The boys hadn't moved far when the shadows around them flickered.
A demon lunged from behind a wrecked car, claws raised—
"Constant!"
Cyrus barely had time to react.
But Constant didn't need to.
A sharp crack echoed through the air.
Blood Reaper appeared between them and the demon, moving faster than sight.
The demon froze mid-strike.
Its head slid clean off its body before it even understood she was there.
Blood Reaper stood silent, staff in hand, purple darkness swirling at her feet.
Constant's breath caught.
He felt that fire again.
Stronger.
She looked back at him—just him—for a moment too long.
Keuirseu swallowed. "She… saved you."
Cyrus muttered, "Or she didn't want something else killing you before she did."
Blood Reaper ignored them all.
Her attention shifted to the staff in her hand…
And her smile curved.
Slow.
Ancient.
Dangerous.
"Now!" Keuirseu shouted, rushing forward.
He grabbed for the ancient star-glass staff—
Blood Reaper didn't even blink.
A blast of invisible force hurled him backward, slamming him into a car.
Cyrus and Constant rushed to him—"Are you okay?!"—but Keuirseu's eyes were wide.
"It's reacting," he whispered. "Her staff—it's alive."
Blood Reaper tilted her chin, amused.
She lifted her arms slowly, palms upward.
Darkness swirled.
The staff rose from her hand, floating vertically in front of her, spinning slowly like a star being born.
The boys rushed forward.
There was no getting close.
An invisible wall slammed them back every time they tried.
A tornado of black shadow-wind ripped upward around her, violent and beautiful.
The children dropped to their knees, covering their eyes, hair whipping in the storm.
Constant shouted, "Blood Reaper! Stop—you're hurting them!"
She didn't.
She didn't even hear him.
Her eyes rolled white.
Her head tilted back.
The staff pulsed—twisted—glowed—
Then broke into shards of celestial glass.
The shards flew straight into her chest.
She absorbed every piece.
The tornado died instantly.
Silence fell.
Blood Reaper lowered her head.
Her eyes opened—
Bright, glowing PURPLE.
Her mouth stretched wider than human, lips curling into a horrifying, impossibly wide grin—
A predator's smile. Sharp teeth. Endless hunger. Endless power.
Keuirseu whispered, trembling, "That's not just Blood Reaper anymore…"
Cyrus stepped back. "That's something worse."
Constant couldn't move.
Couldn't breathe.
Her smile widened at him.
Not sweet.
Not kind.
But claiming.
The staff vanished completely — its power now living inside her.
Blood Reaper stood taller, stronger, more terrifying than ever.
And she whispered one thing:
"Mine."
High above the mortal realm, Heaven's atmosphere trembled.
Light fractured.
Energy cracked like thunder.
A forbidden frequency pulsed through every angel's bones — a power they were never meant to feel again.
Archangel after archangel looked up, horrified.
"She's waking," whispered one.
"The Forbidden One."
Another angel stepped forward, voice trembling but sharp:
"She must be put to death."
A ripple of gasps spread through the Host.
"She is an abomination," the angel continued. "An angel forged from balance and blood. She threatens the order. If she lives, Heaven falls."
Morvath stood at the balcony overlooking Earth.
His hands were clasped behind him.
Expression unreadable.
But his voice…
Calm.
Cold.
Final.
"Send them all."
"What?" another angel shouted. "All the legions?! Against one girl?!"
Morvath didn't blink.
"She is no girl."
Back on Earth—
Blood Reaper's body went rigid as the last of the staff's power flooded her veins.
The children stared up at her, trembling.
Her newly elongated nails scraped the ground with every breath.
Purple light glowed through the cracks in her skin.
Her smile… unnatural.
Bloodstained.
Beautiful and monstrous at once.
"B–Blood Reaper?" the little girl whispered.
No response.
Then—
CRACK.
Her wings exploded from her back.
Not feathers.
Not bone.
Wings made of swirling shadow-starlight, like the staff reborn, tiny galaxies glittering across the stretched darkness.
The kids screamed and covered their ears as the shockwave shattered windows across the street.
Benjamin ran, grabbed them both, and pulled them behind a toppled truck.
"Don't look!" he ordered. "Stay down!"
Blood Reaper rose taller, wings expanding into the air, dripping cosmic dust.
She smiled wider.
Too wide.
A distant roar tore open the sky.
Every demon for miles bowed their heads instinctively.
Dyren's voice rattled the air:
"Test her."
The clouds shredded as a massive black demonic dragon slammed downward.
Scales like obsidian.
Eyes burning sickly green.
A wingspan that blotted out the sun.
It struck Blood Reaper full-force, jaws snapping around her torso, dragging her through three buildings as debris exploded around them.
Dust and fire filled the streets.
Benjamin shielded the kids with his body.
"Stay with me! Don't run!"
Cyrus and Keuirseu tried to move toward the wreckage—
Constant was already sprinting.
The dragon smashed Blood Reaper into a wall again—
Until the building collapsed on top of them both.
Thunder cracked.
Rain poured suddenly, violently, soaking the ruined city.
The sky darkened until it looked bruised.
Morvath's command echoed through every drop of water:
"Now. While she's buried."
Dozens—
hundreds—
of angels descended through the storm, spears glowing.
Their wings lit the sky like falling stars.
People below screamed and ran, believing doomsday had begun.
Cyrus stared upward in shock. "They're using the storm to hide their numbers—damn it—"
Keuirseu grabbed his arm. "They're not after us. They're after her."
Constant's voice broke: "We can't let them kill her!"
Benjamin yelled from behind the truck, "The kids are safe—GO!"
The first wave of angels dove toward the rubble where Blood Reaper lay buried.
Their spears ignited—
Heaven's judgment ready to strike.
The city shakes.
Blood Reaper erupts from the rubble like a star-born monster, wings of black wind and constellations blasting outward in a shockwave. Every feather glows with tiny drifting lights—stars dying and being reborn in her wake. Angels scream as she cuts through them, her movements a blur of shadow and silver fire.
The demonic dragon that Dyren sent coils back for another strike—
—but she grabs its jaw mid-lunge.
A roar explodes from her, so loud the pavement cracks. She tears the dragon apart in a storm of black flame and falling scales, its death-cry echoing over the shattered city.
Constant sees her through the smoke—
and something inside him fractures and ignites.
He shoves past Cyrus and Keuirseu, desperate.
"BLOOD REAPER!" he shouts, voice cracking. "Look at me—please!"
But she's lost in the carnage, eyes glowing violent violet, magic dripping off her fingers like burning ink.
Then—
the other dragon strikes.
Constant's body jerks—then reshapes, bones breaking, skin glowing. With a roar of pure devotion, he transforms into a massive dark-blue dragon, scales glowing like deep ocean lightning. He slams into the demonic dragon, jaws locking as the two beasts spiral through the sky, smashing buildings as they fall.
Cyrus disappears into smoke, shifting into his demon form—skin obsidian, tattoos glowing—hunting through the shadows with inhuman precision. Any demon stupid enough to get near him dies silently, neck snapped, throat cut, body dropped.
Keuirseu stands above the battlefield on a broken rooftop, eyes turning full celestial white. His clothes bleach into glowing white cloth laced with black fishnet-like energy that hums like static. The air bends around him.
Thunder cracks.
He lifts his hand—
—and a tornado of white lightning erupts around him, swirling with holy fire. Demons are shredded into dust the moment they touch the storm.
But even with all their power…
Blood Reaper is worse.
Far worse.
She moves through their battlefield like a nightmare given shape—
until she freezes.
Slowly, her head turns.
And she finally locks eyes with Constant in his dragon form.
For a heartbeat—
chaos pauses.
Her wings flared wider, stars drifting from the feathers. Her violet eyes burn brighter. Something old and terrifying recognizes him… or claims him.
Then she smiles.
That horrifying, stretched, sharp-toothed smile that makes even the angel's flinch.
She whispers, voice echoing unnaturally:
"Mine."
Dyren sees it.
Across the battlefield, through smoke and raining feathers, Dyren watches Blood Reaper lock eyes with Constant—
and smile for him.
A smile she has never given anyone.
His jaw tightens. His wings flare open, black fire licking off the feathers like fury given form.
"…No," he snarls.
"That is not for him."
The air around him vibrates. His aura lashes like chains trying to break free.
"If anyone claims her—
it will be me."
His jealousy turns feral, hungry. He lifts his hand, ready to summon another dragon, something worse—
But the sky tears open first.