THE REAL PROTEGE

"Pharsa!" Enchanted Dale bellowed, voice reverberating through the estate.

The outer garden exploded in a cyclone of corrupted wind, sending tiles, leaves, and sacred charms flying. Servants who were working outdoors were scattered, some tossed into the air.

Mushu slammed his staff into the ground and raised a defensive barrier just in time, barely shielding the western wing from collapse.

In the ceremonial sanctuary, Ling Li's sigils ignited mid-air —spiraling into crystalline shields around the chamber. She stepped into the courtyard, robes snapping in the wind, eyes like frost kissed by lightning.

"You breach sacred earth and expect her to submit? You are a child throwing stones at stars!"

Enchanted Dale grinned, unhinged. "Then I'll snatch the stars one by one."

He lunged forward, hurling a barrage of spectral chains —black and bone-white, twisting to bind Pharsa's soul from afar. Ling Li countered with a spinning blade of pure air energy, slicing through the first wave with a roar. Her feet barely touched the ground.

Shinsei emerged beside her, beads glowing, chants rising in forbidden dialects. He threw lightward incantations like lightning bolts —two striking Enchanted Dale's torso and staggering him half a step.

But Enchanted Dale was not ordinary anymore.

Pharsa's sealing ritual had enraged him, and the thwarted convergence made him desperate.

Inside the chamber, Pharsa jolted. Her sealed aura pulsed beneath her skin, now responding to the Battle outside. Her fingers glowed faintly as a forgotten fragment of power reawakened —one her birth parents had tried to cast away when they abandoned her at the temple.

Chatty rose beside her. "You don't have to go out there."

Pharsa gripped his hand once. "Yes, I do. Because I can." She said and started to get dressed.

Her ceremonial robes shifted as she stepped into the open, hair billowing around her like storm-born silk. She raised her hands, channeling the sealed elemental energy —wind and water colliding into spirals of sharp mist.

Enchanted Dale turned, locking eyes with her.

"You belong to my ascension —your blood is written in prophecy."

Pharsa stepped forward. "Then rewrite your prophecy."

With a surge, she released her energy.

A tidal spiral burst forward —wind whipped into shards, water sharpened into spears, striking Enchanted Dale with the force of generations denied. He screamed, the sound ripping open talismans, shattering nearby wards, and dropping him to his knees.

Shinsei reinforced the seals. Mushu launched binding charms. Ling Li summoned a divine gust so strong it fractured the garden wall behind Enchanted Dale.

But Enchanted Dale wasn't finished.

He rose, blood streaming from his nose, lips cracking with fury.

"If I can't claim her…" he wheezed, raising both arms, "… I'll collapse the ether itself!"

The breach behind him widened. Spirits shrieked within it —twisted souls he'd harvested over the years —rising in a spiral to consume everything.

Pharsa stepped forward again, eyes full of tears and power.

She whispered the incantation taught only in secret by Shinsei —the seal of inheritance.

A radiant storm spiraled from her chest, bursting outward in blinding waves.

Time slowed.

The spirits halted mid-flight, then shattered into silver dust.

Enchanted Dale froze.

The last thing he saw was Pharsa's eyes glowing the color of moonstone thunder.

Then everything went silent.

Aftermath Beneath the Cracked Sky

Smoke swirled low across the Li Estate as the final echoes of Battle fell into silence.

Broken tiles littered the garden paths, scorched wards fluttered like torn flags, and the scent of incense now mingled with scorched cedar. Moonlight pierced the lingering mist, casting silver over every wound.

In the center of it all, Pharsa stood motionless, arms slack at her sides, her breath ragged but steady. Her robe clung to her like a second skin, damp from sweat and elemental release. Chatty remained nearby, his hand hovering just above her back as if shielding her with reverence rather than touch.

A few steps away, Ling Li's chest heaved slowly, the last traces of her summoned wind dispelling. Shinsei knelt at the smudged edge of the elemental circle, his fingers gliding over cracked seals, tracing their new patterns.

"We altered fate tonight," Shinsei murmured, eyes scanning the fading energy streams. "But nothing ends cleanly. Prophecies don't die —they shift."

Pharsa said nothing.

She turned her head slightly toward the main hall, where soft rustling echoed behind the curtain window.

The Twins' Secret Watch

While Old Master Li and his wife, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Xu, were ordered by Ling Li to remain in their rooms, regardless of what happened. The mischievous twins, Kim Kim and Chin Chin, crouched behind the heavy ceremonial curtain, their eyes wide and sparkling. Their cheeks were pressed against the cool stone windowsill, fingers curled into the silk folds.

"Did you see her hair?" Kim Kim whispered, awed. "It floated like a ghost thread!"

"She glowed like lightning," Chin Chin replied. "Like a storm princess!"

Kim nodded solemnly, gripping her slingshot tighter. "Aunt Pharsa is… awesome." She looked sideways. "Do you think Mom used that move she taught us last night?"

Chin Chin shrugged. "I think she used ten secret moves. Maybe even dragon ones."

From beyond the curtain, the grownups began to gather —their faces pulled tight with fatigue and awe. But to the twins, it wasn't just survival on display.

It was myth in motion.

"And Aunt Pharsa had become something more than a bride in a crisis —she had become a legend."

Ling Li, who had discovered them, shook her head.

Ling Li and Shinsei: Reading the Ripples

Later, beneath the cracked garden arch, Ling Li stood alone with Shinsei, both gazing at the fractured seal etched across the earth —Enchanted Dale's final imprint. It pulsed faintly still, resisting fade.

"He's not gone," Ling Li said quietly.

Shinsei nodded. "No. We severed the thread, but the claw remains. He'll reweave his path. And next time, he may not walk alone."

Ling Li turned toward the stars now peeking through dispersing clouds. Her expression was unreadable —but her soul stirred.

"We'll be ready," she said. Then, as if remembering something layered in prophecy:

"And our children will rise with us."

A breeze whispered past, curling the edge of her robe.

Behind them, Pharsa —resting but awake —clutched Chatty's hand. Her body trembled from exertion, but her heart throbbed with quiet clarity.

In the shadows, Kim Kim drew an imaginary sword from her sash.

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And somewhere far away, a broken mirror smoldered… watching.