Vali's eyes widened, the relief of seeing her instantly crushed by the realization of the mortal danger she was now in. Sister Andrea, the last person he expected, the one person wholly dedicated to god stood before him. She was barefoot on the cold stone, wearing only simple night attire, yet she wielded a weapon that radiated absolute authority. It was a holy sword, its golden-black hilt molded perfectly to her palm, and the platinum blade reflected the sharp, cynical moonlight. Runes, faintly humming with contained divine energy, traced lethal paths along its length.
"Are you okay, Vali?" Sister Andrea asked, her voice a steady balm despite the weapon in her hand. Her gaze was fixed on the devil, but her concern was genuine as it fell upon the angry bruise blossoming on Vali's neck.
"I… Sister Andrea…" Vali swallowed the lump in his throat. He had been terrified for himself; now he was terrified for her.
The dark phantom who had been hiding in the alley's deep shadow stepped forward, pulling the moonlight's full focus onto his face. Sister Andrea and Vali could clearly see the devil now, sharp, almost vampiric features, skin so pale it seemed to leech the color from the air, and eyes like pools of dried, stagnant blood. His thin, predatory smile revealed teeth just a little too long. It was Berjequel the Cruel, an executioner among Lucifer's subordinates, a name Vali knew well from his father's distant, fearful whispers.
"Huh, hahaha," Berjequel laughed, the sound grating and unnatural in the silence of the night. He tilted his head, regarding Sister Andrea with the detached curiosity of a predator assessing a particularly foolish prey.
"This is funny. Truly funny. Do you even have the slightest idea who are you protecting behind you right now, woman?"
Sister Andrea remained utterly still, her posture one of serene, unshakeable readiness. Her grip tightened on the holy sword. "Fancy me," she replied, her voice low and even, utterly devoid of fear.
Berjequel sneered, spreading his arms theatrically, his shadow stretching and contracting like a living thing. "That child is a devil! A descendant of Lucifer! The incarnation of an old evil that your scriptures, your very faith, demands you destroy!"
Vali flinched, instinctively bowing his head. He braced himself for the inevitable judgment, the fear, the revulsion that always followed the revelation of his heritage. Especially after a couple of weeks hiding it from the very person in front of him.
But Sister Andrea did not move back. Instead, she took a decisive step forward, placing herself fully between Vali and the devil. The faint divine aura around her seemed to grow warmer, pushing back the cold darkness.
"You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in this land," she recited, her voice gaining strength, drawing power from the ancient creed.
Her eyes, usually soft and blue, were now chips of hardened sapphire. "Be it the Lucifer itself, as long as he is my guest, I will protect him."
The absolute, simple conviction in her words struck Vali harder than any physical blow. He never believed unconditional kindness back then, but every single day he spent in this isolated, old, orphanage is just the very definition of that.
Berjequel's cruel smile vanished, replaced by a look of lethal frustration.
"Such self-righteous foolishness," he muttered, shaking his head. The shadows beneath his feet began to bubble and writhe, coiling like countless sleeping vipers. "Then very well. I shall grant your death."
The moment the words left his mouth, the alley exploded into chaos. Berjequel did not physically move, he simply dissolved into the shadows, his form melting into the blackness that clung to the stone walls. The darkness surged outward like a tide, instantly swallowing the moonlight and plunging the narrow space into suffocating obscurity.
"Sister Andrea! Get back! Don't let him catch you with the shadow!" Vali shouted, his warning sharp and immediate. Sister Andrea responded with a nod before took a step back.
Vali's reaction was instinctive, instantaneous. His fear for her fueled the raw power in his core.
"Divide!"
A blinding, sapphire-blue light erupted from his chest. Translucent, shimmering dragon wings of pure sacred energy burst from his back, overlaying the black, demonic wings beneath them in a paradoxical, glorious clash of power. The Divine Dividing, the Sacred Gear of the White Dragon Emperor, roared into life, stabilizing his body against the overwhelming pressure of Berjequel's shadow manipulation.
Berjequel materialized in the air barely a meter behind Sister Andrea, his hand carved with darkness and sharp claws lunging toward her neck, a strike meant to kill silently and instantly.
But Vali was faster.
He lunged forward with inhuman speed, a sonic boom ripping the air as his gauntleted fist charged with rapidly draining, holy-infused energy slammed into Berjequel's torso mid-materialization. The blow was devastating, not just physical force, but a shockwave of sacred power designed to rip apart supernatural beings.
" Divide! "
Berjequel was hurled backward like a rag doll, his body smashing through the brittle stone wall of the chapel's outer structure. The sound was deafening, a sickening crunch of rock and bone. The impact created a massive, jagged breach in the wall, debris showering down into the courtyard.
Sister Andrea moved before the dust had even settled. She was a blur of holy energy, springing forward into the wreckage. Her platinum blade cut through the swirling smoke and shadow, its light pushing back the suffocating darkness Berjequel was attempting to generate. She vaulted through the hole, landing lightly amidst the rubble, sword raised and ready.
And then with a clean cut, a white slash cut Berjequel left hand before he could dematerialize into shadows. Making him taking a step back, but sister Andrea didn't stop there, she thrust her sword, aiming straight to Berjequel's heart but he sucesfully dodged it only for a flying kick from Vali send him to the wall.
Berjequel emerged from the pile of stone fragments, his face contorted in a mask of rage and pain. Holy burns patches of seared, smoking flesh marred his hand, but he laughed, a gurgling, defiant sound.
"So this is Divine Dividing," he spat, wiping blood from his lip. Even though Berjequel is smiling, but he running his mind, the effect of Vali's divine dividing could be seen just by how much slower his manifestation of shadow has become. He running his mind, the combination of Vali reducing his strength and the speed and tenacity of Andrea is devastating.
" Bravo, young master! But, still to green, unriped. " Berjequel said, with a slight grin. " Let me tell you something about being a devil as a fellow hybrid. "
' I guess there is no other choice than to reveal my true form. '
Berjequel is a half-devil half vampire, the vampire blood in him made him uniquely resilient and connected to the night compared to ordinary devil. The pinnacle of devil's prowess are their true form. He snapped his fingers as his eyes glowing like embers.
Vali and Sister Andrea felt the air around him vibrating differently. As an ex-Exorcist, Sister Andrea knew very well what this usually means, devil who usually looks humanly is just masking their true appearance and nature as the devil, the True Form, the opposite of the strays devil who usually embraced it.
Bone crackle. Berjequel face shaped turn ugly, almost bat like with elongated ear and nose. Skin creased, turned into dark grey abomination. And suddenly, 8 pairs of bat like wings emerged from his back, flying into the moonlight, manifesting the eclipse as the darkness emerged.
" Behold, my true form. "
The shadows obeyed. The blackness beneath Sister Andrea's feet suddenly solidified, rising up and wrapping around her ankles and shins like thick, cold iron chains, locking her in place. She stumbled, momentary surprise flashing across her face, disrupting her attack rhythm.
Berjequel seized the opening. His own shadow stretched unnaturally, slithering across the rubble and rising up behind her, forming a solid, grotesque silhouette poised for a stabbing strike from her blind spot.
Vali roared, his power surging again in a frantic attempt to break her free. "Divide! Divide!" The blue energy pulsed, stripping the ambient power from the air, weakening the demonic hold. He drove himself downward like a comet, slamming his fist onto the ground where the shadow was attempting to rise. The shockwave of sacred force tore through the solidified darkness, forcing Berjequel to instantly withdraw the attack before it was shredded.
The battle spilled out of the confinement of the alley and into the open chapel grounds. Stone slabs cracked and fissured under the impacts. Windows shattered from the sheer force of the sound waves. The metallic clang of the chapel bell rang wildly as debris struck it repeatedly, its sound echoing across the dark like the bell of end, rang a terrifying anthem.
Meanwhile inside the old orphanage, the violence was no longer distant. It was a terrifying tremor that shook the foundations of the building.
Jay was jolted awake by the immense cracking sound of the chapel wall breaking. The ground trembled beneath his small bed.
"What the hell is going on?!" he muttered, scrambling upright.
Elena burst into the hallway, her hair wild, her eyes wide with fear. "Jay! Wake up! It sounds like the roof is falling off!"
The other children, startled and crying, began to emerge from their rooms, huddling together in the narrow hallway.
Dread, sharp and icy, pierced Jay's sleep-fogged mind. He knew, instinctively, this was not a storm or an accident. He threw open the front door and sprinted onto the lawn.
And what he and the kids froze dead, his breath catching in his throat.
The scene before their eyes are straight from the biblical hero story, a fantasy, illuminated by the clashing energies. Vali, magnificent and terrible, hovered mid-air, his Divine Dividing radiating intensely, the roar of the dragon's power echoing around him while trying to catch Berjequel who is gliding like bat and teleporting like shadows. Below, Sister Andrea, weapon held high, fought with focused, righteous fury, deflecting and carving through tendrils of kinetic shadow.
' What in heaven, happened in front of my eyes. ' Jay tought. He then turned to look at the others, Mihea and Andrei tightened their grip on Elena's long skirt, while Iacob and Ilea hug each other in fear, Filip just standing froze like a statue.
And Elena, as much as she trying to held up. The trembling on her body is too real.
The devil's shadow was no longer passive. It was a monstrous, writhing entity. Vampire-like familiars, skeletal and fast, with glowing crimson eyes, began peeling themselves from the main mass of darkness. They hissed like steam, their gazes sweeping the battlefield for weak points. Their eyes found the children huddled in the doorway.
Jay's heart seized.
' Oh no, they're coming! '
"Sister Andrea! Vali!" he screamed, the sound lost in the din of the battle.
Vali and Sister Andrea instantly reacted to the voices, their heads snapping toward the orphanage entrance. Sister Andrea especially widened her eyes in fear.
' Oh no, Not them! '
Berjequel smiled, a slow, sickening movement of his lips. A diabolical thought crossed his mind.
"Oh?" he purred, his voice carrying clearly, cutting through the chaos. "It seems like we have a visitor here, hehehehe."
" No! Don't you dare! "
The shadows surged, the summoned vampire familiars redirecting their trajectory away from Vali and Sister Andrea toward the easy prey clustered at the doorway.
Sister Andrea screamed a warning, abandoning her attack pattern. She sprinted backward across the threshold, trying to positioning her body to shield the children. Her holy sword, meant for slaying devils, was now used defensively, its light a desperate barrier.
"Run! Get back inside! Go! Now!" she shouted, shoving the terrified children further back, her focus entirely fractured.
Vali roared in despair, a sound more animal than human. He dove downward, a blue torpedo, intercepting the fastest familiars mid-air. The Divine Dividing ripped through the vampire creatures, tearing their shadowy forms apart, but there were too many. They flowed around his attacks, overwhelming his defensive perimeter, all aimed at the vulnerable children.
Berjequel pressed his advantage with merciless efficiency. He abandoned all focus on Vali and Sister Andrea, knowing he had successfully destabilized the battlefield by threatening the innocents. Sister Andrea's attention was hopelessly split. Her eyes darted from the advancing shadow creatures to the children she was trying to shove to safety. She was distracted, losing her rhythm, losing her absolute focus.
It was a fatal lapse. A mistake born of compassion.
And for a creature like Berjequel, that was more than enough.
The air around Sister Andrea turned violently cold. Her own shadow, cast by the intense energy of the battle, twisted and elongated. Berjequel emerged, not taking a step, but simply out of her shadow on the ground. He was instantly on her back, his movement so fast it defied the eye. His weapon, a long, curved claw which his own hand, colored of obsidian black.
The sound was wet. Sharp. Final.
The platinum holy sword, the light of her defense, slipped from Sister Andrea's grasp. It struck the ground with a soft, metallic thud, its light fading instantly as a dark, blossoming stain of blood spread quickly across the back of her thin nightgown. A stab of hand pierced her heart like butter.
Her eyes widened, staring sightlessly over the heads of the children. Her mouth opened, silent words of disbelief and farewell trapped inside. Vali froze mid-flight, the roar dying in his throat.
The night held its breath.
"Sister… Andrea?" Jay's voice was a thin, broken sound, a lost gasp of absolute terror that finally pierced the sudden silence.
" I'm... sorry. "
She collapsed forward, her body failing, the last vestiges of her divine light extinguished, the dark, victorious world rushing up to meet her.
That night, she failed.