96 Chapter 96
Kaigor gritted his teeth as he maneuvered Azazel's limp, defiled body through the dim halls. The aftermath of Daiha's assault weighed on him—not just the act itself, but the raw intensity, the power Azazel had been forced to endure.
Azazel's chest rose and fell unevenly, breaths shallow, eyes half-lidded, body trembling. Every inch of him screamed exhaustion, violation, and lingering heat, a testament to what had just unfolded.
Kaigor ignored the flare of disgust and concern twisting his gut. Lysrael had been clear, keep him alive, keep him contained, and keep him away from prying eyes. That was enough.
The corridors seemed quieter now, the shadows deeper. Kaigor adjusted his grip on Azazel, careful not to jostle him more than necessary. His hands were firm but controlled, a steady anchor for the broken man before him.
The emergency quarters were just ahead—a reinforced room, warded and isolated, a place for recovery, reflection, or containment if needed. Kaigor eased Azazel onto the bed, lowering him gently, though his body sagged like a puppet with its strings cut.
Azazel's mismatched eyes fluttered open briefly, glazed over and unfocused. He tried to speak, but only a hoarse rasp emerged. His hands twitched weakly, searching for purchase, for control—but none came.
Kaigor pressed a hand lightly to his shoulder. Not comfort. Not sympathy. Observation. Control.
"Rest," he muttered. "You've had your fill. Lysrael will deal with what comes next."
Outside the room, the faint echoes of Daiha's presence lingered, an invisible weight pressing through the halls. Kaigor's jaw tightened. Whatever happened here, however much Azazel had been broken, the consequences were just beginning.
He secured the door behind him, reinforcing the wards and barriers. No one would enter unbidden, no one would see Azazel like this. Not yet.
Kaigor paused, glancing back at the still form on the bed. The defiance, the pride, the fire—it was all buried under exhaustion and possession. And Kaigor knew, with absolute certainty, that this was far from over.
I watched her.
Daiha. Standing there, impossibly real, impossibly present. The darkness of the storage chamber seemed to cling to her like a shroud, yet she commanded it, bending shadows around her without effort. My gaze didn't wander; it couldn't. Not when she drew attention as if the world itself were hers to hold.
Her hair… long, purple, spilling down past her shoulders like liquid night. It caught the faint light, shimmering faintly with an almost unnatural sheen. Each strand framed her face perfectly, softening the edges of the intensity she carried, yet doing nothing to hide the sharpness of her expression.
Those eyes. God, those eyes. Lustful, green, piercing through everything I thought I understood about control, power, and temptation. They weren't merely looking at me—they were weighing, judging, claiming, and promising all at once. I felt it in my chest, low and burning.
Her figure was impossible to ignore. A single, thin piece of cloth clung to her chest, barely enough to cover what it needed to, leaving more to the imagination than it hid. She moved without hesitation, hips subtly shifting beneath the short, fitted shorts, accentuated by the stark contrast of her black boots gripping the floor. The image was… dangerous, intoxicating, and fully aware of the effect it had.
I couldn't look away. Not entirely.
She stepped forward, every movement confident, measured, deliberate. The air around her seemed to hum faintly, the weight of her power pressing on me like gravity. Even now, after everything, she radiated dominance—not in a way that threatened, but in a way that forced acknowledgment.
"I see you," I said quietly, almost to myself. Not a warning, not a question. Just truth.
She tilted her head slightly, the faintest smirk tugging at her lips. "Of course you do," she said, her voice silk wrapped around steel. "I haven't gone anywhere."
Her presence filled the room, filled my senses, filled every corner of the space with intent. And yet, there was calm under it all, a patience that promised reckoning without haste.
I swallowed, the silence stretching between us, charged with everything unsaid, everything done, and everything that would inevitably come. Daiha stood there, every inch of her a study in precision, power, and… something else. Something dangerous. Something I could neither command nor fully resist.
And I realized, fully, that I had been waiting for this. Not knowing it, not admitting it—but waiting.
She was here. And nothing would ever be the same again.
"It's been a long time Lysrael.. the last time I saw you- you were buddy, buddy with Choi. Now you have these two lackies. That orange haired one, he's a piece of work. It's very lucky he lived what I did to him."
She's still as cocky as ever. "Daiha.. let's go sit down. We have some catching up to do. Leave those two men alone, I wanted you back-" Daiha, Caelith, and I were all Lumes' once before, but we betrayed them together and each other. We all fell.
"What's Ryū up to these days? Speak to your brother at all? I use to steam ham with him so much until he met that human."
"He's dead… Now- Kaigor.. go stay with Azazel, Daiha and I need to speak alone." Kaigor leaves letting the two settle alone.
"That's a shame, I was hoping I could see him by the time I was unsealed. Now that I know that, what is it you truly want from me? If it's not anything of importance I would like to kill that monkey playing asshole." Wonshin is the reason I was sealed in that orb, I will make him pay for years off my life. The only reason I'm back now, is because that man touched the orb with such pressure.
"Truthfully Daiha, everything I said to Azazel and Kaigor was a lie. I wanted you back to kill my nephew-" Aruno is a problem, I may have helped him kill Caelith but that's because, Caelith built that army up to kill me.
"Of course you need me, but what am I getting out of this? I didn't know you had a nephew-" Lysrael has a nephew, that would mean Ryū.. that bastard had a kid. "How many kids did he have?"
"Two, a son and a daughter."
"Why only the son? If there are two of his offspring shouldn't I kill both?"
"His daughter Serenia isn't a threat, Aruno on the other hand has killed, Ash and Caelith. With some help of course, but he could've done it himself if he tried to-"
"No! I'm not touching that kid then, he killed Ash! His name is Aruno, you said? I am not going near him." Ash was extremely powerful he was the leader of that round table and one of the few of us cosmic beings that mastered the ability Dimensional Forge.
"I refuse-"
"- Daiha I beg.. kill him. I can't do this alone, he is with the remaining Lumes. Choi, Ryuko, Zyra, Shin.. Wonshin- they all live. Between them and Aruno with the group he has with him, I will not survive this fight. I need to catch them off guard."
"I'll do it." Daiha said calmly. "You said Wonshin lives, I'll gladly do it."
Those words should have relieved me. They didn't.
I studied her carefully now—not the body, not the presence, but the intent behind those green eyes. There was no hesitation in them. No doubt. Only hunger sharpened into purpose.
"You're agreeing too easily," I said.
She smiled, slow and knowing. "You misunderstand. I'm not doing this for you."
She took a few steps closer, boots echoing softly against the stone. The air thickened with each one, pressure mounting like a storm waiting to break.
"I don't care about your nephew", Her gaze hardened. "But Wonshin?" she said. "Wonshin owes me."
"You'll have your chance," I said. "But Aruno comes first."
Daiha laughed—short, sharp, humorless. "Careful, Lysrael. You don't give orders anymore."
She stopped directly in front of me now, close enough that I could feel the heat of her presence, the old familiar weight of a Lume who had never truly bowed to anyone.
"I will hunt Aruno," she said. "On my terms. I will observe him. Measure him. Decide whether he dies quickly… or slowly."
A pause.
"And if he truly is what you fear?"
My jaw tightened. "Then he cannot be allowed to exist."
Her eyes gleamed. "Good. Then we understand each other."
"One more thing," I said.
She stopped, glancing back over her shoulder.
"If you cross Wonshin before Aruno—"
She cut me off with a raised hand. "Relax. I'm patient when it matters."
Then, softer—dangerously so—
"But when I see him?"
Her smile returned.
"He's mine."
The shadows around her shifted, folding inward as if responding to her will. For a moment, she looked less like a woman and more like a memory of something the universe had tried—and failed—to erase.
When she vanished, the room felt colder.