Chapter 162 THE VOICE BENEATH HER SOUL
The courtyard was silent.Too silent.
Amanda stood frozen, staring at her reflection in the shattered stone.
Black eyes.Not silver.Not hers.
Andrew stepped closer slowly.
“Amanda,” he called softly.She did not answer.
Her body felt heavy, as if something inside her was pressing against her soul.
Then she heard it.
A voice.Not from outside.But from within.You finally noticed me.
Amanda gasped.
Her fingers clenched.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
Andrew and Ethan exchanged tense looks.
They could see her lips moving, but they could not hear the voice.
Ethan stepped forward.
“What’s happening to her?” he demanded.
Amanda did not answer him.
The voice inside her laughed softly.
I am what you refused to become, it said.
Amanda shook her head.
“No,” she whispered. “I didn’t refuse anything.”
You refused power, the voice replied.
You refused the truth.
You refused us.
Amanda’s breathing became uneven.
Andrew touched her shoulder gently.
“Amanda, look at me,” he said.
She slowly turned her head toward him.
For a moment, her eyes turned silver again.
Andrew felt relief.
But then her lips curved into a faint smile.
And the smile was not hers.
“You’re afraid,” she said softly.
Andrew froze.
Her voice sounded like Amanda’s.
But it wasn’t.
Ethan stepped forward instantly.
“Amanda, stop,” he said.
She turned her gaze toward him.
Her eyes shifted again.
Black.
“You always wanted to control her,” she said calmly.
Ethan’s aura exploded.
“I never wanted to control her,” he growled.
Amanda tilted her head.
“Liar,” the voice said through her.
The air around her darkened.
The silver flames twisted into shadows.
Andrew felt his heart tighten.
“Get out of her,” he shouted.
Amanda laughed softly.
The sound was wrong.
Empty.Cold.
“You think I can leave?” the voice said.
“She is my vessel.”
Amanda’s body trembled.
Inside her mind, she screamed.
Leave me alone!
The voice responded instantly.
We were never alone, it whispered.
We were shattered.
Amanda fell to her knees.
Andrew caught her.
Ethan moved closer, his eyes burning with rage.
“Tell me what you want,” he demanded.
Amanda slowly lifted her head.
Her black eyes locked onto Ethan.
“We want,” the voice said quietly,
“to be whole again.”
The ground shook violently.
The broken moon above the fortress pulsed.
From the sky, silver lightning struck the courtyard.
A crack opened in the air itself.
Andrew’s eyes widened.
“Another fragment,” he whispered.
The crack widened.
From it, a figure began to emerge.
Not a child.
Not a shadow.
But a warrior.
A tall woman clad in silver armor, her hair flowing like moonlight, her eyes burning with ancient fury.
She stepped out of the means? ignore).
Her gaze locked onto Amanda.
“You carry what belongs to us,” the warrior said.
Her voice echoed across the fortress like thunder.
Amanda felt the fragment inside her surge violently.
She screamed.
The warrior raised her sword.
“Return the fragment,” she commanded.
“Or I will tear it out.”
Ethan stepped in front of Amanda instantly.
His Alpha aura erupted, shaking the fortress.
“You will not touch her,” he said coldly.
The warrior smiled slightly.
“You are only a wolf,” she replied.
Then she lifted her sword.
The sky split open.
And hundreds of silver warriors began descending from the moon.
Andrew’s heart sank.
Because he understood one terrifying truth:
This was not a battle.
It was a war against the moon itself.
Silver warriors poured from themoon in the heavens like falling stars.
Their armor glowed with moonlight, their eyes cold and merciless.
The Nexus Fortress shook as their feet touched the ground.
Wolves howled in response.
Ethan stepped forward, his Alpha aura exploding into the air like a storm.
“Defend the fortress!” he roared.
The pack answered instantly.
War erupted.
Clashes of claws and silver blades filled the night.
Moon warriors moved with unnatural speed, cutting through wolves with precision.
Blood stained the courtyard.
Andrew held Amanda tightly as her body trembled violently.
Inside her, the fragment was no longer whispering.
It was screaming.Let me out.
Let me fight.Let me return.
Amanda clutched her head.
“No,” she whispered.
Andrew looked at her desperately.
“Amanda, listen to me,” he said. “You are stronger than it.”
She looked at him with trembling eyes.
“Am I?” she asked.
Before he could answer, the warrior woman stepped forward.
Her sword cut through the air, sending a wave of silver energy toward them.
Ethan leapt in front of them instantly.
He crossed his arms.
The energy collided with his aura.
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
He slid backward but did not fall.
His eyes burned with fury.
“You want her?” he growled.
“Come through me.”
The warrior woman smiled.
“You cannot protect a goddess who does not belong to your world,” she said.
Her gaze shifted to Amanda.
“Amanda,” she called calmly.
Amanda froze.
Her body reacted to the voice.
The fragment surged violently.
Her silver flames erupted uncontrollably.
Andrew shouted.
“Amanda, don’t listen to her!”
But Amanda felt something terrifying.
The moon warriors were not attacking randomly.
They were calling her.
Calling her home.
The warrior woman raised her sword again.
“Come back to us,” she said.
The air around Amanda twisted.
Her feet slowly lifted off the ground.
Andrew grabbed her hand.
“Don’t leave!” he shouted.
Amanda looked at him.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I don’t want to,” she whispered.
But the fragment inside her laughed.
You were never meant to stay.
Suddenly, a powerful explosion shook the battlefield.
A silver blast tore through the moon warriors.
They were thrown backward.
Everyone turned.
From the darkness of the forest, a figure walked slowly toward the battlefield.
Not a moon warrior.
Not a wolf.
Not human.
His aura was dark and ancient.
His eyes glowed red.
Andrew’s eyes widened.
“Impossible,” he whispered.
Ethan stared at the newcomer in shock.
“That’s…” he said slowly.
Amanda felt her heart stop.
Because she recognized him.
Even before he spoke.
“Father?” she whispered.
The man smiled faintly.
“Yes, my daughter,” he said calmly.
The moon warriors froze.
The warrior woman’s expression changed.
“Victor,” she said.
The name echoed across the battlefield.
Amanda’s mind exploded.
Victor.
The enemy of the moon.
The betrayer of the gods.
The man who was supposed to be dead.
He looked at Amanda gently.
“Come down,” he said softly.
Amanda slowly descended back to the ground.
Andrew stared at him in disbelief.
“You’re alive,” he said.
Victor smiled.
“Alive is a strange word,” he replied.
Then he turned his gaze toward the moon warriors.
His voice became cold.
“She belongs to me,” he said.
The warrior woman raised her sword.
“She belongs to the moon,” she replied.
Victor’s eyes darkened.
“Then the moon will burn,” he said quietly.
The sky thundered.
The moon cracked further.
And Amanda felt the world trembling.
Because she understood something terrifying.
The war was no longer about her.
It was about who owned her existence.
Victor slowly turned toward Amanda.
His eyes softened.
“You see now,” he said gently.
“You were never just the Lost Luna.”
He lifted his hand.
Dark flames erupted from his palm.
“You are the weapon I created.”
Amanda’s breath stopped.
Andrew felt his heart collapse.
Ethan clenched his fists.
Because if Victor was telling the truth…
Amanda was not a blessing.
She was a design.