5th Day of the 1st Fire Cycle[1], 2000 g.c.
Up on floor thirty-four, the air felt more charged than a lightning storm dropped into a steel cage. Every breath tasted metallic. Every exhale came out warmer than it should have. Magitons crashed through the chamber like they were trying to fistfight the walls. Mana signatures slammed into one another in a constant grind, tense enough to rattle teeth. All that friction created a faint nickel tang on everyone's tongues, the kind of taste that turned the back of the mouth sour.
Alex didn't notice any of it. If someone had stopped time and asked him about the air, the scent, the heat, anything, he would've shrugged with ignorance and kept ducking Roman's claws. The Tengu was locked into pure defense mode. He refused to throw a real hit, even though each dodge put him a hair away from being bisected. Roman wasn't fighting like himself. Kiranna's boosted control had cranked the Wolven's strength to brutal levels. Each swipe sent sharp ripples through the air like the world was ripping around his claws. Kick after kick cratered the floor or obliterated fallen stone whenever Alex managed to dodge by a thread.
Ameera stood like her feet were nailed to the ground. Nothing moved except her eyes, bouncing between Roman and the darker-furred Wolven beside Kiranna. Melech. Her father. Her breathing hitched out in sharp, too-short bursts. Her tail had curled so close to her legs it looked like she was trying to disappear. She looked like a girl staring down her worst nightmare while praying nobody noticed she was shaking apart. The fear of being the reason her father, uncle, or Alex's death was caused crushed down on her spirit like someone had dropped a mountain on her shoulders.
Ameera's ears were ringing.
Her claws were steadily trembling.
Kiranna was loving every second of it.
She piloted Roman with one hand like she was steering a toy, grinning wide enough for her fangs to glint under the greenish prison lights. Color bled from her bright orange eyes as Bio Mana surged through her body in violent, pulsing waves. Clusters of motes gathered at her fingertips as she whispered her next chant. Even her breath smelled like rust and roses.
"Become a puppet to your fear, Foxgirl—[Red Water: Bloody Mary]."
Her mana spilled out of her fingertips in twisting scarlet ribbons. Bio Mana blended with Water Mana. Droplets of her own blood flicked into the mix. The three fused together into Blood Mana, creeping and alive, snapping toward Ameera like serpents with hollow mouths. The air rippled around the tendrils as if reality didn't like touching them.
A blast of bright blue and white blitzed across the room and vaporized the spell before it reached its target. Space warped in a ripple of pale blue distortion. Danica's Quantum Mana hit the attack with such precision that the entire beam folded it into dust without leaving heat behind. Ameera flinched backward and landed on her rear before she processed she'd been attacked at all.
Danica tossed her hair back with irritation. "Sneaky lil' heifer. Thinking nobody was watching her."
"Wh-whoa. Thank you, Lady Danica." Ameera's voice cracked as she stared up at her savior with wide eyes.
"It's too early for thanks, Foxy. We're still in the middle of a fight."
Danica bent down and held out a hand. Ameera took it with trembling fingers, pulling herself upright. Her relief lasted only a second.
"Hey, Master Alex, what do you want me to do? Should I attack the witch?"
Alex backflipped away from Roman's claws and ducked a spinning kick. He didn't have time to breathe before answering.
"No. Keep guarding Ameera for me. I'm trying to figure out a way to save the Wolvens without her killing them just to be petty about it."
"Oh. Okay. Well, if you need me to hop in, just call me."
Alex's thoughts snapped like static across his mind.
"I could use [Mana Disruption], but I'd have to hit him. And I've never used it while holding back a punch. Will it even work if I don't follow through?"
Roman suddenly found an opening. His foot cut through the air in a precise arc toward Alex's ribs. Alex blocked it with his forearm.
The sound was wrong.
Roman's shin cracked like shattered pottery.
Alex jumped back in horror. Roman didn't even grunt. His expression didn't change. He didn't react at all. Kiranna's control had stripped him of pain, instinct, and everything mortal enough to flinch.
"What the hell?" Alex's thoughts raced. "I know I'm holding back. His leg shouldn't feel like it's made of glass all of a sudden. Are his attacks going up while his defense goes down? Is she burning through his body?"
Kiranna's laughter echoed through the chamber. "Hahaha. Look at the two mutt-bloods in a dog fight. Wow, these new pills are better than the last batch. So much power."
She tilted her head. "You ugly half-breed. You'll never win if you don't fight back. If you don't hit them and kill them for me, then I'll just make you the next bloodsack I drag around. Simple."
Alex snarled. "Didn't think you'd be a coward. Hiding behind hostages like a scary little bitch."
"Shut the fuck up! You think I give a damn about the opinion of anything with a dick? It's givin' stupidity."
She flexed her fingers again. A violent pulse of Blood Mana surged through Roman. The Wolven's roar cracked the air. Kiranna's mana signature thickened until the entire floor seemed to shrink around it. Chartreuse motes blazed from Roman's claws as Wind Mana funneled across the chamber like a tornado collapsing in on itself.
Roman's body started breaking under the pressure. His skin cracked beneath his fur. His muscles swelled too quickly. Bones strained. It was ugly to watch.
Alex's thoughts snapped sharply again.
"She's juicing him too fast. His body can't take it."
Roman blurred out of sight.
He appeared under Alex's guard, swinging upward from a crouch. His claws glowed with condensed Wind Mana. The hit detonated against Alex's armor with the force of several C4 blasts. Alex launched backward, slammed through the wall, and crashed into a crater of fractured stone.
The moment his back hit the wall, something in him snapped.
The careful restraint. The fear of hurting someone. The discipline.
Gone.
Like muscle memory had been waiting for its chance, Alex rocketed forward without thinking. His foot was already coming down in a spinning axe kick aimed directly at Roman's skull before his thoughts caught up.
"Shit. What happened? Did my body take over?"
He yanked the kick aside with pure force of will. Instead of Roman's skull, his heel connected with Roman's arm. The limb severed cleanly. Roman flew back. Alex's heel hammered the floor, making the entire chamber tremble.
Ameera screamed, "Uncle Roman! Lord Alex, no!"
Blood poured from Roman's shoulder, but he didn't react. He simply shifted back into stance. More Wind Mana gathered in his remaining paw. The Magic Gems in his hidden necklace lit up, feeding him power like a battery on the edge of exploding.
Kiranna wheezed with laughter. "He can't feel pain, dummy. Break him all you want. I can still force him to move. Snap every bone in his body, and I'll still make him dance for me."
Danica narrowed her eyes. "Master Alex, she doesn't seem to be healing him."
"I see that, Dawn."
Alex's stare sharpened. "I can't wait to kick that smile off that bitch's face."
Danica tapped her foot. "Why don't you just ignore the hostages and blitz her directly?"
"I don't know if I'm fast enough. And I keep feeling some godly magick pulsing from her."
"Then use [Quantum Leap]. Teleport next to her. I can do it if you want."
Their conversation ended abruptly when Kiranna winced, gripping her shoulder in sudden pain. Her momentary loss of focus broke her control. A tremor rippled through her mana signature, like something tugged her from the inside.
Roman blinked. His posture slumped. His eyes flickered.
He saw Ameera.
"The hell… A-Ameera? Is that—ARGH!"
His mind drowned in red again as Kiranna seized control. His body went rigid. His face emptied out. Consciousness slipped away like a dying candle.
Ameera cried, "Uncle Roman!"
Her fear finally snapped into something louder. The gem on her wristband burned with heat and then pulsed like thunder. Electricity burst across her fur and tail. Yellow arcs crackled off her body in violent tendrils. Gem Mana flooded her veins like lightning, trying to burst out of her skin.
Her scream tore through the room. "Haaahhh!"
Golden bolts stabbed the floor near Danica. The Dawn Goddess took a step back, her eight tails half-raised. "Hey, what's happening with you?"
Ameera didn't answer.
She locked her electric-blue eyes on Kiranna and shot forward like a bolt fired from a god's crossbow. She skimmed past Alex and Roman like they weren't even there. Her claws extended, aiming for Kiranna's throat with every ounce of rage she'd ever repressed.
But Kiranna perked up like she'd been waiting for it.
A single finger flex.
Melech appeared between them like a wall of fur and muscle. His paw, coated in blue lightning of his own, caught Ameera's strike. He stopped her cold.
She froze. Her eyes locked on his. She saw nothing alive there. Nothing of the father she loved.
Her heartbeat faltered.
Her claws lowered.
He struck her across the face. She dropped instantly, unconscious before she hit the floor.
Alex shouted, "Ameera! No!"
He sprinted toward her. The moment he looked away, Roman lunged with another brutal swipe. Danica blurred between them and kicked Roman in the elbow. His bones snapped. He spun violently across the ground, rolling until the wall stopped him with a sickening thud.
Alex whipped his head toward her. "Whaa? Danica, no!"
She shrugged. "Well, what were you expecting me to do? Just let him kill you?"
"No… I mean—thanks."
Kiranna was already digging into her pouch. Alex bolted toward Ameera, weaving through the Wolvens like they were bushes on a morning jog. He vaulted over one, spun past another, and slid toward her limp body.
He didn't see the vial leave Kiranna's hand.
She pitched it with sniper precision.
Alex backhanded it on instinct.
The vial shattered.
Shimmering black and teal liquid splashed across his arm, then swirled upward. The Telepuddle acted like a living thing, grabbing him, sucking at him, folding space into itself.
Alex shouted, "Yooo! What the hell is this?"
Danica reached out. "Master!"
His voice warped as the fluid collapsed around him, forming a sphere that slurped shut with a heavy, wet snap. The sphere imploded, leaving nothing but a dark smear on the air. Space folded inward like wet fabric pulled into a drain.
Alex vanished.
Kiranna's laughter crackled across the chamber as the echo of his disappearance faded into silence.
The Blood Witch had removed him from the battlefield.
Danica stood alone, staring at Kiranna and the puppeted Wolvens as the floor thrummed with hostile mana.
And she had no intention of running.
Down on the floor beneath all that chaos, the former dungeon didn't look like a prison anymore. It looked like a warzone carved out by two forces who shouldn't have been allowed in the same room. The metallic sting of Nicole Kanra's blood coated the air like rusted perfume. Dust from shattered concrete floated thick enough to taste, bitter and chalky on the tongue. Beneath it all simmered a faint savory heat—Lynnette Judas' mana signature—like pepper and burnt honey drifting in slow-moving waves.
Most of the mana crystals embedded in the ceiling had already cracked apart, their glows snuffed or flickering weakly. Shadows stretched long across the ruined chamber, broken only by brief flashes of light whenever Omnia and Lynnette clashed.
Lynnette's black dress hugged her like a second skin, but it didn't slow her for even half a breath. She moved through the rubble as if she'd been carved for battle. Each kick she launched forced shockwaves along the walls. Each punch she threw blistered the air behind it, collapsing sound into warped ripples. The amount of force she packed into a single strike could've wiped multiple city blocks off the map.
Omnia matched her without the slightest drop in tempo.
Knuckles collided with knuckles, creating miniature booms that echoed through the ruined space. Their shins collided mid-spin, sending rings of pressure snapping outward. They were throwing combinations faster than most people could blink, slipping into supersonic bursts whenever they stepped or pivoted. Every time Lynnette jumped back to create distance, Omnia adjusted with a clean micro-step, maintaining perfect counter range. Every time Lynnette came in fast with a hook, Omnia mirrored her with identical force, equal in power and precision.
Small beads of sweat formed on Lynnette's forehead. Even while blocking a jab with her elbow, she was thinking hard.
"Damnit, this lady is good. Way above S-Class. But what the hell is with her mana? I can't fully get a read on it."
"If I just pull out my sword, I can finish this quick… but she's hiding something too. Two can play that game. If she doesn't show her hand, I won't show mine."
Her confidence cracked for a moment when she noticed the slowly growing grin curling on Omnia's lips. The Twilight Goddess appeared relaxed—almost amused—while her cyan cat-like pupils tracked every twitch in Lynnette's muscles. Omnia wasn't just reacting. She was recording everything. Analyzing. Predicting. Neutralizing the worst of Lynnette's strikes until the collisions felt less like catastrophic blows and more like routine training nudges.
It made Lynnette's eye twitch.
"Screw this stalemate. I'm going to have to use Mana Arts. Maybe that'll force her to use her Vessel Skill. There's no way she isn't a Godwalker too."
Omnia tilted her head. "Is this your best, human? This? You're bothering my incredible master with mediocrity?"
Lynnette scoffed. "Funny talk coming from someone with a hairstyle that basic. You look one salon discount away from a midlife crisis."
"It still holds more excitement than anything you've shown me."
"Big talk coming from a big-tittied bimbo."
"You shouldn't throw stones while wearing a glass corset. Your tits look tired of trying to escape that dress."
"How about you mind your own business."
Lynnette snapped her fingers. Her body pivoted away. She jumped back with a dancer's grace and slid to a stop in her heels.
Motes of Fire Mana flared to life around her, glowing orange like newborn stars. They mixed with clumps of Earth Mana particles that pulled themselves out of the rubble, floating like chunks of brown chalk orbiting her arms. When the two collided, volcanic flashes burst outward, forming splashes of molten magma that hissed and dripped before Lynnette guided them with her hands.
"Become trapped in your final seconds. Superior Lava Mana Arts: Pompeii Cage!"
The magma erupted forward like serpents made of hellfire, racing toward Omnia. Heat washed through the room so intensely that the exposed metal beams overhead warped and began to sag. The prison floor bubbled in patches where drops of lava splattered.
Omnia didn't shift an inch.
The molten streams spread out around her, twisting into arcs before hardening into an encircling structure. Lava walls rose and sealed her inside a scorching, glowing cage. Magitons swam through the structure like tiny red stars, reinforcing its shape.
Omnia still stood with her arms folded under her breasts, looking more bored than trapped.
"So," she said softly, "I have to know. Why are you so bent on meeting my master?"
Lynnette rolled her eyes, brushing dust from her dress. "If you must know, I heard he was the child of the Demon Mistress Lady Crimson. And even stronger. If I defeat him, then I achieve something my mother never could. I make sure my name is stamped in womankind's history forever. That's reason enough."
"That woman never praised me—not once. But if I surpass her? That would rewrite her entire damn existence."
Silence hung in the room. Even the bubbling lava seemed to quiet down.
Omnia didn't blink. Didn't react. As nearby stones began to melt, she simply stared at Lynnette the way someone stares at a child trying to impress their parent with a somersault.
Then she chuckled.
Lynnette's face contorted. She gritted her teeth, half confused, half insulted. She swiped dust off her shoulder just as Omnia stopped laughing.
"You'd have a better chance counting every star in the sky," Omnia said, "before you could defeat my master. Especially with arts like this."
She raised her left hand.
A small void opened beside her palm, a perfect circle of nothingness. It sucked the molten cage inward like a black hole.
"[Absolute Absorption]."
The magma slurped into the void like a liquid being pulled through a drain. The heat vanished with it. When the last glowing drop disappeared, Omnia closed her hand, and the portal folded shut.
Only a trace of sulfur lingered.
Lynnette froze.
She'd seen something like that only once before. From one creature. The strongest confirmed being on all of Gaia.
"No way. That looked like Ghost Gum's ability. But she ain't strong enough. And she's no slime. So how the hell—"
"Who the fuck is this woman?"
As if picking her thoughts out of the air, Omnia stepped forward slightly.
"You seem surprised," she said. "This is but one of the endless abilities from my master. There is nothing he cannot do. So tell me… how do you plan on conquering that?"
Lynnette blinked hard. "Is your master Ghost Gum? Is he secretly a slime?"
Omnia frowned. "A slime? You're referring to the old Deva of the West. No. They are not the same."
"And what do you mean that skill belonged to your master? He taught it to you or something?"
"If you want to call it that." Omnia shrugged. "Let's just say… I can borrow anything he has. Which gives me more options than you could ever prepare for. Handling situations like you."
Lynnette muttered, "Bitch, who you calling a situation? Dressed like a two-coin escort trying to look like a three-coin hooker."
Omnia smiled with pride. "My man loves it."
It was probably that smug grin. Or the fact that Omnia said "my man" like she was bragging. Whatever it was, Lynnette's patience snapped.
"She's about to piss me off. Okay, Lyn-Lyn. Time to get serious."
Her aura thickened. Bio Mana flooded her veins like a tidal wave. Her teal eyes glowed so brightly they illuminated the cracks in the walls. The pressure rolling off her body made the chamber tremble and shake loose more debris from the ceiling. The magick that previously leaked outward now coiled tightly back into her body, dense and dangerous.
"Grrraooann."
Nicole Kanra groaned where she hung half-impaled on metal debris. Lynnette's pressure pushed needles of pain through her already battered body, making her whimper.
The sound snapped Omnia's attention instantly.
Her eyes darted to Nicole.
Everything inside Omnia changed.
Her posture stiffened. Her pupils shrank. Sweat flickered across her forehead. Her breath shortened as if someone had placed a hand around her throat. The memory of my words—Good girl. And keep Nicole alive for me—hit her like a hammer to the soul.
She hadn't kept Nicole alive. Not really. Not safely. She had failed.
She was failing me.
A fear she had never felt before rushed through her chest. It wasn't fear of defeat. It wasn't a fear of Lynnette. It was the fear of disappointing me.
Sweat gathered in the creases of her palms. Her throat tightened. The world narrowed to the sight of Nicole's blood running down broken metal.
For the first time in the entire battle, Omnia forgot Lynnette existed.
All she could think was:
Help her. Fix her.
Do not fail him.
As Omnia started toward Nicole's collapsed body, something caught her eyes mid-step. A feather drifted down from the broken ceiling above—white, pristine, gleaming faintly despite the dimness of the chamber. Then another fell beside it, shimmering with a thin veil of divinity. A third followed, twirling like it had been carried from a higher heaven.
Omnia froze.
The intense heat Lynnette's mana had filled the dungeon with moments ago vanished from her senses. The after smell of smoke and scorched dust was drowned under a new scent—crisp, clean, linen-bright, the kind of purity no mortal place could produce.
"Dominion."
Her thoughts sharpened into panic.
"Those feathers… they're Dominion-born. Meaning a Second Sphere Angel is here."
A man's voice drifted out of the shadows—smooth, deep, and maddeningly familiar in its calm.
"This is unexpected. To find the former Elohim of Infernia here, wearing beauty like a new skin. I almost didn't recognize you. Then again... I've never seen you look this happy before. Ever. I wonder why."
Omnia's expression shifted from fear to cold alertness. Even Lynnette paused mid-stance, eyes cutting toward the far left of the ruined chamber.
Out of the dust and dimlands stepped Orion.
Tall. Impossibly poised. Six-foot-two of ivory skin lit by the dying flicker of the cracked mana crystals above him. Every line on his body looked sculpted, deliberate, timeless. His long, full beard framed the square of his jaw, and his circular glasses glinted with a light not present anywhere else in the room.
Beside him stood a curvaceous figure draped in silk and sin—Luvina Puff, the Primal Witch, smirking like a wicked omen at a funeral.
Luvina tilted her head. "Is that the Goddess of Death, Omnia? The Creator who sent me here?"
Orion exhaled lightly, almost amused. "Even I didn't expect to find her here. The Stellar Kingdom Cycle has finally begun to shift. Determinism is unraveling. We are no longer bound to its rails."
Omnia narrowed her cyan slitted eyes. "Orion…? What is Destini's favorite whipping boy doing here?"
He twitched a faint simper. "Whipping boy? You wound me, Twilight Goddess. While I'm no Abraxas, I'm certainly not lesser than your precious modern-day Syn."
Omnia glanced at Luvina's hips. "You even found Sonata Sex: Major. Not surprising."
Luvina sucked her teeth. "My name is Luvina. I told you to stop calling me that, Lady Death. What are you doing here anyway?"
"I'm here with my master."
Luvina blinked. "…Master? What master? Since when do you have a master?"
"My lover, Xiro Mikazuki. The new Demon Lord of Velonica."
Luvina's mouth actually dropped. Her eyes slid toward Orion for answers, but the Angel was already scanning the room like everything else bored him.
His gaze drifted over the rubble. Over Azumi's unconscious form sprawled face down. Then it locked on Nicole—impaled on twisted metal, barely breathing, blood pooling beneath her.
Orion stroked the underside of his beard with one contemplative finger.
"Now this," he murmured, "this is better than I anticipated. Such a strong alteration to fate... it confirms it. Xiro truly is the Abraxas reincarnated."
Luvina scrunched her face. "I don't understand shit about an Abraxas or whatever, but I thought you said we'd find him here after some fated event?"
"I was gravely wrong." Orion pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "His battle with the Harlequin Witch did not unfold as predicted."
"What does that mean?" Luvina asked.
"That the laws of fate no longer dominate the future. Determinism has lost its grip. The Abraxas has returned, and free will has begun bleeding back into the omniverse."
Omnia's voice dipped with pride. "So now you understand the true power of the Abraxas. The power to defy fate. To recreate free will in ways even Archons could not destroy."
Orion smiled faintly. "A worthy ability for the High King Supreme. One that will fit me like a crown."
Omnia's pupils thinned. "Luvina… why are you following Destini's favorite failure? What did he offer you?"
Luvina crossed her arms. "If you must know, he promised to help me return to my Stellar Kingdom Cycle. Back to my own time and world. All I have to do is drain a few thousand men of their life force."
"A heavy promise," Omnia said. "One he likely cannot fulfill. Not even with Destini's help."
Orion raised a finger. "Allow me to correct you. You've been gone for centuries of this planet's time. I no longer serve your mother. I work with the Elohim of Paradiso now."
"Laniakea?" Omnia scoffed. "As if she could challenge Destini. You traded down."
"I traded nothing," Orion replied calmly, "because soon I will call no one master."
His tone made Omnia stiffen. Her glasses slid lower on her nose as she studied him. For a split second, she saw something crack in his expression—an eruption of frustration—before it smoothed back into arrogant serenity.
He adjusted his brown vest, then returned his attention to her. "You should thank me, Twilight Goddess. If not for my interference, your precious recreation would've died before ever reaching the labyrinth. I even arranged for Roxy to end up with the Syn of Greed. We are nearly allies in a sense."
Omnia's voice chilled. "If you believe my Moonlight would have died, then you understand nothing of his power. Or his soul."
Off to the side, Lynnette—who'd been watching like someone trying to decipher a foreign movie without subtitles—finally cut in.
"Hey, Primal Witch… who's the handsome guy with you?"
Luvina shifted, brushing her platinum hair behind her ear. Her lips curved into a devilish grin.
"This is Lord Orion. A man sent from Heaven to guide the world into its second golden age. A man greater than any on Gaia."
Lynnette didn't reply.
Couldn't reply.
She was staring at Orion like he was a collapsing image. She couldn't sense his mana at all—nothing—not a flicker. But the pressure around him was suffocating, like the air itself bent in his presence. Beyond the kind of weight that Divine Beasts or Legendary Heroes possessed.
Some primal instinct in her screamed the truth: this man was the most dangerous thing in the room.
Orion glanced her way. "An Ascended Human? It seems Libra isn't keeping proper watch."
Omnia wasn't idle. While Orion and Luvina spoke, she used every spare second attempting to reach me through [Telepathy]. But static began to corrupt the connection—heavy, divine static—magitons scattering the signal like sunlight hitting a storm cloud.
She tried again. The tremor hit before she could finish. The entire Sycamore Tree shuddered. Dust rained from the ceiling. The walls groaned under the weight of some unseen spiritual overload.
Omnia spun toward the source.
Orion.
His aura had expanded—ether and magitons pouring off him like liquid gold, filling the room with a metallic sweetness that tingled on her tongue.
She pushed one desperate thought through the static.
"Master… a Dominion is here. They have me outnumbered. I may require help. And… I'm very sorry, but Nicole—"
She never finished.
Orion vanished.
A flicker—not even light, not even speed—just absence then presence.
Omnia activated [Heaven's Kaleidoscope] on pure instinct. Her vision exploded into layered spectra—timelines, possibilities, trajectories—yet even with divine sight, she was too slow.
Pain erupted through her abdomen.
A spiritual strike lashed her Soul Core so violently she felt it split. The agony ricocheted across the corridor between us, stabbing through my consciousness like a blade.
Omnia choked out a gasp. Her head jerked to the side.
Orion stood there. Smiling.
His two fingers were buried between her ribs, sinking into the synthetic flesh of her biodoll body. Red ichor—her version of blood—poured around his knuckles.
"Now, now," he said softly. "We can't have you announcing my presence just yet."
Omnia attempted to activate a skill, her palm glowing faintly—
A flash swallowed her entire body.
Her mana vanished. Completely snuffed out. Her aura disintegrated like sand blowing away in a storm.
Her eyes widened, dulling in confusion.
"What… did he…?"
She never finished the thought.
A second pulse of divine energy slammed into her chest, ripping through her spiritual makeup. The pressure created a pop within a vacuum. She collapsed into Orion's arms, unconscious, glasses falling from her face and clinking onto the stone beside the spreading pool of ichor.
Orion looked down at her, then sighed. "Too slow. She managed to contact him."
The tremors faded. But Luvina's hands were still shaking, her knuckles bone-white.
A shiver crawled up her spine. This was not the power she had an understanding of.
"I knew he was strong… but this? I can't even sense him. I can't track him. He's everywhere and nowhere. I don't know if the Devil of Velonica can win. This… this might be too much."
She forced her breath steady and spoke. "You mean the Devil of Velonica?"
"Of course," Orion replied, adjusting his glasses. "I'll need you to stall him for a few minutes. I have something special prepared for the new Archon of Night."
Luvina almost laughed. "Stall Xiro? After this?"
Orion turned toward Lynnette.
The Ascended Human was frozen stiff. Eyes trembling. Breath short. Stomach dropped. Her instincts were screaming.
"What the hell did I just see? Or didn't see?"
"Did he teleport? Did he move at all?"
"He dropped her with… two fingers."
Orion flashed her a courteous smile.
"I must leave for now. If you want to witness a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle… I suggest everyone stay around."
A swirl of feathers rose around him—white, luminous, swirling like a ritual wind. In a blink, they burst outward in a gust that came from no door, no window, no mana art.
When the feathers cleared, Orion—and Omnia—were gone.
Silence swallowed the dungeon.
Luvina.
Lynnette.
Azumi still unconscious.
Nicole barely clinging to life.
And the hidden heavenly scent of Dominion feathers drifting down like omens. The leader of the Trappers had officially joined the night's festivities.
And he brought an entire buffet of fuckery with him.
[End of Chapter]
[1] April on Earth