Time seemed to freeze.

For a heartbeat, Luminary did not respond. He simply stared at Sora, his burning eyes flashing with a flicker of confusion before it vanished, replaced by the knitted blaze of his flaming brows.

"Repeat that again?" His voice erupted like a star detonating.

It was loud, explosive, searing — so much so that Sora staggered back, the air ripped from her lungs, her mouth drying as though every drop of water in her body was being scorched into vapor.

All of it, with nothing but the voice of her father.

She cursed inwardly, realizing with chilling clarity just how vast the difference in power was between them. If he wished it, he could kill her with a single word, with nothing but an angry voice.

But it hardly mattered anymore. She was not going to bend. She was not going to accept something she despised, not now, not ever.

Even if it meant death.

Her golden eyes hardened, she bit her cracked lips until they bled, and she glared at her father with a defiance that rasped through her dry throat.

"Sing… I want to sing, Father. I will not accept anything less."

Her voice was brittle, dry as dead leaves, yet behind it burned an unshakable determination.

"Even if you die?" Luminary asked, his tone heavier, hotter, the air itself rippling under the weight of his words. The temperature climbed so high that the space between them visibly warped and undulated as though about to shatter.

Sora coughed violently, her eyes bulging as she felt something terrifying. Her blood — her very blood — was burning away. Her head snapped toward her father, panic flashing in her gaze.

Luminary did not move. He did not blink.

"Even if you die?" he repeated, voice serious, merciless.

His circular golden pupils spun wildly inside the flames of his eyes, and Sora felt goosebumps crawling down her entire body. Sweat poured from her face, only to vanish instantly, burned to nothing the moment it appeared.

In that moment, she felt it fully….

…the threat of death.

Fear coiled around her heart like a deadly serpent, tightening, choking, until only broken fragments of thought slipped through her lips like cracks in shattered glass.

Her hands dug desperately into the flaming grass beneath her, the burning blades searing her palms as she tried to anchor herself, tried to keep from drowning in the storm of fear surging violently inside her.

'Sora… Sora… remember. Remember your goal. Are you ready to live by doing something you do not want… or die by trying to do what you love?'

The question echoed in her mind, steadying her, and the answer came swift, undeniable.

She would rather die than abandon her song.

She would rather descend into hell itself than silence the Song of Fire and Blood she had birthed in the dungeon with Kaden.

"I… I will choose death!" she rasped, her searing golden eyes locking on her father's, defiance blazing through the pain.

Luminary held her gaze for a long moment, then sighed inwardly.

The scene before him dragged old memories to the surface — memories of himself standing where she now stood, declaring his love for the heiress of the Moon. His own father had nearly killed him that day, yet instead of death, he had given him words. Words that had never left him.

"Then be the Empress," Luminary said, withdrawing his crushing intent at once, the garden around them settling, the searing air cooling as reality itself seemed to breathe again.

Sora gasped, collapsing to her knees, dragging air into her ravaged lungs as her body struggled to regenerate. She coughed violently, every breath stabbing, and lifted her trembling gaze toward her father.

"What…?" she managed, barely a whisper.

"If your dream is to sing," Luminary declared, his voice calm now, "then be the Empress and sing. None will dare silence you then. None will dare lecture the Empress of the Celestial Empire."

Sora's eyes widened in shock, realization flooding her face like dawn breaking through shadow.

"Do you understand me, my daughter? I will not let you sing under my reign. And if I were you, I would not rely too much on your brother either. That boy is too much like his mother — sly."

"You married Mother!"

"Because she was sly." He shrugged.

Sora froze, words failing her as her mind spun.

Luminary rose to his full height and turned, the flames of his body casting long shadows as he walked toward the molten golden river flowing through the garden.

"You have your goal. Now you have the path to reach it. So again, my heiress…" his voice boomed, final and commanding,

"…do me proud, and bring me Kaden Warborn."

He paused, letting the silence settle like molten stone cooling into form. Then…

"It is time you reclaim your mythical artifact."

…

Darklore — Orobus's Snake Tribe.

The underground dungeon of the tribe was a strange place. It was not made of rocks or even wood like any other prison, but of scales — scales of different colors — covering every surface.

The walls, the ceiling, the floor, even the bars of the cells were all made from the same material. And that was not the end of it. A permanent stench of poison clung to the prison, thick and stubborn, wrapping around everything like a cloud blotting out the stars.

The poison itself devoured flesh little by little, leaving nothing in the end but withered bones and rotting meat crawling with worms.

That was why, alongside poison, there lingered a heavy stench of rot — a stench that refused to leave the mother-and-daughter duo in peace.

But they cared little. They would not remain in this place for long.

"How was my performance? Was it convincing?" Medusa whispered, her voice calm and indifferent, as though she weren't chained at all.

Inara shook her head. "You could have let out some tears, Mother. You're still a newbie."

"That would have been exaggerated."

"It's never exaggerated when it's a performance. Don't forget that, Mother."

They were locked inside a cell, their arms bound in chains, their power sealed, their clothes stained from the filthy floor littered with the rotting flesh of a dead snakeman.

Medusa looked at her daughter with pride.

"Your power is truly something, Inara." she said.

And indeed, it was.

Inara was the Mother of Monsters. Easy words to forget because of how seldom she used her power, but she was deadly.

She could control the minds of monsters, of beasts, and even create them herself.

And that was exactly what she had done, knowing others were plotting to seize their power.

With her mother's help, it had not been difficult to enslave the minds of a few snakemen — guards, attendants, weak-willed ones.

Then, with her own growing skill, she created expendable monsters to scout across the territory without pause. Flies, for instance.

Who cared about flies? No one.

And rats, too.

She scattered them everywhere, turning them into her eyes and ears, ensuring she knew everything before it happened.

Her mother continued to play her role, feigning surprise, feigning worry.

But the decision had already been made. They would leave this tribe.

For now.

War was coming, and when chaos erupted, they would have all the time they needed to return and kill every last one of them.

For now, though…

It was time to bail out.

The yellow sun of Darklore sank into sleep, and the moon took over.

Inside the prison, the darkness was broken only by the thin trickle of silver moonlight crawling through a small window. Footsteps soon echoed, heavy and deliberate, a sign that someone was descending.

A snakeman appeared, it was one of the guards who had chained and dragged Medusa here.

He said nothing, eyes blank, and simply drew out a set of keys and unlocked their cell.

It was the only key he carried — the chains binding their power were still in Bety's possession. But Inara did not need her power now.

Her orders had already been given. Her monsters and her controlled snakemen were ready.

And indeed…

BOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

A thunderous explosion split the night, painting the sky in a sickly shade of green.

Snakemen rushed from their homes, eyes wide in confusion, searching for the source.

Above, a skeletal bird with burning blue sockets soared through the air, spitting blue fire without pause.

In the heart of the tribe, a two-headed wolf snarled, tearing through anything in its sight.

Meanwhile, some snakemen turned on their comrades, stabbing them coldly, eyes blank, unfeeling.

Medusa and Inara slipped into the chaos, escaping through a tunnel carved by the five Inara's leeches.

From beneath the soil, a green-scaled snake slithered upward and coiled around Inara's neck. At its tail dangled her five leeches.

She smiled.

"Good job, my babies."

Then together with Medusa, she slipped into the forest, where a horse awaited them. Without hesitation, they mounted, and the beast galloped away, leaving only dust in their wake.

"Where are we going?" Inara asked.

Medusa smirked, venomous and sharp.

"To the Warborns."

Behind them, inside the tribe, all the controlled snakemen froze. Then, with a final shriek in unison…

"HAIL MOTHER OF MONSTERS!"

BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

Their bodies erupted violently, thick clouds of green poison swallowing everything — water, air, food — infecting all with mutating toxins.

At the heart of the tribe, glowing words burned bright in green, for all to see:

"I will fuck you up next time, you fucking slut!"

Moments later, Bety appeared, nearly naked, legs trembling not from battle, but from a different kind of exertion entirely.

When her eyes fell upon the words, her face twisted, and she screeched, her voice splitting the night with fury:

"MEDUSSSSSA! INARAAAAAAA!"

—End of Chapter 250—

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