Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 248

Chapter 248

Chapter 248

Chapter 248

ARIA

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I had seconds to react. No weapons except my knife-I’d lost everything else in the fall. An injured abdomen that was definitely bleeding again based on the wet warmth spreading across my bandages. Exhaustion from hours of trials. And a newly awakened bloodline that I barely knew how to use.

The guardian swung one massive claw and I dodged, barely, feeling the displacement of air as it passed close enough to kill me if it had connected. My wound screamed in protest at the sudden movement but I ignored it, focused entirely on not dying in the next few seconds.

I couldn’t fight this thing directly. It was too strong, too armored, too adapted to this environment. I needed to be smarter. Faster. Use what advantages I had instead of trying to match it in areas where it exceeded me.

The guardian swung again and I rolled beneath the strike, coming up beside its leg. Drove my knife into what I hoped was a vulnerable spot-the back of its knee, where the armor-like skin seemed thinner.

The blade sank in deep and the guardian howled, its leg buckling slightly. But it recovered immediately, turning with speed that shouldn’t have been possible for something that size, backhanding me with force that sent me flying.

I hit the trench wall hard, felt ribs crack from the impact. Slid down to land on the corpse- layer that served as ground, gasping for air, my vision swimming.

The guardian advanced, moving more carefully how that it knew I could hurt it. The smaller creatures were chanting something I couldn’t make out through the ringing in my ears.

I forced myself to stand, using the wall for support. My knife was still embedded in the guardian’s leg-I’d lost my only weapon. My ribs were broken, my abdomen reopened, my body accumulating damage faster than I could process it.

But I was still alive. Still conscious. Still fighting.

The awakened bloodline surged through me, responding to the crisis, providing strength and speed I shouldn’t have possessed. The moonlight in my eyes intensified, casting silver light that made the guardian pause, made it recognize something in me that gave it caution.

“Moon child,” it growled, its voice deeper and more damaged than the smaller creatures. “Strong. Worthy. But not strong enough. Not yet

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10:29 Wed, Jan 28 B G.

Chapter 248

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It lunged and I moved on pure instinct, ducking under its grab, getting inside its reach where its size became a disadvantage. My hands found pressure points I shouldn’t have known existed, pressed them with force enhanced by bloodline magic.

The guardian’s arm went numb. It roared in confusion and pain, swinging with its other arm, but I was already moving, already targeting its other leg, bringing it down to a more manageable height.

We fought in the dim green light, surrounded by corpses and watching creatures, and I felt something shift inside me. The bloodline wasn’t just enhancing my strength-it was providing knowledge. Fighting techniques I’d never learned. Pressure points and vulnerable spots I’d never studied. The accumulated wisdom of generations of moon-blessed warriors flowing through me when I needed it most.

The guardian’s movements were slowing, its attacks becoming less coordinated as I systematically disabled its advantages. One more strike. One more pressure point. One more

Its claw caught me across the chest, tearing through my clothes and into flesh, sending me sprawling back onto the corpses.

I lay there, bleeding from multiple wounds now, my vision darkening at the edges. The guardian advanced, preparing to finish this.

Then I heard it. Singing. High and clear and impossible in this place of death and decay. The crystal fragment I still had secured at my belt was resonating, responding to something. Providing power. Answering my desperate need.

Moonlight exploded from my hands as I raised them defensively. Not metaphorical-actual moonlight, silver and pure, flooding the trench with brightness that drove away the sickly green glow.

The guardian screamed, its bioluminescent eyes blinded by the sudden light. It stumbled backward, away from me, away from the moonlight that was apparently anathema to what it had become.

I stood, my hands still blazing with silver light, and advanced. The guardian retreated until its back was against the trench wall. Trapped. Defeated. Not by strength but by the magic it couldn’t fight against.

“Worthy,” it rasped, its voice carrying something that might have been respect or might have been relief. “Moon child is worthy. Passage earned.”

The moonlight faded from my hands as my control over it slipped. The guardian slumped against the wall, not dead but no longer hostile. The smaller creatures were silent now, their chanting stopped, their expressions unreadable on their twisted faces.

2/3

10:29 Wed, Jan 28 G

Chapter 248

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