Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Moon Crown Ceremony

Lila POV

In the darkest hour before dawn, the world seemed to sink into a profound stillness. Ocean waves lapped against the island’s reefs, a low and rhythmic sound like the steady breathing of the earth. In this silence, Jasper carried me onto the stone steps leading into the island’s deepest recesses.

This was the Moon Crown Temple, a forbidden sanctuary that even core members of the Hale family rarely set foot in.

The temple was fashioned from solid Moonstone, the entire structure emitting an ethereal, cold light. Fluorescent moss embedded in the walls didn’t grow randomly; it was arranged in the patterns of an ancient star chart. As we entered, the moss seemed to awaken, lighting up in sequence with a faint blue glow to illuminate the path to the core.

The central altar was suspended in mid-air, supported by four stone pillars carved with wolf heads. It was a circular structure, its inner ring inscribed with obscure, ancient Wolf Clan script. It now emanated a faint silver glow, as if yearning for something.

“Are you ready?” Jasper asked, looking down at me in his arms. My face was still a little pale. His voice was deep, laced with a barely perceptible tension.

I nodded. The confusion and timidity in my eyes were gone, replaced by an unprecedented resolve. As the seal on my power loosened, the energy within me began to stir. Though I couldn’t yet control it fully, I could feel the bloodline of the Moon Priestess calling out for this ritual.

As we settled into position, two figures slowly emerged from the shadows on either side of the altar.

Great Elder Darius was as immense as a mountain, his stern visage only emphasized by his dark red Priest Robe. He held a heavy Obsidian Staff, and the ground seemed to tremble with each step he took. He represented the Wolf Clan’s firmest principles of “order” and “might.” When his sharp eyes swept over me, they held not just scrutiny, but an unyielding obsession with the purity of the bloodline.

Beside him was Wise Elder Silas. In contrast to Darius’s ferocity, Silas was slender, draped in a gray robe embroidered with intricate star patterns. He wore an enigmatic, faint smile, and his eyes seemed veiled in a thin mist, obscuring their depths. In his hand, he toyed with an ancient Moon Phase Compass, his long, pale fingers exuding an ancient, unfathomable air.

“The time has come.” Darius’s voice boomed like a great bell, shattering the temple’s silence. He struck his Obsidian Staff hard against the ground. A crimson torrent of Earth Vein Power surged up like lava, spreading along the altar’s runes and infusing the cold Moonstone with a fiery vitality.

Silas, meanwhile, gently shook his Moon Phase Compass, muttering an incantation. Silvery Moonlight Power gathered like a tide, weaving together with the Earth Vein Power as it tried to pour into the ring of stone at the altar’s heart.

The two elders—one unyielding, one yielding; one of fire, one of ice—represented the Wolf Clan’s most ancient systems of power. Ordinarily, their energy would have been the key to initiating the Moon Crown Ceremony and guiding Lila to her final awakening.

However, in the instant before those two immense energies could touch me, the unexpected happened.

The newly formed Wolf King mark on my neck suddenly erupted with a blinding silver light! This light wasn’t a passive defense; it carried a sovereign pressure that pulsed violently outward.

VMMMM—

An invisible shockwave radiated outward. Darius let out a muffled groan, his body staggering as the crimson Earth Vein Power was brutally thrown back. The Moon Phase Compass in Silas’s hand spun wildly, its needle emitting a shrill, grating noise. His mist-veiled eyes snapped wide open, revealing his utter shock.

“This…” Silas breathed, his voice filled with disbelief.

The ring of stone pillars on the altar began to spin on its own, accelerating to a dizzying speed. High above, an unseen force violently tore through the dark clouds that had been obscuring the moon. Cool moonlight descended like a solid column of light, shooting straight into the temple to envelop Jasper and me.

“Stand down.”

Jasper’s voice rang out. It was not a request, but a command. His aura erupted, his golden Wolf King bloodline manifesting as a tangible wave of power that forced the two elders’ energy completely outside the bounds of the altar.

Darius and Silas exchanged a look, their mutual shock evident. But as ancient beings who had lived for centuries, they recovered quickly, a flash of rapture in their eyes. They put away the staff and compass, retreated respectfully to the side, and offered a salute of the highest order.

“Truly… the Destined Mates,” they said in unison.

In that moment, the temple became a world belonging only to Jasper and me.

Bathed in the liquid moonlight, our bodies began to transform. Our clothes dissolved into motes of light, replaced by gleaming silver fur.

Jasper transformed into an enormous Silver Wolf, his pelt gleaming with a metallic sheen in the moonlight. His golden eyes radiated boundless authority and dominance. He was no longer the Wolf King who had to restrain himself, but the sole sovereign of this world.

I, too, had become a Silver Wolf. My form was slightly smaller than Jasper’s, but more elegant and lithe. My fur was as radiant as moonlight, utterly immaculate, and my silver eyes were clear and profound, as if holding the entire night sky within them. This was the sacred form unique to the Moon Priestess—the rarest bloodline in the legends of the Wolf Clan.

The two Silver Wolves gazed at one another on the altar, their connection spanning a millennium. In the next moment, they threw back their heads in unison and let out a long, haunting howl.

The sound wasn’t jarring; instead, it carried a strange, melodic quality that resonated deep within the soul.

As the howl rang out, the last vestiges of the seal within me shattered completely. The silver chains that had once bound me, making me as fragile as a common human, snapped link by link under the dual assault of the moonlight and Jasper’s power, dissipating into motes of starlight.

AH—!

I let out a scream from the depths of my soul. The memories that had been sealed away came flooding back like a tidal wave.

I saw the despair in my mother Isolde’s eyes in a secret chamber, I saw the ancient and complex sealing sigil, and I saw a hazy vision: the destined silver moons merging into one, illuminating the entire Earth as wolf packs celebrated in a collective frenzy.

The moment the seal broke completely, my power began to surge. My Silver Wolf form radiated a gentle yet potent silver light—the pure power of healing and purification. This power didn’t repel Jasper; instead, it merged perfectly with his dominant power as the Wolf King.

Jasper let out a low rumble, a sound of pure pleasure and satisfaction.

As my power awakened, he felt his own bloodline being infused with new vitality. The latent injuries he’d sustained from years of overexerting his power and forcibly suppressing his volatile bloodline were instantly soothed by my healing energy. His bones crackled as his muscles reshaped, and his aura climbed higher and higher, shattering his former limits and ascending to a new realm of power.

In that moment, the very world seemed to transform.

The temple’s roof seemed to vanish, and the moonlight grew even more brilliant. The two Silver Wolves rested on the altar, their necks entwined. Golden eyes and silver eyes gazed lovingly at one another as their souls, at long last, completely merged.

But the power of the twin silver moons was not contained within the temple.

Like a boulder dropped into a placid lake, it sent ripples out across the entire world.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep