The 99th floor rose before them like a dead cathedral. Shattered stained glass clung to the walls, and the fractured purple light painted the air with a sickly glow. Every step echoed against black marble, as if the walls themselves whispered: there is no way back.

  The group advanced in silence. The sound of ragged breathing and dented armor revealed the state of each. Luiz limped, his crimson aura flickering like a flame about to die. Valquíria leaned on her hammer, letting slip an intermittent emerald halo. Búdica hung unconscious in Lukas’s arms, her weight adding to his exhaustion. Adriele walked with her hand pressed against her side, healed only enough not to collapse.

  Then, a warm light spread across Lukas’s arm, rippling outward in invisible waves until it reached his siblings. Wounds began to close, breaths grew steadier.

  A voice spoke only in Lukas’s mind, deep and controlled:

  — Hold steady, boy. I’ll keep you upright until you get there.

  “César… is this healing?” Lukas thought, lips unmoving.

  — Call it what you like. It isn’t priestly magic. It’s power forged in war. And I don’t waste strength lightly.

  Lukas swallowed hard at the weight of those words. “Who… are you, really?”

  — I’m the one who keeps you from falling. Nothing else matters now.

  The doors ahead opened with a long groan. And there, upon steps of black stone, Morgana awaited.

  Her white hair spilled down like tainted snow, framing a pale face. But it was her violet eyes — deep, endless pools of sorrow — that ensnared them all.

  For a moment, silence.

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  “Why…” her voice broke, tears spilling, unexpected. “Why does it have to be you… who climbs these stairs?”

  Luiz blinked, startled. “She’s… crying?”

  Valquíria raised an eyebrow. “The Tower’s most sadistic monster… crying?”

  Morgana ignored them. Her eyes saw only Lukas. “I didn’t want this…” her voice trembled. “I just wanted to be free…”

  Her hands clenched the black scythe, as though it were her last anchor. “I became strong because if I wasn’t, I’d be nothing but used. As I always was. A tool. A toy.”

  She lifted her gaze, violet eyes burning. “I saw outsiders torn apart. Women dragged off… burned alive… I swore I’d never be weak again. And when I saw you…” she hesitated, cheeks flushing, “…I realized that if I had to give myself to someone, I wanted it to be you.”

  The silence grew heavy.

  “I-I’m a masochist, okay?” she forced a trembling smile. “I like the pain… the insults… the bindings. So when you defeat me… I want you to punish me. Hard.”

  Lukas rubbed his face. “Why is it always me?!”

  Valquíria smirked. “Lukinhas, even a Desastre falls for you. If you die a virgin, I quit.”

  “Go to hell, Valquíria.”

  Morgana drew a breath, her tone turning more serious. “Before it all ends… I have to tell you something. There’s another place. Far older. The Black Tower. Those who dwell there despise us. They call us mistakes. I killed, tortured… clawed my way to be the strongest, thinking I’d shatter this prison. But I never could. Even as the Second Desastre, the queen of the 100th floor, the Witch of Shadows… I was never free.”

  Lukas said nothing, though César muttered in his mind: — She’s breaking. Careful, boy. The enemy who bleeds speaks truth… but also knows how to poison.

  Morgana’s voice wavered. “So if I have to die tomorrow… let it be by your hand. Not theirs.”

  And despite everything, she smiled through her blush. “But if I survive… I promise I’ll teach you how to make love properly…”

  The Aegis Invicta shook on Lukas’s arm, César’s voice roaring with fury in his head: — Shameless sinner!

  Lukas ground his teeth. “Shut up, César…”

  Luiz tried not to laugh. “Lukinhas… congrats. The Empire’s most peculiar bride.”

  “Shut up, Luiz!”

  Valquíria sighed. “We’ll give you space.”

  Adriele lingered only a moment longer. “Even for what you are… thank you for saying it.” Then she stepped back.

  The hall fell silent. Morgana sank to her knees, sobbing openly. “I don’t want to fight you, Lukas… I just wanted… someone to save me.”

  Lukas closed his eyes. The echo of her tears hung in the air — a warning that the final battle would spare no one.

  End of chapter 19