"Behind you!"

BANG!!

"They keep coming!!"

BANG!! BANG!!

Leo's team kept firing bullets as those black, sticky humanoid figures kept advancing, their movements jerky and unnatural, filling the surroundings with twisted screams and moans—sounds that sent chills down the spine, as if these creatures were in pain and could only cry out in suffering.

Leo and the others pressed their backs together, forming a tight defensive circle. Each trigger pulled a small hope against the darkness.

"We don't have time for this," Leo muttered, sweat dripping down his temple. "Fallen Pride's team is already heading for the Relic. If we fall behind, who knows what other nightmares will crawl out of the shadows?"

Raphael's eyes shimmered with tears. She sniffled, blinking fast. "W-Why am I crying?" she whispered to herself, but her finger never left the trigger. Even as she shot, she could feel something... echoing from the creatures.

It was as if their agony seeped into her soul, begging for an end.

Azrael, standing close, nudged Raphael with her elbow, "Don't look at them, Raph. Don't listen to those sounds. Block it out and just keep firing, you hear me? These things—whatever they were—aren't human anymore."

Raphael nodded, eyes wet, biting her lip as she forced her trembling hand to steady and resumed firing.

Essa's curved, rusted blade swept through two of the black creatures, slicing them down. Suddenly, a droplet of that sticky darkness splattered onto her hooded cloak. The fabric hissed, twisting as if alive, and Essa's eyes widened. Without hesitation, she slashed the tainted hem away, watching as the darkness squirmed and died on the ground.

Essa's face, half-hidden under her hood, was grim as she raised her voice.

"Don't let that black stuff touch you! Not even a drop."

"Why? What does it do?" Leo asked, his tone sharp with worry as he reloaded his gun.

Essa's grip tightened. "It's already spreading. I saw it on my cloak.... This is worse than I thought."

"What?"

"The Fallen Darkness," she said.

Leo and Ophis exchanged a haunted look. Ophis now spoke softly, "You mean…"

"Yeah. If that darkness touches you, you'll start changing. Maybe slow at first, maybe fast, but you'll end up just like them—one more monster, trapped in pain." Essa's words made everyone pause, a beat of silence before the gunfire roared again.

"The fuck!!" Azrael screamed, voice raw as she emptied her clip into a creature lunging for her legs.

"Stay back! I am not dying to this!"

"Aren't those things supposed to need a source to spread?" Leo asked as he fired a shot into a twisted torso.

Essa nodded, "Yeah, that's how it's meant to work. But after they got that mana stone, it must've changed. I think they might have had enough darkness to corrupt normal people—turn them into these mindless things.

But it's not enough to corrupt strong mages like us, but you three—" She glanced at Leo, Raphael, and Azrael, "You're still at risk."

"We fucked up, right?" Azrael growled, swapping magazines. "This is so much worse than anything we've faced. We can't slip, not even once, or it's game over!" She fired a bullet point-blank at a shrieking head, watching it fall, only for three more to crawl forward.

"Hey, look!" Ophis called out, her eyes catching something strange... a streak of bright yellow tearing across the dark, starry sky, hurtling straight toward them like a furious meteorite.

Everyone flinched at her words, instinctively looking up.

"Shit!" Leo shouted, seeing the blazing object plunge closer.

BOOM!!!

A thunderous impact shook the ground. In a split second, everyone crouched and threw their arms over their heads, bracing for disaster.

For a tense moment, silence. Then, as they lifted their heads, they saw yellow flames swirling all around them—a brilliant, dancing wall of fire that circled like a living barrier.

Everyone blinked in disbelief, unable to comprehend what was happening. The flames didn't burn them; instead, they enclosed the group protectively.

Meanwhile, the mindless monsters that tried to force their way in shrieked the moment they touched the barrier. The flames devoured them instantly, burning away their bodies with agonised screams, until nothing remained but shimmering ash.

"Valra?" Leo breathed, staring wide-eyed at the figure stepping through the fire—a woman wreathed in burning golden flames, as if she'd been bathing in fire itself.

Valra smiled, the flames vanishing gracefully from her body. "Miss me?" she teased.

Leo's eyes went misty. "For real." Without hesitation, he closed the distance and threw his arms around her in a fierce embrace.

Of course, he missed her!

Not just because they needed help in this hellscape—he missed her because seeing her again after everything made his chest ache with relief.

Valra was stunned for a second, her expression softening. She hadn't expected Leo to worry this much. Her cheeks flushed, warmth spreading across her face as she hugged him back tightly, "I missed you too," she whispered, voice trembling.

Leo shook his head, tears blurring his vision as he nuzzled into her neck. "What took you so long? I was really lost out here."

Valra gave a weak, guilty smile, patting his back gently before easing him away just enough to look into his eyes.

"I'm here now, okay? I'm not leaving you to face all this alone—"

"Can we… focus on the matter here?" Ophis cut in, her tone sharp and a little annoyed, arms crossed as she surveyed the burning battlefield.

Valra and Leo both flinched, stepping apart with embarrassed faces and cheeks tinged pink.

Azrael glanced at her son, an amused smirk on her lips. 'He's getting bold, isn't he?' she thought, silently proud.

Raphael, meanwhile, kept her gaze fixed on Valra. She couldn't help staring—was that jealousy bubbling up? Maybe a little. But more than that, she was just… confused.

Since when were Valra and Leo acting like a couple?

She thought Valra was just a friend!

Had her nephew suddenly become a Playboy?

Her frown deepened. After this fight, she'd have a long, serious talk with him—he wouldn't get off easy!

Hmph!

She pouted—somehow, she managed to look cute even as she sulked.

Anyway, Valra took a quick look around, her eyes narrowing as the flames slowly began to die out. The black, sticky figures at the edge of the battlefield were regrouping, inching forward once again. "Tell me what happened," she said firmly, her hands glowing with a magic circle.

Meanwhile, back at the centre of the massive crater, the relic floated eerily in the air. Blue light shimmered atop its strange, unbloomed flower-shaped form, casting ghostly reflections across the ruins.

Srrrrr!

Fallen Pride slid down the slope of the crater, boots scraping sharply against broken stone before she landed in a smooth, balanced crouch on the flat ground.

Rising, she strode forward, every step calm and deliberate, her crimson eyes serene and unreadable. Behind her followed the other Fallens and Dracula.

Dracula couldn't keep his thoughts to himself any longer. "We could have finished them!" he snapped, his voice echoing with cold frustration. He wanted Fallen Pride to hear his challenge, to know he wasn't some hound she could order around.

Fallen Pride gave no answer, not a single glance back, just kept walking toward the relic. Fallen Nergal and Fallen Camazotz exchanged sneers, their voices low and taunting, as if Dracula's outrage was nothing but a joke to them.

A vein pulsed on Dracula's forehead, 'Just wait. When my lord returns, you'll all bow before him… especially that bitch!' he seethed, rage boiling inside.

But for now, he could do nothing but follow.

Anyway, they reached the Relic.

The relic itself was barely hovering off the ground, spinning ever so slowly at chest height—a massive stone flower, each petal unopened, as if hiding secrets within.

"Damn, it feels heavy," Fallen Camazotz muttered, folding his arms tight across his chest. He shuddered as an invisible weight pressed down on him, growing stronger the closer he drew to the relic.

Fallen Nergal nodded, face tight with strain. He too felt the oppressive force, like gravity thickening in the air.

Dracula only shrugged. He didn't feel what the others did. With a sly grin, he stepped forward and announced,

"Well then, if you excuse me, I will—" He reached for the relic, but froze mid-motion as Fallen Pride raised her gloved hand, black leather fingers stretching toward the relic, coming within a breath of contact.

"NO!!" Dracula roared. He lunged, but before he could interfere, a thin spark leapt from Fallen Pride's fingertip to the relic... a vivid, crimson spark, like lightning. For a heartbeat, the relic and Fallen Pride's hand hovered, millimetres apart, bound by that electric thread.

Fallen Pride's eyes narrowed. She drew back her hand, studying her finger with a deep frown. She'd felt it... something draining, but not her strength, not her magic—something

"My darkness?" she whispered.

Dracula, trembling with barely contained rage, barked, "What the hell are you doing? You could have corrupted this relic! Do you understand the situation at all? If you corrupt it now, we'll lose everything—nothing we want can ever be summoned forth!" He ranted, but his tirade cut short the instant Fallen Pride turned to him with a glare sharp as a blade.

"…Nothing," he muttered quickly, dropping his gaze.

Fallen Pride rubbed her fingertip uneasily, as if she could still feel the phantom spark leeching from her skin.

"Take it."

Dracula's mouth curled into a greedy smile. He licked his lips, "Finally… the rightful owner, and the winner of this war, is…" He raised his hand dramatically, fingers stretched to claim the massive stone flower—the relic itself.

However—

Thuck!

Suddenly, the unopened flower relic jerked, as if some inner lock had been snapped open.

"W-What did you do?!" Nergal shouted, panic rising in his voice as the heaviness in the air doubled, weighing down on his chest until it felt hard to breathe.

Blue shimmering particles swirled in a dense storm at the flower's tip, lighting up the relic with an eerie glow, and he stared in horror as jagged cracks began to snake across the stone petals of the relic's surface.

"I didn't even touch it!" Dracula yelled back.

He shot a wild, accusing look at Fallen Pride, "You must have done something—"

But before he could finish,

BOOOM!

A thunderous wave of pressure exploded outward, shattering the silence as if a single drop of water had struck a glassy, still river—ripples of pure force radiated in all directions.

The calm atmosphere warped and bent, air vibrating with unseen power as the relic unleashed its magic, sending shockwaves across the land.

Far away, Leo and the others, locked in a desperate fight with the monsters, felt the force slam into them like a blast of icy wind. Instantly, everyone stopped fighting and looked back... even the snarling monsters halted their attacks.

Everyone except Leo, who followed others in confusion,

"What's going on—FUCK!" he shouted.

The scorched, the shattered stones and the colossal crater shimmered at the edges, warping as if reality itself was being rewritten and... something else unfurled right before Leo's stunned eyes.

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