When The Moon Hides Her Crown (Seraphina) by Pooja novel Chapter 223

Chapter 223 The Trial of Illusions

His grin stretched, and even through the mask I could feel his arrogance reeking off him.

I took a step back, scanning him. Every Alpha’s body in the Academy was built almost the same, lean muscle wrapped in the same dark uniform. But there it was a faint mark creeping up his neck, ink glinting like oil. A snake tattoo.

A smile curved on my lips. “Alpha Ethan. You better go hunt the others. I don’t have time to waste with you.”

His grin vanished, jaw twitching. “Today your friends aren’t in the trial, yet you dare to be so bitchy, huh?”

“I’m warning you,” I said coldly, my voice a razor in the silence. “Get out of my way if you want to stay in the trial and become one of the three winners, Alpha Ethan. I’m only letting you go because you are weak, not out of kindness.”

Blood appeared in his eyes, “Did you just call me weak?!” he snarled, ego bleeding through the mask. His wolf’s growl rippled in the air before he half–shifted, claws slashing as he lunged for my throat.

Before he could blink, I moved.

I ducked low, my body sliding under his attack as my hand caught his wrist and twisted sharply. His snarl turned into a roar of pain. I spun, slamming my elbow into his ribs with enough force to knock the wind out of him. His claws sliced past my cheek, slightly grazing it but I didn’t stop.

He came again, faster, wilder. I matched every blow, every strike. The marble beneath our feet cracked from the combined force.

“Too slow,” I hissed, kicking his knee. It bent with a crack, sending him sprawling. He grabbed my leg, trying to drag me down, but I twisted, my boot slamming into his mask. It broke in half, scattering across the floor.

Blood poured down his lip. His eyes, crazed, furious, flashed gold.

“I’ll kill you-” he roared.

A smile appeared on my lips, “Really? Then let’s let you taste it first,” saying that I struck him hard in the gut, then caught his shoulder and spun him, using his own momentum. My hand found his collar, my strength burning through my veins as I hurled him into the closed door beside us.

The moment his body broke the wooden door and crossed the threshold of the room…the room swallowed him whole.

I froze and my breath hitched.

Wait…what just happened?

My eyes widened, one heartbeat he was there, and in the next, the doorway yawned open like a void, pulling him through the problem was that he had not fallen into the room but outside the castle!

My heart slammed against my ribs as I stared.

The door creaked on its hinges, the room beyond now was ordinary as if nothing had happened.

“What the hell…” I whispered, breath trembling.

I inched closer, peering inside. There was no trace of him. No scent. No sound. Nothing but the faint shimmer of air like heat rippling off stone. But just now I had clearly seen he was thrown out of the caste. And now the room was visible.

Chapter 223 The Trial of Illusions

My mind went blank for a couple of moments before I pieced everything together.

The walls…narrowing.

The ground…shifting beneath my feet.

My own breathing echoing not once, or twice, but thrice as if the castle itself was alive.

And now the void looking room was actually the outer part of the castle.

Cold realization clawed up my spine.

It wasn’t my imagination. I took a step back and glanced at my surroundings.

This wasn’t a castle of stone.

“It is a castle of illusion.”

Everything around me was an illusion! My pulse thundered, when I actually glanced down to my feet I found the ground slipping.

My heart nearly dropped into my stomach and I started running ahead towards the ninth floor without looking down. I was just three floors away from the crown. I could not allow these illusions to mess with me.

I had to be focused and stay away from everything in this castle. With this thought in mind, just as I successfully entered the ninth floor I realized something.

My surroundings…had become oddly quiet.

Running, I glanced down the other corridors where I could see no Alphas. At the same time there was no screaming or howling from the other Alphas.

“What is going on?” a very bad feeling rose in my chest as the feeling of being the only alive person in the castle wrapped my heart.

That’s when Phina whispered in my mind, “It seems as if everyone is…dead.”

That terrifying realization made my heart skip a beat when suddenly a loud growl ripped through the silence and a figure appeared in front of me.

I stopped dead in my tracks, the figure who stood in front of me was him.

The eagle.

Shirtless and bathed in the others‘ blood, he locked eyes with me, “Then, shall we start” he smiled.