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Nocturne slept with the dawn in a glow of blood-red light.

The fog that had clung to the valley floor receded, revealing the full breadth of battle.

Rogue banners fluttered in the morning breeze—double serpents on deepest ebony fields—sketched in jagged outlines across the shattered paving stones of the courtyard.

Behind them, shadow-bred warriors eddied like living smoke, their eyes afire with empty hunger.

Behind the dented wall above, three stood at the ready.

Alexander Blackwood, reborn Alpha, sword held, armor glinting with moon runes.

Cass, Beta and comrades-in-arms, binding magic cords wrapping around his knuckles.

And Tasha, incarnate Luna, Eclipse Blade strapped across her back, Frigg's anciently woven robes clinging to her battered form.

Hearts pounding with the weight of the moment: the final confrontation with Damon's new harbinger.

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Prelude to Combat

"Steady," Blackwood said, and placed a hand on Cass's shoulder. "Don't forget why we fight."

Below in the infirmary, Mina and the healers worked at the front windows, their patients dying as they recited renewal prayers.

Frigg's final journal lay open on a slab of stone, pages glowing softly violet in the lantern light as Mina read through the words that had led them through prophecy and peril.

Only when light and darkness unite will the messenger fall.

Her voice trembled as she spoke the verse. "Bind them," she whispered to her other healers. "We hold the wards. We mend the broken."

At the rampart, Cass took in a sharp breath. "They're ready," he said. "No turning back.".

Tasha closed her eyes, feeling Frigg's magic coursing in her veins. "For Nocturnis," she whispered, drawing strength from the twin-moon sigil etched into her heart. "For those I love."

Blackwood nodded. "Now."

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Opening Salvo

The three of them jumped forward in tandem. Blackwood exploded into combat, axe-crashing cries spilling forth from his lips, "For the pack!" His moon-purified sword hacked through the front lines of darkness-spawn. Wherever his sword passed, darkness broke like broken glass.

At the same time, Cass exploded in a whirl of activity. His magic binding cords whipped through the lines of the enemy, wrapping around ghostly arms and knocking rotting soldiers off the rampart. Each spin, each slash, swept spells and metal into one unstoppable tide.

She invoked the wind there with a fluid draw of the Eclipse Blade's hilt. It screamed around her, with moonlight refracted into loops that hurled phantasmal foes at a distance. She leapt from battlement to lower wall, blade screaming as she carved paths of light energy that incinerated the shadows.

Down below, the chanting healers moved between the war cries, reinforcing every line of runes on the walls. Every flash of purple light healed cracks in the stones, purging poisoned wounds and infusing the defenders with renewed vigor.

The first wave of the attack thundered against Nocturnis's walls, staggering at the ferocity of the Alpha, Beta, and Luna. Triumph was within their reach for a heartbeat.

But no defense is triumph over numbers. Out of the courtyard gates issued fresh lines of blackened soldiers and spectral beasts, their armor scattered in grisly piles of bone and metal.

The double-serpent banners advanced in cold order, line behind line, an overwhelming torrent of night that thudded with a living heartbeat.

Cass gasped for breath. "They just don't stop!" he shouted. His cables encircled a ghost, but another replaced the ghost.

Rylan and his Kylorn wolf pack—giant lycans bred in mountain passes—sprang into action on the flanks. Their howling lupine screams and feral claws tore through enemy ranks, but for every fallen opponent, two more rushed in to take their place.

On the walls, Tasha felt exhaustion claw at her muscles.

Every strike with the Eclipse Blade drained a little of her strength.

She moved lightly and spun, whirlpools of air trailing behind her, but a wave of polluted magic washed over her like icy water.

Shadows enveloped her, and for an instant, the runes along the wall swirled.

Blackwood, hearing her falter, unleashed a roar and leapt across the distance between walls. He struck a blow from behind, shattering the corrupted wave before it could sweep over her. His sword's radiance burst, banishing darkness for a moment. "Hold fast!" he bellowed. "We will not break!

Below, Mina chanted faster, pressing hands to wounds as her violet aura flared in defiance of the dark tide, stitching flesh and bone with her healing grace. She cast a longing glance up at the ramparts. "Keep going," she whispered. "We're right behind you."

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Luna's Crucible

At the turret's height, the Eclipse Blade glowed like a second moon in Tasha's grasp. She held it high to sustain the wards—voice chanting the ancient incantation:

"Air as bulwark, light as shields,

Bind the breach, till darkness yields."

A buzzing thrum coursed through the courtyard. Ramparts flashed back, crystal strands stitching cracks asunder. But when Tasha drew her final breath to complete the spell, Damon's voice—soft, mocking—whispered in her mind:

"Your wards will hold for so long, Luna. With every seam you sew, I unravel.".

Her thoughts reeled with twisted images: Blackwood's broken form, Cass's dropped sword, Mina's tear-stained face begging for redemption. The sword was unpossibly heavy, its twinned natures tearing her soul.

Tasha's legs gave way; darkness wrapped around her. The runes on the ground stumbled and died.

Blackwood was there in an instant, tough arms shoving her upright. "No," he snarled, his forehead slamming hers. "You are more than you remember."

Alpha's tie snapped between them—threads of shared blood and vow that wrapped around her head, shutting out Damon's whispers. Fury burned in her breast. Her eyes cleared, fixed.

She took a breath and finished the spell, words trembling but true:

"Bound by blood, bound by will—

Darkness break, and light fulfill."

Light flashed off the blade in a shockwave that boomed down the ramparts. Shadow stepped back, repairing the walls whole.

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A Broken Gate

Despite the defenders' valour, the relentless flood gained a hold on the eastern wall. A giant siege-ram—its iron staves bound in foul runes—was hurled at the old stones. With an impact of shattering magic, the jack burst through the runes, smashing them like broken glass.

An open yawning space. Pitiless marauders poured through, flooding the courtyard in a seemingly boundless wave of shadow. Specters followed, their cloud-soft bodies clawing at walls and wards alike.

Cass and Blackwood moved up to the bottleneck. Cass's ropes bound half-dozen specters; Blackwood's buckler cast aside poisonous spells that spat like scalding acid. They fought back-to-back, a steel-and-rune barrier against the tide.

But the opening had grown too large. Their formation was breached, taint-stained troops spilling into the inner courtyard. The defenders retreated in orderly fashion, wards flashing brightly to conceal their retreat.

A necromantic spear struck into Cass's shoulder, and he crumpled to the ground on his knees.

Blackwood cut through two of the men with a blow and then grabbed hold of Cass's arm.

Together, they bullied a withdrawal through shattered arches, driving the enemy into a tight pass where wards burned hot to block the horde.

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Vision phosphorescent specks of warded magic drifted in the pale light.

Survivors, some wounded, some fatigued, gazed around in awe.

The dark tides had receded. The twin-serpent flags—black symbols of betrayal—lay discarded on the mud, their standards rent asunder by the Eclipse Blade.

Cass knelt, his hand weighing upon the pendant that lay, cold and still, around his neck. Tears filled his eyes as he said, "Julia..."

Blackwood drew his sword and crossed the yard, kneeling at his side. "Her death saved us all," he whispered. "We revere her memory by living."

Tasha sank to her knees before Blackwood, tip of her blade on the ground. "It's over," she whispered, throat raw. "The harbinger has fallen."

Mina ran through the broken stones, sobbing for relief. She arrived, carrying Julia's unconscious form. Tasha held her friend's head steady, brushing back hair. "She saved us," Mina cried. "She saved us all."

They sat Julia down in a circle of warded lanterns. Mina placed her hands upon Julia in farewell, subdued tears combined with more colorful runes that flashed briefly—Frigg's old wards now combined with Julia's final offering.

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Reconciliation & New Dawn

Nocturnis regained health within days. Defenders—lycans, witches, and gifted students—began repairing the shattered walls. Blackwood summoned a council in the great hall, where allied leaders took new vows of unity.

Mina, although grieving, recited Frigg's last prophecy to those gathered:

"When shadow and light walk hand in hand, the cycle will end and a new time emerge. The Luna's heart—tempered in love and sacrifice—will guide the way."

Cass, now Beta-Alpha liaison, promised: "We will carry on Julia's legacy by building that new time. No more betrayal—only harmony."

Tasha, followed by Blackwood, raised the Eclipse Blade high for all to see. Its blade emitted harmonized light and shadow. "Nocturnis continues," she said. "And so does hope."

Weeks afterward, Tasha went to the grove where Frigg had cast her last spells. There, amidst charred earth and sprouting saplings, grew a single tree—its leaves two-toned: half-silver, half-shadow-black. The Eclipse Blade lay sheathed against its trunk, vines curling softly around its hilt.

Tasha laid her palm against the bark, smiling through tears. "We did it," she breathed. "We walk together—light and shadow—as one."

Behind her, the wind churned, with a vow: that while darkness might resurface again, the bonds of heart and spirit would never be broken.