4
The Hundred Clans Homage Ceremony began as scheduled.
The entire royal palace was adorned with colorful banners and flowing flags.
I was chained like a sacrificial offering, dragged to the foot of the hundred–step staircase leading to the throne.
All the tribal chiefs were present, observing the ritual.
The Tiger Clan, the Eagle Clan, the Wolf Clan… hundreds of nobles gathered.
Their gazes held curiosity, indifference, and cruel excitement.
3
Rhys, in his golden royal robes, stood majestically on the throne.
Crown on his head, scepter in hand, he seemed sacred and inviolable.
“Fellow kin!”
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His voice thundered through the great hall, brimming with kingly authority.
“Today, before the Hundred Clans!”
We shall perform the ‘Mother Blood Severance‘ ritual!”
“To rectify our bloodline, to declare justice to the heavens!”
He raised his scepter, and golden light shimmered.
“This woman, with her vile blood, defiled our noble lineage!”
“Parasitizing our divine bloodline!”
“She is a ‘bloodline blight, disgrace to the royal
family!”
“Today, she must be completely eradicated, to prove the sanctity of our bloodline!”
Thunderous applause erupted from below, savage shifters roaring with bloodthirsty fervor.
As if what they were about to witness wasn’t a slaughter, but a feast.
Rhys himself descended from the throne, pulling my chains, dragging me up the stairs.
With each step, an executioner carved a fresh wound into my flesh.
Blood stained the pristine white steps.
A hundred steps, a hundred wounds.
I clenched my jaw, not uttering a sound.
Pain blurred my vision, but i had to stay conscious, waiting for the final moment.
Blood streamed down the steps, blooming like crimson flowers on the pristine marble.
The audience below cheered wildly, excited.
I saw my son, Jasper, held by Lyra beside the throne, dressed in elaborate Royal Heir robes.
Seeing me covered in blood, he let out a piercing wail.
His tiny hands reached desperately for me.
“Mommy! Mommy!”
His voice was heartbreaking, moving even the callous onlookers.
A flicker of hope ignited within me. My child remembered me. He still loved me.
Our blood bond wouldn’t break because of their schemes.
But Rhys frowned, clearly displeased by this ‘unfortunate outburst‘.
He instantly suppressed the cub with his kingly aura.
The immense spiritual pressure paralyzed Jasper.
He couldn’t even cry out, only stare with wide, desperate, terrified eyes at me.
In that moment, my world utterly crumbled. Even my last shred of hope was stolen.
40
I was dragged before the throne, battered and bleeding, my entire body soaked in crimson.
Lyra stood there triumphantly, holding a jeweled dagger.
“My Lords and Ladies, this is the crucial moment.”
Her voice was sweet and melodious, yet laced with pure malice.
“By the Royal Heir’s blood, sever the bond with the sinful mother!”
She pricked Jasper’s finger.
My heart almost stopped beating.
A crimson bead of blood welled on his tender fingertip.
“No!”
I struggled desperately, but the chains held me fast.
Lyra slowly let that drop of blood fall onto the wound over my heart.
“By the son’s blood, sever the mother’s ties!”
She cackled, her eyes filled with manic glee.
“You are completely out of the picture!”
“From now on, this child is mine!”
The instant Jasper’s blood touched me, I felt the pact’s power surge wildly.
This was my last chance.
I unleashed every ounce of the awakened power within me.
Screaming out the ancient syllable that had lain buried within me for so long.
“TRANSFER!”
The sound exploded like thunder, shaking the entire hall.
The symbiotic pact wasn’t severed. Instead, it underwent a terrifying mutation!
My life–link with Jasper, at the cost of my very lifeblood, was forcibly ‘transferred‘ and grafted onto Lyra’s soul!
As my life force was stripped away, blood instantly streamed from my eyes, nose, and mouth, and my life flickered out.
But simultaneously, Jasper, held in Lyra’s arms, instantly lost all signs of life.
His tiny body visibly grew cold and stiff!
His temperature plummeted, his heart stopped beating.
Lyra discovered, in terror, that the lively Royal Heir in her arms was now a dying ‘corpse‘!
“No! No! How is this possible?”
Her scream pierced the air, sharp and grating, echoing through the hall.
“Why? Why is this happening?”
The dagger slipped from her hand, clattering loudly to the ground.
Rhys froze, his face instantly turning ashen white.
He looked at me, dying, then at his son, lifeless in Lyra’s arms.
Utterly consumed by a panic and despair he’d never known.
Jasper! Jasper!”
He rushed down from the throne like a madman.
Snatching the breathless cub from Lyra’s grasp.
“How
“How could this happen? How could this happen?”
All kingly dignity vanished, leaving only a desperate father.
Archon Gabriel rushed to the altar, his face as white as parchment.
After a quick examination, he announced, horrified.
“The Royal Heir’s life has been forcibly bound to Lady Lyra’s soul!”
“The Royal Heir is dying, because…”
He pointed, trembling, at my dying form.
“Her Royal Majesty, the Queen Mother, is also dying!”
