NOVEL NEXT Chapter 87 – Storm of Glass
For a single heartbeat, time froze.
The banquet hall stood suspended in a shimmering tableau of ruin: chandeliers shattered into glittering powder, tables overturned and smeared with wine that looked too much like blood, nobles pressed against the walls in wide-eyed terror. Even the flicker of torches seemed to hold still, as if the room itself was afraid to breathe.
And at the center—Kai and his wives, backs to one another, surrounded by a storm of fractured mirrors. For the first time, their breathing matched. Their movements flowed together. The threads of suspicion, betrayal, and hesitation that had weighed them down were burned away in the fire of survival.
They looked like a unit. A family.
The intruder tilted his head, lips curling into a grin as shards whirled around him like a crown of knives. His cloak rippled in currents that weren't there, and his eyes glittered with the manic sharpness of someone who thrived in chaos.
"So. You finally remember who you are when you stand together. Good. Then let's see if that unity can survive this."
The mirrors cracked with a deafening shriek. Shards spun outward, not as reflections now but as blades—razor-edged, dancing on currents of impossible wind.
Kai barely had time to shout before the storm hit. "Guard each other!"
Velis moved first. Her sword flashed like lightning, the steel singing with each parry as she swatted aside shards that screamed for Astra's throat. Astra's fan snapped open with a metallic clink, its reinforced edge slicing a dozen fragments into harmless splinters that showered the floor. Lyra loosed two arrows in rapid succession, each piercing a cluster of glass before it could slice into Kai's chest.
The sound was chaos—glass shrieking against steel, fragments exploding into smaller razors, the nobles screaming as shards found unguarded flesh. The banquet had become a slaughterhouse, red wine indistinguishable from blood on the floor.
Kai ducked, spun, his blade intercepting a phantom figure lunging from the shards. The thing mirrored his own stance, his own strength, a reflection brought to life. He smashed it down, shoving hard enough to feel the crunch of its false bones before it shattered into glitter.
A sting flared on his cheek. A shard had kissed him, leaving a burning red line that leaked down into his jaw.
"Don't falter!" Velis barked, her eyes like ice. Her blade cut in furious arcs, faster than Kai could follow. "Every hesitation is a death!"
"I noticed!" Kai growled, twisting to kick a phantom backward. His boot shattered its glass skull into a rain of fragments.
Astra appeared at his side, her fan clashing against a blade of glass, her hair wild, her lips pulled back in a smile that was half-mad, half-defiant. "Stay alive, Kai, or I'll kill you myself!"
The words made him laugh despite the chaos, even as pain burned down his arm from another cut.
But the intruder wasn't simply watching. He moved within the storm like it belonged to him, each shard turning in perfect rhythm with his steps. Every strike he unleashed forced them apart, every deflection drove a wedge into their fragile trust.
Kai saw it. Velis's eyes narrowing as Astra strayed too close to her arc. Lyra's hesitation as she lined her shot, afraid of hitting him instead. That flicker of doubt was exactly what their enemy wanted.
The intruder's grin widened. "You can't fake trust. It's either forged… or it shatters."
He raised his blades. The shards screamed, spiraling into a tornado that rose from floor to ceiling. The very air turned into knives.
Kai planted his feet, sweat and blood slicking his grip on the hilt. His chest heaved with every breath. He looked to Velis, Astra, and Lyra—each battered, each bleeding, but all three refusing to step back.
"Then let's forge it here. Together!"
He surged forward into the maelstrom. Astra at his flank, her fan spinning like a crescent moon. Velis guarding the rear, her blade cutting a path through the impossible. Lyra's arrows streaking into the storm, each one finding the narrowest gaps.
The storm consumed them whole.
Pain was constant. Cuts slashed their arms, their legs, their cheeks. Blood blurred Kai's vision, stinging his eyes, but he didn't stop. One step. Another. The rhythm of their movements became instinct, their survival tied not to hesitation but to faith.
Kai's sword clashed with the intruder's with a shock that rattled the hall. Sparks lit the storm. Astra's fan whipped toward his ribs, forcing him to twist. Velis cut low, nearly severing his leg, and Lyra's arrow passed so close it trimmed a lock of his hair.
The intruder staggered, his grin faltering for the first time.
"You—!" he snarled, slashing outward. A blast of force erupted, shards exploding outward in a wave of knives.
The impact hurled them back. Kai smashed into a table, wood splintering beneath him. Astra skidded across blood-slick marble, Velis rolled into a crouch with her sword ready, and Lyra slammed into the far wall, her bow cracking under the impact.
The storm howled higher, a cyclone reaching the shattered ceiling, pulling the chandeliers' remains into its spinning core.
And in its heart, the intruder blurred. His voice came deeper, layered, not entirely human.
"You think you've faced me?" The hall trembled with his words. "You haven't even touched the real battle yet."
The Queen remained on her throne, smiling faintly, her jeweled fingers tapping a slow rhythm against her goblet. As if this chaos was her music.
Kai staggered upright, vision swimming. His wives gathered around him, their breathing ragged, their faces streaked with blood and glass dust.
The cyclone shrieked louder, filling the hall with the sound of endless knives.
And then—
It collapsed inward.
Straight toward them.
🔥 End of Chapter 87 – Storm of Glass
Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 88: Blades of Betrayal
The cyclone of shattered glass collapses toward Kai and his wives, threatening to tear flesh and bone to ribbons. But in the heart of the storm, a deeper truth begins to emerge—the intruder is not simply a phantom but a weapon forged by betrayal itself. Every strike he unleashes forces Kai to confront the lingering fractures in his harem's trust.
Velis fights like steel personified, but even her discipline begins to fray when Astra recklessly defies her commands. Lyra, wounded and cornered, must decide whether to risk everything on one desperate shot or hold back and watch Kai fall. And Kai himself… he must face the truth that unity isn't something he can demand—it's something he has to earn, even as death closes in.
In the chaos, a single mistake will decide not just victory or defeat, but who among them survives the storm. And when the final shard falls, Kai may realize that the true enemy isn't the storm—it's the doubt in their hearts.
⚔️ Call to Action
If you've been gripped by the storm, now's the time to show it! Drop a comment with your predictions—will Kai's harem finally stand as one, or will the storm of glass expose the cracks that could shatter them forever? Every like, every thought you share fuels this journey and makes the next clash burn even brighter. Stay locked in—the blood, the trust, and the betrayal only sharpen from here!