Chapter 169- Phoenix Unbound
Lexy
The marsh steamed in the heat of the sun, and the smell of blood and iron thickened in the air. For one blinding heartbeat, I could not breathe.
Kael.
The name burned across my thoughts like a curse.
I had anticipated Adrian’s desperation, his tricks, his slippery cunning — but Kael’s sudden arrival with fresh troops was something else entirely. A hole ripped in my line. A wall of steel slammed into my warriors, scattering them, cutting through the rhythm I had built through the night.
I had felt the net closing. We had him. We had him—
And then Kael had ripped it wide open.
CJ’s voice cut through the chaos at my side. “Lexy!” He forced one of Adrian’s men back with a sweep of his blade. “You have to pull us back or they’ll crush the flank.”
Pull back. Retreat.
The words scorched my ears. We had fought too long, sacrificed too much to fall into retreat now.
No.
I raised my voice, letting it roll like thunder through the din. “Hold the line! Rally to me!”
My warriors surged closer, battered but not broken, eyes burning with the same fire I felt. They trusted me, believed in me. That faith was iron — and I would not let it break.
Kael’s grin split the battlefield like a wound. He was a brute force compared to Adrian’s sharp edges — and together they were a deadly balance. Where Adrian cut and misdirected, Kael crashed and crushed. Already their men had formed into a single line, shield-to-shield, the marsh at their back and the trees to one side. An anchor position. A fortress.
And they wanted me to bleed myself against it.
CJ’s jaw was tight, blood streaming down one side of his face. “We’ll lose too many if we rush that wall. They’ve set their backs in a choke point.”
I knew he was right. And yet, I also knew something deeper — something that made my chest feel as though it would shatter apart.
This was not a moment to retreat.
This was the moment to burn.
I closed my eyes, just for a heartbeat, shutting out the clash of steel and the cries of men. I reached inward, down to that place I had always kept chained, the furnace I feared as much as I revered. The Phoenix.
It stirred at my call, a ripple of heat climbing my spine, filling my lungs with fire. For too long I had suppressed it, afraid of what it might cost my people, afraid it might consume me entirely. But now?
Now I knew: the only way to protect them was to unleash it.
When I opened my eyes, the world was brighter. Sharper. Flames flickered at the edges of my vision, though no torch burned near me. The air trembled, heat rolling off my skin in waves.
CJ looked at me then — and I saw the flash of recognition in his eyes, mingled with awe and fear.
“Lexy…” he whispered.
I stepped forward, every warrior around me instinctively drawing back to give me space. The battlefield itself seemed to hush, a ripple of awareness spreading through both armies.
Adrian saw me, too. Even across the chaos, his sharp gaze locked on me. For the first time, I thought I saw something flicker in his expression. Unease.
I lifted my sword, and with it, the fire inside me roared to life.
The ground trembled beneath my feet. Flames burst outward, coiling up my blade, licking along my arms without burning me. My hair lifted in the heat, the air itself shimmering around me.
And then the Phoenix came.
A scream tore from my throat, but it was not only mine — it was something older, fiercer, a cry that split the sky like lightning. From the fire around me, wings spread wide, vast and blazing, a bird of living flame unfurling into the dawn.
The battlefield froze.
Every eye — friend and foe alike — turned toward me.
“Push!” I roared, my voice layered with the Phoenix’s fury, shaking the air itself.
My warriors surged forward, their courage ignited by the blaze that wrapped me. They struck harder, faster, driving into Adrian’s line with renewed fury.
Kael’s men staggered under the sudden pressure, their shields glowing red as the heat pressed against them.
Kael himself snarled, slamming his weapon into the ground to steady his troops. “Hold!”
But the fire was already seeping through their defense, crawling along their blades, burning their resolve.
I strode into the clash, my wings of flame sweeping wide, scattering men who dared come near. Every swing of my sword left trails of fire, every step seared the ground. The Phoenix inside me was alive, and it demanded war.
Adrian’s voice rose above the din, sharp, commanding, desperate. “Break her focus! She can’t hold it forever!”
But I was already beyond breaking.
CJ and my warriors drove into their flank, using the chaos my power created to carve deeper, prying open the shield wall Kael had built.
Kael lunged at me, massive frame crashing through the smoke and flame. His blade swung for my head, but I met it with mine, sparks exploding as steel met fire. He grinned through the heat, sweat pouring down his brow.
“Finally,” he growled. “The real fight.”
I shoved him back, flames bursting from the impact, driving him off balance. “You wanted fire?” I spat. “Then burn.”
I struck again, and this time the Phoenix screamed with me, a wall of fire erupting between us and sweeping across his men. They faltered, shields dropping, the heat too much to bear.
For the first time since dawn broke, Adrian’s line wavered.
Adrian’s eyes narrowed, his calculating calm fraying at the edges. He barked orders, pulling his men tighter, trying to weather the storm. But he couldn’t mask the truth — he hadn’t expected this. He hadn’t accounted for me unchained.
The Phoenix sang in my blood, glorious and terrible.
But it also whispered of the cost.
Already my chest ached with the strain, my limbs trembling beneath the weight of the power I unleashed. I felt the burn not only in the air but in my veins, each second stretching me thinner.
CJ’s voice cut through, fierce and urgent. “Lexy, don’t overextend!”
I heard him — but I could not stop. Not now.
This was the chance to break them. To end Adrian’s schemes and Kael’s brutality here, before they could escape again.
I lifted my flaming blade high, wings of fire flaring wide, and bellowed across the field:
“This ends today!”
And the Phoenix roared with me, the flames reaching higher, brighter, consuming everything in their path.
Adrian’s expression hardened. He raised his own weapon, rallying his men for a counter. Kael steadied himself, his grin gone, replaced by grim determination.
The battle was far from finished. But for the first time, it was they who looked trapped.
For the first time, they burned.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
