The enemy formation slowly parted.
A tall figure stepped forward from the ranks, clad head to toe in black battle armor. His steps were steady, deliberate—calm, but cold.
"My Queen," the man said, dipping his head slightly. But there was no respect in his voice. "You've sat on that throne long enough. It's ti to step down. Keep clinging to it, and the people below… they won't stay loyal much longer."
The Phoenix Queen's pupils contracted sharply.
"Drake?"
The na left her lips in a whisper, trembling with disbelief.
She hadn't expected this. Of all people, she never imagined the one leading the rebellion… would be him.
Drake—her most trusted commander. The second-strongest in the entire Phoenix Empire, surpassed only by her.
For years, many had believed he was the rightful heir to the title of Phoenix Queen.
If not for the fact that he lacked the true phoenix bloodline—unable to wield the Undying Fla—this throne might've been his from the start.
And now, all that long-buried resentnt had finally surfaced.
"Betrayal?" Drake let out a low, bitter laugh. His eyes burned with fury that had been simring for far too long. "That throne was mine to begin with!"
The mont the words left his mouth, his power exploded.
A violent surge of energy swept out like a hurricane. A deep, guttural dragon's roar echoed through the sky, shaking the clouds apart.
The Phoenix Queen staggered, pain lancing through her chest.
The Undying Fla within her flickered—suppressed by sothing foreign. Her energy flow turned sluggish, chaotic. Her vision blurred, darkening at the edges.
She stumbled back a few steps—then collapsed hard to the ground.
And in that instant, she understood.
It wasn't just exhaustion.
It was poison.
"You…" she rasped, forcing her head up, voice hoarse. "Drake… you poisoned ? Do you have any idea what I an to the Phoenix Empire? Without the Undying Fla, the foundation of this empire will collapse!"
Drake threw his head back and laughed—loud, unhinged, triumphant.
"That's not your concern anymore, My Queen." His eyes turned cold as ice. "All you need to do now… is die."
He raised his hand. Power surged into his palm, wild and lethal, forming a strike ant to end her life.
But just as the killing blow was about to fall—
A blur of motion streaked in from the flank.
Several figures burst onto the scene, moving with blinding speed.
Leading them was Azrath.
His power ignited in an instant, and he slamd into Drake like a teor, sending the traitor flying backward with a thunderous impact.
The shockwave cracked the ground beneath them, fissures spiderwebbing out in every direction.
The other guards didn't hesitate. They rushed to the Phoenix Queen's side, throwing up a layered defensive barrier around her.
Space warped violently.
A temporary spatial gate opened beneath their feet.
And in the next heartbeat—they were gone.
Drake crashed to a halt, skidding across the scorched earth. He steadied himself, fists clenched, face dark with rage.
The fury inside him boiled over, his energy spiraling out of control. The air around him scread with pressure, space itself groaning under the strain.
"She cannot leave the Phoenix Empire alive," he growled, voice low and feral. "Track the spatial residue. Find her—now. I'll tear her apart with my own hands!"
No one dared hesitate.
The soldiers scattered instantly, fanning out in all directions to begin the hunt.
Hundreds of miles from the capital—
A barren desert stretched endlessly beneath a sky choked with dust. The wind howled across the dunes, whipping up waves of yellow sand until the horizon blurred into a haze of gold and gray.
There were no cities here. No signs of life. Just desolation and the constant scream of the wind.
Then—
The air twisted violently.
Space itself crumpled like paper under an invisible hand. Light bent unnaturally, and a jagged spatial rift tore open above the dunes with a sharp, tearing sound.
A second later, several figures tumbled out of the rift, crashing hard into the scorching sand below.
At the center of the group, the Phoenix Queen was shielded on all sides.
She hadn't taken any direct hits, but her face was deathly pale, almost translucent. Her breathing was shallow and erratic, and the Undying Fla within her flickered weakly—on the verge of going out.
The others weren't so lucky.
Every one of them was injured.
Their armor was shredded with fine, jagged tears from the spatial turbulence. Blood seeped from gashes along their arms and backs. So wounds still shimred with warped spatial energy, as if invisible blades had sliced through them again and again.
They'd forced their way through multiple ergency jumps, riding unstable spatial tunnels the entire way.
Each jump had slamd them into chaotic space currents—like being caught in a flood of collapsing dinsions. One wrong move, and they would've been torn apart and scattered into the void.
Even so, they'd held formation, keeping the Phoenix Queen protected at the core of their group.
The worst off was Gaius.
A defensive specialist, he'd pushed his shielding abilities to the absolute limit, forming a thick energy barrier around the team's periter.
Every impact from the spatial turbulence had hit him first—like teors slamming into a wall.
Though the barrier had held, the backlash had stacked up inside him. His armor was dented and cracked in multiple places, his breathing ragged, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Solara coughed hard, then forced herself upright. She moved carefully, cradling the Phoenix Queen in her arms.
"This place is too exposed," she said hoarsely, her voice rough with exhaustion. "We can't stay here. We need to find sowhere safe to stabilize her—fast."
Everyone knew the truth.
The poison was still spreading through the Queen's body. The Undying Fla was being suppressed. If they didn't find a way to replenish her energy and treat the toxin soon, she could flatline at any mont.
A heavy silence settled over the group.
The wind howled around them, as if reminding them that ti was slipping away.
Then Azrath suddenly stood up, eyes flashing with realization.
"I… I might know a place."
But as soon as he said it, he hesitated. His expression turned conflicted.
"The problem is… we attacked them. Not long ago. Showing up now, asking for help… it's not going to go over well."
Everyone understood imdiately.
Erald Castle.
There was nowhere else.
No other force had the resources, the tech, or the power to treat the Phoenix Queen—and be crazy enough to take them in.
It was a brutal truth. But it left no room for debate.
Azrath took a deep breath, his gaze hardening with resolve.
"For My Queen, we don't have the luxury of pride," he said firmly. "I led the assault on Erald Castle. If they want soone to answer for it, I'll pay the price."
He looked around at the others, voice steady and unwavering.
"Whatever it takes—beg them, bargain with them, give them anything. But save her."
No one spoke.
No one wanted to send a comrade to his death. But right now, they had no better option.
Azrath didn't wait.
He pulled a compass-like device from his spatial gear. Its surface was etched with intricate runes and energy circuits. As he poured power into it, a glowing interface unfolded above the device, coordinates scrolling rapidly across the screen.
Within seconds, it locked onto Erald Castle's spatial signature.
Azrath placed both hands on the device's edges and activated the core module.
A low hum rippled through the air.
Monts later, a swirling spatial vortex ford above them, energy surging like a tide as it wrapped around the group.
The wind, the light, even gravity itself twisted.
And then—
They vanished, swallowed by the vortex, shooting skyward like a flare into the unknown.
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