Lucien's POV
I knew something was wrong the second Araragi left the cram school alone.
He hadn't said where he was going—just muttered something about "getting air." He hadn't met my eyes.
Kiss-shot didn't stop him.
She rarely did.
He left through the front stairwell, shoulders hunched, steps too slow to mean confidence and too quick to mean peace.
I should've stopped him.
But I didn't.
Because part of me still wanted to believe that I didn't belong to this story.
That belief died ten minutes later.
I heard it first.
Not a scream.
Not a shout.
Just the sound of something heavy hitting brick.
Then glass shattering.
And then the silence that follows pain.
The kind that makes the world go still in anticipation.
I ran.
Not down the stairs.
I phased.
It wasn't conscious. I didn't even think about it.
One second I was at the window.
The next—
I stepped sideways into the alley where it was happening.
The three of them stood like monsters drawn from three different nightmares.
Dramaturgy: tall, monstrous, vampire blood stretched across a frame too large to be human. His right hand was wrapped around Araragi's neck, lifting him off the ground.
Episode stood behind, his long black coat dragging, eyes half-lidded like he was already bored. The cross embedded in his chest shimmered under the streetlight.
Guillotine Cutter said nothing. Just stood at the alley's mouth with a priest's stillness and a butcher's patience.
Araragi's body hung limp in the air.
Still alive.
But not for long.
Dramaturgy turned when I landed.
"Another one?" he rumbled.
"Not a vampire," Episode said, sniffing faintly. "Not quite human either."
That caught Guillotine Cutter's attention.
Slight. Subtle.
But I saw it.
I stepped forward slowly.
Felt the air crackle against my skin.
No time to think.
Only time to act.
"You're going to let him go," I said, voice flat.
Dramaturgy chuckled.
It was a huge sound.
"Or?" he asked.
I raised my hand.
And the trace ignited.
Just for a moment.
Not visible.
Not magic in the traditional sense.
But real.
The mana from the Fate world surged through my blood like fire behind glass.
I didn't cast anything.
But my presence shifted the space.
The air tightened.
Reality shivered.
And then I moved.
I didn't fight like a martial artist.
I wasn't trained.
But my instincts weren't mine anymore.
I moved faster than I should have. Reacted in ways I couldn't have known.
My hand caught Dramaturgy's forearm just as he reared back to crush Araragi against the wall.
And I held it.
Not for long.
Just for one impossible second.
But it was enough.
Araragi dropped.
Rolled.
Coughed blood.
But he was breathing.
Alive.
Dramaturgy swung.
It was like being hit with a car.
I went flying—slammed into a dumpster. The metal caved. My ribs screamed.
But I stood.
Somehow.
"Fascinating," Episode muttered. "You shouldn't be standing."
"Neither should you," I hissed.
He stepped forward.
His eyes gleamed.
And I phased again.
Half a second.
Just enough to dodge his reach.
The world warped like hot air around my body.
Cutter moved last.
Silently.
His blade was out before I realized it.
I barely ducked.
The knife passed through where my neck had been.
But as it did—
I pulled something.
Not from here.
From... elsewhere.
The ground beneath Cutter cracked.
Just slightly.
A seam in the concrete opened like it was letting go of him.
He stumbled.
And I kicked him back into the wall.
Not hard.
But the impact echoed like thunder.
They paused.
All three.
Not because they were beaten.
But because they were confused.
They didn't know what I was.
Neither did I.
But I knew what I wasn't.
I wasn't human.
Not entirely.
Not anymore.
Dramaturgy bared his teeth. "You'll regret that."
"Probably," I said.
He lunged.
But by then I was already gone.
I reappeared by Araragi.
Lifted him.
He groaned but didn't argue.
I phased again.
Not into another universe.
Just out of reach.
Back into the side streets.
Into silence.
Into breath.
By the time we returned to the cram school, the sky was lighter.
Kiss-shot waited on the rooftop.
Her expression unreadable.
But her eyes…
Her eyes told me she knew something had changed.