Chapter 7 - The Blood-Lotus Pass
The wind howled through the jagged black gorges of the Blackwood territory, carrying the acrid, metallic stench of corrupted magic.
Rowena sat atop a massive white warhorse at the head of the Solus vanguard, her silver-trimmed armor gleaming under a sky choked with ash-gray clouds. Behind her, hundreds of elite warriors from House Windsor and the loyal northern packs marched in perfect, silent unison. They were disciplined, fierce, and utterly devoted to the new queen.
Ahead of them lay the Iron Gate—the heavily fortified mountain pass that served as the sole entrance to Cedric’s stronghold.
As the vanguard approached, the massive iron portcullis creaked open. But it was not a surrender party that emerged.
Out marched a hundred Blackwood warriors, their eyes glowing an unnatural, sickly crimson. Veins bulged against their skin, dark and pulsing with the toxic influence of the Blood-Lotus extract. At their front strode Cedric. His human form was distorted, muscles unnaturally enlarged, drool dripping from his bared fangs as he let out a deafening, feral howl.
"Rowena!" Cedric roared, his voice thick and slurred with madness. "You stole my birthright! You humiliated me before the entire court! Today, I tear your heart out and feed it to the snow!"
The berserk warriors charged with terrifying speed, abandoning all tactical formation in favor of pure, mindless slaughter.
"Hold the line!" Tristan commanded, drawing his broadsword as he stepped in front of Rowena. "Let the vanguard meet them!"
"No, Tristan," Rowena said quietly. "Step aside."
She urged her horse forward, moving past the front lines of her own army until she stood entirely alone between the two forces. The crimson-eyed horde rushed toward her like an avalanche of blood and muscle.
Rowena did not draw a weapon. Instead, she closed her eyes and breathed out.
When her eyelids snapped open, two miniature suns burned within her irises. She raised her right hand, palm forward, and released the full, unbridled majesty of the Solus aura.
It wasn't a physical blow this time. It was a wave of pure, divine authority that swept across the gorge like a golden shockwave.
The moment the golden light washed over the charging Blackwood warriors, the Blood-Lotus extract in their veins began to hiss and burn away into thick, black smoke. The unnatural crimson glow in their eyes vanished, replaced by sudden, overwhelming terror. One by one, the berserk soldiers dropped their weapons, falling to their knees as the crushing weight of the true primordial bloodline forced them to submit.
Only Cedric remained standing, though he was shaking violently, fighting against the crushing pressure with every ounce of his corrupted strength.
"How... what are you?!" Cedric choked out, dropping to one knee as the ground cracked beneath him.
Rowena walked slowly toward him, her footsteps echoing in the silent gorge.
"You called me a runt," Rowena said softly, standing towering above him. "You called me a broken pet. You forgot that the greatest fires are born from the deepest ice."
Cedric lunged upward with a final, desperate burst of strength, knife in hand—
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Tristan moved like lightning, his blade flashing in the dim light. With a clean, precise strike, he intercepted Cedric’s arm, sending the weapon flying before slamming the flat of his sword against the fallen alpha’s skull. Cedric collapsed into the snow, unconscious.
The battle was over before a single drop of Solus blood had been spilled.
