Chapter 112 | The Splintered | Kael
I was dragged into darkness.
Not through the crack Xiao Qi had opened, but down another path. The perfect "him" wrapped me in some irresistible force field the moment our foreheads collided. Shadow-Step failed, my wings shattered, the Bloodbond thread was forcibly stretched, thinned, then—
snapped.
Not completely—like a rubber band pulled to its breaking point. I could still feel Leah, but the sensation became distant, blurry, like a phone call from underwater.
"What did you do to me?"
My voice was hoarse. My throat was full of blood. Every word felt like swallowing a knife.
"Saving you."
The perfect "him" answered. He walked ahead of me, dark red wings spread in the darkness, lighting up our surroundings. This was a tunnel, the stone walls covered in ancient vampire writing—the de Noct family crest appearing over and over. This was—
"Under the Northern Fortress," I said.
"Smart." He didn't look back. "The entrance to the ruins from three thousand years ago. Where I was born."
"Where are you taking me?"
"Where you belong."
He stopped. At the end of the tunnel was a door. Not wood, not stone, but something alive made of solidified blood, still faintly pulsing—
A biological door.
There was a face on the door. I recognized it.
Father.
"You—"
"He died here." The perfect "him" reached out, covering the face on the door. "He wasn't assassinated by conservatives. He volunteered to become a sacrifice to seal this door. That reform martyr you thought he was? No. He was the first Gatekeeper. And the Gatekeeper bloodline—"
He turned to look at me, ice-blue vertical pupils burning with a mad calm.
"—passes down through the generations. To me. Until you cut me away."
The door opened.
The space inside wasn't large—like a secret chamber. In the center was a stone platform covered in grooves. The dried blood in the grooves was black, like oil.
"Lie down," he said.
"No."
"Lie down, and I can fix you." He said, "With my blood. With your bones. After fusion, you won't be the broken dark moon anymore. You'll be the complete prince. Compulsion, Shadow-Step, three thousand years of combat memory—all of it comes back. Then—"
He turned to me, holding out his hand.
"—we go kill the Moon-Eater."
I leaned against the doorframe, legs shaking, but I didn't fall.
"Kill it?" I laughed bitterly. "It devoured even Elune. What makes you think you can kill it?"
"This."
He pulled something from his chest.
A Shadow Stone. But different from Ophelia's. This one was bigger, darker, the dark red light inside forming a shape—like a curled-up embryo.
"The Light-Eater core," he said. "For three thousand years, I've been feeding it. With energy drawn from the ruins, with vampires stolen from the borders, with—"
He paused.
"—with forgotten memories. Now it obeys me. And the Moon-Eater—"
He smiled.
"—is also part of the network. As long as it's part of the network, it has a node. Where there's a node, there can be corruption."
I looked at him.
The me from three thousand years ago who abandoned weakness and took power. And this part that was left behind didn't become weak. He became—
more extreme.
"You're insane," I said.
"I'm practical," he corrected. "While you were falling in love and making oatmeal in the capital, I was studying how to end all of this. Shadow Walkers, Moon-Eaters, Light-Eaters—they're all symptoms of the same disease. And my cure isn't fusion, isn't coexistence—"
He raised the Shadow Stone. Dark red light lit up his face, making his outline look like a ghost crawling out of hell.
"—it's complete destruction."
"What's the cost?" I asked.
"The cost is," he lowered the Shadow Stone, "half the network dies. Vampires lose their bloodline connection, the Dawnlight Clan loses their light source, the human world—"
He shrugged.
"—might have some blackouts. But they never had magic anyway, so no big loss."
I went quiet.
The air in the chamber was thick, carrying the stale smell of blood and rot. The grooves on the stone platform were calling to me, like a mouth waiting to be fed. I could feel its pull, like the deep ocean embracing someone drowning.
"What about Leah?" I asked.
"The Silver Moon?" He frowned. "She's light. My plan doesn't need light. In fact—"
He walked toward me, step by step. His fingers lifted my chin, the pressure painful.
"—light gets in the way. So after we fuse, the first thing I'll do is cut the connection between you two. Permanently."
I slapped his hand away.
"Then you might as well kill me."
"I won't kill you," he said. "You are me. Killing you is killing myself. But I can make you—"
His pupils narrowed.
"—lose her. Let her think you're dead. Let her slowly forget you over the long rest of her life. More merciful than death, right?"
I clenched my fist.
My nails dug into my palm, blood seeping out. But the blood was no longer dark red—it was a lighter shade, closer to human—red.
I was changing. Becoming more human. Weaker. More—
closer to death.
"I'll give you three minutes." The perfect "him" stepped back, leaning against the stone platform, arms crossed. "In three minutes, if you don't lie down, I'll force you down myself. Fusion isn't optional. You can't escape."
He closed his eyes, as if resting. Three thousand years of waiting had worn him out, but victory was right in front of him.
I leaned against the doorframe, mind racing.
No powers left. Bloodbond almost broken. Leah was down below with Xiao Qi—I didn't know if they were safe. And this lunatic was planning to use a Shadow Stone to "eliminate" the Moon-Eater, at the cost of half the network.
No way to win.
But—
I looked at the stone platform. The black blood in the grooves, my father's sacrifice, the de Noct legacy.
What if I could lie down, but not fuse?
What if I could use the platform's energy, not to fix myself, but to—
do something else?
I slowly walked toward the stone platform.
The perfect "him" opened his eyes, the corner of his mouth lifting.
"Smart choice."
I didn't answer.
I lay down.
The cold stone pressed against my spine. The grooves bit into my shoulder blades, like teeth biting into prey. Energy began to flow—not pouring in, but draining out. It was sucking out my blood, my memories, my—
my love for Leah.
"Stop—!" I screamed.
"Can't stop." The perfect "him" stood beside the platform, palm pressed on my chest. "Once fusion starts, it can't be interrupted. Relax. Soon you won't remember her. Soon—"
His voice faded in my mind.
Darkness swallowed me.
But in the last second before I lost consciousness completely—
I heard a voice.
Not his. Ophelia's. From somewhere far away, from beyond death, came one sentence:
"There's a knife under the stone platform."