Chapter 167: The Clash – Lya vs. Liguen

In the darkened sky, thick with the tension of their battle, Liguen struck first, precise and vicious.

Lya, confident in both her physical and magical superiority, met him head-on in a contest of brute strength. But Liguen hadn’t come for an honorable fight. He had come to win—by any means necessary.

As she lunged, wings beating powerfully, claws ready to tear into him, Liguen pivoted—faster than a dragon his size should have been.

His first blade struck.

A sharp arc of silver sliced deep into Lya’s left shoulder.

A roar of pain erupted from her throat, thundering across Sacred Moon like a storm breaking the sky apart.

The shockwave rippled through the mental link of the pack, spreading like a wave of panic.

On the ground, Caleb felt it instantly.

"LYA!"

He took a step forward, instinct screaming at him to act, but Drake immediately blocked his path.

"Don't do it, Alpha!" the Beta barked. "If you go up there, you’re dead!"

Caleb was blinded by rage, and Handres, inside him, was even worse.

"She’s bleeding!" the wolf snarled in his mind. "We have to help her!"

"We can’t." Caleb gritted his teeth, fists clenched so tight his knuckles cracked, barely restraining himself from charging forward.

Drake and Malick exchanged a worried glance.

Lya was undoubtedly stronger, but Liguen was cunning. He had lured her into his kind of fight—one where raw strength didn’t matter as much as the treachery of his enchanted blades.

Above, Lya’s dark blood spattered the clouds as she faltered, her wings wobbling for just a moment under the searing pain.

Liguen smirked.

"What’s wrong, Lya?" he mocked, circling her with slow, deliberate movements, his gleaming blades twirling in his claws.

"Did you really think you were invincible?"

Lya clenched her jaw. The pain pulsed through her body, but she couldn’t afford to hesitate. Not now.

Liguen gave her no time to recover. Seizing the moment, he dived at her again, terrifyingly fast, striking with surgical precision.

His second blade cut a burning gash along her side, right under the joint of her right wing.

Lya growled through the agony, beating her wings furiously to steady herself, but her flight was no longer as strong.

And down below, panic rippled through the pack.

Loric, watching the battle unfold through the shared mental link, felt his mother’s pain.

"Mom?" he whispered, his small voice trembling.

Elora immediately pulled him into her arms, trying to shield him. "Don’t watch, my love."

But it was impossible.

Every wolf, every single member of the pack felt their Luna’s distress.

Malick, ever composed, turned to Caleb. "She has to change tactics, Alpha. If she keeps fighting on his terms, he’s going to cut her to pieces."

Caleb’s entire body was coiled like a spring, ready to snap. "She will adapt," he growled, but his voice betrayed his concern.

Drake, usually reckless and loud, was deathly pale. He had never seen Lya struggle before. And it made him sick to his stomach.

Liguen fed off this imbalance. With a single, powerful wingbeat, he rose above Lya once more, then plunged again, blade raised.

But this time… Lya was ready.

She exploited the split-second where Liguen was repositioning, flashing upwards at an insane speed, soaring past him.

Then, with devastating force, she folded her wings and dove.

Straight at him.

The ground shook beneath them as Lya slammed into Liguen, her massive form colliding with his in a bone-shattering impact.

Liguen, staggered, tried to pull away, but Lya gave him no chance.

With a colossal strike, her titanic claws smashed into him, hurling Liguen down—straight into a half-collapsed building.

The crash was thunderous.

Walls crumbled. Beams snapped.

A storm of stone, wood, and metal rained down, burying the dark dragon under a mountain of rubble.

A thick cloud of dust billowed up, concealing everything.

Suspended in the sky, Lya hovered, panting, her piercing gaze locked onto the wreckage below.

Then—

Liguen emerged.

Massive. Seething with fury.

His emerald-green eyes blazed, his breath came in ragged gasps—but not of exhaustion.

It was pure rage.

Then… something shifted.

Through the destruction, through the dust and the scent of blood in the air—he caught it.

A scent. Faint. Subtle.

But unmistakable.

His body froze. His pupils shrank.

And then… a snarl of pure hatred twisted his monstrous face.

"No…"

Lya realized it too late.

The moment shattered with a roar so furious, so deafening, that the entire pack felt it rumble through the land.

"YOU’RE PREGNANT!"

A brutal silence descended over the battlefield.

A silence so heavy, so lethal, it only lasted a heartbeat before the weight of reality crashed into Caleb, Drake, and Malick.

Caleb stopped breathing.

A cold dread slithered up his spine.

He knows.

Inside him, Handres erupted in fury, his mental howl shaking Caleb to his core.

"HE HAS NO RIGHT TO SAY THOSE WORDS! NO RIGHT TO LOOK AT HER—AT THEM!"

Caleb’s self-control shattered.

His hands fisted so hard his nails cut into his palms. His entire body locked in place, his gaze burning with pure, murderous intensity.

Drake’s skin went pale. His hands trembled before instinct kicked in.

"Shit…" He ran a shaky hand through his hair, his expression flickering between shock and blind rage. "That sick bastard knows."

And worse?

He wouldn't stop now.

Drake wasn’t the kind to panic. But this? This made his blood run cold.

Liguen had already slaughtered Lya’s family.

Now? Now he knew about her child. Caleb’s child.

Malick, standing deathly still, suddenly radiated an aura so cold it could freeze bone.

When he spoke, his voice was a whisper of pure menace.

"If that bastard touches the Luna or her child… I’ll kill him myself."

It wasn’t a threat.

It was a promise.

Caleb’s eyes snapped to him, and in the Alpha’s burning ice-blue gaze, Malick saw the exact same vow.

Caleb took a deep breath, forcing himself not to give in to panic, not to lose control. But his muscles were taut, his heart beating at an unnatural pace.

He lifted his gaze to **Lya—his dragon—**who was fighting with renewed fury.

He knew it.

This fight had changed. Liguen wasn’t just here to claim Lya anymore. He had just realized he could lose everything. And that made him even more dangerous.

Lya remained silent, her massive wings slicing through the air, daring her opponent to utter another word.

But Liguen was already spiraling into madness.

"You carry another’s child?" His voice was no longer just rage—it was pain, twisted with insanity.

Then, his gaze darkened with something crueler.

"A WOLF’S child?"

He lost control.

With a terrifying wingbeat, he lunged at Lya, faster, more violent than ever before.

Lya barely had time to reposition herself before Liguen struck head-on.

The impact was brutal. The two dragons collided with the force of a storm, rolling through the sky in a whirlwind of claws and fury.

Shards of scales rained down, scattering in all directions. Pain lanced through Lya, but she held her ground.

Then, Liguen did something unexpected.

His claws plunged toward Lya’s belly—not to kill her.

But to destroy what she carried.

Her child.

Lya didn’t have time to think. She reacted on pure instinct.

With a monumental flap of her wings, she wrenched herself free, breaking his grip, forcing him back with the sheer force of the wind.

And then, the blue fire came.

A torrent of celestial flames, blindingly bright, tore through the air and struck Liguen with full force.

The dragon screamed in agony, his massive form blasted backward like a leaf caught in a storm.

Lya was furious.

No. She was more than furious.

She was a mother.

Her heart pounded with a certainty so absolute that nothing could shake it.

She would not lose this child.

Not like she had lost her family.

Not to him.

She thought of Loric. Her first son. Her precious little boy. She had promised him a future.

She thought of Caleb. Her mate. Her Alpha. The one who loved her for who she was.

Giving him this child was her greatest happiness.

She thought of her pack.

Her new home.

The people who had accepted her despite her nature.

She would not lose this.

She would not run.

Not this time.

A new roar shattered the sky.

A roar of defiance.

Of unbreakable determination.

Lya soared higher, her wings unfurling with divine power, her energy radiating into the air itself.

The wolves of Sacred Moon, even hidden in their shelters, felt the shift.

The battle had changed.

Lya wasn’t just fighting to survive.

She was going to win.

Bolts of pure energy crackled around the two dragons as they clashed again, each impact echoing like thunder over Sacred Moon.

Liguen, grinding his teeth, repositioned his grip on his enchanted blades, searching for an opening in the chaos.

But Lya wasn’t done.

With a colossal wingbeat, she shot into the sky, dodging a razor-sharp slash just in time.

That blade—**engraved with ancient runes—**would have pierced her scales if she had taken the hit directly.

But Lya was faster.

And she wasn’t just dodging.

She was about to counterattack.

Her intense blue eyes blazed, and instantly, the air around her crackled with dense, electric energy.

Liguen felt the change.

Too late.

Lya didn’t need words.

No incantations.

Not for this.

Her scales pulsed with an unnatural glow, humming with power as she focused her magic.

Then, with a single, piercing stare, she unleashed it.

A circle of luminous energy flared to life beneath Liguen.

Chains woven from pure draconic light erupted from the void, coiling around his wings and limbs, locking him in place.

Liguen roared in fury, his muscles bulging as he fought to break free, but Lya’s magic was no mere illusion.

It was pure force.

A lock sealed with her will.

The black dragon reared, his emerald eyes blazing with rage, but Lya gave him no mercy.

With a fluid motion, she extended a massive claw and clenched it into a fist.

The chains tightened.

Liguen’s limbs strained against the crushing grip.

But he was still dangerous.

The runes on his blades ignited, sending black energy waves slicing through Lya’s magic, shattering her bindings in a burst of shattered light.

Lya had expected this.

As Liguen broke free, a blazing blue fire swirled in Lya’s throat.

This wasn’t ordinary fire.

It was eternal.

The pure essence of her destructive power.

Liguen, realizing what was coming, tried to retreat.

Too slow.

Lya pursued him mercilessly.

Then—

She let it loose.

A torrent of blue flames erupted from her, blazing across the sky.

Even the wolves hidden underground saw the light piercing through every crack and crevice, so bright it could have turned night into day.

Liguen threw his wings up, crossing his blades in front of him, their runes glowing desperately to shield against the blast.

The impact was catastrophic.

Lya’s energy clashed against his, a battle of primordial forces.

The black dragon buckled, feeling his defenses crumble against the sheer intensity of her flames.

His blades trembled, fighting against something far older, far wilder.

But Lya wasn’t letting up.

She poured more power into her flames, forcing Liguen backward, his flight turning unstable.

One of his swords overloaded with energy exploded into shards of glowing gold.

Liguen screamed in frustration, his plans falling apart under Lya’s unstoppable strength.

And on the ground, Caleb, fists clenched, watched as his mate stood her ground against his worst nightmare.

Proving to everyone—

That she would never be chained.