The room was drowned in darkness, broken only by a thin beam of moonlight slipping through the shattered window, and sudden flashes of lightning that struck without warning, painting silver veins across the cold floor.
Tiflos stood within the shadows, watching Noor as she stepped cautiously into the room that had once been their secret refuge. Her breathing was fast and uneven, her heart pounding like a war drum heralding a decisive battle. The scent of old blood and dust lingered in the corners, yet beneath it all hid a faint fragrance of beautiful memories—memories that had died between these walls.
"You shouldn't have come," Tiflos said in the cold voice she had come to know all too well—yet still refused to accept.
"You could have lived in peace, far away from here… and from me."
Noor stopped a few steps away. Her silver eyes shimmered in the darkness like lost stars.
"I couldn't leave you here… in this hell you created for yourself. I couldn't live knowing you're paying the price for protecting us—with your soul."
Tiflos stepped toward her, silver lightning reflecting in his fierce eyes.
"Go back to where you came from. Live your life. Forget the Resistance… forget me. Live a normal life. I am no longer the man you once knew."
"I can't." Noor took a step forward, her hands raised in surrender.
"Because the part of me that knew you… and loved you… is still alive inside me. And because I know the part of you that still loves me… is still alive inside you too."
Tiflos drew his sword and began advancing toward her.
…
…
…
The first clash began.
Tiflos attacked first. Noor spread her specters—phantom arms unfolding across the room, pursuing him as he moved with inhuman speed. Yet every one of his strikes was aimed not at her, but at her specters. Sonic waves burst from him, forcing her backward toward the door, as if they were designed to repel, not to harm her—only to destroy the phantoms shielding her.
The red sword swung at terrifying speed beneath the flashes of lightning, appearing like the blade of a demonic king.
Noor maneuvered, allowing her specters to pass through Tiflos and re-form behind him, trying to restrain him. But no one knew her combat style better than Tiflos—and it was clear he had grown far stronger during his time with Cain.
She tried to get closer, but he kept forcing her back toward the door with stubborn determination, trying to make her flee—to save herself from him.
Noor moved near the bed, grabbed the blanket, and threw it over him. But it was an old trick. Tiflos retreated instantly, shifting to his right—
—and suddenly, Noor was right in front of him.
Tiflos's hands trembled. Instinctively, he reversed his attack pattern, redirecting his strike toward her neck.
…
But Noor saw the blood-red blade rushing toward her. Without thinking, she raised her hands to protect her throat, frozen in terror, believing he was about to take her head.
The sword struck lightly against her hands.
She realized then—it was the flat of the blade. It wasn't sharp.
Fear twisted Noor's face… until she saw Tiflos's expression, one that revealed all of their shared suffering.
"It seems… you're still there," she whispered.
"Tiflos."
Spectral hands burst forth from her body, gripping him tightly.
Noor turned toward the bag behind her, reaching for the sedatives Elias had given her—but Tiflos's frozen voice stopped her.
"You…"
"Why did you come back?"
"Do you really want me to kill you?"
"ZZZZZZZZZZZZ—!"
A piercing shriek of sonic waves erupted from Tiflos, shredding her specters instantly. Noor clutched her ears, screaming from the force of the sound.
Then a kick slammed into her, sending her flying.
Tiflos became completely unrestrained.
His sword, overflowing with violent waves, struck wildly, smashing furniture and pillars around them. Every swing stopped just centimeters before reaching Noor—after obliterating specters and wood alike.
"Look at me!" he shouted, crushing a wooden pillar with a furious strike far away from her.
"Leave! I am not the man you knew! I killed children! Destroyed families! I became a monster! I don't deserve salvation!"
"And I know why you did all of that!" Noor screamed as she narrowly avoided another blow, one hand pressed to her ear as tears streamed down her face.
"It was to protect us! But this isn't protection—this is a prison! A prison you built around yourself… and around us!"
But Tiflos raged through the room, smashing chairs and columns at random, as if driving Noor away—pouring every ounce of his pain into the walls around them.
When Noor realized he wouldn't let her approach—wouldn't listen to her words—she suddenly stopped in the middle of the room.
Their silver eyes met.
She took a trembling breath, one that carried a desperate, irreversible decision. Her body shook as she exhaled, then she opened her arms wide—fully exposed, fully surrendered.
It was surrender that meant death.
"If you can't come back to me…" she whispered softly, fear and unbreakable resolve intertwined,
"…then I will go to you."
In a flash, before Tiflos could comprehend her intent, she rushed toward him.
She leapt into the path of his blade.
…
The shock froze Tiflos in place.
The blood-red sword pierced her abdomen with horrifying ease. The sound of flesh tearing echoed inside his mind—louder than the destruction of the room itself.
"No—!"
The scream tore from him, broken in a way no one had ever heard before.
Thick red blood poured from her body.
Tiflos recoiled in horror, releasing the sword as it slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor. He lunged toward her as she collapsed to her knees.
Noor fell to the ground, her hand pressing against the deep wound. Her blood spread across the cold floor, painting a tragic image of pain and sacrifice.
"Now…" she whispered weakly,
"Will you run away again… or will you face the truth?"
Tiflos collapsed beside her. His face twisted, caught between sobbing, screaming, and breaking apart. His hands shook violently as he tried to stop the bleeding, his voice shattered by tears and terror.
"Why?"
"Why did you do this?"
"Why did you come back… and risk your life for me?"
"Because I know…" she whispered as consciousness slowly slipped away, her hand touching his face for the first time in over a month,
"…that the man I loved… is still there."
"And you… deserve… salvation…"
Something broke inside Tiflos.
Every wall he had built around his heart—every layer of coldness, every mask of cruelty—shattered before the sight of the woman he loved dying in his arms to save him… to bring him back to himself.
He lifted her with trembling arms and surged out of the room at a speed that surpassed sound itself. Metal doors bent under his desperate fury. Walls cracked as uncontrolled sonic waves shrieked outward from his despair.
His broken cries echoed through the corridors:
"A doctor! I need a doctor!"
He rushed past one of the corridors—never noticing Orion standing there.
Orion's red eyes had witnessed everything.
"It seems you succeeded, Noor…" he murmured quietly.
"All that remains… is to make sure he never comes back here again."
A deep sadness settled across Orion's face, as though he were bidding farewell to his brother—hoping he would never return.
But was this truly for his brother's sake?
Or so that he would no longer live in his shadow…
and no longer have to compete with him in power?