Chapter 176 The Final Betrayal

Chapter 176 The Final Betrayal


“Avery!” Jessica called out as she and Melora ran over.
“Bind him,” Avery said, pointing to the hunched figure of Maverick.
He was still holding his head from the crash into the wall, struggling and screaming as the evil power inside him reacted to the lunar energy Avery had pumped into him.
Jessica and Melora asked no further questions, instantly joining hands and summoning a powerful barrier which sealed Maverick inside. Seeing that he was trapped, Maverick raged and began to smash savagely at the barrier.
“We don't have much time, Avery,” Jessica called out desperately, struggling to hold the spell in place.
“The barrier won't hold for long,” Melora announced also. “Whatever you have to do, do it quickly.”
Avery and Alex looked at each other, mind fully made up on the dangerous attempt they were about to make.
“If anything happens,” Alex began, but Avery cut him off immediately.
“Save it for when you take me to dinner after this,” she said with a comforting smile.
They shifted back to their human forms, holding their hands together and reaching inward for the unique and powerful bloodline abilities they both carried.
Alex summoned the ancient Lunarium magic from his bloodline, while Avery called upon her Lunar powers. Their powers reacted and answered their call, wrapping them in a blazing aura of supernatural power. They were no longer the Alpha and the Guardian of the Aethon Orb, but a fulfillment of the ancient prophecies written long before even the first wolves roamed the earth. They were protectors of the light, balance, and the legacy of all supernatural beings in the known and unknown realms.
The glow from their bodies grew brighter than a rising sun, and even Maverick stumbled in the barrier, momentarily blinded by their essence.
“What is this?” he roared desperately, clawing savagely at the barrier.
“A reckoning,” Alex said coldly as he and Avery approached him as one.
They lifted their arms to the skies, calling down the powers of the moon and wolf in its purest form. Chains of pure lunar energy formed around Maverick as the barrier finally gave way, wrapping around his arms and legs, and binding him in place. The monstrous werewolf struggled, roared, and fought wildly, but his movements soon began to slow down.
“You–cannot” he hissed, as his body struggled between flesh and shadow.
“You broke every bond you ever had,” Avery said. “You betrayed your people, and you killed without mercy.”
Alex's eyes flashed with righteous vengeance. “Now you will answer to us.”
Maverick bared his teeth, but the demonic strength which had been fueling him had now deserted him.
“You wanted a world ruled by fear. But this city chose hope.” Avery went on as she and Alex finally reached where Maverick lay whimpering.
“It is time to pay for your sins,” Alex added.
Together, they placed their hands on his massive head, and the powerful energy surrounding them began to flood into the monstrous werewolf.
The light consumed the darkness.
And Maverick fell, shifting silently to his human form.
There was total silence. The remaining shadow beasts faded into dust, the sun shone through the clouds, and the city breathed again.
Avery dropped to her knees, exhausted. Alex stumbled over and caught her before she fell.
“It is done,” he whispered as he lovingly stroked her hair. “We did it.”
She looked up at him, teary-eyed, smiling. “It is really done.”
Behind them, the others began to arrive. Simon, Melora, Jessica, Rufus, and Marlboro, all bruised but alive. Behind them were the rest of the allied army–Marlboro’s men, the remaining Celestial Guards, the human volunteers, and the supernaturals who had fought on the side of good.
Rufus surveyed the wreckage in the square. “That was a lot of drama for one guy.”
“Maverick was never just one guy,” Melora said softly. “He was a symbol. And symbols take effort to kill.”
Jessica knelt by Avery, placing a cool hand on her forehead. “You okay?”
“I will be,” Avery nodded.
Alex stood and faced them all. “The war is not over just yet, but we have just taken down the worst of it.”
“What of Elara?” Rufus asked grimly.
Alex’s eyes turned cold again. “She will hear about this. And she will know–her time is coming.”
They all began to disperse, checking up on the wounded, and gathering the fallen ones.
For a few precious seconds, time itself seemed to hold its breath–And then it happened.
Maverick’s limp body suddenly began to convulse.
Avery stepped forward in alarm. “No–it cannot be possible!”
But it was possible. With a sickening gurgle, Maverick’s seemingly lifeless head suddenly jerked up, his eyes wide, and his mouth stretched into an unnatural bloodthirsty grin.
The demonic power he wielded before was now gone completely, and what was left behind was something that looked just as evil. Raw madness, powered by desperation, and clinging on to life with nothing but pure hatred and sheer willpower.
“I. Will. Not. Be. Cast Aside!” he shrieked, angrily scrambling to his feet.
He staggered forward like a broken puppet, with his bones still forming back together under his broken skin. There was no demon power anymore, no wolf power, and no dark magic. Just his mad fury with which he now charged at Alex.
Alex's reaction was instant, grabbing Maverick with the brute force of his Alpha power and flinging him across the square.
“Stand down, Maverick!” Alex barked. “It is over!”
“Not for me; never for me.” Maverick snarled as he struggled back to his feet, with blood pouring from his lips.
Alex drew a pair of silver cuffs from his belt as he walked towards the stumbling and raging Maverick, enchanted restraints meant for high level supernatural criminals. “You will stand trial for your crimes. All of them.”
But before he could take another step further, a mysterious shadowy figure appeared, and a dark blade sparkled in the light.
The blade moved–too fast to see, too fast for Alex to react. His body shuddered violently as the dagger was buried deep into his back.
Time stopped, and Avery’s scream tore through the square like a banshee's wail.
Before anyone could react, the shadow appeared behind Maverick and buried the blade into his heart from behind. Maverick gasped and jerked forward as blood spurted from his mouth.
Behind him stood Elara. Silent, composed, and merciless.
She pulled the dagger free from Maverick’s body and let his corpse fall unceremoniously to the ground, finally and truly lifeless.
“Oh, Maverick,” she said coldly, wiping the blade on his shirt. “Such a waste of power. You were nothing but a glorified brute in a world where intelligence and strategy rules.”
“Elara,” Alex gasped, somehow still standing on his feet even with blood pouring from his wound. “You monster.”
She looked at him without emotion. “Alex Ravenswood, your biggest mistake was turning me down. We could have ruled the world together. Maverick wanted chaos, and you chose these worthless humans over your own kind. But me? I want evolution.”
With a whisper of dark magic, she vanished into the air, leaving nothing but her scent and the bloodied corpse of Maverick behind.
The others who had been watching in stunned silence suddenly stirred as the world snapped back into motion. She had frozen them with a dark spell the whole time.
“Alex!” Avery rushed to him as he collapsed, catching his weight before it hit the ground.
Simon was already beside her, tearing open Alex’s shirt and applying pressure on the wound with steady hands. “Get medical supplies now! Go!”
“Marlboro, help me!” Avery screamed.
Marlboro dropped to his knees, pulling a field kit from his coat. “He is losing too much blood–we need Melora!”
“She is not strong enough to heal a wound of such a magical weapon, she drained herself the last time she saved Simon.” Jessica replied with tears already pouring from her eyes.
Alex’s eyes were trembling. “Ave,”
Avery placed her hands over his wound, trying to summon her lunar magic, but it was not responding. She had exhausted it when they took down Maverick's demonic form.
“Don’t you dare,” she whispered through tears. “Don’t you dare leave me now.”
Simon cursed terribly, furious that he was so powerless.
“He does not have much time!” Marlboro said anxiously. “We have to think of something quickly.”
“It is alright,” Alex's voice came slowly, almost as if he was finally at peace. “Just make sure that witch pays for her crimes.”
Avery looked at him in horror. “What are you-?”
She was cut short by Alex quietly closing his eyes, and feeling his wolf's presence fading away.
They all felt the sudden emptiness as the Alpha lay lifeless in Avery's arms, too shocked for words– It was not supposed to be.
But it was.
Alpha Alex Ravenswood was dead.

Elara had assembled Maverick's old allies in his mansion. Lysandra, Vargas, Silas, Nico and Dumas all stood before her with what remained of their scattered forces, listening to her with bored and skeptical expressions on their faces.
But Elara was in no way bothered. Her voice was calm, icy, and absolute as she spoke.
“The old guard fell because Maverick’s vision was primitive. He burned the world without a plan to build something better. But I will.”
They stared at her, still uncertain of her true intentions.
Elara raised her blood-stained dagger.
“Alex Ravenswood and Maverick Stormbringer are dead, and with them the era of fear and cowardice. I am offering you victory. I am offering you an end to this war. If you follow me, if you fight when I say fight, we will take not just the city of Tenebrous–but the future.”
Then she looked each of them in the eye, with a wicked chuckle on her face.
“Or–you can die out there. Alone, and outmatched.”
There was a brief silence, Then Lysandra came forward and dropped to one knee.
“I pledge my allegiance to you, lady Elara.”
Nico followed. So did Dumas.
A ripple of agreement spread through the small gathering, and one by one the others took the knee.
Elara turned away, smiling faintly.
The revolution had just changed hands.
And the final battle is about to begin.