The knock echoed like a war drum.
Even through the cuffs.
Even through the haze of suppressed mana that wrapped my mind like wet cloth.
Kali paused.
I didn't need full vision to sense her — just the way the world bent around her presence. A perfect outline. Not glowing, not flickering. Solid. Like she was carved from something older than magic.
"You," she said to no one in particular. "Check the entrance. All of you."
The command didn't boom.
It floated.
And the worst part? They obeyed like puppets. Even the devils flinched slightly as they turned to leave — only one staying behind, still pacing the corridor like a bored warden.
Kali turned to me.
The door hissed open.
The full weight of her mana fell on me like smoke turned to stone. I could feel the guards that were near before vanish. My own aura shrunk back into my skin. My pulse slowed, throat tightening as if oxygen itself had lost confidence.
"You must feel so weak," she said softly.
Then she stepped closer.
The scent of her was wrong. Like something that should be sweet. Rotted away
"All this suppression," she whispered, fingertips tracing the cuffs like they were her own invention. "And yet… you still breathe. Mana-starved. Blind. How unfortunate. But then again—"
A pause.
"My presence alone can do what chains never could."
"I've never seen a presence like this before," I said flatly. "Even Lincoln doesn't hit this hard."
"Of course he doesn't," she purred.
I coughed a dry laugh. "The fact you actually believed that just now shows you know nothing."
She tilted her head. Smiling, I think. Her outline leaned closer.
"Your mouth," she murmured, fingers brushing under my chin, "is not as sharp as it thinks. I am the 10th strongest devil alive, no human stands a chance against us. Even with stories backing him"
I stiffened — but didn't move. Couldn't. I had to stall.
Her touch ran across my cheek.
Not draining.
Not yet.
Just… tasting the moment.
Then a scream from below shattered everything.
One of the soldiers. Loud. Panicked.
"—The guards! They're dead! The ones outside!"
Kali's fingers slipped away. She didn't rush. Didn't flinch. Just stood.
A breath.
A sigh.
And then the cell clicked shut.
"Well," she said. "It seems you'll live a few minutes longer."
Her outline turned and vanished into the blur of motion. The soldiers scrambled with her, boots stomping like a wave of iron. Only one shape remained — the pacing guard, bored as ever, walking that same pattern outside my cell.
I laid my head back against the wall. My heartbeat crashed through my ears. Mana flickered in my bones, trying to reassemble, still not enough. Not yet.
Another step from the guard.
Then silence.
Then—
The sound.
Flesh ripping. A body folding in half with a wet gasp.
And then… a heart. Pulled from his chest.
Still beating.
I felt the blood hit the wall before I even saw her.
"Salem," I breathed.
Her outline materialized from the shadows — soaked in blood, again. Like it belonged to her now. Her head turned, scanning the cell bars.
She dropped to the body. Checked it. Fast. Then swore.
"No keys."
"Kali has them," I said. "Salem, she's—she's strong. I don't know if we can—"
"I'm not here to lose," she snapped. But her tone softened a second later. "I'll get you out."
She knelt in front of the lock. Her mana gathered like a tide.
Then her shadow hand twitched.
A single finger extended, narrowing. Bending.
Shaping into a thin, curved key.
Click.
And as it creaked open—
A presence swallowed the hallway.
Instant.
No build-up. No footsteps.
Just there.
A blur. A cut in the outline of the world.
"What do we have here?"
Kali's voice.
Right behind Salem.
Neither of us had time to react.
And we both knew it.