Chapter 678: Escape (3)
I woke to the sound of Reika’s sharp intake of breath and the unmistakable sensation of overwhelming magical presence pressing against our sanctuary. The monastery’s weakened wards were straining against forces far beyond what they were designed to contain.
‘Company,’ Luna announced grimly in my mind. ‘Cardinal approaching. This one’s dangerous, Arthur—high Immortal-rank. And he’s brought backup.’
Luna stirred against my side, her peaceful sleep shattered by the oppressive aura that filled the air. Her dark eyes opened wide with instinctive fear as she sensed the malevolent power closing in.
“Daddy?” she whispered. “Sothing’s wrong.”
“Stay close to ,” I murmured, carefully extracting myself from the bed while keeping Luna within arm’s reach. “Reika, what are we looking at?”
“Cardinal Akasha himself,” Reika replied tightly, her weapons already in hand. “Plus a full retinue—at least two dozen vampires of various ranks. He’s not taking any chances.”
‘Cardinal Akasha.’ The monster who had overseen Luna’s creation and suffering, now co personally to reclaim his lost asset. The magical pressure radiating from him was imnse—high Immortal-rank power that made the destroyed pursuit teams seem like children.
The temperature in the room dropped noticeably as that vast presence pressed against us. Ancient stone cracked under the strain, and stained glass windows began to sing with harmonic resonance.
“Subject Zero,” a voice called from outside, magically amplified to penetrate walls and wards alike. The words carried authority accumulated over centuries and absolute confidence in their speaker’s superiority. “I know you can hear . Co out now, and I will grant you the rcy of a quick death.”
Luna flinched at the clinical designation, instinctively moving closer to for protection. The casual ntion of her death—not recapture, not reconditioning, but execution—confird what I’d suspected. They’d written her off as irretrievably compromised.
“You’re not Subject Zero,” I told her firmly, my hands already beginning to glow with power. “You’re Luna. You’re my daughter. And no one is going to hurt you.”
‘Can you handle him?’ Luna asked in my mind, concern evident in her ntal voice.
‘I don’t know,’ I admitted honestly. ‘High Immortal-rank is serious business. But I’ll die before I let him touch her.’
“The wards are failing,” Reika reported as hairline fractures spread across the walls. “Maybe two minutes before complete collapse.”
I could feel it too—the ancient protections crumbling under assault from power that belonged to a different age entirely. When those wards fell, we’d be facing Cardinal Akasha and his entire force with nowhere to run.
Luna looked between us with too-knowing eyes, reading the tension we were trying to hide. “Are we going to die?” she asked quietly.
The simple, direct question from my eight-year-old daughter cut deeper than any blade. She wasn’t panicking—she was just asking for truth, trusting to give her an honest answer even in our darkest mont.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But I promise you this—I will fight with everything I have to keep you safe. And if sothing happens to , I need you to rember who you really are.”
Luna nodded solemnly, giving her complete attention.
“You are Luna Nightingale—my daughter, my brave and wonderful girl who likes butterflies and draws pictures and deserves to be loved. You are not a weapon or a tool or anything they tried to make you believe.” I knelt to her level, taking her small hands in mine. “Whatever happens here, that truth never changes.”
“I’ll rember, Daddy,” she promised. “I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetheart. More than all the stars in the sky.”
The monastery’s outer wards collapsed with a sound like reality tearing. Imdiately, the building filled with vampiric presence so intense it felt like drowning in malevolence. Footsteps echoed in the sanctuary—asured, unhurried, confident.
“Arthur Nightingale,” a cultured voice called out, and my blood chilled at the casual use of my true na. “Or should I say, Cardinal Matthias? Your deception was… adequate for fooling subordinates.”
‘He knows who I am,’ I realized. ‘He’s known all along.’
“The vampiric contract with our dear Pope was quite illuminating,” Akasha continued conversationally. “Alyssara shared many interesting details about her obsession with you during her recent visits.”
‘Alyssara.’ The knowledge that she was connected to this made my hands clench with fury.
“But we’re not here to discuss your romantic complications,” Akasha said dismissively. “We’re here to correct a critical error. Subject Zero has exceeded acceptable paraters and must be eliminated.”
“Her na is Luna,” I called back. “And you’re not laying a finger on my daughter.”
“Daughter?” Akasha’s laugh was like grinding stone. “How delightfully sentintal. I suppose that’s what happens when amateurs attempt espionage work.”
The door exploded inward, disintegrating under magical force that left the fra twisted and smoking. Cardinal Akasha stepped through the wreckage, and I got my first clear look at the monster who had tortured Luna for eight years.
He appeared to be middle-aged, with sharp features and silver hair that spoke of centuries rather than decades. But it was his eyes that marked him as truly inhuman—ancient, calculating, and completely devoid of rcy or warmth.
“Subject Zero,” he said, focusing on Luna with clinical interest. “You’ve grown. A pity that growth was entirely in useless directions.”
Luna pressed against my side, trembling with terror. But when she spoke, her voice held surprising strength.
“My na is Luna Nightingale,” she said firmly. “And this is my daddy.”
Akasha’s expression didn’t change. “Nightingale? Adopting your captor’s na already? How efficiently you’ve transferred your loyalty programming.”
‘He’s trying to undermine her confidence,’ I realized. ‘Make her doubt our relationship before he kills her.’
“It doesn’t matter what you say,” Luna replied with startling conviction. “Daddy loves , and I love him. We’re family.”
For the first ti, sothing flickered in Akasha’s ancient eyes—perhaps annoyance at her defiance. “Family. How quaint. Tell , child, do you know what your ‘father’ originally planned to do with you?”
‘No,’ I thought desperately, but Akasha continued.
“He ca here to steal you, yes—but not to save you. He intended to use your power for his own purposes, to turn you into his personal weapon against other threats.”
Luna’s hand found mine, squeezing tightly. “I know,” she said simply. “But people can change their minds. Daddy chose to love instead.”
‘My brave girl,’ I thought with fierce pride. ‘Even facing death, she defends our bond.’
Akasha’s patience finally ran out. “Enough sentint. You’ve served your purpose as an object lesson in the dangers of emotional attachnt. Now you die.”
He raised his hand, and I felt imnse power gathering—mid-immortal rank force focused with surgical precision. Not just enough to kill Luna, but to unmake her completely, ensuring nothing remained.
‘No,’ I thought with absolute clarity. ‘Not my daughter. Never my daughter.’
I threw myself between them, knowing I might not be fast enough, might not be strong enough.
And I took out a scroll from my spatial ring.
Mortis Lucida.
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