Liquid mercury moonlight cascaded through spire gears. Alyssa's left eye erupted in agony—red-hot needles flaying her retina. Staggering against wrought-iron gates, her touch rendered metal transparent, revealing Layne's mechanical fingers entwined in the vampire princess' silver hair a hundred meters below, strands shimmering like her mother's heirloom.
"That fool died believing I loved her." Layne's forked tongue licked the princess's immortality brand, fangs piercing flesh as Alyssa's ocular blood crystallized into micro-gears under moonlight.
Moonflare hatchling exploded with pain, azurite-coated as it shattered stained glass. Through splinters, her right eye saw confinement chamber illusions while the left penetrated twelve floors—the princess's clockwork heart syncing with Layne's, gears grinding with whispered lies: "...seventh bride's blood closest to Wolf Mother..."
"Eco-friendly even in lovemaking dialogues." She clawed her left socket, bloody neural fibers weaving astral charts mid-air. Moonflare hawk seized the nerve-web, crashing into the spire's lunar receiver.
Layne's projection hijacked her optic nerves: "Premature awakening?" His kaleidoscope pupils displayed her multiverse deaths. "Engagement gift from your mother's neural tissue..."
Spinal gears overheated. Alyssa smashed through glass onto spire ledges, moonlit cocoon forming. Left eye hemorrhage painted three-century-old contracts in blood—the princess was Wolf Mother's clone, Layne's true betrothed forever royal.
"Mass-produced betrayal?" She ripped open old wounds, azurite powder igniting blackened Moonflare phoenix. Its pupils reflected Kane accessing lab gene-banks—walls of clone chambers housing her duplicates.
The princess's laugh pierced floors: "Know why you're chosen?" Her mechanical tailbone revealed mother's wedding ring. "Mass-produced sacrifices require premium replicas..."
Alyssa's left eye detonated light. X-ray vision exposed fifth birthday truth—Layne posing as father's friend with neuro-modulator laced cake. At lunar zenith, her spinal gears tore free, assembling Wolf Mother's complete astral chart.
"Thanks for the tutorial." She mixed ocular blood with Moonflare ignition. "My turn to educate..."
The spire tilted. Moonflare phoenix dive-bombed with burning contract feathers. As Layne shoved the princess aside, Alyssa glimpsed the slave brand on his neck—matching Wolf Mother's lab specimen numbers.
"Game needs updating." She crushed her silver ring, mother's hair entwining the princess's mechanical heart. "First lesson you taught me, mentor..."
Lunar receivers exploded. Falling through light, Alyssa's blood ravens clutched gene-bank coordinates. Final consciousness caught Kane's arrows shattering labs and Layne's distorted proclamation:
"Enjoy your evolution, specimen 73,000."