Chapter 239: Shadows of Betrayal

**Thelma Zane’s POV** I was too late. Despite my desperate charge, the priest sidestepped me with ease and completed the final line of his incantation. In an instant, the world changed. Thick black energy erupted skyward like a blade slicing through the heavens. The air grew dense and suffocating as if the very atmosphere had turned against us. The altar fell silent. The chaotic fighting halted abruptly, freezing every participant in place—be it the desperate humans clawing for escape or the werewolves baring their claws in combat. It was as though an unseen hand had seized everyone by the throat. A primal shiver coursed through every being present, a tremor born not of courage or fear but of raw instinct. This was a terror ancient and immutable, something ingrained in the core of existence itself. Then, someone whispered the words that seemed to echo in every mind. “He’s here.” The surviving cultists, their faith crumbling, abandoned all pretense of devotion. They fl