The Shadow Queen Is Too Alluring—I Can't Handle This Anymore!
Chapter 84: The War of the Red Sky

Chapter 84: Chapter 84: The War of the Red Sky

Aelira didn’t flinch as Lyra’s blade hovered inches from her throat. Rain dripped from her tangled hair, mixing with the blood smeared across her cheek. Her chest heaved, not from fear—but from mourning.

Lyra’s hands didn’t tremble.Her golden eyes were hard, cruel.But beneath that unyielding facade, something cracked.

A memory.

A flicker.

A ghost of the girl who once swore never to harm the one who made her laugh on her darkest nights.

This should have been easy.

Lyra told herself that over and over.

She had slaughtered generals. Broken kingdoms. Silenced dissenters. But this—

This was different.

Because Aelira wasn’t just her childhood friend.She was her anchor.Her final thread to everything human.

Cut her, and you cut off the last of your soul.Spare her, and the throne will eat you whole.

Aelira’s eyes were steady. "If you’re going to do it, then do it. Just don’t pretend you’re not crying."

Lyra didn’t realize it until Aelira spoke.

She was.

Tears slid down Lyra’s cheeks like cracks in marble—imperfections that defied the stone-cold monument she had become. Her sword hand was a sculptor’s chisel, suspended, uncertain whether to carve ruin or redemption.

The palace watched—silent, suffocating.

Even the torches dared not flicker.

Suddenly, a gust of dark energy surged in.The Codex, still floating behind the throne, pulsed violently.

From the blackened stone floor, a creature rose—formed of Lyra’s own shadow.

It spoke in her voice.But colder.Crueler.

"Finish it. This is your coronation."

Aelira took a single step forward."Lyra. Please. If you have to kill me, do it. But I want to look into your eyes when you do."

She dropped her sword.

And that single motion—the sound of metal hitting stone—was louder than any scream.

The stars above their heads.A stolen pie between them.And Lyra’s voice, soft and unguarded:"If I ever lose myself... promise me you’ll remind me who I was."

Aelira had smiled back then.

Now, she whispered that memory aloud.

Lyra’s grip faltered.

The blade slipped.

[Back to Present – The Collapse Begins]

The shadow-construct hissed. "Weakness."

It lunged toward Aelira.

But Lyra—eyes ablaze, voice broken—turned her blade on her own shadow.

Slicing it down the middle, her blood mingling with its dark mist.

"I remember who I am now.""And I choose to fight back."

The Codex screeched in a thousand cursed tongues. Runes flew from its pages, branding Lyra’s skin. Her back arched in agony as power surged—rejecting her defiance.

But she didn’t yield.

She screamed—a sound of rebirth and rebellion.

Aelira caught her just as she collapsed.

"I got you," she whispered. "You always said queens don’t fall. So I’ll hold you up now."

Cracks spread across the palace walls.The Codex shattered into flaming glyphs.A dark pulse echoed through the realm—awakening ancient forces who had long waited in the shadows.

A voice—feminine, ageless—echoed:

"The Queen has chosen heart over throne. Then we shall see how long her heart lasts."

Outside the capital, the sky turned red.

From the east, a forgotten army began to march.

And beneath Lyra’s skin—something new was growing.

Lyra opened her eyes—bloodshot, glowing faint violet.

Her body ached, her skin etched with rune-burns, but her grip on Aelira’s hand was still firm. She sat up slowly, facing the ruined throne hall as if she’d just risen from her own grave.

Aelira knelt beside her, face streaked with dirt and tears."You shouldn’t move—"

"I don’t have time to rest."Lyra’s voice was hoarse, but it rang with clarity.

She stood.

Outside the cracked palace walls, the red sky had begun to weep ash.

No longer a puppet. No longer a child.

Lyra’s mind was sharp as a blade honed by grief. The Codex had tried to consume her—but failed. The runes that once enslaved her now pulsed on her skin like living scars of resistance.

Every breath was pain.

But pain was familiar.Pain was proof she was still herself.

She wasn’t just fighting for a crown.She was fighting for the girl she used to be.For the kingdom they all forgot to love.For the future that refused to die.

The city beneath the castle boiled like a kettle left untended—smoke, chaos, rising fear. Refugees crowded the temple steps. Distant horn blasts sounded like the heartbeat of a dying god.

And above it all, the sky bled crimson, as if the heavens themselves had signed a war declaration in blood.

[Battle Call]

General Kael burst into the chamber, his armor scorched, one eye bruised shut."My Queen! The Eastern gates are under attack—mages of the old blood, riding sky serpents!"

Lyra nodded.

"Gather the Spire Knights. Mobilize the Ash Sentinels. No one enters the Inner Circle unless I command it."

Kael paused. "You’re... different."

"I died," she said simply. "Now I decide who lives."

As the war drums echoed louder, Aelira pulled Lyra aside."There’s something you need to know—about the Red Sky army. They’re not just invaders. They were once loyal to your mother."

Lyra froze. "My mother was exiled."

"No," Aelira said. "She disappeared... with a prophecy that her daughter would break the shadow curse, but only if she faced death thrice."

"You think this is only the first time I die?"

"No," Aelira whispered. "I think this was the second."

As the castle shook, a rift tore open in the sky above.

From it descended a woman in obsidian robes—her face hidden behind a burning mask.

A voice boomed across the city:

"Lyra. My blood. My rebellion. Come face me—and earn your legacy."

Lyra’s eyes widened. The voice was familiar.Too familiar.

"...Mother?"

Lyra stepped onto the shattered balcony, wind lashing her hair into wild whips.

Across the sky, the woman in the obsidian mask hovered on a platform of searing flame. Her robes twisted like shadows caught in a furnace. Her presence felt like an entire army pressing down on Lyra’s chest.

Aelira screamed behind her, "It’s her! The Shadow Phoenix!"

But Lyra didn’t flinch.

Instead, she raised her hand—and the runes on her arm lit like constellations rebelling against fate.

"Are you the one who abandoned me?"

The masked woman chuckled, voice thick with ancient power."I didn’t abandon you, Lyra. I protected you. From yourself."

She wanted answers. She got prophecy.She wanted family. She got war.

Lyra’s heart was split open like an overripe fruit.If this was truly her mother... then everything—the exile, the curse, the contract—was a lie carefully fed to her.

What was love when betrayal wore the face of protection?

What was loyalty when truth came too late?

Still...She didn’t need comfort. She needed control.

The flaming platform above her shimmered like a burning crown waiting to fall.

Behind Lyra, her kingdom trembled.Before her, destiny stared her down with eyes like twin eclipses.

And in her soul, something ancient stirred—a beast in chains, rattling harder, faster.

The woman lowered her mask.

She had Lyra’s eyes.

But where Lyra’s burned with defiance, hers were calm. Cold.

"I split my power into two," she said softly. "Half I buried in you... and half I kept to stop you."

"Why?"

"Because the full Shadow Throne would drive any soul mad."

[Twist Two – Betrayal]

Aelira lunged forward—only to be caught midair by a crimson chain.

"No!" Lyra cried.

From behind, Kael stepped out—expression twisted, eyes glowing red.

"You were never meant to be queen," he snarled. "Only a vessel."

Lyra’s chest tightened.

Aelira screamed as the chain tightened.Kael pulled out a dagger laced with shadowfire."Bow to the Phoenix Queen, or your companion dies."

The runes on Lyra’s skin exploded with heat.

A voice—deep, terrifying, old as the stars—whispered from inside her:

"Unseal the Shadow Throne."

Lyra screamed, falling to her knees.

But this time, she didn’t resist.

Shadow wings burst from her back. Her hair turned silver-black. Her voice rang out like thunder:

"I am not your puppet.I am not your heir.I—am—the cursebreaker!"

With one wave of her hand, Kael’s chains shattered.

The flame above quivered.

The sky cracked.

And Lyra rose, bathed in a dark light the world had not seen in a thousand years.

The masked woman stepped back, eyes wide for the first time.

"You’ve awakened the throne..."

From the ground, Kael gasped."The prophecy... she’s not the vessel—she’s the end."

—