Chapter 95: THE NEW BALANCE
Chapter 95: The New Balance
The hunger in the entity’s emotions hit Liana like a punch to the gut. Her eyes snapped open, meeting his silver gaze that suddenly seemed far too bright, far too eager.
"You felt it too," he whispered, and his smile was nothing like the grateful look she expected. "The power flowing through all these linked souls. It’s amazing."
Around them, the network began to pulse with worry as other souls sensed the shift.
The cracks in reality spread, spilling shadows that reached toward the mountain with greedy fingers. "You’re not healed," Liana realized, her words cutting through the chaos. "You’re just better at hiding the corruption." The entity’s laugh echoed across worlds. "Healing was never the goal, little Luna.
Evolution was. And thanks to your network, I now have access to thousands of souls to drain instead of just one dying guardian." Terror flooded the links as every linked soul understood the trap. They had willingly opened themselves to something that had been lying in wait for centuries.
But Liana didn’t worry. Instead, she smiled. "You made one mistake," she said softly. "What’s that?" "You assumed I was naive enough to trust you completely." The entity’s trust faltered as Liana’s true plan unfolded through the network. She hadn’t been trying to help him at all.
She had been studying him, learning how his power worked, understanding exactly what he was. And now she knew how to stop him. "Phoenix tears don’t just change," she announced, her voice carrying to every connected soul.
"They purify. And some things can only be cleaned by burning away completely." Before the entity could respond, Liana called upon the deepest change the phoenix tears had made to her essence. Not the power to heal or bond, but the ability to become a controlled flame that consumed corruption without destroying the innocent.