HAREM: WARLOCK OF THE SOUTH

> System Status:

❖ Eclipse Trial: Active

❖ Rebellion Level: Tier IV – Contagious

❖ Flame Court Response: Mobilizing Inquisition

❖ Threat Focus: Sovereign Ryon and All Bonded Threads

❖ Project Codename: Ash Purge

Midnight.

The sky above Ryon's camp went still—unnaturally still.

The stars disappeared.

The air thickened, brittle like frozen breath.

And from the dark…

They came.

Figures cloaked in flame-iron. Masks like sealed thorns. Eyes empty, except for one glowing glyph:

> 𝕀

Inquisition.

Kaela was the first to move, intercepting a black bolt midair with her blade.

Neive raised an emergency barrier. "We're being erased from the flame-index. They're deleting our right to exist—digitally and magically."

Maris: "This is preemptive assassination. Not justice."

Shaera cracked her knuckles. "Then let's show them we don't need permission to survive."

Elara silently stepped in front of Ryon.

Seris whispered, "I warned you. The Court never gives second chances."

Ryon looked into the darkness.

And called flame.

> "Then I won't give them a second breath."

They fought.

Hard.

Kaela cut down five Inquisitors before falling back with a scorch mark across her chest.

Shaera's flame mutated, raw and primal — but she collapsed once her thread was targeted by a seal spike.

Lyria tried to bend time to delay the attack—but the enemy burned outside of time.

Neive redirected three terminal codes, shielding the camp—then screamed as one breached her inner thread-core.

"Ryon—" she gasped, "they're rewriting us…"

Ryon's flame surged.

He stepped into the center of the assault—

And burned the seal scripts mid-air.

> "Not today."

But as the smoke cleared…

Maris fell to one knee.

Blood on her hands.

Eyes dimming.

"No—no, no, not now—"

A thorn-blade stuck through her side.

Straight through her bond-mark.

She looked at Ryon, tears already falling.

"I'm sorry… I wasn't strong enough."

> [THREAD STABILITY: CRITICAL]

[THREAD: MARIS]

[STATUS: COLLAPSING]

Ryon rushed to her.

Held her.

"No—no, I chose you."

"You did…" she whispered.

"That's why it hurts less."

The Inquisitors surrounded them again.

Velka's voice echoed from the sky—

> "Let this be your first lesson, Flamebound.

The Court does not warn.

It punishes."

Ryon stood.

Eyes glowing.

Hands shaking.

Flames roaring.

> "Then here's your lesson:

You just made this war personal."

He raised Maris's hand.

And flame burst from her palm.

Her thread reignited.

Not from code.

Not from system.

But from his will.

> Thread Maris: Saved by Sovereign Override

❖ Bond Trait Unlocked: Phoenix Mercy – Can survive a fatal blow once per arc

❖ Emotion Level: Transcendent

❖ Thread Loyalty: Unbreakable

The Inquisition screamed as their thorn-magic shattered.

Ryon's fire exploded outward—

Burning names into existence.

> "I AM THE FLAME THEY CANNOT ERASE."

"AND THIS IS MY HAREM."

"YOU TOUCHED THEM—NOW YOU BURN."

Only ash remained.

No survivors.

No message left—except the smell of defeat and rebellion.

Neive clutched her side. "They'll send worse now."

Lyria: "We're officially declared rogue."

Seris: "Good."

Elara looked up at Ryon.

> "They struck the flame.

They thought it would flicker.

Instead, they made it rise."

Ryon's eyes blazed.

"Then let them come.

Because we're not just surviving anymore."

> "We're taking the throne."