If dying once teaches you anything, it's that death has a smell.
Cold.Metallic.Like air that hasn't been breathed by anything alive.
And when Luci stepped over our threshold for the second time—that smell flooded the room.
She didn't need claws.She didn't need the monstrous arm.
She didn't even need to transform.
Her presence was enough to twist the air into something that made my heart stumble.
Ami snapped.
"Get. Away. From. Him."
Her voice wasn't trembling this time.It wasn't soft or terrified.
It was furious.
Luci blinked like a confused child."Aw… why? I only came to say hi."
Ami's sword appeared in her hand with a flare of blue fire.
But this time—
Ami didn't stop at summoning it.
Her braid—her perfectly tied, always-neat braid—began to unravel on its own, loosening strand by strand like something was pulling it from the inside.
I stared.
"Ami…? Your hair—?"
She didn't answer.
Her hands clenched.Power pulsed off her skin like electricity.Her aura cracked the floor.
Yergba stepped back in shock."What the hell—she's overflowing—!"
Sam's eyes widened.
"She's unsealing."
Luci tilted her head.
"Oh? Interesting."
Ami's hair fell completely free—long, flowing, glowing faintly with silver light like a blade reflecting moonlight.
Ami inhaled.
And for the first time—
I felt something from her I'd never felt before.
Not gentleness.Not fear.Not hope.
Killing intent.
"Aki," she said softly, never looking at me."Stay behind Yergba and Sam."
I opened my mouth.
"Ami—"
She vanished.
Luci blinked.
The air cracked.
A shockwave shook the entire house.
Ami reappeared behind Luci mid-swing—her blade already a blur of blue streaks.
Luci barely dodged.
Barely.
Ami didn't give her a second.
The ground exploded as she launched forward again—faster than sound.
"Ami—!" I choked.
Yergba grabbed me and dragged me back.
Sam planted herself in front of us, blade drawn.
Luci laughed.
Not a cruel laugh.
Not an evil laugh.
A delighted one.
"Ohhh, you're faster than last time! Cute!"
Ami didn't waste a breath.
She slammed her foot into the ground, teleporting behind Luci again.
Sword Demon.
I didn't know the name then.I only knew the shift.
Her movement stopped looking human.It wasn't step-to-step movement anymore.
It was like she was slicing the air itself, warping through reality, bending it around her.
She attacked again—twelve slashes in the span of a heartbeat.The shockwaves shattered the window.
Luci blocked three.Dodged two.Let seven hit her body without flinching.
Each blow that landed should have carved a mountain in half.
Instead—
They didn't even leave a scratch.
Ami's eyes widened.
Luci giggled.
"You're adorable when you try that hard."
Ami teleported again—faster.Faster.So fast my eyes couldn't track her anymore.
Sam whispered under her breath."Ami's fighting like a sealed god. But Luci…"
When we all realized it—
Luci wasn't even using her monstrous arm.
She was blocking a divine-level assault with her human hand.
Yergba swallowed hard.
"This is bad. Really bad."
Ami appeared above Luci, blade charged with enough mana to light up the entire city.
"Die—!!"
Luci looked up.
Smiled.
And her monstrous arm finally moved.
Just one swipe.
BOOM.
Ami flew through the roof.
Straight through it.
Debris rained down like hail.
"AMI—!!" I screamed.
Sam vanished and reappeared outside instantly, catching Ami before she hit the ground.
Ami coughed blood onto Sam's shoulder.
"I—I'm… not done…" she rasped.
Sam's expression twisted.
"You're reckless! You can't win alone!"
Luci appeared behind them—teleporting with sickening ease.
"Oh, don't stop. I'm having so much fun~"
Yergba shoved me behind the fallen wall.
"Aki—don't look. This is gonna get nasty."
But I did look.
I couldn't tear my eyes away.
Ami snapped back onto her feet, wiping blood off her chin.
She moved again.Another burst of speed.
She teleported mid-air—three times in a row—slashing from angles even I couldn't comprehend.
It looked like reality was folding itself around her attacks.
Luci danced through them like it was a gentle breeze.
Then she punched Ami in the stomach.
Not with her monstrous arm.
Her normal one.
But the impact—
CRACK.
I heard something break.
Ami collapsed to her knees, gasping.
Luci grabbed Ami by the hair—hard—and lifted her easily.
Ami screamed.
"Ami—!!" Sam roared.
She rushed forward, trying to cut Luci's arm off.
Luci flicked her monstrous limb.
Sam hit the ground so hard the cement cracked underneath her.
Yergba paled.
"She's… she's an anti-god…"
Sam coughed, staggering.
"She's worse. She's built to erase us."
Ami was still dangling from Luci's grip, blade fallen somewhere on the ground.
Luci pulled Ami close, whispering into her ear with a voice too soft to be anything but cruel:
"Sweet little sword. You're fun.But you're not scary."
She slammed Ami's face into the ground.
Hard.
I screamed her name.
Yergba screamed too—rage ripping out of her throat.
Luci slowly turned her head toward us.
"Aki," she sang. "You're watching, right?"
My heart squeezed painfully.
Luci smiled.
"I want you to see my strength.I want you to understand how helpless you are."
Sam forced herself up, blood dripping down her face.
"You stay AWAY from him!"
Luci didn't even look at her.
She stepped on Ami's back—pinning her into the dirt.
Ami cried out, fingers clawing the ground.
I broke.
"STOP!! PLEASE—STOP—!!"
Luci tilted her head at me, a sweetness spreading across her face.
"Aww. Crying again? Don't worry. I won't kill her."
She tightened her foot.
"I need her alive."
Ami screamed again.
Sam tried to reach her.
Yergba tried too.
And then—
Yergba froze.
Her pupils dilated.
Her aura flared violently—purple lightning crackling across her arms.
Sam blinked in shock.
"A trace…?"
Yergba breathed in sharply, like something inside her snapped open.
"I—I can feel her.Ami's energy—every flicker—every slash—every move—I can follow her."
Her aura ignited.
Sam stared.
"That's a Hunter-tier tracking ability… how do YOU—?!"
Yergba didn't answer.
She vanished.
Luci's smile faded for the first time.
"Oh?"
A punch slammed into Luci's back.
The impact created a crater.
Luci stumbled, letting go of Ami.
Ami collapsed.
Sam grabbed her instantly.
Ami sobbed into Sam's chest, shaking uncontrollably.
"You did good," Sam whispered. "Rest."
But Ami didn't rest.
She pushed off Sam—still trembling—and stood again.
Barely.
Covered in dust.Blood.Tears.
Her hair wild.Her eyes blazing with feral determination.
"I'm… not… done…"
Yergba appeared at her side, aura sparking like thunder.
"Let's end her."
Luci's smile returned.
"Oh.Now I'm excited."