The room goes silent—
the kind of silence that warns of something violent.
Nathel steps in front of May, shoulders squared, power crackling faintly beneath his skin like barely hidden lightning.
The shadow smiles.
"Brave," he murmurs.
"Stupid… but brave."
Nathel lunges first.
A flash of silver light shoots from his hands, slicing through the air like a blade. It collides with the shadow's chest—
—and dissolves.
Just melts into darkness, swallowed whole.
The villain doesn't even flinch.
"Is that all you have left?" he asks quietly.
Nathel clenches his jaw, teeth grinding.
He launches another pulse—stronger, brighter, fueled by fear and fury and the bond straining between him and May.
This one actually forces the shadow back half a step.
Not far, but enough.
He looks down at the faint scorch mark across his cloak with mild interest.
"Well… you're improving," he says, "only centuries too late."
May's breath catches.
Nathel's voice comes rough, strained:
"May—don't move. Don't speak. Don't feel anything."
Her heartbeat stutters.
"How am I not supposed to feel anything?!"
The villain's head snaps toward her at the word feel.
Nathel curses under his breath.
The shadow smiles slowly.
"There it is," he says.
"The pulse in her chest. The bond flare. Delicious."
Nathel moves instantly—
but the villain is faster.
A tendril of shadow shoots from his fingertips, slamming Nathel across the room. He crashes into a shelf, wood splintering, glass shattering.
"Nathel!" May screams, rushing forward—
Only to freeze.
Not by choice.
By force.
Her body locks in place as if invisible chains coil around her. She can barely breathe.
The shadow turns toward her with chilling satisfaction.
"Don't worry," he says softly.
"You'll move again soon."
Nathel struggles to get up, blood on his lip, breathing harsh, eyes wild.
"Let her go!"
But the villain ignores him.
He steps closer to May, studying her as if she's something rare. Something powerful.
Something his.
"The bond chose you," he whispers.
"Even after I crushed it once. Even after I scattered your memories, dimmed your powers, buried your destiny…"
May's vision blurs.
"What… what are you talking about…?"
He leans closer, shadow-energy swirling around him like smoke in water.
"You don't remember, do you?
Interesting.
Nathel kept you ignorant—again."
Nathel roars, "Shut up! Don't speak to her!"
But the shadow continues, voice smooth and poisonous.
"You were the first to sense the bond centuries ago.
The first to strengthen it.
The first to connect with him."
May's pulse pounds painfully.
"…centuries?"
"You were bound to him long before this lifetime," the villain says.
"And that makes you the one thing that can destroy everything I built."
He touches her cheek with a tendril of shadow.
Her skin burns with cold.
Nathel explodes with rage.
"DON'T TOUCH HER!"
Silver light blasts from his palms, wild and uncontrolled—but the villain flicks his wrist lazily and the energy collapses mid-air like a dying star.
"You're weak because of her," the shadow murmurs.
"And she's weak because of you."
He turns his head slightly, regarding Nathel with a mixture of disgust and triumph.
"That's why I erased you from each other last time."
May's heart drops.
"What…?"
Nathel's eyes close in pain—
not from the fight.
From hearing the truth revealed.
The villain's voice sharpens.
"And this time, I won't settle for erasing."
He raises his hand.
Shadow gathers.
A sphere of black fire coils in his palm.
Nathel staggers to his feet, silver power flaring desperately.
"Don't do this.
Take me.
Leave her out of it."
The villain laughs softly.
"Oh, Nathel.
I'm not here to kill you."
He steps closer to May.
"I'm here to claim what you never deserved."
The dark sphere expands—
aimed at May.
Nathel's scream is raw, desperate, primal:
"NO!"
He runs—
But he won't make it in time.
The villain releases the attack—
Darkness shoots toward May—
And the bond between her and Nathel erupts with a force that shakes the entire house.
Light—bright, blinding, violent—explodes from May's chest.
The shadow staggers backward, snarl twisting his face.
Nathel falls to his knees, staring in shock.
And May—
May stands in the center of it all, glowing with a power she didn't know she had.
Her chains shatter.
Her fear disappears.
Her eyes blaze with silver fire.
The bond has awakened fully.
And she remembers Nathel's words:
You were the only thing in this world capable of ruining him.
The villain's voice drops to a growl.
"You should not have woken."
May steps forward, glowing brighter.
"Then you shouldn't have touched him."