The collapsed concrete slab of the ruined parking structure trembled under distant shockwaves, releasing a grey dust that clung to skin already soaked in blood and sweat. Crouched deep within the suffocating shadow of the debris, Seven pressed a hand against his ribs, his uneven breathing the only thing breaking the fragile silence of their hiding place. His once-majestic black wings were now little more than charred, blood-soaked remnants of feathers, dragging miserably across the damp cement.
Beside him, Nils stared into nothingness, gripping the handle of his baseball bat so tightly his knuckles had turned ghostly white. His entire body was shaking. His eyes were still haunted by the image of his mother fading away in his arms just minutes earlier, yet a stubborn, almost irrational spark refused to die within his pupils.
Beyond the retaining wall, Vapula's demonic ether continued to swell—heavy, suffocating, oppressive. It crushed the atmosphere like a slab of molten lead, making every breath feel like it had to be fought for.
Seven slowly turned his head toward Nils, his face streaked with both black blood and divine nacre. His blue eyes—usually cold, impenetrable—now carried a desperate urgency he struggled to mask beneath controlled severity.
— He's still standing, Seven murmured, his voice fractured with a hoarse hiss. His ether is regenerating at an abnormal rate. He'll locate us any moment now, Nils. The moment I step out to draw his attention, you run toward the evacuation point. Don't look back.
Nils shook his head violently, teeth clenched as though trying to break his own jaw.
— No. I'm not leaving you. Not after what happened. Not after what I saw.
— If you stay, you die, Seven shot back, his tone sharpening instantly to conceal his own helplessness. You're human, Nils. You have no concept of what a Colonel of the Abyss is. That monster is beyond anything your mind can comprehend. I have to deal with him alone. That's my role, not yours.
A bitter, disbelieving laugh escaped Nils' trembling lips as he locked eyes with the angel.
— Your role? Why do you always try to carry everything alone, Seven? Look at you—you can barely stand! We're in this mess together. We've sat in the same classrooms, laughed together… We're friends, aren't we?
The silence that followed was colder than the rain outside.
Seven closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. A shadow of ancient sorrow crossed his features, before vanishing as he reopened them—empty of any human warmth. He grabbed Nils by the collar and pulled him close, forcing him to confront a truth too heavy to ignore.
— Friends? Seven repeated in a low, emotionless voice. I'm not even human, Nils. I never was. Everything you knew about me was a lie born from amnesia. What you see here—this winged monster—is my true nature. So drop that bat… and run.
Before Nils could respond, the ceiling of the parking structure exploded in a thunderous detonation.
The concrete slab shattered into thousands of lethal fragments, torn apart by a crimson shockwave. Seven reacted purely on instinct—throwing himself over Nils, spreading what remained of his wings as a living shield. Debris tore into his divine flesh, drawing a pained groan from the young angel as both were hurled into the open avenue, exposed beneath the pouring storm.
Through the veil of smoke and rain, Vapula's massive silhouette emerged from the ruins. The Colonel of the Abyss advanced with deliberate slowness, his titanic spear dragging across wet asphalt and scattering sinister sparks. The pieces of demonic flesh still hanging from his face after Mors Luminis were already knitting themselves back together under monstrous regeneration. His carnivorous grin split his face in two.
— Hiding like rats in the foundations of a collapsing world… what a pathetic spectacle, for such a beautiful ether, Vapula mocked, his voice echoing like a tectonic growl through the deserted street. Let us continue our piece, counterfeit angel.
His ether erupted skyward—black and violet flames evaporating the rain into scorching vapor.
Without a word, Seven stood, pushing Nils back with a sharp motion. Twin shadow scythes materialized in his hands, vibrating with dark energy.
— Stay back, Seven ordered, eyes locked on his enemy.
The clash resumed with incomprehensible violence.
Vapula struck first.
— Ruina Hasta.
With a single thrust, space itself seemed to fracture. Lines of spatial distortion shot forward toward Seven. The angel narrowly evaded, twisting aside, but the shockwave behind him obliterated an entire residential façade. Glass and concrete rained down like a metallic storm.
Above them, massive holographic billboards still flickered through the storm, displaying the smiling face of a flawless virtual idol advertising cosmetics—an obscene contrast to the carnage bleeding beneath the city's skin.
Seven counterattacked instantly, his movements becoming lethal fluidity. He slammed his palms into the ground.
— Arcane: Catena Mortis!
Dozens of black ink-like chains erupted from the asphalt like starving serpents, wrapping around Vapula's limbs. The demon was briefly restrained, muscles tensing as he fought to break spiritual bindings.
Seizing the opening, Seven slipped beneath him.
— Arcane: Via Dolorosa!
His shadow blades carved a double violet wound across Vapula's chest. A damning seal ignited on impact—this arcane did not kill, it multiplied all future pain inflicted on the target.
Vapula roared. For the first time, real pain surged through him.
With a violent rotation, he shattered the chains and smashed the shaft of his spear into Seven's shoulder.
The impact launched Seven across the street. He ricocheted off the burned shell of a car before crashing into debris. Pain detonated through him instantly. His left arm hung useless—broken.
Vapula raised his spear for the finishing blow.
Then—
A roar of pure rage split the storm.
Nils charged.
No longer the terrified student. Something inside him had cracked open.
Blue ether surged around him—wild, unstable—wrapping itself around his bat. His muscles screamed under the strain, every fiber pushed beyond human limits.
— Die, you bastard!
Vapula barely turned, swinging lazily to dismiss him.
But the moment spear met bat—
A shockwave of pure energy detonated.
Nils didn't fly back.
He held.
Feet digging into cracking asphalt as blue ether clashed against purple demonic pressure. Vapula's eyes widened.
— A human… with this density?
Seven, ignoring his broken shoulder, extended his remaining chains and wrapped them around Vapula's neck, dragging him down. The Via Dolorosa seal flared violently, amplifying the pain.
— Nils! Now! Hit him!
Nils roared—no longer fully human.
Blue veins of light carved through his arms as his ether spiked into impossible territory. A statistical anomaly born from sheer desperation.
He twisted his body and brought the bat down with everything he had.
On Vapula's skull.
The impact was cataclysmic.
A blue-and-black shockwave exploded across the district. Suspended mag-rail structures collapsed. Glass shattered for kilometers. Vapula's skull cracked open as black blood sprayed into the rain. His body was launched through multiple buildings, vanishing into the commercial ruins of Eryndor.
Silence fell.
Only burning flames and rain that refused to extinguish them remained.
Seven stared, stunned. Then turned toward Nils.
A human had just struck down a minor abyssal divinity.
Impossible.
Nils stood for a moment, bat still raised, blue energy fading. Then his body gave out. He dropped to his knees, bat clattering against wet asphalt. A trembling hand pressed against his chest—his fingers instantly stained red.
Not an external wound.
His own ether—too violent, too dense—was burning through his life force from within.
A slow fuse had been lit.
Despite the pain, Nils forced a broken smile.
— Guess… I overdid the power shot…
Seven rushed to him, crouching down, a dark worry breaking through his controlled expression.
— Nils… your body can't handle that level of energy. What did you do?
— Don't worry about it, the boy replied, trying to stand with the help of a broken wall. We got him, right? Tell me we won.
Seven didn't answer.
His gaze had already shifted.
The ground trembled again.
But this time, it was different.
Reality itself began to distort.
Debris lifted into the air, suspended in unnatural stillness. Rain froze mid-fall, turning the sky into a graveyard of floating crystal beads.
From the crater, a voice rose.
Calm. Absolute.
— Adventum Inferni…
The air thickened until breathing became nearly impossible.
Flames across Eryndor turned black, devouring light instead of producing it.
— …Tenebrae Imperium.
The sky died.
Stars vanished. Holograms shut down one after another, plunging the megacity into primordial darkness.
Vapula emerged.
Fully restored.
His armor radiated a violet occult glow. His spear was now wrapped in rotating rings of black energy that tore at space with every movement.
Seven stared at Nils.
The blue veins running across his arms weren't fading.
If anything...
they were slowly spreading upward.
Crawling toward his heart.
As though something was devouring his soul from the inside.
— Nils...
But the boy was still smiling.
Seven felt something ancient inside his soul awaken—
Fear.
Not learned.
Not human.
Something remembered.
The real battle had only just begun.
And the night was no longer ending.