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My Secret Serpent Mate Full EP - Full
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00:00I finally got the rarest magic core for you.
00:05You've worked hard.
00:12No!
00:19After rebirth, I abandoned the mighty phoenix as my magical pet.
00:23Instead, chose an almost dead little black snake in my past life.
00:27I'd hunted rare ingredients for phoenix,
00:28pouring every resource I had into his growth.
00:31He cheated with my sister behind my back.
00:33Finally, to make their little love story easier, they killed me together.
00:36This time around, I wanted to see how that perfect couple managed without me as their stepping stone.
00:41The same packed ceremony, the same standout, undeniably that golden phoenix.
00:45Even caged with a suppression collar, he held his head high, like the rest of us were beneath him.
00:50As expected, the ceremony elder assigned him to me.
00:53The phoenix tilted its head back and rolled its eyes.
00:55Just like in its previous life, its face full of disdain.
00:59That was when my sister Evelyn walked in, cradling a limp little black snake in her palms.
01:03Tears rolling down her cheeks.
01:05My sister was too weak.
01:06Phoenix fell in love with her pitiful appearance immediately,
01:09which made me look like the villain standing between them.
01:12The ceremony elder shifted awkwardly and turned on Evelyn.
01:14Your power isn't strong enough.
01:17Even if the phoenix is drawn to you now, you won't be able to handle him.
01:21She didn't react, instead pretended to be scared by my gaze, bit her lip with tears down.
01:25Lila, I know I have no right to compete with you.
01:28It's just, I've never seen a golden phoenix before.
01:31I didn't have the patience to listen to her feigned weakness.
01:34I reached out and lifted the limp black snake from her hands, smiled at the ceremony elder.
01:39I've taken a liking to this one.
01:40The phoenix clearly doesn't want me.
01:42Why not let her have him?
01:44I'll take the snake.
01:44The others thought I'd lost my mind.
01:46They pulled me aside.
01:48You're the strongest here.
01:49This black snake has a mixed bloodline.
01:51He's basically worthless.
01:53But I knew the truth about that phoenix.
01:55He was no prize.
01:56In my last life, in my past life, scene had played out exactly the same way.
02:00The phoenix ignored me.
02:02I felt the sting of being rejected for the first time in my life.
02:05And instead of thinking clearly, I thought,
02:07He's so hard to get.
02:08I'm obsessed.
02:09As the Archmaster's student, I was supposed to be an example to the others.
02:13I told myself I had to tame the phoenix, strengthen the Spirit Pact Academy.
02:18So I threw everything I had at him.
02:20Every student got a limited ration of elixirs.
02:22So I took assassin missions, hunting rogue creatures,
02:25the kind that had lost their minds and turned feral, to earn extra elixirs.
02:29I came back bleeding every time.
02:31The phoenix pretended not to notice.
02:33He only came near me when I pulled out elixirs, took what he wanted, and walked away.
02:37Ten years.
02:38I spent ten years helping him break through his limits and take human form.
02:42When he finally did, he was stunning.
02:44Tall, sharp-featured.
02:46But the warmth stopped there.
02:47He always treated me like I was his errand girl.
02:49I told myself it was fine.
02:51Creatures with strong bloodlines had pride.
02:53One day he'd recognize what I'd given him.
02:55One day we'd fight side by side and I wouldn't have to face those feral creatures alone.
02:59Then one day, I saw him kiss my sister passionately.
03:03She was laughing, dancing around him.
03:05A fellow student rode past on her white tiger, saw them in the distance, and shook her head at me.
03:10Liar.
03:11You really need to stop asking Evelyn to look after the phoenix when you go on contracts.
03:15When did I ever ask her that?
03:17She says it every time you leave.
03:19I saw stars.
03:20I'd been out there risking my life, and she was back here cheating with my things.
03:25Doesn't she have her own creature?
03:26That little black snake died in its second year.
03:30Then it clicked.
03:30I'd spent ten years sewing a wedding dress for someone else.
03:33I wasn't some gentle, forgiving heroine.
03:36Turned on Evelyn.
03:36It enraged the phoenix.
03:38As punishment, he lured me to the back forest under false pretenses, then broke open the
03:42wards keeping it sealed.
03:44The creatures trapped inside started pouring out, and among them was one that had fallen
03:48into complete madness.
03:49A leviathan.
03:50The phoenix joined forces with my sister to shoot me down the cliff.
03:54In the end, I died in the beast's head, and I could only watch Evelyn snuggle up beside
03:58it.
03:58So this time around, I wasn't going to be anyone's sacrifice.
04:01I just wanted to see what this couple would do next.
04:03The phoenix held onto Evelyn tightly, refusing to let go.
04:07The elder sighed, and spirit-packed academy'd the pact circle drawn.
04:10Once a creature bonded with someone, they were bound to that person's commands.
04:14Harm the bonded partner, and the creature suffered for it.
04:17The bonding ritual's energy agitated the black snake.
04:20He wound himself around my arm with everything he had.
04:23Evelyn got the phoenix, and was clearly thrilled.
04:25Then she looked at the snake clinging to me.
04:27You and that serpent really do seem meant for each other, Lyra.
04:30She was very smug.
04:31Had she also been reborn?
04:33Watch your tongue, Evelyn!
04:34If Lyra hadn't stepped in for you, you'd never have gotten the phoenix!
04:37If I were you, I'd be on my knees thanking her.
04:39Oh, stop.
04:40She's crying again.
04:42Always crying.
04:43You'd think she was the tragic one.
04:44The phoenix paced anxiously while Evelyn sniffled.
04:47Anxious didn't help him.
04:49Evelyn had almost no power at this stage.
04:51The creatures shared energy with their bonded partners, but Evelyn's reserves were basically
04:56empty, probably the first time in either life, that the phoenix had been on the losing side
05:01of a situation.
05:02Good.
05:03He'd adjust.
05:04This was the consequence of choosing weakness and cheating.
05:08The black snake, finally convinced I wasn't abandoning him, went limp and passed out in
05:13my arms.
05:14Back home, I finally got a good look at the snake.
05:17He was tiny.
05:19Couldn't have been more than a few decades old.
05:21Barely passed the threshold of maturity, but he was strange, different from the serpents
05:26I knew.
05:27Water serpents had snake-like tails.
05:29This one had a tail more like a fish, with a fin.
05:32Mixed bloodline.
05:34Serpent and something older.
05:36Seafolk, maybe.
05:37I had a natural spring in the courtyard.
05:39The moment he hit the water, he came alive, diving and surfacing, pulling in energy from
05:45the current.
05:46I laughed.
05:48Relax.
05:48I fed a golden phoenix for ten years.
05:51I think I can manage one little snake.
05:53He froze, and stared at me with those tiny green eyes.
05:56Then he spat water at my face.
05:58I flicked him on the head.
06:00Heel up.
06:01You're not going anywhere.
06:02The next morning, I woke up wrong.
06:04I turned my head and found a face three inches from mine.
06:08Dark lashes.
06:09Warm skin.
06:10The kind of face that belonged in a painting.
06:13Long lashes that trembled slightly.
06:15Objectively gorgeous.
06:17Didn't stop me from nearly jumping out of my skin.
06:19Then, he'd gotten into bed without waking me.
06:22Whoever this was, his power was well above mine.
06:25He stirred, opened gold-slit eyes, and looked at me.
06:29I scrambled to the corner.
06:31Who are you?
06:32This is Spirit-Packed Academy grounds.
06:34Don't try anything.
06:35He sat up.
06:37I noticed he was wearing the clothes I'd set aside for when a creature took human form.
06:41A dark-fitted robe with a subtle pattern.
06:43He wore it well.
06:45He was tall.
06:46He'd had to curl up to fit in my bed.
06:48Under those long lashes were a pair of gold, vertical pupil eyes.
06:52The answer was obvious.
06:54Snake?
06:54He smirked, reached out, and flicked me on the forehead.
06:57Rude.
06:58I have a name.
07:00It's Kieran.
07:01Kieran, it turned out, had been fleeing an enemy when he crossed paths with my tutor.
07:05He'd taken the form of a small, injured serpent.
07:08My tutor, true to form, had taken him in.
07:11Kieran clearly hadn't been injured because he was weak.
07:13Please tell me your enemies aren't about to show up here.
07:16We're bonded now.
07:18You're the master.
07:19I'm your mate.
07:20So I suggest you train hard and try not to slow me down.
07:24He taught me a breathing and absorption technique developed for serpentkind.
07:27Most days I sat in the spring practicing, while Kieran sprawled in the tree above me,
07:32watching with half-closed eyes.
07:33The breeze moved his hair and caught the light on his skin.
07:36Evelyn appeared at my gate, peering in.
07:38I sighed and got out of the spring.
07:40Kieran dropped from the tree and draped a dry robe over my shoulders without being asked.
07:45Who is this?
07:46You remember him?
07:48The little black snake from the bonding ceremony?
07:50You said yourself we seem meant for each other.
07:53A flicker of something crossed her face.
07:55What do you want?
07:55This is training time.
07:57I was hoping we could raise the phoenix together.
08:01Kieran's hand tightened on mine.
08:02I glanced at him.
08:03He was watching me, clearly unhappy.
08:05I'm not your backup plan.
08:07Figure it out yourself.
08:08How is it not your responsibility?
08:10You took the black snake and left me with the phoenix!
08:13You don't get to just walk away!
08:15Half a year's gone by and I've given him every elixir I had!
08:19There's nothing left for my own training!
08:21And I was in the lower ranks!
08:22I can't go hunting rare ingredients!
08:24I'd die out there!
08:25You bonded with the phoenix first.
08:26You should be helping!
08:28I cut her off mid-sentence,
08:29sent a gust of air to push her back through the gate,
08:32and led Kieran inside.
08:33Little sister, don't mistake everyone for a fool.
08:36I'm not spending my resources raising your creature for you.
08:39If you can't afford to keep him,
08:41dissolve the bond.
08:42Let someone else take him.
08:43I'm sure the elders would be happy to.
08:45She wouldn't do that.
08:46Her ambitions were too big.
08:48Weeks passed.
08:49I broke through to a new level of power,
08:51what those in the Spirit Pact Academy called
08:53Fourth Circle Stage.
08:56At the same time,
08:57the Archmaster arranged for me to escort a rare spirit fox
09:00to the Spirit Pact Academy,
09:02alongside Elder Celia,
09:04who was about three centuries older than me,
09:07and acted like a kid half the time.
09:08I sweet-talked her through the handover to the creature registry,
09:12and she settled for it.
09:14Before she left,
09:15she pressed her hand over her mouth to hide a smile.
09:18Your little serpent is very clingy, you know.
09:20I didn't understand until I started up the mountain path
09:24and saw a silhouette leaning against a tree in the distance.
09:28He didn't move.
09:29When I got closer,
09:30he reached out and grabbed the back of my neck.
09:32Lyra,
09:33am I not good to you?
09:35Why are you trying to give me away?
09:36What are you talking about?
09:38That girl came to the courtyard today,
09:39said you sent her to check on me.
09:41Did you change your mind about bonding with me?
09:43You hit Fourth Circle and now you're done with me?
09:45...again.
09:46Same playbook, different life.
09:48Before I could explain,
09:50Kieran's pupils contracted to thin lines.
09:53He bent his head and pressed his face into my neck.
09:55His tongue brushed the skin there.
09:58Light, quick.
09:59I shivered hard.
10:00Smells like fox.
10:02Lyra,
10:03did you already find yourself a replacement?
10:06Doesn't matter.
10:07Once I eat that fox,
10:08I'll be your only option.
10:10You hit me for her?
10:11That fox belongs to my arch master.
10:14You touch her and I will end you.
10:16Kieran stopped fighting me
10:17and let himself be pulled along.
10:19Most students weren't training,
10:20so the residences were quiet.
10:22A few people raised their eyebrows
10:24when they saw me coming.
10:26Short greetings,
10:26and then they told me,
10:28Evelyn had gone to the back forest with the phoenix.
10:31I frowned.
10:31I wasn't in the phoenix's way anymore.
10:34Why were they sneaking off to the forest?
10:36We found them mid-argument.
10:38Or rather,
10:39Evelyn was arguing in the phoenix,
10:41who still hadn't taken human form,
10:43was responding in scratched letters on the ground.
10:46Don't look at me like that.
10:47I've done nothing wrong.
10:49I didn't force you to come to the Spirit Pacht Academy.
10:52You said this place would help you grow.
10:55I've given you every elixir I had,
10:57and you're still not satisfied?
10:59You want me to go out hunting rare ingredients?
11:02I just started training.
11:03You'd be sending me to die.
11:05I almost felt something.
11:07In my past life,
11:09he'd given me nothing for ten years.
11:11Not a glance,
11:12not a word,
11:13not a gesture.
11:14Now he was writing letters in the dirt.
11:16The contrast was something.
11:18Evelyn,
11:19I've been looking for you.
11:21The phoenix scrambles to erase the letters when he heard us.
11:24Evelyn pulled herself together fast,
11:26though not fast enough.
11:28What do you need, Lyra?
11:34I patted Kieran's arm.
11:36He gave me a long-suffering look,
11:37then dropped to one knee
11:39and let me settle onto it like a chair.
11:41His hands locked around my waist,
11:43steadying me.
11:44Evelyn's gaze locked onto Kieran
11:46and didn't move.
11:47I'm not here about anything in particular.
11:49Just wondering why you paid my companion a visit.
11:52The phoenix's feathers flared,
11:54angry.
11:54Evelyn hadn't expected me to know so fast.
11:57No,
11:57no,
11:58you've got it wrong.
11:59I was just coming to find you.
12:00He rested his chin on my shoulder.
12:02She lied to me.
12:03She said you stole me from her,
12:05that I was supposed to be hers.
12:07And what did you do?
12:08She came into your territory without permission.
12:10She was weak.
12:11I didn't even use my power.
12:13Just pushed until she left.
12:15I patted his cheek.
12:16I stood and faced Evelyn directly.
12:18If I remember correctly,
12:20you didn't want Kieran in the first place.
12:22He was badly injured.
12:24If he'd ended up with you,
12:25he probably wouldn't have survived his second year.
12:27That's not true.
12:28I would have taken care of him.
12:30The phoenix's crest was fully raised now.
12:33She caught herself.
12:35You're trying to drive a wedge between me and the phoenix.
12:38I stepped forward and put my hand on her shoulder.
12:41You played your game, little sister.
12:43Don't act surprised when I play mine.
12:46Next time you pull something like this,
12:48you will get my punishment.
12:49She blanched.
12:50The council didn't forgive moves against another member's bonded creature.
12:54She couldn't risk it.
12:55On the way back,
12:57I was in a good mood.
12:58Kieran was quiet, though.
13:00Wouldn't transform and carry me even when I asked.
13:02Once we were back in the courtyard,
13:04he grabbed my arm.
13:06You seem familiar with the phoenix.
13:08I didn't hide it.
13:09We have a history.
13:10It ended badly for me.
13:12Wanna hear it?
13:13He turned away,
13:14shifted into serpent form,
13:15and wound himself around my neck.
13:17No.
13:18I'm better than that bird by every measure.
13:21You're not going back to him.
13:23I won't have another mate.
13:25I promise.
13:27Days later.
13:37My archmaster said,
13:39I'm one of the most talented young members in a generation.
13:42All those rare materials and elixirs I found went into me this time,
13:46not into the phoenix.
13:48Ten years passed.
13:49I moved steadily from fourth circle to sixth circle.
13:52Even the most mean elder Celia praised me.
13:55You are really a genius, Lyra.
13:57We all expected the phoenix to elevate the whole spirit-panned academy.
14:02But ten years in,
14:04there's still no sign of him breaking through.
14:06I'd expected this.
14:08Sustaining creatures took enormous resources,
14:11and the spirit-packed academy never had reserves.
14:13The phoenix couldn't break through,
14:15and in my past life,
14:17I'd seen exactly what happened when his patients ran out.
14:19I'd thought about removing him.
14:21Every time I tried to bring it up with my archmaster or Kieran,
14:24it was like the words hit a wall.
14:26And acting unilaterally,
14:28killing the phoenix before anyone understood why,
14:31would have destroyed the spirit-packed academy from the inside.
14:34All I could do was watch him and contain him.
14:37Past that,
14:38I had no choice but to wait.
14:40My past life hadn't survived this year.
14:42I didn't know if this one would go differently.
14:45He stood there staring at Kieran,
14:46who was lazily floating in the spring in human form,
14:49making absolutely no effort to be welcoming.
14:51You have a bonded partner.
14:54Why are you at my gate?
14:57Right.
14:58What possible reason could you have
15:00for neglecting your own bonded partner
15:02to come stand outside someone else's home?
15:04Kieran climbed out,
15:05and immediately tried to lean against me.
15:08I don't write you on the air after notice.
15:10I just want that bird to know
15:13there's no space for him here.
15:15What exactly is here between us?
15:17That's entirely your call.
15:19The phoenix flew away.
15:21Kieran grabbed my face with both hands.
15:23He left.
15:24Can you stop worrying about him for five minutes?
15:26I have to know what he's doing.
15:28That bird has a dark heart.
15:29I don't trust him idle.
15:32He regrets it.
15:34Doesn't want to stay with your little sister anymore.
15:36I turned toward the gate,
15:38empty,
15:39but something in my gut told me the phoenix was off.
15:42There was no logical reason for him to come to me specifically,
15:46unless the phoenix had also been reborn.
15:49If that was true,
15:51then he knew about the back forest.
15:53He knew what was sealed there.
15:54He knew my parents had died there,
15:56which I'd only ever told him directly,
15:58in my previous life.
16:00I didn't stop to explain to Kieran.
16:01I pulled out a slip
16:02and went straight to the forest wards.
16:04The wards were intact.
16:06I exhaled.
16:07Then I turned around and my stomach dropped.
16:09A handful of golden feathers lay near the edge of the barrier line.
16:12He'd been here.
16:13The phoenix had come back with knowledge he shouldn't have.
16:16The friction between Evelyn and the phoenix had gone public.
16:19He'd refused her commands in training sessions,
16:21ignored her in front of others,
16:23made her look incompetent in front of the whole yard
16:25more than once in recent weeks.
16:26The reason I kept getting dragged in was simpler and more aggravating.
16:30Every time I appeared,
16:31the phoenix drifted toward me.
16:33If looks could kill,
16:34Evelyn would have had me buried weeks ago.
16:36Elder Celia found the whole thing delightful.
16:38Her bird appeared at my shoulder one afternoon.
16:41You know what this reminds me of?
16:43One of those stories where the man realizes too late what he had.
16:46He freezes her out at the start
16:48and then spends the rest of the book chasing her.
16:52Oh dear.
16:53I could talk to the girl,
16:54offer her a different creature,
16:56something she could actually manage,
16:58and transfer the phoenix over to you,
17:00quietly.
17:01No.
17:02I'm not going near the disciplinary council over this.
17:04Besides,
17:05I have Kieran.
17:06That's enough.
17:07Celia looked genuinely mournful.
17:09Then she shifted to her real point.
17:12A creature pulling against its bonded partner is a problem for everyone.
17:16And Evelyn hasn't advanced the first stage in ten years.
17:19The elders have discussed sending her out on a field assignment,
17:22a year or two away from the Spirit Pact Academy,
17:24practical experience,
17:26away from all of this.
17:27I understood what she wasn't saying.
17:29They'd given up on the phoenix as a resource for the Spirit Pact Academy.
17:32In the council hall,
17:34Evelyn made the whole thing into a production.
17:36She cried.
17:37She accused me of engineering her removal to take the phoenix.
17:40In front of all the senior elders,
17:43she made her counteroffer.
17:44If senior wants the phoenix,
17:46she should just say so.
17:47I won't stand in the way.
17:50But if she takes him,
17:51she gives me Kieran,
17:53a mixed lineage serpent for a pure-blooded phoenix.
17:56Honestly,
17:57Lyra comes out a laugh.
18:12Which one,
18:13rabbits and a unicorn.
18:16I reinforced the gate myself before I left.
18:19Any disturbance at all,
18:20and I,
18:21I would have felt it.
18:22There was nothing.
18:24Not a sound.
18:25Not a rogue creature.
18:27No trace of that energy anywhere.
18:30Right?
18:31I looked around.
18:32The registry was built into the mountainside.
18:34The rock face itself was warded.
18:37No slipping through the earth.
18:38No passing through walls.
18:40I was still thinking when the keeper started cooing at one of the deer.
18:44Don't be scared.
18:45Big Brother Serpent just looks mean.
18:47He won't eat you.
18:49That pulled something loose in my mind.
18:51I hesitated.
18:54Do creatures ever turn on each other?
18:57What a horrifying thing to say.
18:59They have awareness.
19:01They would never...
19:03Kieran slipped an arm around me,
19:04and spoke low into my ear.
19:06People do terrible things to each other.
19:08Creatures aren't different.
19:10I've heard of a practice.
19:11A dark technique.
19:13Used by creatures who want to advance without resources.
19:16My skin had gone cold.
19:18Wild creatures had no access to elixirs or rare materials.
19:22If they wanted to grow in power fast,
19:24the most efficient shortcut was this.
19:27Consume the core of another creature.
19:29The higher the level of the creature they took from,
19:32the faster the gain.
19:34Kieran had nearly died at the hands of one
19:35practicing exactly that method ten years ago.
19:38Once it works,
19:39it will come back for more.
19:42We staked out the registry that night.
19:44Nothing happened.
19:45Quiet all the way until dawn.
19:47I reassured the keeper and headed out.
19:52Hallmaster, there's an incident at the residences.
19:54Kieran shifted, wrapped around me, and moved.
19:57When we landed, I didn't need to go inside to know it was bad.
20:01I could hear the crying from the courtyard.
20:03It was one of my newest students.
20:04A girl who'd come to the Spirit Pact Academy with his own creature.
20:07Fox.
20:08Soft and round and always sprawled in patches of sunlight.
20:11Kind of creature that made people smile just looking at it.
20:14She was sitting on the ground, holding what remained of her.
20:16Not much left.
20:17Your guess was right.
20:18The core was removed.
20:20One strike, clean.
20:21It happened before she could make a sound.
20:23She only noticed when she felt the bond break.
20:26I felt the cold settle in my chest.
20:29Without thinking, I looked around for the phoenix.
20:31He was standing beside Evelyn, still as a statue.
20:34The picture.
20:34Don't look.
20:36It's him.
20:38You're certain?
20:39I went to the Archmaster.
20:41Don't move yet.
20:42You need proof.
20:43Catch him in the act.
20:45He said it with total gravity.
20:47Meanwhile, behind him, his courtyard had become a small zoo.
20:50Several of them had taken human form and were crowding around Kieran to ask about his parents' bloodlines.
20:56I keep all my creatures close.
20:58Your new firehound relieved himself on the floor.
21:00You could clean it up for your teacher.
21:02Absolutely not.
21:03The senior elders started watching the phoenix.
21:06Their eyes went to him more carefully during training.
21:08They noted that his power had grown noticeably in ways that weren't explained by his circumstances.
21:14Then, nothing.
21:15Weeks passed.
21:16No more disappearances.
21:18No incidents.
21:19Two weeks went by.
21:20The girl never quite recovered from losing his fox.
21:22The other students spoke about the disappearances less and less until the whole thing drifted into
21:27the category of strange spirit-packed academy legend.
21:30Something that had happened, maybe, possibly.
21:32Nobody quite remembered the details.
21:34But I couldn't let it go.
21:36Kieran's certainty sat with me every day.
21:38I went to the archmaster and asked to have the phoenix formally restricted.
21:42You think we don't see it?
21:44But without evidence, what do I tell the students?
21:47If I punish someone without proof, I lose the trust of the whole spirit-packed academy.
21:51And without that trust, the spirit-packed academy dissolves.
21:55Then, one night, while I was deep in meditation, something flashed past my window.
22:00A pair of red eyes.
22:01Bright.
22:02Gone in an instant.
22:03Where was Kieran?
22:04I moved to the water's edge.
22:06Floating on the surface.
22:07A single golden feather.
22:09An invitation.
22:10Or a taunt.
22:10Find me and I'll give him back.
22:12I reached out through the bond and found Kieran's location.
22:15The back forest.
22:16I hit the ground running.
22:17I arrived through the wards in a flash of light and walked straight into a shockwave from
22:22two powers colliding.
22:24Kieran and the phoenix were already fighting, fully committed.
22:27I went rigid.
22:28When had the phoenix broken through?
22:30He moved through the trees in a golden coat, fast and precise, ducking and redirecting Kieran's
22:36strikes with the ease of someone who'd had longer to prepare for this moment.
22:40Beside the ward barrier, Evelyn sat perfectly still, like a doll that someone had set down
22:47and forgotten.
22:48When I got close enough to see her clearly, my stomach turned over.
22:52Evelyn was dead.
22:53Her eyes were still open, fixed in an expression of complete disbelief.
22:58Her abdomen had been cut open.
23:00Her core, the source of her power, the root she'd spent years building, was gone.
23:06I hadn't even had time to process it, before the sky above the forest went dark, clouds
23:12banking hard and fast, thunder starting low and rolling.
23:16Bond lies.
23:17Harm your bonded partner, and the consequence comes down from the sky itself.
23:22He'd killed his own bonded partner.
23:25He'd lost his mind.
23:26A lightning judgment of this scale would leave nothing of him.
23:30All that power.
23:31All that scheming.
23:33And he'd thrown it away for this moment.
23:35I didn't bother playing it soft.
23:37You spent ten years plotting with Evelyn against the Spirit-packed Academy.
23:41You used every person here as a platform.
23:44And this life you had the chance to change, and instead you gutted her for her core.
23:49The god is watching.
23:51Today it ends.
23:52Nick smiled, cold and strange.
23:55Almost.
23:56One more step.
23:58His hands were already moving behind his back, breaking the ward seal.
24:02The creatures locked in the forest felt the loosening.
24:05The ground shook.
24:06Thunder gathered directly above him.
24:09The Archmaster arrived in a streak of light from the peak.
24:12Lyra!
24:12Hold the creatures back!
24:16I'll work on resealing from out here.
24:18Lightning above.
24:19The forest breaking open below.
24:21The phoenix stood in the middle of it all, with a look of pure madness, and he turned it on
24:27me.
24:28Lyra, you can't stop this.
24:31Come die with me.
24:33I'll do better by you this time, I swear it.
24:35In my past life, I had died in this exact forest.
24:39In this exact way.
24:41With no one at my back.
24:42I felt fear.
24:44That was honest.
24:45Old fear.
24:46The kind that lived in the body.
24:48Then a hand landed on my shoulder.
24:50Ciaran.
24:51Eyes lit with the cold fire of someone who had never once considered losing.
24:56You want to take her down with you?
24:58He laughed once, short and sharp.
25:01Ask me first.
25:03You're nobody.
25:05Right.
25:06I had Ciaran.
25:07This time, I wasn't fighting alone.
25:10Ciaran pressed forward, and I covered him.
25:13He trusted me at his back without checking.
25:15I trusted him to end what he started.
25:18Ciaran wasn't breaking, and the phoenix couldn't find a way past him.
25:22Then he understood.
25:23I wasn't going to die here.
25:25The plan had failed.
25:27He broke.
25:28This isn't right!
25:30You're supposed to die!
25:31We're supposed to die together!
25:32I raised one finger, and pointed at the sky.
25:35Goodbye.
25:36The lightning came down in a column as wide as it was.
25:40The phoenix didn't scream.
25:42No rebirth for those taken by judgment.
25:45Final.
25:46And total.
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