The wind screamed through the peaks of the obsidian mountains where Megumi trained, but he stood still—silent, breathless—his gaze locked on the horizon.
His chest tightened.
A pulse.
A flicker.
A disturbance in the bond he could not name, yet felt as surely as his heartbeat.
"Ava…?"
The whisper left his lips unbidden.
He clutched his chest. A sharp pain, not physical—but emotional. Like something inside him had cracked just slightly.
Behind him, Leonidas watched from the edge of the training ground. The old demon king narrowed his eyes. He felt it too—faint, but present. A ripple in the spiritual tether Megumi and Ava shared.
"She's hurting," Megumi said aloud.
Leonidas stepped forward. "Your emotions are bleeding into your aura again. You must contain it."
But Megumi didn't move. He was staring at nothing, yet everything.
"I felt her crying," he whispered. "But… not from sadness. From fear."
Meanwhile – Earth
Ava's footsteps echoed as she walked the halls of the school. But the corridor was strangely empty—no chatter, no laughter.
Just silence.
Then… a sound. The sharp echo of a second pair of footsteps behind her.
She turned. No one.
Her eyes darted across the lockers. The light flickered overhead.
Another step.
Then a voice.
"Ava."
She whirled around.
There he was.
Megumi.
But something was… wrong.
His eyes were empty—devoid of humanity. His black and white wings were unfurled, casting shadows that seemed to stretch for miles. His halo burned like fire.
"Megumi…?"
He didn't respond.
He raised a hand.
She stepped back.
"Megumi, it's me."
But his expression twisted into a hollow, monstrous grin.
"Stop running."
She stumbled away, gasping. "This… this isn't real…"
Then the walls of the hallway began to twist, darken, pulse like living flesh.
"Stop pretending I'm still the boy you loved," the vision of Megumi growled.
And then—
He lunged.
Ava screamed—
And woke up.
Drenched in sweat. Heart racing.
She clutched her chest, trembling.
But the worst part wasn't the dream.
It was that for one brief, terrifying moment…
She believed it.
Demon Realm – Later That Night
Megumi sat alone on a jagged cliff edge, staring into the void beneath him. Below, rivers of molten energy flowed like veins of fire. But he barely noticed.
He could feel Ava's emotions like echoes across a canyon—muted, but aching.
Fear.
Mistrust.
Doubt.
Not of the world.
Of him.
"Why now?" he muttered. "Why would she…?"
The wind didn't answer.
But something did.
A whisper.
A voice, slithering into his mind.
She sees what you are.
"No…"
A monster. A threat. Not the boy she once defended. Just another demon cloaked in a broken halo.
He clutched his head, trying to drown it out.
You're losing her.
"SHUT UP!"
He screamed into the night, a burst of energy cracking the cliff beneath him.
Leonidas arrived in an instant, stepping through a portal of fire. His eyes immediately found the boy shaking on his knees.
"You felt her fear again."
Megumi looked up, eyes bloodshot. "She thinks I'm a monster."
Leonidas's jaw clenched.
"She doesn't," he said carefully. "Not truly. This is Asmodeus's work. I warned you his tricks ran deep. He's sowing illusions in her mind—and yours."
"But what if it's not just illusions?" Megumi whispered. "What if I've already become something terrifying? What if I'm too far gone?"
Leonidas walked closer, kneeling beside him.
"Do you remember what I told you the day we buried Chloe?"
Megumi didn't answer.
Leonidas placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I said… the line between savior and destroyer is razor-thin. But what keeps you from falling is who you choose to protect, and why."
Megumi clenched his fists.
"I want to protect her more than anything."
"Then hold on to that," Leonidas said. "Because Asmodeus is counting on you to let go."
Elsewhere – Asmodeus's Lair
The demon reclined on a throne of twisted bones, watching illusions swirl within a crystal of corrupted starlight. Ava's dreams played like a broken reel—each one darker than the last. Each one showing Megumi as more monstrous, more alien.
He chuckled softly.
Beside him, a specter-like servant hissed, "The girl is breaking. Soon, she will turn on him."
Asmodeus smiled.
"No… she won't need to turn."
He lifted a finger, twisting the projection like a puppeteer pulling string.
"She'll beg him to stay away. And when she does… it will shatter him more than any blade."
He snapped his fingers.
The crystal surged.
Earth – Ava's Room
Ava stared at a photo of her and Megumi from before the tragedy. Before Chloe. Before wings and halos and gods.
He had been smiling then. Awkward. Gentle.
But now…
She closed her eyes and saw the dream version again. Cold. Violent. Unrecognizable.
Tears slid down her cheeks.
"What's happening to you, Megumi?"
A knock at the door startled her.
It was her mother. "Sweetheart? You okay?"
Ava quickly wiped her tears. "Yeah. Just tired."
As the door closed, she looked back at the photo.
"I want to believe in you," she whispered.
"But I'm scared you're becoming what you swore to fight."
Demon Realm – Final Scene
That night, Megumi didn't sleep.
He sat under a fractured moon, his halo flickering erratically. His aura had changed—unstable. The black and white wings curled protectively around him like a cocoon.
His heart burned with guilt, with fear.
But most of all…
With determination.
"If I have to burn through every illusion Asmodeus creates… I will."
His voice was steady.
"Because I won't lose her."
The sky above cracked with distant thunder—a storm was coming.
And in its eye stood a boy with a halo, a scarred heart, and a will forged in grief.
He would fight.
He had to.
Because if he lost Ava…
He'd lose himself.