Chapter 11
I coughed up blood. The pain etched deep into my soul, flooding my entire body. I couldn’t stop shaking.
Father walked over, disappointment clouding his face.
“If you weren’t the embodiment of divine will in Phoenix Court, if you hadn’t stood in Seraphine’s way of becoming heir, maybe I could have spared your life,” he said. “But now…”
I lifted my gaze, my expression laced with quiet scorn.
“So, to kill me, you dismantled the clan’s protective barrier, allowed demon beasts to invade, and caused countless deaths?”
His face didn’t change. There was not even a flicker of guilt.
“Their sacrifice was necessary. All for Seraphine to inherit the Phoenix legacy and ensure our clan has a stronger leader. Besides,
this is natural selection. If they died, they were simply too weak to belong.”
Seraphine wasn’t satisfied with stabbing me just once. She kept plunging her blade into my body, over and over again, venting
every ounce of resentment she held.
“I’m stronger than you!” she shouted, each word punctuated with a strike. “So why do you get to decide everything?
“I’ve suffered for years-trained, bled, clawed my way to this point-and with just a few words, you invalidated everything!
“Even Nyxar…” she bit out the name, voice cracking with fury. “That lowly black serpent had the audacity to say he regretted
bonding with me… that I pale in comparison to you?
“I took his core. Sent him to the underworld ahead of you. Althea, I am the Phoenix Court’s true faith. That’s why you have to
die.”
Around me, I could still hear the howls of beasts and the dying cries of my people.
Summoning the last of my strength, I forced my eyes open and looked at her.
“In the beginning, the Heavens gave me the right to choose the next heir,” I said. “But fearing I might grow arrogant and bring
harm to the clan, it sealed half my divine power within you and forbade me from inheriting the role.
“If you’d truly cared for the Phoenix Court, if you had no malice toward me, the legacy would’ve been yours without question.
“But you strayed.
“All the pain you endured wasn’t my doing. It was born of your obsession with power and Father’s blind favoritism. And yet, you
blamed it all on me.
“Now that you’ve killed me… the seal is broken.
“You were just an ordinary phoenix, Seraphine. The reason you seemed gifted was because half of my divine power was inside
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Chapter 1
you.
“But now, it’s coming home.”
The blade buried in my chest pulsed with golden light.
Seraphine’s face twisted in panic. She tried to let go, but couldn’t. She was frozen, helpless.
Her power began to flow into me.
“Father!” she screamed. “Help me! My power… it’s leaving me!”
I looked at my father who had always loved the daughter born of his first love.
Seeing her in pain, he moved without hesitation, ready to strike me down.
But in his desperation, he forgot that anyone who dared raise a hand against me would suffer the wrath of heaven.
Thunder fell like divine judgment.
This time, the Heavens showed no mercy. Father’s soul was torn to ash before our eyes.
Seraphine had no time to grieve. The power she’d relied on for so long was gone.
And the demon beasts were circling.
I stood as my body slowly healed.
Seraphine’s voice trembled.
+25 Bonus
“Althea, you… you can’t do this to me. I’m the Phoenix Court’s Crown Princess. I’m your sister. You can’t abandon me for those
worthless peasants-ahhh!”
A scream echoed behind me.
This time, I didn’t look back.
I finished driving out the beasts and rebuilt the clan’s defenses. Order was restored.
The fledgling I’d saved earlier clung to my arm.
“Princess Althea,” she said through sobs, “without you, I would’ve been orphaned.”
One by one, the clanspeople who had once looked down on me knelt before me.
“Princess Althea,” they said, voices thick with regret. “We were misled. You saved the clan. You protected our land. You are the only rightful heir.”
I shook my head.
Then I placed the Phoenix Crown in the hands of a warrior named Mus-someone whose strength rivaled Seraphine’s and who
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