They were circling. Well, he was prowling with that slow, serpentine confidence of a creature who believed the ground itself worshiped his steps, and Nova circled him back, every muscle drawn tight. She refused to let him close enough to strike, and she refused to give him her back.
"Do you want to know what really happened to your pack?" Ashbane said, his voice curling around her like smoke. His eyes were pure black and dark magic was flowing out of his body.
Green magic surged from Elle in a sudden streak, slamming into his back with a crack that echoed. Ashbane staggered forward, teeth bared, and in the same breath a flare of gold erupted from Nova's hands, colliding with his chest so hard it rattled the air.
To their surprise, he clapped, laughing. A low, chilling sound that did not belong in any mortal throat. Rising to his full height, he lifted his hands as if conducting an orchestra, and dark magic snapped out from him.
It coiled around Elle with such vicious speed that Nova didn't even have time to form a shield for Elle. The shadows wrapped her like barbed wire spun from nightmares.
Elle's eyes blazed green, furious and bright enough to cut through the smoke and dark. She screamed at him, voice tearing through the throne room, "Don't go near her!"
The command wasn't a plea. It was a threat sharpened to a blade.
At that moment, Rex burst through the doors—his sword blazing gold, his eyes glowing the same fierce hue. But Ashbane was ready. Almost as if he had expected it.
Dark magic surged from his hands, coiling like serpents, snapping through the air and ensnaring Rex mid-charge. The net of shadow wrapped around him—tight, unrelenting.
A second later, Fin and Jax charged in. They barely crossed the threshold before the tendrils found them too—lashing out, wrapping them in the same trap of magic.
On the far side of the throne room, Hyran and Aeron burst through.
It was the same—shadow met them instantly, coiling and binding. Everyone trapped, unable to move. And Nova wasn't about to let the shields down of Marra, Balen, or Grant who were defenseless.
Ashbane didn't flinch. The smile never left his face.
"Why was none of our magic working on him?" Fin gasped through gritted teeth, looking at Hyran.
Hyran and Aeron exchanged a glance. Before either could answer, Ashbane spoke.
"Tell me Nova, do you think it makes sense to kill thousands of contributors to an economy?" he asked almost conversationally—like he was lecturing, not fighting.
A dark pulse flared from his hand, sudden and violent. The air itself seemed to warp.
Nova moved on instinct, twisting aside at Alpha speed as the blast tore past her, slamming into a marble pillar. The stone disintegrated—shattered into dust and shards that rained down like glass.
She landed low, spun, and sent a wave of gold energy back at him. He deflected it with a flick of his wrist, the clash of their power rattling the walls.
"Have you ever asked yourself why your mother agreed to stay with the man people claimed to have slain your father and pack?"
As he spoke, he raised his hand—and a crushing wave of dark magic exploded outward like a tidal force. Nova raised a shield, bracing—until it cracked, the weight of it too much. She dropped flat and rolled, the blast slamming into the marble behind her.
The floor detonated—obliterated into fragments and smoke.
She came up low, panting, golden light pulsing in her palms.
Ashbane kept walking toward her through the dust, voice calm.
"Oh yes. I know you and I are not siblings now. I found that out after you left."
He stepped over the ash that was Meredith's body without so much as a glance.
"But see… you weren't Shadowclaw's to take."
He smiled.
"You are mine."
Ashbane lunged—faster than he should have been. His blade arced toward her chest, black lightning trailing its edge. Nova blocked it with a gold shield mid-swing, but the impact knocked her back, heels scraping across the marble.
She caught herself, flipped backward, and launched off the ruined throne stairs, both hands glowing. She hit him square in the chest with a wave of force, sending him skidding. He flipped, landed low, and threw his sword—spinning through the air like a predator.
Nova ducked just in time. It buried into a pillar behind her.
He was already moving again, lunging at alpha speed and landed in a crouch in front of her. He slammed his palm to the floor—black magic cracking upward in jagged spears.
He had her cornered—blade raised high. He stabbed straight down. She veered right. He struck again—she darted left.
No way out.
Then—her hand flicked behind her, gold light flashing.
She didn't attack him. She shattered the marble beneath his feet.
The floor buckled and cracked—uneven, unstable. His footing faltered just enough. His next strike missed by a breath, the momentum driving him forward off balance.
Nova slid beneath his arm, turned, and threw a shield behind her—slamming into his back like a wall of force.
He hit the fractured ground hard, snarling.
She didn't wait. She ran.
He lunged again—this time at Alpha speed. She barely sidestepped, breath caught in her throat as his blade missed her by inches, slicing the air beside her cheek.
Then—he had her.
His weight slammed into her, forcing her back. She tripped on the edge of the throne stairs and fell, her back landing hard against the carpet covering the marble. His body loomed over hers, the black blade pressing closer and closer to her throat.
She grabbed it with both hands, bracing. Shaking. Straining. Her palms burned. Silver blood streamed down her arms where the blade had cut deep, hissing where it touched the metal—where dark magic met divine.
She didn't scream. Didn't flinch.
But gods, it hurt.
She could feel the corruption in it—the rot twisting through her blood—but there was no time to think about that now. No time to panic.
She just had to hold him off. One second longer.
Jax's eyes burned sapphire with rage, but he couldn't speak—couldn't even growl. The black tendrils wrapped around his chest and throat so tightly, his lungs screamed. He thrashed against them, but they held fast, pulsing with dark power.
Fin's bindings loosened just for a second, staggered by the sheer force of his fury. His roar tore through the throne room. "Get off of her!"
His eyes flared pure white, magic surging so violently it cracked the ground beneath his feet.
Ashbane faltered—just for a second. A split-second glance toward him, the faintest sneer forming on his lips.
It was enough.
Nova surged, twisting beneath his arm—just enough to break his grip and gulp a ragged breath of air. Her lungs burned, but she was free.
Ashbane snarled, then straightened. His blade gleamed, slick with her silver blood. He tilted his head with that same eerie calm—like death incarnate.
Then he kicked her—hard. His boot drove into her ribs, locking her down just as she tried to scramble away. Pain lanced through her side, stealing her breath again.
"Your friends are choking," he said softly, almost tenderly. A mockery. A threat wrapped in silk.
Then louder, sharper, his voice cutting through the chaos:
"It's simple. You come with me—now—or you die and everyone here dies."
But Nova didn't hesitate.
She kicked him in the balls with all her strength.
Ashbane's breath hitched, the fury flashing in his eyes.
She rolled hard to the right, his blade stabbing down—missing her throat by inches and driving deep into the carpeted stone beside the throne.
Nova bolted at Alpha speed, a blur across the throne room. Ashbane chased her, fast—too fast. His hand reached for her waist, just a breath behind her. To anyone watching, it looked like he was already touching her.
But then she veered—sharp and sudden. A violent, razor-sharp right turn that no sane creature would have attempted at that speed.
She hurled herself straight through a stained glass window. Shards exploded around her in a cascade of color. Wind rushed in. She caught herself on the ledge, but no one could see.
Ashbane skidded on the marble, too fast to stop.
A portal cracked open directly in front of him, jagged and bright like a wound in the air. Before he could stop himself, he ran straight through into the ruined land of the warsummit where the black rain occurred.
The portal snapped shut behind him with a brutal finality, swallowing his snarl.
Nova hauled herself back up from the window's ledge. She fell onto her back across the fallen glass. Her chest rose and fell in ragged bursts, blood streaking down her palms, thin ribbons of silver and red threading through the shattered colors around her.
Every gold shield she had been maintaining collapsed—shattering like glass underfoot. It was a brutal, undeniable reminder that her display of strength had cost far more than she'd let anyone see.
And as they fell, the dark magic binding the others dissolved into nothing.
Fin didn't hesitate. He sprinted toward her, scraping across the stone, coughing like he'd just been strangled—but he was still in the best shape of anyone there. Only the guards, Marra, Grant, and Bloodmoon remained standing—they'd been shielded by Nova.
Everyone in the throne room had been worse. Elle lay unconscious. Jax coughed, gasping, trying to stand but unable to. Rex collapsed on all fours, coughing up blood. Aeron was also on all fours.
Hyran's voice cut through the chaos.
"Don't touch her!" he gasped, loud and sharp, still coughing. "Not yet. She touched his blade."
Hyran began chanting immediately, voice low and rough, the kind of incantation that felt older than the stone beneath them. Red smoke poured from his forearms in thick coils, gathering, tightening, then shaping itself into a dragon. The creature's glowing eyes narrowing on Nova and it began to circle her.
The dragon dipped low, its snout hovering just above her chest. It inhaled, and the black residue clinging to her skin peeled away in thin, stubborn strands, dragged from her as if resisting its own removal. Each ribbon of darkness was devoured the moment it left her, the red smoke brightening with every pull.
Her eyes grew heavy, lashes lowering, the effort to stay conscious slipping from her inch by inch as the dragon continued its work.
The creature circled again, and again, each pass pulling more of Ashbane's lingering magic from her body until the darkness thinned, and her exhaustion settled over her like a weighted cloak. The last thing she felt was heat—Hyran's magic brushing against her skin—before everything dimmed.
Fin stumbled toward Nova, still coughing, driven purely by instinct. He gathered her into his arms and pressed his lips to her forehead. The connection flared faintly, gold flickering where their skin touched.
A second kiss, reverent and desperate, landed against her temple.
"I love you so much," he whispered, so softly only she could have heard him, even if she couldn't respond.
Gold fire rolled through his body. Where her hands had been bleeding silver, the wounds began to close, skin knitting rapidly beneath his touch.
Bloodmoon watched, grave-faced. "How many more are out there?"
Jax turned, wiping blood from his mouth. "Too many. And we need answers. Interrogation will tell who else is involved."
"We stay." Fin straightened, his voice steadier now. "Jax and I will hold Bloodmoon. We will need reinforcements."
Aeron's sword hit the ground with a thud. "I'll stay too."
Marra watched him with quiet adoration, pride blooming in her chest. She was grateful for his help, yes—but more than that, she understood him. Beneath the layers of magic and scholarship was a man who had once been a warrior. And he still carried that strength quietly.
"I will get them to Redmoon," Hyran said, eyes already glowing, the red smoke curling at his wrists once more.
"Marra, you should go with them." Aeron and Bloodmoon said in unison.
Marra's hands were trembling. She nodded.
Fin spoke, "Rex without Nova channeling into you, your sword won't work. I also don't want her to be alone without protection."
Aeron added, "The way she channeled to you, it surrounded but didn't go through you. I don't believe Hyran or I could replicate that if we tried."
Rex nodded. "I'll stay with her and Elle."
Fin stood with Nova in his arms, and gave her to Rex. Fighting every instinct to go with her. He knew if they left Bloodmoon, it would be taken over by the amount of mages they'd seen.
Hyran created a portal, with Elle still in his arms. "I will return shortly with more mages from Redmoon. We will stand with Bloodmoon."
Rex didn't speak. He just held Nova closer, already facing the portal.
Balen nodded, "Bloodmoon will forever be indebted to Redmoon and Shadowclaw. For this act of loyalty, I shall never forget."
"Let's get these bastards." Jax said.