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Chapter 14 - Chapter 14 – After the Ashes

The café smelled like burnt sugar and charred wood. Smoke clung to the walls, curling up toward the ceiling where the lights had finally given up. Tables lay overturned, chairs splintered, and the faint hiss of something still smoldering came from behind the counter.

Seraphine was slumped against the wall, one sleeve torn open and a faint red mark glowing where the creature's claws had grazed her. Her chest rose and fell with uneven breaths, eyes half-lidded but still burning with that witch's defiance.

Nyx padded slowly across the ruined floor, tail twitching, fur darkened by ash. Every so often, she made a low, warning growl — not at us, but at the shadows pooling where the walls met the floor. Shadows that didn't belong.

And me? I had the camera still raised, lens cracked but functional, recording every flicker of light and every twitch in the air. My arm felt like lead, but I couldn't stop. Because cameramen don't stop.

The livestream counter ticked on.

[Live Viewers: 11,280]

And then, one by one, the comments began to trickle in, as if even the audience had been holding its breath during the fight.

---

[Live Chat]

"Holy s**… did you guys see that death scene???"*

"Bruh… that was like Demon Slayer but IRL."

"The café owner's gonna kill them lmao."

"Wait… anyone else notice the shadow that moved AFTER the monster died???"

"Nah you're tripping. It's just smoke."

"Bro the cameraman's lens is cracked and he's STILL streaming 💀 invincible confirmed."

"Someone buy these people a coffee. Or an exorcism."

---

"Stay awake," I muttered, crouching beside Seraphine, my voice low so the mic didn't pick it up. "You can't crash here. Not yet."

Her eyes fluttered open just long enough to meet mine. "Not… done," she whispered, the words shaky. "There's still something here."

And that was when the bell above the café door rang.

Not because someone opened it.

But because something brushed past it.

Every hair on my arms stood on end. The smoke shifted unnaturally, sliding toward the farthest corner of the café.

Nyx's growl deepened. Her eyes tracked something I couldn't see — or maybe didn't want to.

The stranger in the trench coat, who had sat quietly through the whole battle, finally stood. He adjusted his hat, dusted ash off his shoulder, and spoke in a tone so casual it cut like a knife through the tension:

"So. You finally noticed the other one."

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