The Demon Realm rumbled with protest as a rift tore open in the sky. Crimson lightning crackled along its edges as Megumi, wrapped in shadows and light, stepped through it.
He ignored Leonidas's voice calling after him.
"There is no guarantee you'll come back the same, Megumi!"
But he had already made his choice.
Ava needed him.
Even if she didn't want to see him.
Even if she feared him.
Even if he was walking into a storm of doubt and manipulation.
He had to face her.
He had to know the truth.
Earth – Nightfall
Ava sat beneath the cherry blossom tree in the courtyard behind the school—the same place where Megumi once sat quietly before everything changed.
Petals drifted down like soft snow, untouched by wind.
She clutched a small silver necklace—Megumi's. A piece of him she had kept all this time.
Her chest ached with conflict.
Every night, the dreams had grown more vivid.
More cruel.
Megumi screaming.
Megumi killing.
Megumi reaching for her with blood on his hands.
But…
Her heart refused to believe it.
She closed her eyes.
And felt it.
A shift in the air.
A surge of power.
She stood just as a pulse of radiant darkness swept through the sky above. The petals swirled, then froze mid-air.
And then he appeared.
Megumi.
Wings spread, halo dimmed, expression unreadable.
He landed silently across from her, no more than ten feet away.
Her breath caught in her throat.
His eyes—tired, haunted—locked onto hers.
For a moment, neither moved.
Ava's POV
It wasn't a dream.
He was really here.
But something about him looked heavier. Like the weight of everything he carried had finally begun to crush him.
And still, he had come.
He said nothing, simply watching her with the same eyes she remembered.
The silence became unbearable.
"…Why are you here?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
He stepped forward once.
"I had to see you."
His voice held no anger.
Only pain.
Only longing.
Ava's heart pounded.
"I've been seeing things," she said, stepping back. "Dreams. Nightmares. Visions of you… hurting people. Smiling when you do it."
"I know," he said. "Asmodeus is behind it."
"But what if he's not making it up?" Her voice cracked. "What if he's just showing me what you'll become?"
He flinched.
That single moment told her everything.
He was afraid she was right.
Megumi's POV
Her words hit like knives.
But what crushed him more was the fear in her eyes—the way she looked at him like he was no longer hers.
He dropped to one knee.
"I don't care what I become," he said quietly. "I only care about one thing."
She blinked, startled.
"I care about protecting you."
Her lip trembled.
"But what if protecting me means destroying everything else?"
His head lowered.
"I'll burn it all… if it means you live."
And that's what terrified her most.
Not that he might become a monster.
But that he already was, for her sake.
Overhead – Invisible to Them
Asmodeus leaned against a broken clocktower nearby, cloaked in shadow. His eyes gleamed with delight.
This is where they break, he thought.
With a small flick of his finger, he sent a ripple through Ava's mind—one final push.
She gasped and staggered back, gripping her head.
Megumi surged forward. "Ava!"
But she screamed, eyes wide in terror.
He froze mid-step.
"D-don't—don't touch me!"
Her voice was raw with panic.
"I—I saw you again—you crushed the gods, tore the world apart! I saw you standing on mountains of ash—laughing!"
Megumi's wings flared, a surge of emotion erupting from him in a wave of chaotic energy.
"No. That's not me. You know me!"
"I—I don't know anymore!"
The words shattered him.
She was crying.
But she wasn't reaching for him.
She was pulling away.
Leonidas's Voice – In Megumi's Mind
"If you go to her now, without knowing the truth in your heart, she will see your chaos… and believe it."
Megumi's hands clenched.
His voice trembled.
"I am still the boy you defended… the boy who couldn't even land a punch without flinching."
"But now you don't flinch," she said, tears spilling. "Now you could kill anyone."
"I wouldn't hurt you."
"But if it came down to me or the world…?"
He said nothing.
And that silence said everything.
Sudden Shift – A New Vision
Ava blinked—
And the world changed.
Darkness bled across the edges of her vision. The school burned behind Megumi. The sky rained blood. He stood on a hill of corpses.
And she was at his side, holding his hand.
"Together," his voice echoed in her head.
And she smiled in the vision.
Ava gasped and stumbled backward, collapsing to her knees.
"No… I would never…"
The vision faded.
Megumi was still kneeling, unmoving.
But now, his expression was full of horror.
"You saw it too," he whispered.
She looked up at him—torn, heartbroken, terrified.
"I don't know what's real anymore…"
Megumi's Breaking Point
Something inside him cracked.
Not his resolve.
But his hope.
His wings dimmed.
His halo flickered violently.
The edges of his body shimmered, like he was phasing between forms—between Megumi… and something far more dangerous.
"I thought I could protect you by becoming stronger," he said, voice shaking. "But maybe… all I've done is become the thing you needed protection from."
She reached for him—
But he vanished.
Epilogue Scene – Leonidas's Temple
Megumi reappeared in a burst of unstable energy, collapsing at Leonidas's feet. His aura was cracked. His breathing erratic.
Leonidas knelt, checking his pulse.
"You shouldn't have gone," he said softly.
Megumi stared at the ceiling.
"She doesn't trust me."
"No," Leonidas said. "She doesn't trust herself."
Megumi's voice broke.
"…I think I've lost her."
"No," Leonidas said, helping him sit up. "But Asmodeus is close to winning. We need a new strategy—and soon. Because next time, he won't settle for illusions."