Zanna's voice tore through the air within her private sound barrier.
"I'm going to kill you!!"
Her scream rippled through the fortress like a dark wave, reaching the third floor of the obsidian castle—where two silent shadows bolted through the gilded halls.
Zanna's elite: Hunter One and Hunter Two. Both TIER-5. Both arrogant enough to stalk a TIER-8's chamber.
They came to spy on a mortal.
And tempt death.
A towering figure blocked their path at the Queen's Wing gate. His obsidian armor shimmered faintly with spatial runes. The Imperial Guardian of Nyxara's Quarters.
He didn't move.
"Halt," he commanded, voice devoid of emotion. "Lady Nyxara ordered: no one—no one—enters."
Hunter Two raised his hands innocently, offering a half-smile.
"Understood, sir. Another time then. Keep up the vigilance. Don't blink."
The Guardian didn't return the smile.
"I haven't blinked in ten hours."
As they retreated, Hunter One cursed under his breath.
"Damn. We can't get through him—not without waking up the whole damn fortress."
Hunter Two gritted his teeth.
"Then we use the relics. Stones of Concealed Presence. We're out of options."
Hunter One cracked a grin.
"Heh. Finally. I've been dying to see her curves in person..."
Without hesitation, they activated the forbidden relics—Stones of Concealed Presence (TIER-7 artifacts). Their bodies shimmered out of the visible spectrum, vanishing from all sound, scent, and telepathic detection.
They phased through the wall…
CRACK!
A brutal counterforce hurled them backward as a hidden seal activated. They slammed against the corridor floor, armor denting, groaning in shock.
"What the hell was that?" Hunter One spat, rubbing his ribs.
Hunter Two stared at the faint glow now visible around Nyxara's chamber.
"That's her personal ward. Handcrafted. And sentient."
Hunter One muttered while dusting off,
"You say that like you aren't obsessed with her too. Don't lie—you said once you wanted her on your lap."
Hunter Two snarled.
"Shut your damn mouth."
But Hunter One just grinned and pulled a sealed vial from his coat.
A swirling violet liquid sloshed within—[Liquid of Amplified Desire].
"Let's see what this does…"
"Wait—don't!" his partner shouted.
Too late. Hunter One popped the seal and hurled it at the barrier.
The liquid hissed on contact. The ward rippled.
Then—twitched.
A second seal awakened.
An intricate containment glyph erupted beneath their feet, trapping them in a spiraling Violet Containment Sphere. Time slowed. Gravity compressed.
"You… absolute idiots."
Her voice wasn't a whisper. It was a verdict.
Nyxara appeared. Cloaked in shadow and violet aura, her eyes glowing like ancient emerald suns. She stepped forward, arms crossed, mouth unreadable.
"You've crossed a line."
The air around her twisted.
"I won't kill you."
She raised a finger.
"My Violet Void will."
Reality cracked like thin glass. A storm of spatial rifts bloomed behind her, forming a devouring prism of shimmering violet torment.
The two hunters screamed as the dimension collapsed on them—dragging them into a vortex of agony and endless illusion.
And then... silence.
Nyxara exhaled. Her fingers snapped. The corridor reset to pristine order.
---
Inside Her Chambers
The inner barriers parted only for her.
Steam hissed as her enchanted armor unraveled, piece by piece, dissolving into violet and black mist. Underneath, sweat gleamed against pale skin—her body unscarred, flawless, yet pulsing with heat.
She stood beside the bed, watching him.
Rio.
His chest rose faintly. The GodWar suit was gone. Bandages crisscrossed his torso, arms, and thigh.
(Why… am I feeling this?) She thought, gaze lingering on the curve of his jaw, the wound on his side. (These feelings were supposed to be dead. No one… no one does this to me.)
Her fingers brushed her thighs. She clenched her fists.
"You're just a mortal," she whispered to herself. "So why…"
After sometime,
Rio stirred.
(Why am I still alive?)
(Why… is she beside me?)
His eyes fluttered open—and there she was. Draped in shadows and moonlight, skin bare beneath strands of violet flame. Her beauty transcended species, power tiers, even fear.
And then…
A voice.
Not hers. Not his. Not mortal.
[Dense, Mysterious Voice]:
"You cannot act yet… Not now. The cost of awakening would consume you—and your heart would shatter."
Rio's heart thudded hard. His breath caught.
"Who—who said that?" he rasped, eyes darting toward the ceiling. "Where are you? Show yourself!"
No response.
Only Nyxara's slow breathing.