Stuck in an Island with Twelve Beautiful Women
Chapter 715 - 717

The flames surged forward, not just as fire, but as something **greater.** The symbols around him ignited, forming a barrier between the darkness and the city itself. The void recoiled as the flames consumed it, unraveling the tendrils before they could reach him.

And then**the city itself moved.**

Stone shifted, structures bending and reshaping as if responding to an unseen command. Jude could **feel** it now. The connection. The understanding. The power that had always been his.

The void lashed out one last time.

Jude didn't flinch.

He raised his hand, and the city **answered.**

A surge of golden fire erupted from the streets, racing upward, **engulfing** the darkness in a final, blinding wave of light. The void **screamed** as it was pulled backward, the rupture in the sky beginning to close, the wound in reality **sealing.**

And then,

Silence.

The city **settled.**

The golden veins of power slowly dimmed, their glow fading into something steady, something stable. The air, once thick with the weight of the void's presence, felt **lighter.**

Jude exhaled. His body ached, his muscles burning with the strain of what he had just done, but he remained standing.

Mira stared at him. "That… was insane."

Eldara let out a breathless laugh. "You just told a literal **void entity** to get out of your house. And it **listened.**"

Vaelin gave a slow nod. "The city is yours again."

Jude looked around, at the ancient structures that had finally awoken, at the power that still pulsed beneath his skin, at the knowledge that he had **won.**

No.

Not just won.

**Reclaimed.**

He was home.

The silence that followed was unnatural. Not empty, not peaceful**waiting.** The city had settled, its golden veins of power dimming to a steady hum, but the air still carried the **echo** of what had just happened. Jude felt the lingering weight of it in his chest, the way his own power still pulsed beneath his skin, restless, unwilling to let go of the moment. His breath came slow, controlled, but inside, the fire still **burned.**

Mira's voice broke through the quiet. "Tell me we're done."

Jude didn't answer immediately. He turned, looking up at the sky where the void had been forced back. The tear in reality had **sealed,** the presence that had tried to erase him now banished, but something still felt **off.** The city had responded to him, had accepted him, but there was an unease in the way its energy still shifted beneath his feet.

He wasn't the only one who noticed.

Vaelin was watching the streets, his sharp gaze scanning the shadows. Eldara had yet to sheath her blades, her stance still light, still ready for another fight. None of them were relaxing. Not yet.

Because the battle hadn't just been about pushing the void back. It had been about reclaiming something. And that meant something had been **lost.**

Jude took a step forward. The fire inside him responded, flickering through his veins, stirring the golden markings that had appeared along his arms during the fight. He could feel it, the connection to the city, to whatever had awakened when he stood his ground.

And he could feel the **emptiness** left behind.

He exhaled slowly. "Not yet."

Mira groaned. "Of course not."

Eldara tilted her head. "What is it?"

Jude turned to her, watching the way the city's structures still seemed to **shift** just at the edges of his vision, as if they were adjusting, correcting, reestablishing their purpose. "It's not just a place. It's alive. It remembers." He flexed his fingers, watching the golden lines pulse along his skin. "And it's looking for something."

Vaelin studied him, unreadable as always. "What did you take from it?"

Jude's jaw tightened. Not **take.** That wasn't the right word. The city had **given** him something, but it had done so out of necessity. Because the void had left a wound, and something had to fill it.

And now, it was his responsibility.

He took another breath, focusing on the connection, on the way the city's power ran through him like a second heartbeat. It wasn't just fire. It wasn't just light. It was **memory.**

And something was missing.

Jude stepped forward, and the city **answered.**

The ground beneath him shifted, not violently, not destructively, but like a door **unlocking.** The golden veins of energy **twisted,** following a path only they could see, until they gathered in a single point, a place just ahead, where the street led to a massive, unbroken wall of black stone.

A door.

Or, more accurately, a **gate.**

Jude had never seen it before. None of them had. The wall had been nothing but ruin when they arrived, just another part of the city's ancient bones. But now, it stood **whole,** pristine, untouched by time or destruction. And at its center, symbols glowed, a perfect **mirror** of the ones now etched into Jude's own skin.

His stomach twisted.

Whatever was behind that gate, the city wanted him to **find it.**

Mira took a slow step beside him, eyes locked on the wall. "That wasn't there before."

Eldara's fingers tightened around her weapons. "It was waiting for him."

Vaelin was silent for a long moment before he finally spoke. "So open it."

Jude didn't hesitate. He moved toward the gate, the golden markings on his arms **flaring** brighter with each step. The energy pulsed in time with his heartbeat, responding not just to his presence, but to his **intent.** He **belonged** to the city now. And the city belonged to him.

The moment he touched the stone, the world **changed.**

A rush of **power** surged through him, a pull so strong it nearly knocked him off his feet. He barely had time to brace before the gate **answered.** The symbols burned with golden fire, spreading outward in intricate, impossibly complex patterns. The stone **shuddered,** then **split apart.**

Not like a door opening. Not like a wall crumbling.

**Like a veil being lifted.**

The air **rippled.**

And the city beyond the gate **was not the same.**