The Alpha’s Fated Outcast: Rise Of The Moonsinger

Chapter 368: Melting sword...

Lyla

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and struggled to my feet.

Ramsey’s hand immediately came around me, helping me up. Whatever Terra had discovered, the alarm in her voice suggested it was important.

"What is it?" Ramsey asked when he reached her.

"The ritual circle," she said breathlessly. "Something’s happening. The Dark One – he seemed the soul bonding has stopped."

My heart sank. "Stopped? Is that even possible?"

"We don’t know," Terra looked scared "We didn’t expect this to happen. We tried reviving Circe, but her link to us is dead. We don’t know if she’s still..." Terra trailed off, looking at us helplessly.

We raced back to the ritual circle, our hearts pounding with dread at the new development. Without even nearing the circle, I knew something was terribly wrong.

Circe lay motionless at the centre of the circle, still in her human form and crumpled on the blood-soaked ground. Her auburn hair spread around her like a dark halo, and her clothes were torn and stained with crimson. But it was what lay beside her that made my blood run cold.

Neriah’s sword – the weapon that was supposed to be used to end Xander.

"S-she didn’t use the sword?" I whispered, kneeling outside near the circle.

"She couldn’t," Nanny sighed, "And honestly, that is not the immediate problem."

As she spoke, she pointed toward the far side of the circle.

Xander was there, but he wasn’t the defeated, bound entity we’d expected to find. Instead, he was slowly rising to his feet, his dark energy swirling around him like living smoke. But the most horrifying part was what I could see happening to his form – translucent wisps of light were streaming back into his body, like scattered pieces of his soul returning home.

"The soul binding," I breathed in horror. It’s breaking."

"That’s impossible," Ramsey said, but even as he spoke, we could all see the truth. With each passing second, Xander grew more solid.

Nanny knelt beside the circle and tried to reach for Circe, but she couldn’t. She had a worried expression on her face.

"We need to get her out of there immediately, she might still be alive, and we don’t want him taking her form. It could become a real problem for us."

Without thinking, I tried to enter the circle, but Ramsey dragged me back. "What do you think you’re doing? You can’t..."

"Well, someone needs to bring her out, and it’s not like I’m going to fight. I’ll just..."

"We think Ramsey can do it," Terra said from behind us. Miriam and I already tried, but Circe’s subconscious still has a strong hold on the circle, even you, I’m afraid, won’t be able to access it, but Ramsey can."

"Why him and not me?" My gaze darted between the two women.

"Because she’s more connected to him than you are, Lyla," Nanny sighed. "Let’s just let him try."

Ramsey didn’t even wait for us to finish making a decision; he walked into the circle and was granted access instantly. He bent down and carried Circe in his arms before stepping out. When he laid her on the ground, Nanny immediately knelt beside her, pressing her fingers to her throat.

"She’s alive, but barely," Nanny announced. "Whatever she did to bind him, it’s cost her everything." She looked up at us with fear in her eyes. "And it wasn’t enough."

"How is this possible?" Terra demanded, as she came to kneel beside Circe, too. "The soul binding should have been permanent. Nothing can break that kind of sacrifice." noveldrama

"Unless," Nanny said slowly, her voice filled with dawning dread, "the sacrifice wasn’t complete."

Suddenly, Xander’s laughter filled the clearing, stronger now than it had been moments before. He had taken up his form as Xander again. "Did you really think it would be that easy?" his voice carried across the space between us, no longer weak or pained. "Did you think one old witch could destroy something like me? Anyways, thank you for healing me, though. I feel brand new."

I could see the wounds Circe had inflicted on him beginning to heal, the gashes closing as his power returned. The blood that had poured from both of them during their binding was being drawn back into his body like iron filings to a magnet.

"The sword," I realised suddenly. "She tried to use Neriah’s sword to make the binding permanent, but —"

"But she wasn’t worthy to wield it," Xander finished with malicious glee. "Only the true reincarnate of Neriah or Neriah herself can use that blade. When she tried to channel its power, it rejected her, broke the binding from within."

My heart shook violently. Circe had sacrificed herself for nothing. The binding had failed because she couldn’t properly wield the one weapon that might have made it stick.

"We have to stop him," Nanny said urgently. "If he completes his revival, if he retransform fully, he’ll be stronger than ever. The failed binding will have shown him exactly how our abilities work. He’ll be immune to our next attempt."

Ramsey stepped forward, unsheathing his sword. "Then we finish this the old-fashioned way."

"No," Xander said, and suddenly he was moving faster than my eyes could follow. One moment, he was across the circle; the next, he had Ramsey by the throat, lifting him off the ground. "I don’t think so."

So, while he was still in the ritual circle with his hands raised, Ramsey was suspended in the air outside of the circle.

"Let him go!" I screamed.

"Oh, I will," Xander purred, his grip tightening until Ramsey’s face began to turn purple. "This is the first time a Moonsinger is trying to defeat me without defeating me. It’s supposed to be you and me against each other, Lyla. That is how it’s designed. A thousand mates, a thousand witches would never replace it."

Dark energy poured from his free hand, wrapping around Ramsey like chains. But this wasn’t just restraints —I could see the corruption beginning to spread through my mate’s body, turning his veins black as it sought to transform him into something like the Ferals we’d just defeated.

"Stop!" I lunged forward, but tendrils of shadow caught me mid-stride, holding me back.

"You want to save him?" Xander asked conversationally. "Then make me an offer. What are you willing to trade for his life?"

The answer came to me instantly, but before I could speak, Nanny’s voice cut through.

"Lyla, the sword! You have to claim Neriah’s sword!"

I looked at the gleaming blade still lying in Circe’s blood within the ritual circle, wondering how that was not the first thing we had taken out.

"Ah, the sword!" Ramsey chuckled, having heard Nanny’s words. "It doesn’t matter at this point because even if you get the sword now, the binding ritual can only be performed once per lunar alignment. The twin moon is already gone, the power is lost, and you can’t kill me with it."

"We could try that," I said with a satisfied gleam in my eyes as I stared back at him. Why don’t you put me down, and we can check that out?"

He stared at me for a minute, then turned to the sword and channelled his dark energy towards it. Within seconds, the sword melted.