Chapter 625: The Fall of Broken Crowns

The night smelled of ash and war.

Thousands gathered at the foot of Gloria's final fortress — the Black Citadel — an obsidian monolith carved from ambition and cruelty.

Jayden stood at the front, wrapped in black armor, his injury bound tight but burning beneath every movement.

Beside him stood Viktor, face grim.

Behind them, Matilda tightened her gloves, her lips muttering silent prayers.

Tonight wasn't just about revenge.

It was about everything they had lost.

> "For Bella. For everyone." Jayden whispered.

The gates loomed like a mouth ready to swallow them whole.

And still — they charged.

The first wave of Gloria's Ravens descended like shadows, but this time, the people fought back like an unbreakable tide.

Screams tore through the air.

Steel clashed against steel.

And Jayden —

Jayden fought like a man who had already died once and wasn't afraid anymore.

---

Deep inside the citadel, Gloria watched through surveillance screens, her face pale under the flickering lights.

> "You fools... you think you've won?" she muttered.

At her side, Tielen kneeled, shame burning his soul.

She had promised him freedom.

Wealth.

Power.

And now?

All he had was blood on his hands and fear in his chest.

> "Do it," Gloria hissed, shoving a small detonator into Tielen's trembling fingers. "Blow the bridge. Trap them inside. Let them rot with their hope."

Tielen hesitated.

In his mind, he saw Jayden's eyes — not hatred, but the betrayal written in them like a wound.

He saw what he had become.

And for the first time, he hated himself more than he feared her.

> "No."

"I won't."

Tielen turned the detonator toward Gloria.

She laughed — a terrible, broken sound.

> "You think you're a hero now? You're nothing. You always were."

And then she pressed a hidden switch under her throne.

The walls shook.

The floors groaned.

The citadel began to collapse.

---

Jayden and Viktor fought their way into the throne room just as the first chunks of stone fell from the ceiling.

Jayden's boots slid across the marble as he burst through the door — only to find Gloria slumped over her throne, bleeding.

Tielen lay beside her, coughing blood, his chest crushed by falling debris.

But Gloria — even dying — smiled.

That cruel, secretive smile that had haunted Jayden for years.

> "You think you've won?" she rasped.

> "You think you're free?"

Jayden strode toward her, rage and sadness twisting his heart.

> "It's over, Gloria."

She laughed again.

> "Foolish boy. You don't even know the truth."

Jayden froze.

> "Bella didn't die because of me. She died... because of you."

The words slammed into him harder than any blade.

Gloria's voice softened, almost tender.

> "The night you ran away... the night you rebelled... they found her first. They used her to lure you back."

"She begged them to spare you."

"She traded her life for yours."

Jayden's world cracked in two.

He stumbled back, breathing hard, blood roaring in his ears.

All this time, he had blamed Gloria.

Had hated her.

Had built his vengeance on that hatred.

And now?

Now it was guilt that wrapped its icy hands around his throat.

Gloria slumped forward, dead before he could ask more.

Tielen reached out weakly, grabbing Jayden's sleeve.

> "Forgive me..." he rasped.

Jayden couldn't answer.

He just closed Tielen's eyes with shaking fingers.

Outside, the citadel crumbled.

Viktor grabbed Jayden's arm.

> "We have to go! Now!"

Jayden hesitated, one last look at the ruin around him.

The ghosts.

The broken promises.

Then he turned and ran.

---

At dawn, the Black Citadel lay in ruins.

Smoke curled into a blood-red sky.

The rebellion had won.

But Jayden didn't feel like a hero.

He stood atop a hill overlooking the shattered city, the wind whipping through his torn coat, his face unreadable.

Matilda approached carefully, a new crown in her hands — a symbol of the new era they could build.

A free kingdom.

A new future.

> "They want you to lead them," she said softly.

Jayden stared at the crown.

He saw Bella's face.

He saw the boy he used to be.

And he knew.

He couldn't accept it.

Not yet.

Maybe not ever.

Instead, he turned away, the crown slipping from Matilda's fingers into the dirt.

> "I'm not a king."

"I'm just... a ghost."

And with that, Jayden walked into the rising sun, leaving behind a broken city, a shattered heart, and the chance for redemption he wasn't ready to claim.

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