novelraw Chapter 313: _Games Have Just Begun
Chapter 313: _Games Have Just Begun
Lucian’s POV
*****
Pushing his Alpha aura to the extreme, Lucian clenched his fists.
Reality, time, and space in the pocket dimension lost coherence, unable to contain the immense power he released in one burst.
He locked his eyes on Amara. The witch sneered, stretching out her arms and twisting her wrists until cracks splintered through the space around her. Her cloak flapped wildly, eyes burning with a fierce white light.
"You want to cease control?!" She boomed, making a ripping motion through the air. The cracks in space multiplied, folding inward until multifaceted layers revealed a black void. "Want to destroy my chessboard?!"
Lucian gritted his teeth, pushing forward with brute force through the time freeze zone. Several meters away from his mother, Kyren flew, claws unsheathed and bathed in flames.
’Lucian,’ Elian called out mentally just then. ’Be careful. She’s keeping the seconds in time separated. If she continues that and your energy keeps on trying to destabilise it—’
’Chaos.’ Lucian completed, his mind catching on. ’This whole thing will collapse completely. And Aurora will be lost between timelines. Forever.’
Gods be damned, he’ll not let that happen.
’Stay alert.’ Lucian crossed his arms, just in time for Amara’s onslaught.
She flung her hands outwards, sending jagged shards of shattered space flying every which way. As she did, the ripped fissures created a void of black nothingness around her.
When the space shards got close to Lucian, a dome of highly condensed silver-white energy materialised around him. Kyren also reacted in the air, creating a large crimson shield while still charging towards his mother.
The space shards were endless, forcing Lucian to push his energy to the maximum. Through gritted teeth, he pinned his attention on Amara, watching her move her fingers erratically.
Each movement left behind trails, sending commands through the pocket dimension.
"Stitching your domain back together, are we?!" The Alpha Prince managed a grin despite his predicament. It seemed the space shards weren’t ending any moment soon.
So he had one more option. Break.
A sonic howl tore through his throat, his arms splaying sideways as he leapt into the air. Alpha aura burned like molten light, destroying the shards before they could cut.
Panic flashed through Amara’s features when she saw him hurtling toward her like a missile. To top it off, Kyren flanked her from behind, spreading a miasma of liquid crimson fire that melted the endless barrage of space shards.
"Think fast, bitch!" Lucian sent a punch when he got in front of her, space shattering where his fist moved. Amara struggled, barely blocking it with a force bubble.
Yet even that got blown into bits when Kyren got within range. The Rogue king raised his right palm above his head, curling it into a fist. Then—he sent the fist falling.
BOOM!
Amara got hit, falling off the air like a bird losing its feathers mid-flight. She cried out, spreading out her cloak in preparation as Lucian followed her unsteady descent.
SLAM!
A twin-arm slash to the chest made her spin, crashing into the ground several meters below them. Crystals billowed out like bullets, changing into dust.
But Amara didn’t stay down.
She sent a left palm strike to the ground—still lying there. In her wake, several crystal pillars with razor-sharp edges erupted right below Kyren and Lucian.
Flicking her wrist, she made the crystal pillars move. They chased after Lucian and Kyren like giants, making the entire structure tremble.
’Lucian, you can’t beat her here.’ Elian warned mentally. ’The goal should be finding Aurora while we still can.’
Lucian could barely focus on his words, fighting for his life. Punches, blasts and sizzling energy blades destroyed most of the chasing pillars. But more emerged in their place, while the shattered ones converged into floating shards ready to kill.
Meanwhile, Kyren fought as well, surrounded by spinning crimson energy blades that melted through the pillars before they could hit him.
The Alpha Prince turned. Amara had gotten to her feet, a cunning smirk curving her lips.
Seeing this, Lucian’s fists clenched so hard his bones snapped.
They were still playing her games. Still acting as pieces on the board at her mercy. When really—they had to topple every established rule and move beyond her influence.
"Lucian!" Aurora’s voice echoed in a distorted wavelength around the dimension just then. "I—I can see you. And her... And Elian..."
Pausing mid-flight for a millisecond, Lucian narrowed his gaze on one of the mirror surfaces. And then he saw it.
The surfaces no longer showed reflections from different seconds in time. Instead, the reflections were now... Stabilizing. Some repeated one image over and over again. Others froze the reflections entirely, all while more cracks wove across every surface.
Every time fracture was now collapsing into one linear chaos.
And he was at the centre.
"Kyren!" Lucian boomed, blasting a pillar to smithereens before it could pierce him from below. "Spatial lock."
Surprisingly, the Rogue king understood without further explanation. With a clasp of his palms, Kyren held space in place, compressing it until the dimension felt like moving at the bottom of an ocean.
The crystal pillars turned to dust before they could form, drastically slowing down around them.
Seeing this, Lucian closed his eyes. His Alpha aura stopped burning around him, coming to a state of stasis.
"What are you doing now?" Amara spat, snapping her wrist.
A wall of rough-edged crystals formed beside her, rising tens of meters into the air. Then it moved like a tsunami, heading straight for Lucian.
The Alpha Prince didn’t fret.
When his eyes opened, he withdrew his Alpha aura back to himself. His sovereign authority. And with it, every fractured second, every distorted moment in time—compressed.
Floating as the epicentre, Lucian watched as every moment—past, present and future—forcefully converged to one linear point. One ’now’.
As for the crystal wall, Kyren’s spatial lock spell slowed it down before it could hit Lucian. Then it crumbled in on itself, turning to dust.
"No—" Amara murmured, head spinning around the dimension.
Every reflection was now coherent, showing only actions happening in the present. And with no "between" in the folds of time, Aurora was no longer existing in different moments at once.
Which means—
"Game over, Amara," Lucian smirked, tightening his fist.
A crack in space-time above him spread wider until it shattered completely. Then out of the black void, Aurora fell, silver chains melting off her wrists.
She plopped onto Lucian’s waiting arms, barely conscious. But stable. And safe.
"It’s over, mother." Kyren descended, white hair flowing around him. "We’re no longer going to play your games. If I were you I’d—"
"Still so naive." Amara chuckled, her smirk never faltering. "You think you won this fight? I’ve already gotten what I wanted from the princess. And let me be the one to tell you..."
She paused, taking a step back.
Far behind her, Elian was still under the protection of Lucian’s energy dome. She wouldn’t dare do anything stupid. Not without him and Kyren pummelling her at light speed.
"... The number of possible futures where you win the inevitable war is fewer than you think." Amara spread out her arms like she was stating a prophecy. "My game has only begun."
Kyren swiped his right hand forward, sending a flaming spear screeching toward her. The spear multiplied into hundreds mid-air, all honed to hit.
But a step was all it took for a portal to open behind her.
"No!" Lucian yelled, watching her hop backwards. The portal closed, Kyren’s spears missing her by a fraction of a second. "Fuck! We... We had her."
’We never did, Lucian.’ Elian’s mental voice remained calm. ’It was a fight in her domain. Winning was never an option. We have Aurora back and that’s all that matters now.’
Lucian’s eyes trailed to the energy dome his mate was under. Elian stretched his right hand forward, the energy parting to let him step out. The silver streaks in his hair shone under the light of Lucian’s Alpha aura.
Eventually, Lucian lowered himself to the ground, Aurora still safe in his arms. When everyone gathered around her, she shifted. Her eyes fluttered slowly, squinting at each of them.
"L–Lucian?" She whispered like she couldn’t believe it. The latter smiled, about to say something warm when she flinched. "Are you... Am I being princess carried right now?"
Embarrassment flashed through her features. She grunted, right arm pushing Lucian aside as she got up on her own.
The Alpha Prince couldn’t help but gawk, speechless for a hot minute.
Really?
"Glad to see you too, sister." He ended up smiling sarcastically, although relief flooded his heart. "I don’t know what that witch put you through, but you’re safe now. And I—"
"It was... It was you." Aurora cut him short, silver hair falling messily over face. She pushed her hair back, head swerving to Elian, who frowned. "You’re... You’re the one who reshapes it all. The moon blessed she’s always preached about."
For a pocket dimension crumbling on itself, the silence that dropped after was loud.
Lucian swallowed hard, glancing at Elian’s stunned expression.
Well... Shit.