"Sister!"
A raw, collective scream ripped through the courtyard, a sound of absolute, immediate despair that echoed off the surviving chapel walls. Elena clutched the terrified Mihea, her face a mask of shock and tears. Iacob and Ilie, the mischievous twins, huddled together, their small bodies trembling uncontrollably. Andrei, usually focused only on food, whimpered incoherently, and Filip, the quietest of all, simply stood rigid, his eyes fixed on the horrific tableau.
Jay was the center of the stillness. His eyes, fixed on the spreading dark crimson stain beneath Sister Andrea, were wide and utterly blank. The shock was a cold, physical presence, constricting his chest, making the very air suffocating. This was not the simple unfairness of their impoverished life, nor the grand, abstract cruelty of the devil Vali had confessed to. This was the brutal, wet finality of violence that had claimed the one person who anchored their shattered world.
Still in the air, Vali, momentarily magnificent yet powerless in his silver Scale Mail, watched the sacred light extinguish. The sight of Sister Andrea's body, skewered and collapsing, surrounded by Berjequel's triumphant, swirling blackness, struck him with a pain colder and sharper than any divisional tear. It was the pain of utter, crushing failure.
"No, no, this can't be…"
He clenched his armored fists, his body shuddering with an internal energy turmoil that threatened to destabilize the newly formed Balance Breaker.
So you will finally accept this, partner.
The ancient, deep voice resonated in his head, echoing hum of the Ancient Y Ddraig Wein, Albion the White Dragon Emperor rang within the crystalline fortress of Vali's mind.
'Y-you! Albion.'
Embrace my power, young host. You have broken the initial seal. Now, let your body feel the pinnacle of dragon. Crush this filthy creature with my power.
Vali didn't resist the counsel. He didn't question the sudden, desperate surrender of his will. His focus was singular, absolute. The limp form of the woman who had offered him an unconditional compassion and kindness.
The blue energy around him erupted, intensifying tenfold. The ground beneath the chapel grounds shuddered violently, cracking under the force of the immense energy spike. An ancient, powerful dragon hum, the deafening song of the White Dragon Emperor vibrated through the night.
Vali's eyes, visible behind the helmet's visor, snapped open, blazing with icy determination.
"Balance Breaker!"
A blinding flash of pure, sapphire-blue light pulsed outward, a shockwave of sacred power. Berjequel staggered backward, forced to shield his eyes. In that blinding instant, the light coalesced into a storm of raw, focused energy. The Divine Dividing Scale Mail erupted from Vali's soul, encasing him in flawless, ethereal silver armor. It was sleek, aerodynamic, and utterly terrifying.
The Divine Dividing Scale Mail, the full manifestation of the White Dragon Emperor's power, achieved at the tender age of thirteen, a feat history should have called impossible.
Berjequel stumbled back, his mind reeling.
'No way… Ha ha ha! To be able to awaken the Balance Breaker at the tender age of thirteen years old! This is unprecedented! This adventure becomes more fruitful than I thought! Lord Rizevim shall be ecstatic if he heard this news! The boy is already Ultimate Class potential!' He thought.
Before Berjequel could stabilize his thoughts or his shadow reserves, Vali moved. He was no longer the boy; he was the White Dragon Emperor's host, an engine of pure destruction. He vanished and reappeared, delivering a kick charged with devastating dividing power. The force was so immense, so focused, that it struck Berjequel through his hastily raised shadow barrier, searing his body and shattering his composure.
Berjequel was hurled across the courtyard and into the remnants of the broken chapel wall in a catastrophic impact that pulverized the remaining stone.
"What the fuck! I can't even see him! He moves in the blind spot of my focus!" Berjequel thought furiously, spitting blood, pulverized stone, and strands of his dark hair.
The half-devil finally cleared his vision, perceiving the terrifying silver figure. Blue, translucent dragon wings beat the air, blinding Berjequel with their sheer, undiluted energy.
"Divide! Divide! Divide!"
Vali chanted, his voice combined with the Albion's voice resonating in the air with every syllable like an ancient mantra. With each cry, the energy field around Berjequel violently contracted, stripping his power, his vitality, and his connection to the ambient darkness.
"Shit, this can't be!" Berjequel felt his supernatural energy his vampiric resilience which is his shadow manipulation being reduced drastically, nearly 87.5%. He was being neutralized at a terrifying rate. He was a High-Class Devil, one foot across the threshold of the Ultimate Class, but the absolute, systematic neutralization of the Balance Breaker was overpowering him.
Yet, Berjequel was confident in his species' specialization. The shadow feeds him; he is bound to it. He understood the fundamental flaw in the Divine Dividing. It was a war of attrition, and he had resources Vali, in this unsustainable state, did not.
"This is just a matter of stamina! The energy consumption of that armor is astronomical! Let's see how long you can handle this, Vali Lucifer!!"
Vali's strength in this Balance Breaker form was undeniable. To be able to pressure a High-Class Devil who was borderline Ultimate Class was a feat that crushed all expectations of his power. Vali was driving him purely by rage and grief, pushing the Scale Mail far beyond its intended limits.
But Vali's relentless assault suddenly ceased.
The silver dragon armor hovering above the courtyard tilted, the helmet snapping down toward the ground where Sister Andrea lay. Vali, too, knew the flaw. He had stripped Berjequel to near-powerlessness, yet the devil was still standing, regenerating slowly in the deep shade.
Instead of engaging in a direct contest of stamina, Berjequel knew he needed a way to force Vali to break his protective shell. He needed an unresolvable distraction.
In a maneuver of cynical tactical genius, Berjequel dematerialized entirely, melting back into the shadows of the ravaged courtyard, confusing the rampaging Vali.
Vali's enhanced senses screamed a warning, but the energy drain of the Balance Breaker left him too slow to pinpoint the exact location.
Berjequel reappeared in a localized explosion of darkness, not near Vali, but directly behind the kids who is still huddled in abject terror in the orphanage doorway.
"Well, well, young master," Berjequel purred, his voice regaining its oily confidence, amplified by the shadows that clung to him. "Look at your pitiful, human weakness. I see your mother must be so proud of you right now." He said sarcastically.
Vali froze mid-air, the sound of his own breathing labored inside the helmet. He saw the children, Elena, shielding Mihea. The twins, Iacob and Ilie, pressed against each other. Andrei and Filip trembling, their faces streaked with tears. They were his family. The quiet weeks, the shared hammock, the stale bread, and the warmness that filled his heart.
' No... '
From the ground, thick, black, shadowy hands sprouted like lethal plants, their dagger-like fingers hovering just inches from the children's necks, poised to execute them.
"Now, stop the armor," Berjequel commanded, his voice turning cold and absolute. "Stop this pointless battle, and come with me, quietly, back to the Underworld. Their lives for your obedience."
Vali's teeth ground together inside his helmet. The specter of Sister Andrea's lifeless body dominated his vision. He would not lose them too. He could not.
Don't believe every single word that came of out of his filthy mouth, young host.
'No! Albion, you don't understand. I won't let they die because of me.'
It is futile, host. You are depleted from the initial transformation. Maintaining the Scale Mail is already stressing your lifespan. Albion's ancient voice was devoid of emotion, purely tactical. You have shown your strength. Now, either we kill him or he will control you. In the grand scheme of things, a mortal connection will only hurt you. These human emotion, you connection to them, is irrelevant.
"They are not irrelevant! They are everything! They are the only family I have! I won't let you dictate my creed, Albion! I am the host of the White Dragon Emperor, and I will protect them even if it cost my freedom!" Vali fought back internally, the conflict between his newfound, fragile humanity and his cold devil-dragon instincts tearing him apart.
Then fight, young host. The lucifer blood, an ancient blood run through your veins, and dragon's power emanating from your own existence. Don't let his words control you.
' I'm sorry, Albion. '
Vali lowered his head, the blue light of the Scale Mail flickering violently. His heart felt like cold, crushed glass. The power he had unleashed, the power he needed now, was already an unsustainable burden. He knew Albion was right, he only knew them for weeks, its fated to be only small part of his life as Lucifer.
But to him, that small part is already enough to fill his heart.
He had to choose.
Vali inhaled a shuddering breath, the air whistling through the vents of his helmet.
"I'll come with you," Vali croaked, the words thick with defeat. "Stop this. Remove the shadows. If you touch them, I will find you, and I will reduce your soul to nothingness."
Berjequel's smile returned, triumphant and sickening. "Good boy. I always knew the Lucifer blood had sense. Now, unbind the armor."
With a scream of tearing energy, Vali dropped the Scale Mail. The silver armor dissolved into motes of blue light, leaving him weak, kneeling, his body radiating debilitating exhaustion. His demonic wings drooped heavily. The raw energy drain nearly pulled his consciousness under.
The tension broke. Berjequel laughed, dissipating the menacing shadowy hands that had hovered inches from the children.
As the immediate, lethal threat receded, Jay's body finally unlocked. He moved, not with magic, but with the desperate instinct of love, the need to confirm the impossible. He scrambled over the rubble and rushed toward the collapsed figure of Sister Andrea.
"Sister Andrea! Sister Andrea!" Jay cried, sinking onto his knees beside her.
Her breathing was shallow, ragged, her face pale. She looked at Jay, and somehow, through the overwhelming pain, she managed to focus. A thin, frail smile touched her lips.
"Jay… i'm sorry for my failure protecting all of you" Her voice was barely a whisper, a strained, final effort. Jay shake his head, no how can't it be your fault. He tought.
The other children rushed forward, crying and calling her name, but Jay was already holding her, the crimson on her back staining his hands.
"I… I have a friend," Sister Andrea strained, the words flecked with blood. "In a place called the Emerald City… To go there, you must find the Chapter Library of Verona, in Italy. Meet someone there…"
Her weak hand lifted, gripping the simple, silver chain around her neck. She pulled it free, laying a small, Chromed Pendant into Jay's trembling palm. The pendant was cool against his hot skin, covered with a distinct four crossed fleur-de-lis symbol etched into the metal.
"Just show them this pendant…" she whispered, her gaze soft, filled with a last, desperate plea. "Take care of them, Jay… All of them, Elena, Andrei, Mihei, Iacob, Ilea, and Filip. You are their older brother. Promise me you will keep them safe."
Tears finally breached Jay's control. He sobbed, the grief ripping through him, echoing the anguish of a boy who had lost his only mother. "I promise! I promise, Sister Andrea! We'll go! We'll be okay!"
She gave a final, gentle squeeze of his hand, a soundless, peaceful exhale escaping her lips. Her eyes went dull, fixed on the sky above the destroyed chapel.
Sister Andrea was dead in Jay's arms.
Jay's scream of anguish tore through the night, a sound of absolute, devastating loss, joined instantly by the hysterical, heartbroken wails of Elena, Mihea, and the others.
Vali watched, tears mixing with sweat and blood on his face. He staggered to his feet, ready to walk toward the devil, his mind reeling from the sight of Jay's utter grief. He took one step toward his captor-
-and that was Berjequel's opening.
The half-devil, who had been momentarily distracted by the death scene, moved with terrifying, cynical speed. Berjequel seized the back of Vali's neck, his fangs elongating. He bit down hard, sinking his teeth into Vali's jugular.
Vali cried out, a strangled gasp of pain. The venom and shadow-infused blood instantly spiked his system. His consciousness reeled, his strength already spent from the Balance Breaker and the energy drain collapsed completely. He was a dead weight.
As Vali's vision swam and faded, Berjequel extended his true power one last time, reveling in the cruelty. From the ground, thick, hardened shadows erupted like deadly, obsidian spikes, not the feints he used before, but solid, razor-sharp forms of condensed malice.
The shadow spikes shot through the children, impaling them where they knelt weeping around Sister Andrea.
Mihea, Elena, Andrei, Iacob, Ilie, and Filip all of them were killed instantly, pinned to the earth like macabre trophies. The terrifying, gruesome recreation of Vlad the Impaler's cruelty was the last, agonizing sight Vali saw.
He couldn't move. He couldn't scream. He couldn't call on Albion, whose power had been utterly drained by the sudden Balance Breaker and the subsequent loss of vitality from the venomous bite. He was a powerless captive, his strength refusing to manifest.
'Jay, Elena, Andrei, Iacob, Ilie, Mihea, Filip…'
'It's my fault. I'm sorry.'
His consciousness plunged into total darkness as Berjequel lifted the limp body of the White Dragon Emperor's host.
Jay felt the world shatter into pieces, not with the sound of breaking stone, but with the silent, overwhelming wave of loss. Sister Andrea's lifeless body was heavy in his arms. The tears streaming down his face were hot, but the core of his being was cold, colder than the Maramures winter. The final sounds were the muffled, sudden screams of his siblings, cut short by brutal silence.
Jay didn't look up. He didn't need to. He knew they were gone.
Mihea. The shy smile, the two fingers waving hello.
Andrei. The constant hunger, the baked potato he love the most.
Ilie and Iacob. The inseparable, creative chaos, switching places when no one was looking.
Filip. The quiet presence, the shy nod.
Elena. The tired sigh, the maternal protection.
They were all gone. The sanctuary was decimated. His only world, annihilated.
Grief turned into hatred, pure and distilled, began to rise in his chest. It was not mere anger; it was a physical, terrifying force that drove out the sorrow. He felt the cold touch of the ground on his back, the warm, sticky blood of his sister soaking his clothes.
'Why? Why did they have to die? '
His spirit, already an empty void, began to resonate with a power he never knew he possessed. From the deepest part of his soul, a dull, purple light began to pulse beneath his skin, steady and sure, a burgeoning, destructive inferno. The purple flame, the sign of Incinerate Anthem, a Sacred Gear of the highest order, dedicated to the judgment of sin began to erupt from his very pores.
" No fucking way hahaha, that's the Incenerate Anthem, one of the thirteen longinus!! This already perfect day is becoming even better. " Berjequel laughed hysterically.
But before the flame could fully ignite, before Jay's consciousness could recognize the birth of his own destiny, the purple light was violently choked. The power, sensing the extreme hatred for all things supernatural and the deep sorrow surrounding the chapel, twisted. The purple light was instantly suffocated by a darker, colder, full of judgmental neutrality. The power of a black flame said to be exist only in the deepest part of hell, the antithesis of the sacred light, yet still possessing a terrifying holiness.
Berjequel, about to teleport away with the unconscious Vali to Jay and claim the Sacred Gear, felt the shift in the air. He paused, looking intensely at the kneeling boy.
"What… is that? Not divine power. Not demonic. But it tastes… holy, yet so cold. Don't tell me, A subspecies balance breaker!?" Berjequel's confusion was absolute. He knew and familiar with one of the Holy Relic, one of thirteen longinus, Incenerate Anthem, he fought with one of the wielder in the past. Purple flame, it should have been that.
But this is different.
Jay felt the cold, black flame envelop him. His entire existence was now dedicated to one singular purpose, judgment. The terror was gone. The grief was superseded. Only pure, burning rage remained.
The ancient song filled his head.
As the bell tolled, it sang the anthem of the End.
Jay, the boy who did not believe in God or the Devil, gained his power in the ruins of the faith he never held. As the black flame enveloped him, he felt the true weight of his purpose, the true nature of his power.
He who was ordained to judge the wicked
cast forth the flame of righteous wrath,
and by holy fire were sins unmade,
consigned unto the deepest abyss,
where neither name nor memory endure.
He clutched the Chromed Pendant, the relic of the dead Sister Andrea, the cool metal a sudden anchor to his burning soul. Hatred filled his being, becoming his creed, his only reason for existence.
Thus were the transgressions burned to naught,
and silence reigned where darkness once dwelt.
Jay looked up, his deep black eyes now glowing with a cold, terrifying black fire that absorbed all light but burn hotter and brighter than the sun. He saw Berjequel, the devil, still holding Vali.
The True Cross of Golgotha
His voice, ragged with unshed tears and the nascent power of his Sacred Gear, was a whisper that carried the weight of a thousand judgments.
"I shall exterminate every single one of them."