NOVEL NEXT Chapter 71: Vows in the Ashes
Scene 1 – Shattered Light
The explosion of golden light swallowed everything.
For a heartbeat, there was no chamber, no blades—only brilliance so intense it seared the air. Jemil felt the ground vanish beneath him, his body weightless, chains of fire wrapping tighter around his chest. His mark pulsed like a living brand, each throb threatening to split him apart.
When the light receded, he was no longer standing in the chamber. Neither was Kaelina.
They were both suspended in an endless void, blades floating around them like stars, their edges glinting with predatory hunger. At the center hovered the colossal predator-blade, its golden veins pulsing like a heartbeat.
Jemil staggered, clutching at his burning chest. Kaelina steadied herself beside him, sword raised, her gaze sharp despite the weight of the trial pressing on her spirit.
The voice came again—low, resonant, impossible to ignore.
Hunter. Prey. Vows. Desire. Chains. Ashes. Only one truth survives. Choose.
Kaelina's grip tightened on her sword. "This isn't a battlefield," she said, her voice trembling yet firm. "It's a crucible."
Jemil looked at her, his vision blurring from the curse's fire. "Then we either burn—" His voice caught as the mark seared across his throat. "—or we forge something stronger."
The predator-blade pulsed once, and every floating sword tilted toward them at once.
The trial had begun.
Scene 2 – Blades of Doubt
The void rippled as the first blade screamed through the air. It was not a clean strike, but a whispering cut that brushed past Kaelina's cheek, leaving no wound—only a flicker of memory.
Her knees weakened. In the shimmer of the steel, she saw her past: comrades who had sworn to fight with her, only to abandon her when the enemy closed in. Their broken vows echoed like laughter in the void.
Kaelina clenched her jaw, swinging her sword to deflect the next strike. Sparks flared, but the memory lingered, poisoning her heart with doubt.
"Don't falter!" Jemil shouted, but his own warning was cut short.
A blade darted at him—not at his body, but through his mark. The cursed fire flared, and suddenly he saw visions too. Lyra, her flames consuming him instead of protecting him. Nyssa, her illusions binding him in chains. Kaelina, her sword driving through his chest as her vow turned to ash.
The predator's voice thundered inside his skull.
See them for what they are. Doubt is the only vow that never breaks.
Jemil staggered back, his breaths shallow. "No… no, that's not real." But his fists shook, the golden mark writhing as if feeding on the visions.
Kaelina, panting, turned her head toward him. "They're trying to break us apart… If you give in—if I give in—then we're prey."
The void quaked as a dozen blades launched at once. Each one shimmered with a different nightmare, a different betrayal, each one seeking to carve cracks into their trust.
Jemil caught one with his bare hand, the steel dissolving into golden flame that surged painfully into his veins. He grit his teeth, forcing his voice out past the burn.
"Then we fight the doubt itself."
Back-to-back, Jemil and Kaelina raised their weapons—one steel, one searing will—against the storm of illusions that sought to devour their bond.
The predator-blade pulsed again, louder, hungrier. This was only the beginning.
Scene 3 – The Chains Within
The storm of swords thinned for a moment, as if the predator was drawing in breath. Then, with a pulse of golden light, the void shifted.
The chains on Jemil's chest writhed like living serpents. They slithered down his arms, coiling around his wrists, and stretched across his throat. For the first time, Kaelina saw them fully—not just marks burning beneath his skin, but actual bindings of golden fire dragging him down.
"Jemil—!" she gasped, rushing forward, but the chains tightened, yanking him to his knees.
The predator's voice reverberated, deep and merciless.
Behold the prey who calls himself hunter. His curse consumes him. Each breath he takes drags him closer to the leash. Do you stand with him still? Or strike him now, before he drags you all into chains?
Kaelina's sword trembled in her grip. She could see it now: Jemil's eyes glowing faintly gold, his veins lit with fire. For a heartbeat, she saw him not as her summoner, not as the one she vowed to stand beside—but as the Mistress's creature in the making.
Her heart thundered. Her instincts screamed: Cut him down before it's too late.
"Kaelina—don't!" Jemil coughed, the chains pulling tighter around his throat. His body arched against the binding, muscles straining. "This isn't me—it's the trial!"
The predator whispered directly into her ear, low and intimate.
He lies. They always lie. His vow will shatter as theirs did. Strike, girl of blades, and prove your vow means more than his curse.
Kaelina lifted her sword—just slightly. Her breath came ragged, torn between instinct and devotion.
Then Jemil met her eyes, even as the golden fire seared him alive. His voice broke but carried all the defiance of his soul.
"If you doubt me—then cut me. Better your blade than those chains. But know this, Kaelina—I'll fight until my last breath to stay your Jemil, not the predator's."
The void fell silent. Even the blades circling them seemed to pause, waiting.
Kaelina's grip tightened, her knuckles white. For a moment, her blade wavered above him.
Then—with a cry that tore her throat raw—she spun and slashed, not at Jemil, but at the chains choking him.
Her blade screamed against golden bindings. Sparks erupted, fire clashing with steel, the force of her strike sending shockwaves through the void.
The chains cracked. Jemil gasped as air flooded his lungs, though the curse still burned across his skin.
The predator roared, its voice like a thousand blades scraping stone.
Fools. You deny the truth. Very well—then BURN TOGETHER.
Every sword in the void lit with golden flame and dove toward them at once.
Scene 4 – Storm of Steel
The void screamed.
Every floating blade ignited with golden fire, their edges trailing sparks as they streaked toward Jemil and Kaelina like a thousand falling stars. The predator's roar shook the air itself, a storm of hunger and fury given form.
Kaelina braced herself, sword raised, her boots grinding against nothingness. "Stay close!" she shouted, her voice barely audible over the metallic thunder.
Jemil forced himself upright, the curse still burning across his chest, but his resolve harder than ever. His fists glowed with the golden sparks of blades he had already caught, his veins searing with fire he refused to surrender to. "Together—like we swore!"
The first wave crashed. Kaelina's blade flashed in a furious dance, steel striking steel in a storm of sparks. Jemil caught another sword barehanded, its fire surging into him as he roared in defiance.
But for every blade they turned aside, three more replaced it. The air became a whirlwind of cutting light, no escape, no pause, only pressure building until even Kaelina's strikes slowed, her shoulders shaking under the weight of endless steel.
The predator's voice thundered again, this time closer, almost inside their bones.
You think vows are stronger than hunger? Than chains? Than the fire already consuming you, Chainbreaker? Then PROVE IT—OR BREAK!
The colossal predator-blade pulsed once, and every sword froze mid-air.
Then—like lightning—they all hurtled inward, converging on Jemil and Kaelina in one merciless strike.
The last thing Jemil saw was Kaelina turning toward him, her blade raised not in doubt, but in defiance, her vow burning in her eyes.
The storm hit.
Golden light swallowed everything.
Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 72: The Predator's Claim
When the golden storm clears, Jemil and Kaelina find themselves standing in the aftermath of the predator-blade's trial—though victory is not so easily named.
The colossal sword no longer attacks, but watches. Its voice cuts like a predator circling wounded prey. It has tasted their doubts, their trust, their defiance… and it is not done.
Jemil's curse burns brighter than ever, the golden chains now etched clearly across his skin for all to see. Kaelina's vow is intact, but at a terrible cost—her spirit feels carved raw, her blade nearly broken under the strain of refusing the predator's whispers.
The sword does not yield. Instead, it makes its claim:
If Jemil cannot prove he is master of his bonds, then the predator will claim him… and through him, all of his wives.
One trial ends. Another begins.
And this time, the prey is not just Jemil—but the unity of his harem itself.
Cta
🔥 The predator has tested vows, trust, and temptation—but the storm is only the beginning. With Jemil's curse burning hotter and Kaelina's vow pushed to its breaking point, the predator-blade is far from done.
Do you believe Jemil can resist its claim, or will the sword's hunger drive cracks into the unity of his harem? ⚔️
👉 Keep reading to witness the next step of the trial in Chapter 72: The Predator's Claim—where vows and desire collide, and the line between hunter and prey blurs even further.