CHAPTER 020His decisions weighed heavily on him, threatening to overwhelm him. He stood in front of Matteo. He was consumed by a multitude of thoughts, including the overwhelming sense of duty and the profound transformation of his mind since meeting Lucia. She was strong, but she was resilient, and the truth of it all kept gnawing at him. The prophecy, the Blood Moon, through the bloodline that had been cursed many generations before they were ever born. This wasn’t supposed to end like this. This shouldn’t have happened.Matteo smirked as he leaned in his chair, staring at Dante. He had always known how to make people do what he wanted, how to make them believe what he said. Brought up within the folds of power, deceit, and betrayal was his father’s legacy. Dante was caught now in the middle of it all."Matteo said low, almost comforting, 'Dante'."You've always been loyal to me. You’ve always known what was expected. Why are you hesitating now, then?”The anger bubbled up inside of
CHAPTER 021A mass of crimson showcasing the Blood Moon flooded the battlefield with chaos. Ash thickened the air, mixed with screams, steel against steel clanging across the land. In it's heart, Lucia stood; her breath was ragged as wave upon wave of power passed through her body. Her blood had been hybrid, and it was untamed and awakened; it blazed like a flame, pushing to consume her entire body. Her vision was darkening at the edges, but she struggled to maintain control of her hands, which were trembling.“Lucia, focus!” The noise of the tavern tried to drown him out, but Nero’s voice was sharp, and the order cut through the din. His tone was desperate, and he was somewhere behind her. Her focus was slipping, and her body shuddered as it eroded under the weight of her own power.Matteo was advancing. His eyes locked onto her intently, and his blade caught the moonlight; it gleamed. He strode confidently, as if he had already secured victory. The earth itself seemed to shudder ben
CHAPTER 022There was no noise but the fading rustle of leaves in the breeze, unnervingly quiet woods. The air was incredible, sharp against his skin; Dante crouched low behind a towering oak tree. He stared directly at the figure in front of him; it moved with the agile speed of a predator. She wasn’t like the others he’d tailed before—no hesitation, no clumsy missteps. She moved deliberately, precisely like she was testing him to keep up.Lucia.And that unnerved him most: she didn’t look like a typical target. When Leo from the Vulpin mafia approached him, the deal seemed straightforward: They kidnapped Nero’s cousin, delivered her to their bosses, and got a life-changing sum of money. Days passed, and he observed her from the shadows and why she was just about ransom and leverage; he knew it wasn't. He hated how little he knew, and the mafia wanted her for something else, something more significant.The soft buzz broke the silence of his earpiece. Dante’s day was interrupted by Le
CHAPTER 023Dante watched Lucia cross the courtyard of Nero’s estate with his back pressed to the rough brick wall. She moved precisely, each step deliberate, and her sharp eye kept moving across, almost as if she still expected trouble. She was always prepared and vigilant. Dante caught himself staring at her and admired the way she was so calm, focused, and touched in a place that didn't have light, let alone a breeze.Dante scowled and could almost hear Leo; it was the same in his head from their last conversation: “You’re stalling, Dante." “This isn’t complicated. Find the weakness, follow her, and deliver her. It’s business.”It wasn’t business anymore. He’d seen something different in Lucia the moment he noticed her again. The Vulpin mafia had described her as a fragile girl, but she wasn’t. Now in her she possessed strength formed by a source of pain and resilience, and it made Dante hesitate in a way that he hadn’t in ages.There was no sound in the alley around him; the shado
CHAPTER 024She walked quickly and lightly down the silent halls of Nero’s house. It was silent, but she couldn’t get the feeling of eyes on her. She knew better than to ignore her instincts; it wasn’t paranoia. The rustling leaves outside were barely audible, as was the faint sound beyond the window. She scanned over the courtyard below, looking for something moving. Nothing. The unease gnawed at her yet.Someone was following her. She was certain.Clenched her fists, trying not to go nuts. Panic wouldn’t help. She had been through worse and had come out stronger. It would be no different this time. They weren’t making it easy, whoever it was. She’d seen shadows where there shouldn’t have been, heard whispers in empty hallways. This feeling of being watched had grown impossible to ignore, and now.She locked the door and leaned against it, letting out a slow breath, back in her room. She had to work out who it was and why they were after her. She also had to be careful, though. If sh
CHAPTER 025 The folder on the table was frayed at the edges from being opened and closed a hundred times, and Dante stared at it. Across the top was scrawled the name 'Lucia Roselli', but it might as well have been written in flames. The photos, the timeline, the report, everything inside it felt heavy. His pages had turned over so many times he could recite the details by heart.Nero’s cousin. High priority. Capture alive.It sounded simple. It was supposed to be simple. Lucia was not simple.Dante ran a hand through his hair, leaned back in his chair, and the dim light of the room cast long shadows across his face. His earpiece buzzed again, a static-filled reminder of the pressure on the other end. He didn’t have to put it on to know what Leo would say. "Time’s up, Dante. She’s a problem. Solve it."Solve it. Like she was a puzzle or a task on a checklist. Everything sounded clinical and detached, like the mafia. How could they understand, though? They hadn’t watched her move thro
CHAPTER 026There was too much quiet in the alley; the shadows felt alive. His breathing was steady, yet his mind was anything but calm. Dante lingered in the darkness. He knew full well it wasn’t an accident, and he’d followed her here. He wanted to follow Lucia, wanted this confrontation. He was trapped; she was baiting him.Her silhouette was sharp against the dim glow, and Lucia stood in the moonlight. She didn’t move, not one bit... too still, as if waiting for the pull of a trigger. Her voice pierced the silence, yet she remained motionless, not even turning her head.“Are you going to step out or do I have to drag you out?” Dante hesitated; there was steel beneath her calm tone.His fists clenched, he pressed his back against the cold stone wall. He could leave. Avoid this and disappear into the night. But he knew better. Lucia wouldn’t stop. The next confrontation wouldn’t end as cleanly as this one might; she’d find him.He stepped out of the shadows with a sigh and put up hi
CHAPTER 027The dimly lit room had been scuffing her boots against the wooden floor as Lucia paced back and forth. She didn’t trust him, not for a second, but she knew she needed him. The mere mention of Matteo stirred her emotions, and the prospect of defeating him was the sole force keeping her grounded. But aligning with Dante? She wasn’t sure she could win that gamble.With arms crossed over his chest, Dante leaned against the wall, his face careful and neutral. Her anger, piercing and unyielding, would hover just beyond his grasp. He didn’t know if she would kill him or agree to his plan, but he kept quiet, letting her make up her mind.It was finally that Lucia stopped and turned to him. “How can I trust you?” she added icily. “You’re a Vulpin mafia member.” ‘For all I know, this is just another one of their games,’ I said.”Dante pushed herself off the wall and stepped, careful, toward her. He said evenly, “I’m not asking for your trust.” “I’m asking for a chance to prove that
Chapter 178Alessandro stood in the center of the ancient chamber, his arms raised high, fingers trembling as dark energy swirled around him like a living thing.He could feel the ritual pulling at him, drawing every ounce of his being into the abyss.The Heart of Lunaria glowed at his feet, its radiant light contrasting sharply against the creeping darkness that now surrounded him."This is it," he whispered to himself, the words heavy with a strange mix of excitement and fear. "No more pretending to be human. No more limits."The air crackled, thick with the power he was awakening. His heart raced as the energy surged through him, filling every pore, every fiber of his being. He could sense the power of a god, pulsating within his fingertips.The ritual, long and agonizing, had finally reached its peak. He could hear the whispers of ancient beings calling to him, their voices a chorus in his mind.But this power— it was not just power. It was a dark promise, a gift that demanded sac
Chapter 171With his boots digging a little into the charred ground, Dante stood at the edge of the battleground. The last remnants of moonlight were sucked up by the heavy clouds that rolled like a brewing storm, causing the sky above to churn with an unnatural darkness.The once-bright light flickered, struggling to stay in place as the Celestial Nexus shook under the weight of the impending chaos.It was this. This was his last stand.A gust of wind blew through, carrying the smell of burning ozone and something worse—the stench of decay, of the darkness edging closer.Dante's fists clenched, Though he knew the truth deep down, every nerve in his body begged for action. He couldn't abandon this battle."Dante!" The sound of distant thunder was broken by Lucia's voice. She showed up next to him, her eyes burning with desperation, her silver hair whipping wildly. "This is not necessary for you to do! We can figure out another way—""There isn't another option." His heart thumped like
Chapter 170Under Valeria's feet, the ground shook and the ancient stone floor cracked. The smell of burning magic permeated the air, the traces of Eldrin's cosmic anarchy still hanging there.Her vision faded, and she staggered backward, clutching the edge of a broken pillar. Every breath seemed to be her inhalation of fire."Lucia!?" Her voice hardly reached the howling winds whirling with unadulterated intensity. She could hear Nero yelling, his voice strained and urgent, some distance away.Her attention then turned to the impossible view before her—a rippling distortion in the air, shifting like liquid glass, opening and closing like a wound in reality itself.Her mind slithered with a deep voice."Do you, child, feel it? Is the ability dormant in your blood?She held her head, a sharp pain cutting across her skull. The voice was not emanating from beyond. She knew it inside her. There was something ancient and deeply ingrained within her. Her pulse throbbed again through her rib
Chapter 169Eldrin gazed out over the wide-open space of the darkened sky from the edge of the temple's magnificent balcony.The stars above, once constant and predictable, now fluctuated, flickering like dying embers from a storm.His fingers twitched in anticipation as he grinned to himself. It was this—his time. Everything Lucia and her allies had painstakingly built collapsed with the start of the gambit."Everything is aligning perfectly," Eldrin muttered to himself, his voice hardly audible above the roaring wind that blew through the open areas of the temple.The power crackled all around him, a cosmic force that was both thrilling and terrifying.The unraveling was intensifying, encroaching on reality itself like a sickness.He had meticulously woven the delicate thread of the celestial event he had triggered over centuries, but now it was falling apart, and there was no turning back.His surroundings were starting to change, first slowly, like a ripple in the air, and then mo
Chapter 168Every breath Sophia took served as a small reminder of the power coursing through her as her body lay in the shadows of the dimly lit room.The magic within her erupted like a wild storm, hungry and uncontrollable, despite the fact that her resurrection had been partial and brittle. She was more than just the Sophia Roselli they were familiar with.But she was more than that. It wouldn't take long for Lucia and the other people standing beside her to realize she was a formidable opponent.Her eyes opened slowly; in the dim light, the slight glow of her irises almost seems unnatural. The air around her was heavy with the weight of her new life.Her body ached as if it were separating from the inside, but each painful movement was a reminder that she was alive living in a way she had never experienced before. The black, twisted magic inside her was undeniably powerful.She stood up, her movements startlingly silent, like a predator preparing to strike, She ran her hand over
Chapter 167The air in the concealed room was dense with the scent of smoke and plants, the walls throbbing with the gentle hum of dark energy.Kalyndria stood in the middle, her fingers tracing the complex glyphs engraved into the floor under her feet.The room appeared to shrink, the shadows moving closer, pushing in on her as if the very power she was about to unleash was alive, ready to take form.Eldrin loomed behind her, his presence towering, quiet, but his dark power palpable.She could feel the weight of the deal in her chest, like a big stone lying on her heart. This was no ordinary partnership.What she was going to do would alter everything. Powering this immense came at a price, but she was eager to pay it. No, she needed to pay it. The expense would be worth the outcome. The ritual was set. Eldrin's voice shattered the silence, its tone harsh and low, as if he were speaking through the very air itself. “You are certain, Kalyndria? Once we unleash the magic we summon, th
Chapter 166The acrid smell of dust and ancient power was carried by the wind as it howled down the chilly stone hallways.Alessandro stood in front of the altar, his angular features shadowed by the faint flicker of lighting.With each long, steady breath, he reminded himself of the weight he was carrying—the weight of the sinister ritual he was going to carry out. The only sound to break the stillness in the room was the gentle rustling of his coat on the chilly stone floor.There was a noticeable tension in the air, as if the chamber's walls knew about the evil powers Alessandro was about to unleash. He would transcend tonight. Above all, he would ascend and assert the authority that had escaped him for ages.He could approach the item that had been missing for so long—the Heart of Lunaria. A tingle ran through his veins at the notion. The ceremony was nearly complete,The incantation was the last thing he needed.The ancient relics that rested on the stone altar, each steeped in
Chapter 165Dante stood at the edge of the dark, swirling portal, his heart pounding in his chest. The air around him hummed with the energy of it, an unnatural pull that made his skin crawl.His fingers gripped the hilt of his dagger, the metal cold against his skin. He wasn't sure what haunted him more—the portal's power or the darkness it seemed to call to."You’ve come this far, but are you really ready?" a voice whispered inside his mind, familiar and cruel. "Do you think you can just undo the things you’ve done? Do you think you can really save anyone? Even you?"Dante ignored the voice, clenching his jaw. He knew it wasn’t real, not in the way a person was.It was the darkness that lived inside him, always trying to pull him down, to remind him of the past he couldn’t escape. But he wasn’t going to let it win now.He stepped forward, the ground beneath him trembling. The portal pulsed, a deep, resonating hum filling the air, and he felt it—every inch of it—a hunger that wanted
Chapter 164The air inside the temple was thick with the scent of burning incense and something else—something bitter, electric. Shadows flickered along the stone walls, shifting like living things.Valeria pressed a trembling hand to her temple, feeling the weight of the prophecy humming beneath her skin. It was coming. She could sense its pulsing presence, yearning for a voice.But so could they.Dark figures loomed at the entrance, their presence seething with an energy that made the candles shudder and flicker wildly.The enemy had come for her sight— for the truth woven into her bones. Should they taint her visions, the prophecy would perish irrevocably. Lucia would be lost forever.She could not allow it.Lucia’s voice rang out behind her, sharp with urgency. “Valeria, we have to leave! Now!”Valeria’s lips parted, but no words came. Her vision blurred, splitting into two realities—the present, where her body trembled with exhaustion, and the near future, where blood painted the