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Blood smeared the soil. Smoke coiled from the wreckage of the Rune Coven like the breath of dying gods. The forest had fallen silent—too silent—as if every living thing was holding its breath in dread of what might come next.
Hades stood in the middle of the ruins, his black cloak tattered and streaked with ash, his chest heaving. His eyes, once fathomless darkness, now burned with wild desperation. Blood spattered across his jaw, his knuckles split open but were now sewing themselves shut.
He looked less like a king, and more like a wounded beast searching for his mate.
Ares was beside him, leaning against a broken pillar, his crimson armor stained, his usual smirk gone. Lycan shifted to his human form, but he still remained on the ground in a squat. His arms matted with blood.
The storm had passed, but the devastation it left behind was unbearable.
"I don't think they're in the Coven anymore," came Alyssa's soft voice, walking toward them. Her silver robe was torn and bloodied, hair disheveled, her pale hands trembling. The weight of guilt hung around her like a shroud.
"Stay out of this," Lycan said, his tone firm but not unkind. "Hades is tensed as it is." His golden eyes darted between her and Hades—he wasn't wrong.
"It was my mistake," Alyssa murmured, her voice breaking. "I was supposed to protect the Queen. My whole Coven was. We failed at that, and intruders took her from right under our noses. For that, I apologize."
"Don't beat yourself up over this," Ares said, sheathing his blade. "It's not your fault, Alyssa."
She opened her mouth to protest, but Hades spoke first, his voice low—controlled, yet venomous.
"No, Ares is right. I shouldn't blame you for something I failed to do. Hazel's my wife—my responsibility. I shouldn't have let her roam freely, thinking she was safe."
His tone carried the weight of self-loathing, and yet, the edge of accusation.
Alyssa swallowed her shame. "I already performed a tracking spell. I've searched every inch of the Coven—they're gone. They must be cloaked. Or outside the border."
"They couldn't have gone far," Hades growled, the air around him distorting from his rage. He vanished in a flash of shadow and flame.
Lycan shifted fully into wolf form again, claws raking the dirt as he sped after him. Ares sighed and grabbed Alyssa by the waist. "Don't faint on us now, witch." And in a blaze of red, they were gone too.
The Soul Forest
Deep within the Rune Coven's outer borders, the forest pulsed with an eerie red glow. The air was heavy—suffocating, as though time itself held its breath.
Hazel knelt at the edge of a pentagram carved into the dirt, her silver hair tangled and streaked with blood. Her wrists were bound, her lips trembling as tears fell soundlessly.
Velia circled her like a predator—graceful, cold, eyes glittering with madness. Her fingers toyed with the knife that shimmered with ancient runes. "Who would have guessed? The fragile human Hades brought home from the streets turned out to be the Phoenix reborn." Her tone dripped with mockery. "And yet you're still weak. Undetectable. Almost… disappointing."
Hazel lifted her chin despite the trembling in her body. "And you better hope I don't get my magic or worse, hope to hell Hades doesn't find you." she spat, her voice sharp with the raw edge of Ariana's defiance. "Because I swear I'll kill you myself, you slimy bitch."
Velia's smile widened, predatorily calm. "Your confidence in Hades is so annoying." She leaned closer, her cold fingers tracing Hazel's cheek, down her neck, the touch almost intimate. "What is it he sees in you? Is it this?" She pressed harder on her soft glass skin.
Hazel flinched.
"Or this?" Velia yanked her by the hair, forcing her to her knees as she winced in pain. The silver strands shimmered in the moonlight—right before Velia sliced them off with the knife.
Hazel gasped, her breath catching and tears rolling down her eyes. "You monster!"
Velia only chuckled, tossing the silver locks to the ground, like it was nothing but disgusting dirt. "Don't worry, darling. It'll all be over soon. I'm just waiting for the moon to be in the right position."
The clearing around them glowed faintly red. Gavriel stood nearby, his eyes flicking nervously between the pentagram and the sky. "Are you sure about this? You already have the Queen—just kill her. Raising whatever you're summoning could eliminate us all."
Velia turned sharply, her tone cold as death. "Killing her would be too merciful. I want Hades to regret existing. And for that, I need something far stronger." Her lips twisted in a dark smile. "Patience, dear Gavriel. You'll thank me when the world burns."
She looked back up. The moon was almost perfectly fitted into the pentagram, the sky painted in blood-red hues. She giggled like a child as its light fell on the pentagram. The ground trembled. The souls of the forest began to shimmer, dancing around the circle before being sucked in.
Then silence.
Velia's smile widened.
She stripped off her robe, leaving only her undergarments, and began to move around the pentagram. The dance was hypnotic—serpentine. Her hips swayed, her arms flowing like smoke, as her voice rose in a haunting ancient song.
The witches chanted. The wolves howled. The vampires hissed. The demons snarled.
Hazel's heart raced; fear crawled through her veins. She didn't understand what was happening, but she could feel it—the pulse of something ancient and wrong.
The air vibrated. The knife in Velia's hand began to glow, thrumming with energy.
Hazel prayed silently. Please, Hades. Find me.
Velia smiled as the knife's glow intensified. "It's time."
"Get away from her!"
Hades' voice thundered through the forest, sharp and commanding. Velia froze, then yanked Hazel up by the neck, pressing the blade to her throat.
"Move, and I slit her throat," she hissed.
Hades stood in the clearing, flanked by Ares and Lycan. Their weapons gleamed faintly, but their hands were raised in surrender.
Hades' expression shattered between rage and fear. "Let her go."
Hazel's eyes met his—terrified, pleading. "Help me…"
Her voice broke. Hades' chest tightened painfully at the sight of her face—bruised, bloodied, pale. Every protective instinct in him screamed to tear Velia apart, but one wrong move could kill Hazel instantly.
Velia tilted her head mockingly. "If you want her unharmed—bend the knee. Kneel to me Hades."
Ares laughed dryly. "You're out of your damn mind."
Velia's eyes narrowed. "I said kneel!" she exclaimed, her sharp voice echoed in the forest.
She grabbed Hazel's hand and slashed through her palm, letting the blood drip into the pentagram. Hazel screamed, the sound raw and animal. The earth trembled again as the lines of the pentagram pulsed violently.
Hades' pride shattered. He dropped to one knee—then both. The great King of the Underworld, kneeling before his ex-lover. Alyssa, Lycan and Ares followed suit.
"Please," Lycan said through gritted teeth. "We'll let you go unharmed. Just give us Hazel."
Velia chuckled darkly. "Do you even know who she is?"
The pentagram's glow intensified, burning bright enough to turn night into crimson daylight.
"What the hell are you summoning?" Ares demanded. His eyes darting between the pentagram's glow and to Velia.
Velia smiled, completely ignoring his question. "This girl you'd die for is the root of all your curses. The one who made vampires thirst for blood, who hexed werewolves into pain, who granted witches their magic. And most importantly—she's the weapon Heaven forged to destroy the underworld."
She leaned down, whispering beside Hazel's ear. "She's the...."
Hades' eyes widened in disbelief. "...T--the Phoenix… the one I was destined to destroy."
Velia smirked. "Yes, my love. The wife you swore to protect is the very creature fated to kill you."
Alyssa's voice trembled. "That explains everything…"
Velia stepped back, laughing as the beam of light from the pentagram shot into the sky, tearing the clouds apart. Thunder cracked. The ground split open like a gateway. While they were all off guard.
Then—someone emerged.
A tall, ragged figure crawled from the fissure, dragging himself to his feet. His hair was long, dark green streaked with black, his eyes an abyss of green serpentine pupils. His skin glowed faintly, like embers beneath the flesh. He breathed in the air like a starving god.
The rogues gasped, some falling to their knees. "The Eclipsed One,"
Even Hades, Ares, and Lycan stood frozen—not out of fear, but sheer disbelief. This wasn't a beast. This was a man. A breathtakingly beautiful man. Charisma radiated off him like a poison. But the aura that radiated off of him was suffocating, enveloping the entire soul forest that even auras shouldn't be detected.
"Finally," the figure whispered, his voice deep and melodic.
Velia's breath hitched, her madness blooming into devotion. "My lord."
His gaze darted between the bruised girl in Velia's arms and then at Velia, a smirk appeared in his lips and then he turned to Hades.
"Do as you please, descendant."
Velia's lips curved in worship. "With pleasure."
And before anyone could react—she pressed the knife to Hazel's throat and slit it, blood splashing as Hazel's body fell with a loud thud, the last words she heard was Hades screaming at the top of his lungs.
"NO!" Hades roared, lunging forward—
—but the world exploded in light.