Chapter 227 BLOOD SEAL.

Chapter 227 BLOOD SEAL.


AVERY’S POV:

I should’ve felt fear watching her—Akira, elevated slightly off the ground, her hands glowing as she drained the breath from my husband’s lungs.

But what I felt instead was… something bitterer.

Pity.

For a moment, I saw the woman she once was—the outcast, the sister left behind, the lover betrayed, the mother robbed. That kind of agony could ruin anyone.

But the pity didn’t last.

Because it was quickly swallowed whole by everything she had made me. A murderer. A monster. A woman with blood on her hands and darkness clinging to her soul like it was perfume. Akira had stripped me down to the point I didn’t even recognize myself anymore.

I’d mourn later. Right now, Axel was dying.

I struggled against the invisible force pinning me down. My nails scraped stone. I screamed his name "Axel!" but I couldn’t move.

Then I heard footsteps making me look forward.

Ryan.

He stood slowly from the shadows like something waking from a nightmare.

My stomach dropped. “Oh, could this get any worse?”

But then—he ran.

Straight at her.

“Get off him!” he roared.

He grabbed Akira from behind, flinging her with surprising force. She let out a feral hiss as she hit the floor, skidding across the stone.

Axel collapsed, gasping, coughing, curling into himself.

And Ryan—he just stood there, panting. Confused. Terrified.

“What the hell is going on?” he said, his voice shaking. “What—what is this? What’s wrong with me?”

He began to dismantle the altar, knocking over candle after candle, crushing the hair, smearing the salt markings with his hands. He moved frantically, like something inside him was finally gone—like he was free.

As the last candle broke and the fire dimmed, the invisible bind pinning me down vanished. My hands and legs moved.

I stood.

So did Axel, bloody and barely breathing but alive.

Ryan spun to us, wide-eyed and desperate. “What happened? Why am I here? What did she do to me?”

Axel grabbed the edge of a pillar for support, coughing blood. “It’s a long story,” he rasped. “But first… we need to figure out if you’re really Ryan. Or if London’s still hiding inside you.”

Ryan looked between us, panic rising in his eyes like a tide. “Why would London be hiding inside me?! She's dead.”

But we didn’t have time to answer.

A low growl filled the room—deeper than thunder.

Akira rose, eyes blazing gold, her body trembling in fury. Her black gown ignited into fire—no smoke, just flame. Her feet left the ground again, her body rising in slow, terrible grace. The orb above us pulsed like a heartbeat.

“You think this is a game?” she hissed, her voice echoing unnaturally around the temple. “I will not be stopped by children.”

With a flick of her wrist, a gust of wind slammed through the room, and Ryan was hurled into the far wall. He hit it with a thud and crumpled, unmoving.

“RYAN!” I screamed.

But Akira wasn’t done.

Outside, I could hear the shift in gunfire—first a few distant bursts, then explosions. Someone was trying to break down the temple doors, hammering against them like the end of the world was clawing to get in.

Axel turned toward her, rage finally overriding pain. He charged forward with a roar, reckless and wild.

But Akira didn’t even blink.

She raised her hand and caught him midair by the throat.

He didn’t touch the ground again.

His body hovered, his boots scraping the air, as she slowly closed her fingers around his neck. He thrashed, kicking, grabbing her wrists—but her strength was unnatural.

“Axel!” I cried, scrambling to get to my feet again.

Akira’s gaze narrowed as she twisted her hand sharply.

I heard cracks.

Axel screamed.

His arm twisted backward, dislocating from the shoulder. Blood streamed from his mouth.

Another flick—his knee bent in a direction it shouldn’t.

His scream echoed off the stone walls.

And then his ribs. Snap. Snap. Snap.

I sobbed, crawling toward them. “Stop—please, stop—”

But she didn’t.

She enjoyed it.

Blood ran from Axel’s nose. His face contorted, his body twitching. And still, he glared at her through the agony, refusing to give her the satisfaction of breaking him.

“Say goodbye,” she whispered, her fingers pulsing with raw energy.

But I wasn’t going to let that happen.

Not to him.

Not to the man I loved.

Not again.

Akira hovered midair, her gown of fire flickering wildly as her hair floated like it was underwater. Her voice boomed with a weight the stone walls could barely hold.

“I could kill any of you,” she hissed, her eyes now glowing red like heated coals, “and London would simply take the body of the one who survives. I am done losing.”

She dragged Axel’s mangled body by the collar like a broken doll, his blood leaving a trail on the cold stone. I screamed his name, desperately reaching—

“No! Stop—PLEASE!”

But she didn’t even look at me.

Instead, she threw his limp body against the pedestal beneath the glowing orb. With a swift flick of her hand, a sharp blade appeared from thin air, and she sliced Axel’s palm deep. His blood spilled in thick streams, cascading down onto the orb.

The orb howled.

It breathed —no longer light, but void dark and humming. The flames around the room changed to blue.

“STOP!” I cried. “He’s done nothing to you! Don’t do this—please!”

She looked down at me, her face twisted.

“You should’ve let him die in peace,” she said flatly. “Now his blood will seal the bond.”

She flung Axel aside like garbage. His body rolled with a sickening thud before going still again.

Then… her glowing eyes shifted to me.

“No,” I whispered, backing away. “No, no."

I ran.

There was nowhere to go—but I ran.

She didn’t move. She didn’t have to.

With one flick of her wrist, massive objects lifted and hurled toward me—crushing benches, shattered pillars, glass and stone alike rained down. Walls broke around me. Candles extinguished themselves.

I screamed as a jagged corner of stone exploded just beside my head, slicing into my shoulder.

“ENOUGH!” she roared.

A rope of black energy shot out of her hand, snaring my legs mid-run. I hit the floor hard, dragging bloody streaks as she yanked me backward across the temple floor like a discarded offering.

“No, please!” I sobbed. “I’m begging you—”

She floated downward until her flaming toes hovered inches from the floor. Her eyes didn’t blink. Her hand outstretched, she clutched my wrist and forced my palm upward, guiding it slowly toward my belly.

“No—no, not my baby—PLEASE!”

She began to chant in a language older than time, each syllable vibrating through the ground, shaking the very bones beneath us. Her necklace glowed with every word—so did the orb.

And then—

Pain.

Not just agony.

Hell.

It was as if something was ripping through me. Not slicing. Not stabbing. Ripping.

My body writhed. My fingers bent backward as I screamed—a long, choking, animal sound of pure torment. My stomach felt like it was imploding. I could feel the life inside me screaming too, our bodies fighting not to separate.

“AHHHHH—PLEASE!” I gasped, clawing at her arm. “You’re killing me!”

The orb darkened, feeding. Her chanting quickened. Her voice twisted into layers, like she spoke with the voices of a thousand cursed spirits. My vision blurred.

And then—

I heard them.

Hissing. Whispering. Voices all around me.

They slithered around my ears, wrapping around my neck, brushing my skin like icy breath.

“Your sin,” they giggled.

“She must pay.”

“The bloodline ends with you.”

I looked left and right, tears clouding my eyes. I saw nothing—but I felt them. Spirits. Hungry. Laughing.

One hovered close. I could smell it. Rotting flesh, old blood. Death.

“You smell like guilt,” it cackled. “Let us drink it.”

Akira smiled, her lips drenched in pleasure. “London is ready. And you… are the perfect host.”

I couldn't scream anymore. I was slipping under. The pain, the fear, the cold—

My baby kicked one last time.

And then—

BOOM.

The temple shook.

The doors burst open, letting light flood in.

Gunfire screamed.

But none of it registered.

I was dying.

And unless that door brought hell with it—

Akira was about to win.