The battlefield reeked of blood, steel, and divinity.
Selene's body trembled as the divine chains pulled tighter, digging into her spirit. Every breath was a war against suffocation, every heartbeat a drum of rebellion against gods who wanted her erased.
Kael staggered to his feet, broken arm hanging uselessly at his side. His good hand gripped his sword so tightly that blood slicked the hilt. He wouldn't stop. He couldn't. Selene was still standing, and as long as she was, he would follow her into hell itself.
Above, the chains writhed, splitting the sky like a spiderweb of silver lightning. From their links descended another monstrosity: a horned beast whose body seemed sculpted from starlight and shadows. Its eyes were pits of white flame, its teeth dripping molten silver. It was not just a wolf—it was the gods' executioner.
The pack faltered, their courage buckling under the beast's divine aura. One by one, they dropped to their knees, clutching their heads as the godvoice thundered again:
"The oath-breaker cannot defy the hunt. Her blood belongs to the chains. Her pack belongs to silence."
Selene dropped to her knees, screaming, blood blazing white as if her veins themselves were tearing open. Her hands clawed at the ground, trying to hold onto something—anything—that was hers.
Kael staggered toward her, snarling through blood. "Selene, fight them!"
Her head snapped up. Her eyes glowed with godlight, but deep within them, a flicker of violet still burned. "I… am not… yours."
The words shook the air, splitting the divine voice with defiance.
The horned beast lunged.
Selene rose to meet it. Her body was agony, her soul stretched taut between chains and freedom, but her fury eclipsed it all. She met the beast mid-leap, her sword singing with rage. Metal clashed with divine flesh, sparks raining like meteors as she forced it back.
But each strike burned her hands. Each movement seared her muscles. The gods punished every rebellion with pain meant to shatter her.
She screamed—not in surrender, but in defiance. Her voice echoed through the battlefield, shaking the chains overhead.
The pack stirred. Their Alpha had not fallen. She was fighting the gods themselves—and still she refused to kneel.
A young wolf leapt forward, his throat already torn, his body broken, but he howled as he slammed into one of the chain-spawned beasts. Others followed, howls rising like wildfire. If their Alpha could fight the sky, then they could fight the monsters that crawled from it.
Kael forced his broken body forward, stepping into the path of the horned beast as it struck again. His blade met its claws, and though the impact sent him flying, he laughed through blood. "You'll have to tear me apart before you touch her."
Selene's fury peaked. Her blood ignited into silver fire, spilling from her wounds in rivers of light. The chains above groaned, stretching, faltering for the first time.
She grabbed the horned beast's throat, divine flame searing her flesh. Her voice split again, but this time the divine tone fractured under her own.
"I am no one's prey. I am the hunt."
Her sword plunged into the beast's skull. The explosion rattled the clearing, silver blood raining from the sky like shattered starlight. The chains screamed, twisting, recoiling as if burned.
For a heartbeat, silence fell.
Selene collapsed to one knee, panting, blood pouring from her nose, eyes flickering between violet and white.
But the chains weren't gone.
They tightened again. Stronger. Angrier. Dozens of new beasts stirred from their links, crawling downward.
Kael staggered to her side, bracing himself against her shoulder. His lips brushed her ear, voice raw.
"They won't stop. Not until you shatter them."
Selene's trembling hand gripped his, her knuckles bloodied and broken. Her voice was little more than a whisper.
"Then I'll break the sky."
And the chains roared.