Omega Ascension System[BL]-Chapter 307: _Baptism Of Moonlight
Elian’s POV
*****
The press briefing was brought to an abrupt end. Of course, it was. Gods help them, those reporters didn’t capture Seraphyne barging into the throne room and spin that into a new story.
Elian still remembered the absolute terror in Seraphyne’s eyes when she barely narrated what happened. Her helplessness hit deep, but now it opened the path to numerous questions.
"How is she?" He asked Lucian when he walked back into the now-empty throne room.
Only the two of them, Sylas and Elowen, remained—the latter’s composure popped like a bubble as she paced beneath the dais, tapping a holographic tablet in her hands nervously.
"She’s stable." Lucian breathed out, the massive doors closing behind him. He moved in haste, dabbing off sweat from his forehead. "She wasn’t able to say anything new. Just kept muttering something about saving Aurora and wanting to stab Amara."
[Yep. Sounds like the sapphic baddie.]
Elowen stopped pacing, turning to face her son. "That’s it? Nothing else? She... She should’ve noticed enough. Maybe I can—"
"Mom, calm down," Lucian mumbled but the Luna Queen snapped under the same breath.
"Don’t tell me to calm down!" The crystal lights flickered, her energy brimming enough to make Elian’s hair stand on end. He subconsciously glanced at Sylas, noting the way he gawked at his mother.
In awe.
"My baby—my Aurora." Elowen choked on a sob, placing a hand over her mouth. "Goddess, she said she wanted out of our drama. From the shadows of her father’s sins! Now look..." She flung her hands into the air. "... Look. I–I can’t lose my daughter before burying your father, Lucian. I can’t ever lose her!"
Silence. The throne room became an echo chamber, carrying nothing but the pain of a queen who’s lost too much.
"You won’t lose her." Lucian managed to speak after the silence seemed suffocating. He stepped closer, standing in front of Elian, his mother and Sylas. "We won’t lose her. But it’s Amara we’re dealing with here."
He made a pause, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "The fucking High Matron of Arcadia. I swear, I’m so close to making a public declaration of war against that whole nation."
Surprisingly, Sylas spoke up. "But... But won’t that be risky? What if the Arcadian Councillors demand proof for your accusations?"
Lucian sneered. "Maybe they’ll get ’proof’ if they check my body for signs of any healed atomic-level tampering."
Elian remembered how Amara made him watch as she twisted Lucian’s body from the inside out. The certainty in her tone when she threatened to kill the Alpha Prince if he didn’t let her keep Elian.
Fuck, all that would’ve been stuff nightmares were made of... If he didn’t have bigger things haunting him.
Suddenly, Lucian’s communication ring rang. Elian watched him pick up without wasting a second, a holographic projection flickering out of it.
"Your majesty, we have an update on the patient." The projection belonged to a man with a thick moustache and a white coat. "She’s still unconscious, but we found traces. Shadow energy residues and void energy—only found in one genetically engineered species on the continent."
[Oh—I clocked that. It’s our good friends again. Or... Your good friends anyway.]
That’s right—
"Umbra beasts," Lucian mentioned more than questioned. "Do you think that’s what attacked her?"
"Precisely, my Alpha Prince." The doctor nodded. "But... There’s something different about this shadow energy signature. Modified. Unlike any I’ve analysed from a specimen before."
As the man spoke, the system already unfurled a few screens running with vital data in front of Elian.
[He’s not lying. My scanners picked up traces of this... Shadow energy. It’s not your usual Umbra beast.]
[You remember Arcadia? And those traces of forbidden body modification magic we found from soldiers who attacked Kyren? I stored all that in my database and compared it to the signature from the shadow energy—you can imagine the rest.]
Crap!
Amara is using the same Dark Hand body modification magic she used on her hidden witch soldiers for the Umbra beasts. UMBRA BEASTS.
"Thank you for the information, doctor," Lucian responded to the man’s last report. "Update me if anything new comes up."
The moment the holographic projection blinked out of view, Lucian turned his head to Elowen. "I can’t go about searching for Aurora yet, mother. Not like this."
His mother frowned. "What... What do you mean?"
"I’m talking about the baptism of moonlight." Lucian persisted confidently. "It’s about time. If I’m going to face Amara again... I’m going to do it as the one werewolf equivalent who can stand a chance against a transcendent core mage."
He didn’t need to say it out loud for the rest of them to know what he was talking about.
A Celestial sovereign Alpha.
"L–Lucian," Elowen whispered, stretching her hand toward him. She held his shoulder, making him look into her eyes. "Even if I could get the elders to organise the baptism tonight... Are you sure you want to go through with it? In your current emotional state?"
Elian narrowed his gaze on them. Mother and son. He didn’t know about either of them, but he was curious about this so-called "blessing from the moon goddess" that Alpha Kings have gotten for millennia.
Especially now that he knew the so-called moon goddess was dead and had been that way for thousands of years.
"It’s either now or never, mother." Lucian blurted, gently shifting her grip off his shoulder. He pivoted, eyes fleeting past Elian. "I need this for Elian AND Aurora. A moment longer could endanger their lives in ways I don’t want to see."
Those silver orbs lingered on Elian for a heartbeat, the air thick with words unsaid.
Elian felt it then—sharp and unmistakable.
The shift. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
Lucian’s decision didn’t just hang in the air; it settled, heavy as fate. The crystal lights overhead dimmed subtly.
Elian’s breath hitched.
Lucian wasn’t considering the baptism anymore.
He was already walking toward it.
And whatever waited beneath Solara’s moon?
It was awake.
