Chapter 30: The Unyielding FmeThe world turned white-hot.

  From the depths of Soldraknirr’s maw, Starfire erupted—a casg torrent of celestial wrath. The air itself ignited as the infernal energy roared toward The Steadfast’s deck, its sheer iy dist reality. The temperature soared in an instant, blisteri radiating outward like the sun had desded upotlefield. Metal groaned, paint curled and peeled from the ship’s hull, and the very air shimmered as if refusing to exist in the presence of surelenting power.

  Leona moved on instinct.

  Her shield before she even thought, yers of shimmering barriers stag upon one another in rapid succession. The Starfire smmed into the first, shattering it with a deafening explosion. The sed buckled, then burst. The third held for only a fra of a sed longer before disiing into golden embers.

  The force sent her skidding backward, her boots scraping against the scorched deck as heat cwed at her skin. Behind her, Lyra and Nyx worked frantically, weaving new barriers in pce of those lost. But it wasn’t enough—

  For every shield Lyra repced, Soldraknirr’s Starfire obliterated three more.

  "An unenhanced barrier blog my Soldraknirr’s Starfire?!" Lyrius’s voice crackled through the s, tinged with disbelief.

  The bridge of The Steadfast shuddered violently as stray tendrils of Starfire smmed into it. Metal burst apart, soles exploded in showers of sparks, and several officers were ed in a merciless bze before they could even scream. Smoke and fire filled the and deck, arms bring as the ship’s structure groaned in protest.

  Leona gritted her teeth. More. She needed more.

  Her golden battle aura fred to life, radiating outward, but even as her strength surged, she k wasn’t enough. The heat burhrough her armor, soured down her face, and her limbs screamed uhe pressure.

  She was failing.

  She closed her eyes.

  Fourteen years ago…

  The courtyard of House Leonis was a vision al splendor. Open-air pathways of polished stone glistened uhe afternoon sun, leading to t vaulted arches that framed the sky like the ribs of a celestial beast. Though a minor house, House Leonis carried itself with dignity, their estate standing as a testament to turies of unwavering pride.

  A younger Leona stood at the courtyard’s ter, her small hands trembling as she held them aloft. Her lips moved, reg a t passed down through geions, an invoeant to call upon forces beyond mortal uanding. The words were old—a—a nguage not spoken, but felt, a ce that resonated deep within the marrow of her bones.

  Power swelled in the air. Expectation crackled like a storm cloud ready to burst.

  Lord Tyburstein Leonis watched, his golden eyes filled with quiet patience. His presence was a mo of unwavering fideanding tall with arms crossed, his regal cloak flowing behind him. He had trained tless warriuided schors, and taught noble ss the meaning of true power. And today, he expected nothing less from his daughter.

  Leona’s voice rose to its cresdo. The spell climaxed, the heavens should have answered.

  A flicker.

  A siiny fme hovered in the air above her palm, its feeble light barely visible against the afternoon sun.

  Silence.

  A moment passed before Leona’s face twisted in frustration. She colpsed to her knees, her fists g at her sides. "I really don’t get it!" she groaned, shaking her head. "All I do is think about it and barriers appear… fortification spells are easy-peasy too. But when it es to all other spells…!" She buried her fa her hands. "Why ’t I do it?"

  A deep chuckle rumbled from her father. He stepped forward, kneeling beside her, his rge haling atop her head. "Leona," he said, his voice warm, unwavering. "You learn things too easily."

  She blinked up at him, fused. "Isn’t that a good thing?"

  Tyburstein smiled, shaking his head. "It means you’ve never had tle. You’ve never had to reach for something you truly couldn’t grasp." His gaze drifted to the tiny fme still flickering in the air. "You think, and barriers appear. You will them, and they ma. But tell me, my daughter—have you ever needed another spell before? Have you ever truly desired it—not just in your mind, but in your soul?"

  Leona frowhe weight of his words settling deep in her chest.

  "Talent is a gift," her father tinued. "But struggle… struggle is what forces us to beore than what we are." He gently extinguished the fme with a flick of his fingers. "And when the day es that you need to cast something more than barriers, I know you will. Because you are my daughter. And we Leonis never break."

  The memory surged through her, crashing against the walls of her mind like a tidal wave. She opened her eyes.

  She saw Lyra, gasping for breath, struggling to maintain the failing barriers.

  She saw Nyx, snarling, brag against the bst, desperate to hold the line.

  She saw the bodies of the fallen officers, the fmes that had ed them.

  And she needed more.

  A spark ignited deep within her core, hotter than Soldraknirr’s Starfire, sharper than any bde. The words came unbidden, from instinct, from desperation, from the pce where her father’s lesson had buried itself all those years ago.

  She roared. A spell unlike any she had ever cast before tore from her lips.

  "Titanorum vocatio, audite me!"

  And the battlefield ged.