Somewhere between reality and illusion…
Ava floated in darkness.
Not just the absence of light—but the absence of truth.
Shapes flickered at the edge of her vision—fragments of broken mirrors, each reflecting a different version of herself.
In one, she was weeping.
In another, screaming.
In another still, she stood beside Megumi as the world burned, smiling.
Her voice echoed in the distance, layered over itself:
"You loved him."
"You feared him."
"You chose him."
"You doomed us all."
She pressed her hands to her ears.
"Stop it… Stop it!"
A sudden surge of fire bloomed around her. The cherry blossom tree she knew so well erupted in flames.
Megumi stood beneath it.
His wings were blackened. His eyes glowed red. He smiled.
"You belong to me."
"No—!"
She turned and ran, only to find herself back in the same place.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The Labyrinth
It wasn't a place.
It was her mind.
And it had been hijacked.
In the distance, a figure sat atop a throne made of twisted silver vines. A mockery of beauty. A lie carved into shape.
Asmodeus.
He sipped tea from a porcelain cup with the elegance of a noble, watching Ava with theatrical amusement.
"My dear," he said softly, "don't you tire of running from yourself?"
She didn't answer.
She couldn't.
He didn't expect her to.
"You humans are so fascinating," he mused. "You desire truth… but worship comfort. You love your heroes until they change. Then, suddenly, you call them monsters."
He raised the teacup in toast.
"To contradictions."
Ava's Struggle
She stumbled into a room—a memory from childhood. Her father's voice echoed.
"You always see the good in people, Ava. Don't lose that."
Her mother's voice followed:
"But if you do… make sure it's your choice. Not someone else's."
The memory faded.
Replaced by the vision of Megumi kneeling in the crater, begging her to believe him.
And her voice—
"I don't know what's real anymore."
Tears welled in her eyes.
"What is real?"
The First Spark
A voice answered her.
Not Asmodeus.
Not a memory.
But something deep inside her.
Megumi's voice—shaky, gentle, honest:
"I am still the boy you defended."
The moment echoed.
It hadn't come from a dream.
She remembered his expression when he said it—his pain, his guilt.
His truth.
And suddenly, the mirrors cracked.
Ava took a breath.
A real breath.
Asmodeus frowned.
The light around her began to grow—not bright, but solid. Grounded. Hers.
Asmodeus Responds
The illusion began to break. Asmodeus rose from his throne, displeased.
"You shouldn't be able to resist this," he said calmly, though his eye twitched. "Your bond with him is corrupted. Your mind should have collapsed by now."
Ava stood straighter.
"My bond with him isn't corrupted."
She met his gaze, voice steady now.
"You just can't understand it."
With a scream of defiance, she slammed her hands together—
And the entire illusion shattered.
Back in Reality – Her Bedroom
Ava awoke gasping for air.
Sweat soaked her bedsheets. Her heart pounded.
But her mind was hers again.
And something was glowing faintly in her hand—the silver necklace. Megumi's.
She clutched it to her chest and whispered:
"I'm sorry. I believe you."
Epilogue Scene – Asmodeus's Lair
The silver-masked demon paced the edge of a burning spiral in the ground, where vision fragments floated like pages from a cursed book.
"She wasn't supposed to resist," he muttered. "Not yet."
A shadow moved behind him.
It was Erebus, silent and looming.
"You're playing with forces beyond control," Erebus warned.
Asmodeus smiled coldly.
"Control is an illusion. And I, my dear Erebus, am the master of illusions."
But for the first time, a sliver of doubt crept into his voice.
Because somewhere out there… Ava was no longer afraid.
And that changed everything.