The Circle moved as one.
Cloaks flared. Symbols lit across their arms and hands — spells older than time. The braziers around the chamber surged, casting shadows that twisted like claws.
Lucien stepped forward, blades drawn, already calculating angles, escapes, strikes.But Amara?
She didn't move.
She burned.
Fire rippled beneath her skin — not heat, not destruction — purity. Light so deep it hurt to look at. Her fingers crackled with raw energy. Her eyes glowed gold.
"Last chance," she said.
The lead figure stepped forward.
"End her."
And the fight began.
The Circle unleashed hell — blades of air, chains of shadow, bolts of silent lightning. Lucien was in motion before the first spell landed, dancing between strikes, blades flashing. He moved like he had nothing left to lose.
Amara stood her ground.
She lifted one hand and spoke a single word — a word buried in the Flame-Bearer tongue, one even she hadn't known she remembered.
The spell shattered midair.
The chamber shook.
One of the Circle screamed and disintegrated into dust.
Another spell came — aimed at Lucien. He deflected one, but the second hit his ribs. He grunted, dropped to a knee, but rose again bleeding.
"Don't slow down!" he shouted.
"I'm not," she said, and sent a wave of flame arcing across the floor. It swept under two cloaked figures. They burned, screaming, their shadows peeling off their bodies like skin.
Only five remained now.
Calia had not moved.
She stood at the top of the dais, watching.
Amara advanced.
"You said you wanted me to see," she shouted. "Then show me. Show me why you became this."
Calia's expression didn't shift. "You still don't understand. This isn't about revenge. This is about mercy."
"I'm not asking for mercy."
"No," Calia said. "But he did."
She lifted a hand — and the chamber froze.
The spells paused. The Circle stopped. Even the air stilled.
And into the silence, she threw a truth like a dagger:
"Lucien made a deal, Amara. To bring you back this time."
Amara froze. "What?"
Lucien went still.
Calia continued. "He traded his soul's freedom. He broke the cycle. That's why you've awakened. That's why you're stronger. But he won't leave this life. Not ever."
Amara turned, slowly, to Lucien.
"Tell me she's lying."
Lucien didn't.
He couldn't.
"I had to," he said. "I couldn't lose you again. Not one more time."
Amara's chest cracked open.
"You chose to damn yourself?"
"I chose you."
Calia stepped down now, slowly, like a queen descending from her ruined throne.
"He won't reincarnate, Selanar. You walk out of here, and you live. He dies. Permanently. That's the cost."
Amara looked at him.
At the man who had died for her. Lived for her. Waited lifetimes for her.And now?
He was ready to disappear — just so she could finally be.
The chamber trembled again. Amara's hands balled into fists. The fire inside her didn't fade — it shifted. Hardened.
Then she looked at Calia and said two words:
"Then we trade."
And unleashed everything.
The ground cracked. The walls split. The Circle screamed as light swallowed them.
Not fire.
Not death.
Release.
Power surged from Amara like a pulse of truth. It knocked everyone down — even Lucien. Even Calia. The gates behind her burned clean.
When the light faded, only three were still standing:
Lucien. Amara. Calia.
The others were gone — not dead. Erased. Burned from time.
Calia staggered to her feet. Blood on her lips. Her eyes burned not with hate — but something worse. Grief.
"You really would give everything for him," she whispered.
Amara nodded. "Every time."
Then she raised her hand one last time.
Calia didn't fight it.
A burst of light. A single tear.
And her sister was gone.
The chamber was silent now.
Lucien leaned against a broken column, breathing hard. Blood trailed down his side.
Amara collapsed beside him.
"You idiot," she said.
"You're welcome," he breathed.
She pulled his face toward hers. Kissed him hard. Real. Final. Beginning and end in the same breath.
"You're not dying," she said.
Lucien smiled weakly. "You're not the boss of reincarnation."
"I am now."
And the fire around her didn't fade.
It settled.
She had broken the cycle.She had rewritten the law.
She wasn't Selanar anymore.
She was something new.