The power came alive inside her like a sleeping dragon opening its eyes.
Aria gasped as silver fire erupted from her chest, spreading through her veins like liquid lightning. It didn't hurt. It should have hurt. Instead, it felt like coming home.
The vault door shuddered again. Azrael's voice filtered through, layered and wrong.
"You can't hide forever, vessel. That door won't hold me for long."
Aria looked at the mirror, at Hades and Cerberus still fighting for their lives. At the bodies piling up around them. At the way they moved—slower now, exhausted, bleeding.
They were going to die trying to reach her.
"No," she whispered. "Not for me. Not today."
She placed both palms flat against the mirror's surface. The Heart pulsed in response, eager, hungry.
Show me, she thought. Show me how to save them.
The mirror rippled. Images flashed—memories that weren't hers. A woman who looked like her but wasn't, standing in this exact vault a thousand years ago. The same woman kissing Hades when he was still whole, still capable of love. The woman screaming as the Heart consumed her from the inside, turning her into something monstrous.
The last vessel.
Aria saw how it ended. Saw Hades forced to kill the woman he loved. Saw him split himself in two rather than ever feel that pain again.
"I'm not her," Aria said to the mirror. To the Heart. To whatever was listening. "I'm not going to let this power destroy me. And I'm sure as hell not going to let it destroy them."
The Heart pulsed again—questioning, testing.
"You want to know why you chose me?" Aria's voice grew stronger. "Because I'm a survivor. I've stolen from demons, run from death cults, and fallen into actual Hell. And I'm still standing." She pressed harder against the mirror. "So here's the deal. You give me your power—all of it—and I'll use it to save them. To save this realm. But you don't get to control me. You don't get to consume me. We do this together, or not at all."
Silence.
Then the Heart laughed.
Not out loud. Inside her mind. A sound like silver bells and breaking glass.
Finally, a voice whispered in her head. A vessel with a spine.
The power exploded.
Aria screamed as silver fire consumed her completely. Her back arched, lifting off the ground. Every nerve ending lit up like a star going supernova.
She saw everything.
The entire underworld spread before her like a map. Every soul, every demon, every shadow. She felt Hades' exhaustion as he fought. Felt Cerberus' rage as something clawed across his flank. Felt Nyx's final breath as she died in the armory.
And she felt Azrael. Felt his twisted ambition, his hunger for power, his plan to tear open the gates between realms and let chaos reign.
"No," Aria growled, and her voice echoed with power that didn't sound entirely human. "You don't get to do this."
She opened her eyes. They were glowing pure silver.
The vault door exploded outward.
Azrael stood in the doorway, his bone mask gleaming. "There you are. I was starting to think you'd—"
He stopped. Stared.
Aria floated three feet off the ground, wrapped in silver flames that cast no heat. Her hair moved in a wind that didn't exist. The air around her bent, reality struggling to contain what she'd become.
"What..." Azrael's confidence cracked. "What are you?"
"Awake."
Aria raised her hand, and shadows answered. They erupted from every corner, alive and sharp and obedient. They slammed into Azrael, driving him backward.
"Impossible," he snarled, regaining his footing. "You're mortal. The Heart should have destroyed you by now—"
"I'm done being underestimated." Aria's feet touched the ground, and where she stepped, the stone cracked with silver light. "You killed Nyx. You attacked my—" She paused, then smiled. "You attacked what's mine."
Azrael threw off his robes, revealing his true form. Eight feet tall, skin like obsidian, eyes burning with stolen power. "You think awakening makes you strong? I've consumed a hundred vessels. Their power is mine. You're just another—"
Aria moved.
One second she was ten feet away. The next, her hand was around his throat, lifting him off the ground like he weighed nothing.
"Another what?" she asked softly. "Another victim? Another scared mortal?" Her grip tightened. "I was never the victim, Azrael. I was always the one who got away."
She threw him. He crashed through three walls before stopping.
Aria walked forward, silver flames trailing behind her like a cloak. The power thrummed in her veins, intoxicating and dangerous. She could feel it wanting more. Wanting to consume, destroy, remake.
Easy, she told it. We're not done yet.
Azrael pulled himself from the rubble, black blood pouring from his mouth. "You... you can't control that much power. It'll burn you out—"
"Maybe." Aria tilted her head. "But I'll burn you first."
She raised both hands, and the shadows sang.
They erupted from every surface, forming shapes—wolves, serpents, things with too many teeth. They descended on Azrael in a wave of darkness and fury.
He screamed.
Aria watched, feeling nothing. The power whispered that she should enjoy this. That she should make him suffer the way Nyx suffered.
But then she felt it—Hades and Cerberus, their connection to her blazing like a beacon. They'd felt her awakening. They were fighting their way toward her, desperate, terrified.
She's using too much, she heard Hades think. She'll burn out. She'll die.
Then we stop her, Cerberus' voice, rough with panic. Before she kills herself saving us.
Aria pulled back the shadows. Azrael collapsed, barely conscious.
"You're not worth it," she said quietly. "You're not worth becoming a monster."
She turned away—
Azrael lunged, a blade of pure darkness in his hand.
He never made contact.
A spear erupted through his chest. Then another. Then three more.
The council demons stood in the ruined doorway, weapons drawn. Bael stepped forward, his coal eyes fixed on Azrael.
"Traitor," Bael said simply. "You orchestrated the attack. Sabotaged the wards. Killed one of our own."
"The council... serves... the strongest..." Azrael gasped.
"Then you should have been stronger." Bael twisted his spear, and Azrael crumbled to ash.
Silence fell.
The council members stared at Aria. She stared back, still glowing, still dangerous.
"The vessel awakened," the smoke-woman said, her voice awed. "And she didn't die."
"More than that," Bael said slowly. "She controlled it. Held back when she could have destroyed everything."
The old man from before—the one with white eyes—stepped forward. He studied Aria for a long moment, then did something shocking.
He bowed.
"Forgive us, Lady Aria. We doubted your strength. Your worthiness." His voice was respectful now. "But you've proven what the Heart saw in you. You're not just a vessel. You're its master."
"I'm not anyone's master," Aria said, the glow finally starting to fade. "I just want—"
"ARIA!"
The roar shook the palace.
Hades and Cerberus burst through what remained of the walls. They were covered in blood—silver and black, theirs and others. Cerberus was in his beast form, all three heads snarling. Hades had his blade drawn, eyes wild.
They saw her standing there, surrounded by council members, still flickering with power.
Cerberus shifted to human form mid-stride, not caring that the council could see. "Are you hurt? Did they touch you? I'll kill every single—"
"I'm fine." Aria's voice came out tired. So tired. "I'm okay."
Hades reached her, his hands immediately going to her face, tilting it to check for injuries. His silver eyes scanned every inch of her, desperate.
"You awakened," he breathed. "You used the Heart's full power. Do you have any idea how reckless—how dangerous—"
"I saved you," she interrupted. "Both of you. You were dying out there."
"We would have survived—"
"No, you wouldn't have." She grabbed his wrist. "I saw it. Felt it. You were minutes from being overwhelmed." Her eyes moved to Cerberus. "Both of you."
Cerberus pulled her against his chest, burying his face in her hair. "Don't ever do that again. Don't ever risk yourself like that."
"I won't make promises I can't keep."
Hades' hand tightened on her face. "Aria—"
"She's right, my lord." Bael's voice cut through. "If she hadn't awakened, you would have fallen. We all would have." He gestured to the destruction around them. "She saved the realm."
Hades looked at the council, then back at Aria. Something shifted in his expression—pride, fear, and something deeper.
"The prophecy," the old man said quietly. "It's changing. We can feel it. The threads of fate are... rewriting themselves around her."
"What does that mean?" Aria asked.
"It means," the smoke-woman said, "that you're no longer just a piece on the board. You've become a player."
The old man smiled. "And Hell will never be the same."
The council left to restore order. The attack had been repelled, but the damage was extensive. Hundreds dead. Entire sections of the palace destroyed.
Aria sat on a piece of rubble, the exhaustion finally hitting her. The power had receded, settling back into her chest like a sleeping dragon. But she could still feel it. Still hear its whisper.
Hades knelt in front of her, studying her face.
"How do you feel?"
"Like I ran a marathon. While on fire. In Hell." She laughed weakly. "So, pretty normal for this week."
He didn't smile. "You could have died."
"But I didn't."
"This time." His jaw clenched. "Next time—"
"Next time, I'll be stronger." She met his eyes. "I'm not going to apologize for saving you, Hades. I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
Cerberus sat beside her, still in human form. His hand found hers, lacing their fingers together.
"You were incredible," he said quietly. "Terrifying. But incredible."
"I saw the last vessel," Aria said. "In the mirror. I saw what happened to her. How she lost control. How you..." She looked at Hades. "How you had to kill her."
Pain flashed across Hades' face. "Lyssa. Her name was Lyssa."
"You loved her."
"Yes." The admission was barely a whisper. "And the Heart consumed her. Turned her into something monstrous. I tried to save her, but..." He closed his eyes. "In the end, I had to choose between her and the realm."
"I'm not going to make you choose," Aria said. "I'm not Lyssa. And I'm not going to lose myself to this power."
"How can you be sure?"
She placed his hand over her heart. Over the Heart of Cerberus that pulsed beneath.
"Because I have something she didn't." Aria looked between them—god and beast, two halves of one impossible whole. "I have both of you. And you're not going to let me fall."
Cerberus' grip tightened on her hand. "Never."
Hades stared at her, something breaking and reforming behind his eyes. Then, slowly, he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers.
"You terrify me," he whispered. "More than anything in existence. Because I can't lose you. I can't. And that weakness could destroy everything."
"Then let it," Aria said. "Let everything burn. Let Hell fall. Because I'm not going anywhere. And neither are you."
She kissed him. Soft. Gentle. A promise.
When she pulled back, she turned to Cerberus and kissed him too. Equally soft. Equally certain.
"Both of you," she said firmly. "I choose both of you. And before either of you starts with the 'that's impossible' or 'the prophecy says'—I don't care. We'll figure it out. Together."
The three of them sat there in the ruins of the palace, covered in blood and ash, surrounded by destruction.
And for the first time since Aria fell into Hell, she felt like she might actually survive this.
"The council will demand answers," Hades said eventually. "About us. About this... arrangement."
"Let them demand." Aria stood, swaying slightly. Both men immediately steadied her. "I just fought off a demon lord and awakened an ancient power. I think I can handle some political questions."
"She's got a point," Cerberus said, a smile tugging at his lips.
Hades sighed. "This is insane."
"Completely," Aria agreed.
"The realm will talk."
"Let them."
"And the prophecy—"
"Screw the prophecy." Aria looked at both of them. "We make our own fate. Starting now."
Cerberus laughed—genuine and warm. "I like her."
"I've noticed," Hades said dryly. But there was warmth in his eyes too. Something that looked almost like... hope.
A rumble echoed through the palace. Not an attack. Something else.
The three of them looked up as reality shifted.
Words appeared in the air, written in flames:
THE HEART HAS CHOSEN. THE VESSEL HAS AWAKENED. THE KING MUST DECIDE.
SEVEN DAYS UNTIL THE RECKONING.
Then the flames died, and the words vanished.
"Well," Aria said into the silence. "That's ominous."
Hades stood, his expression grim. "The Reckoning. I was hoping we'd have more time."
"What's the Reckoning?" Aria asked, though she had a feeling she didn't want to know.
Hades looked at her, and the weight of eternity was in his eyes.
"The day I have to make my final choice. Merge with Cerberus and risk losing control. Or stay divided and watch you die." His voice was hollow. "Either way, someone loses everything."
"Seven days," Cerberus said, his hand still holding Aria's. "We have seven days to find another way."
"There is no other way. The prophecy—"
"Then we make one." Aria stepped between them, taking both their hands. "Seven days is more than enough time to break a prophecy, save Hell, and figure out how to love two halves of the same impossible soul."
She smiled, tired but defiant.
"After all, I've done crazier things this week."