Chapter 278 Spells

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After saying those words, guards materialized from the shadows of the estate, pouring into every doorway, every hallway, every crack in the stone walls. Their boots thundered against the marble floor, shields raised, armor gleaming beneath the torchlight. In the blink of an eye, we were surrounded.

Row after row of soldiers pressed in, a steel circle locking us in ce. There were too many iof /ithem to count, and though we weren’t outnumbered, their presence was still overwhelming. It didn’t feel like they were mere wizards but instead, fortresses.

Zaria reveled in the moment. She let out a sharpugh that captured my attention. “This is fun,” she sang. Her smile widened when I red at her, and I realized she had been waiting for that reaction all along.

“Enough of this!” Cade eximed.

He stepped forward, his entire presence zing with the authority of the Praetor. “You will not get away with what you are doing,” he dered.

His words struck something in me, a reminder of why he had risen so far and so quickly. His power wasn’t just in his fists or his wolf–it was in his voice, in the conviction he carried that made others believe, even in the face of impossible odds. fna4f9 Content originallyes from f?ndnovel/fna4f9

Azalea, however, only leaned back on her throne. “Such a great aura,” she mused. “You’re right. I can’t control you yet, little Praetor. But I will soon.”

She lifted her hand, twirling her fingers around everyone in the room. “In fact, all of you… have such a great aura.”

Her gaze drifted across the room–over Rowan, Elias, Abel, and Cade–lingering on each one with predatory interest. “True Alphas, are you not?”

The words slithered across my skin. I clenched my fists at my side, resisting the urge to move closer to Rowan and shield him from her eyes.

“Ahh…” she exhaled, her eyes glimmering with hunger. “I can feel the power coursing through you. So strong. So pure. So ripe.”

“I’ll let you sumb to my strength.”

Then, she stood, raising her arms. The air itself seemed to bow toward her.

She spoke, her voiceyered with echoes that did not belong to this realm. Words poured from her mouth in a tongue so ancient it burned my ears to hear it.

“Fac eos surgere

Fac eos meos

Mea potestas ibi est, tantum quantum mea est

Ad tenebras afferendas.

b11:27 /bbMon/bb, /b29 Sept

Chapter 278 Spells

Ego sum summus.”

The spell vibrated through the ground, rattling stone, wood, and bone.

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b*/bb5 /bFree Coins

I gasped as the torches flickered and went out one by one, until only Azalea glowed, a beacon of dark brilliance in the sea of shadows. The runes on the guards‘ armors lit up, burning crimson.

The soldiers roared in unison. Their bodies stiffened, and then moved like puppets pulled by strings.

Azalea’sughter cut through the chaos.

I stumbled back a step, but she held onto my hand. The power radiating from her was suffocating.

Her eyes gleamed with victory as she raised both hands higher.

“This,” she whispered, “is only the beginning.”

Her nails dug into my skin, and her eyes bore into mine.

“Now,” she whispered, low enough for only me to hear. “Detoxify me. I need it. Give me more.”

I wanted to pull away, to spit in her face, but the darkness pressing against my chest left me no choice. She forced my hand to hers, and a pulse ran between us. I gasped as her corruption poured into me, ck tar winding through my veins, draining my strength while she brightened, her body glowing with vitality.

It was like pouring poison into myself, and yet I couldn’t stop. My knees trembled, sweat slicked down my temple. Around us, the world exploded into chaos.

Cade roared, shifting partially, his ws gleaming with his Alpha strength as he tore through armored soldiers. Rowan, his face bloodied but unyielding, fought like a beast unleashed, des shing in his hands. Abel’s aura zed, his voicemanding even as shadows battered against him. Every strike of theirs met unnatural resistance, every blow countered with doubled ferocity by soldiers who were monsters wrapped in Azalea’s power.

It wasn’t a fight. It was a massacre.

I wanted to join them. I was already nning my escape. I knew that I was feeding this dark energy by detoxifying it. If I moved away right now, then she will cease to-

I suddenly felt cold steel graze my throat. My eyes widened as I felt his presence.

Kyle.

His arm wrapped tight around my body, his de pressing against my skin, the edge close enough that one wrong breath would spill my blood.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“Kyle,” I choked, twisting in his hold, but he only pressed tighter. “Let me igo/i. You don’t have to do this!”

Zaria’sugh cut through the sound of steel shing and spells erupting like firecrackers. She leaned against the chaos as though it were a festival meant for her amusement.

“Ah, this is my dreame true,” she crooned, her grin widening as she savored every scream. “Look at

11:27 Mon, 29 Sept

Mon, 29 Sept

Chapter 278 Spells

@K 3.42%2

*5 Tree Coins

them–the mighty Alphas, the chosen heirs, drowning in her darkness. Look at you, littlemb, so desperate, so trapped. Isn’t it beautiful?”

I red at her, heart hammering, fury fighting against fear. “You’re insane”

But she only tilted her head, her smirk deepening. “Maybe. Or maybe I’m the only one who can see what’s real. This is the world we were promised. Chaos, power, and your suffering as the crown.”

I jerked against Kyle’s hold, fighting for even a scrap of freedom, but the de bit against my skin, and I froze, feeling the sting of blood bead along my neck.

The battle around us grew worse. Abel was knocked to one knee. Rowan staggered, a dozen ckened soldiers swarming him like wolves. Cade roared, his ws tearing through armor, but for every soldier he brought down, two more surged forward, empowered by Azalea’s endless well.

Rowan’s nning had gone down the drain because there was nowhere else to exit from. Therefore, he proceeded with protecting Arden..

However, even with all of them fighting with all of their might, there was an obvious thought in the room.

We were losing.

Light and shadow shed so violently that it blinded me, and through it all, Azaleaughed, drunk on her power and my unwilling sacrifice.

Was this how it was going to end?

Did wee here just to be massacred–all of us?

Just then, through the roar of chaos, the screams of the wounded, and the triumphant shriek of Azalea came a voice.

A small and innocent voice.

Despite its light timbre, it cut through everything like the first drop of rain in a desert.

“…Mommy?”

The word echoed, rippling across the estate, and the world stilled.

My heart stopped.

Azalea froze, causing the soldiers to freeze, too, their heads twitching toward the sound.

Rowan’s de halted inches from an enemy’s throat. Cade’s ws stilled in the chest of a soldier who suddenly looked lost. I turned my head slowly, my eyes widening.

There, at the far end of the estate’s shattered hall, stood a child.

Not just any child, but Ca–my daughter.

Chapter 279 Shards Of ss

Chapter 279 Shards Of ss