Chapter 180
Gold detonated from the spearheads in a unified blast
directly into Draevyn.
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streams of concentrated power tearing through the air and slamming
The impact should have crushed him.
For a heartbeat… it seemed to.
His body jerked.
Light engulfed him.
He staggered back a step as energy tore across his form in violent waves.
Hope sparked.
Then-
He began to laugh.
Low at first.
Then louder.
The gold did not consume him.
It fed him.
The energy bent warped drawn inward like water vanishing down a drain. It streamed across his skin in luminous veins, sinking into him until the courtyard dimmed with the sudden absence of light.
One by one, the spearheads went dark.
The glow vanished.
Power drained.
The guards stared down at their weapons in stunned disbelief–lifeless shafts of metal now dull and useless in their hands.
Then they looked back at Draevyn.
He stood taller.
Brighter.
Something inside him now burning hotter… stronger.
The commander reacted instantly.
His hand lifted, shadow already gathering at his palm-
But Draevyn was faster.
His eyes turned black.
Not dark.
Black
Total. Depthless. Devouring.
He raised one finger slowly to his lips.
Chapter 180
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“Shhh.”
The word was barely sound.
It was command.
Black mist erupted around the guards.
Not drifting.
Clinging.
It wrapped around throats, crawled into mouths, filled lungs with suffocating hunger.
Armor scraped.
Spears clattered.
They began to choke.
Gasping.
Fighting for breath that would not come.
Kaelani strained violently against the roots, fury exploding through her veins.
“Stop!”
The bark tore deeper into her wrists.
She barely felt it.
Across the courtyard, Julian and Jace exchanged a single look.
No words needed.
No hesitation.
Julian’s mouth curved with lethal certainty.
“Guess we’re doing this the hard way.”
Jace exhaled once.
“Wouldn’t be us if we didn’t.”
Bone snapped.
Muscle tore.
Fur exploded across skin.
Two massive wolves burst forward in a blur of lethal motion striking from opposite sides with such violent speed the ground itself seemed to recoil.
Draevyn’s head snapped toward them.
His focus broke.
The black mist faltered.
His hold on the guards collapsed.
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Then they hit him.
Not like beasts.
Like a force of nature given fangs.
The impact drove him backward, cracks splintering outward beneath his feet.
Julian’s jaws found flesh first.
He sank his fangs deep into Draevyn’s shoulder, tearing through glamoured skin and into the corrupted power beneath. Blood
thick, dark, wrong burst across his muzzle as he ripped his head sideways with savage intent.
Jace went for the throat.
His teeth locked around Draevyn’s neck in a crushing grip, muscles bunching as he tried to wrench it open – to end this before another heartbeat could pass.
Draevyn roared.
Not in pain.
In fury.
The guards collapsed to their knees, choking in ragged gasps as the suffocating mist loosened its hold. Around them, the court
frozen witnesses to a battle too vicious to comprehend. watched in horror
At the heart of the courtyard, the Seers pressed their palms against the living roots bound around Kaelani’s wrists.
Ancient words spilled from their lips in low, urgent cadence.
Sigils flared.
Strained.
Fought back.
Draevyn felt it.
His gaze cut to her
calculation settling over his features like frost.
Shadow detonated outward from him in a surge that flattened the air
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