dropped to his knees.
"I remembered you…"
She touched his cheek.
"And I never forgot you."
System Evolution Triggered(Ding)
All queens now aware of Azeriah's coming return
Final Veil Ritual can begin in 3 chapters
Godseed Stability: 61%
Eluriah's Warning: "If Azeriah takes full form… one queen must be consumed."
Zephyr stood in the center of knowledge, surrounded by queens, fire, ice, and memory.
And far away—Azeriah smiled in the mirror again.
"Let them remember.
It won't stop the fire."