The light spilled through the ceiling like a flood—blinding, colorless, heavy. It didn't burn like divine fire or tear like demonic corruption. It just was, and that made it worse.
Jung Min shielded his eyes with his coat, backing away from the basement door.
"Azari," he called, voice flat, calm, but not careless. "Tell me you're still you."
No answer.
Then footsteps—slow, uneven, like a kid walking through water that didn't want her alive.
Azari stepped through the smoke.
Her eyes were glowing.
Not fully. Not clean. Flickering—like a dying neon sign wired to the wrong power source.
The relic floated beside her. Spinning in the air. Whispering in no language ever written.
Minjae froze.
"What the Hell did you do?"
"She didn't activate it," Jung Min said. "It chose her."
Azari looked at him, or through him. Then her lips parted.
"I saw it," she said. "All of it. Your war. The Saints. The blood. God was there."
Jung Min stiffened. "You spoke to Him?"
"No," she whispered. "I saw Him. And He was afraid."
Minjae drew his sword. "We can't let her live."
Jung Min raised both guns.
"Then don't fucking try."
Minjae lunged.
Azari didn't move.
The relic pulsed—and the room folded in on itself.
Not physically. Temporally. The second Minjae swung, time buckled. He froze mid-slash, suspended mid-air, eyes wide as if trying to scream but not allowed to.
Jung Min blinked. The air pressed down like gravity had gotten pissed off.
Azari collapsed.
The relic dropped with her, clattering to the floor like a broken wind chime.
Time snapped back.
Minjae slammed into the wall behind him like a ragdoll, coughing blood.
Jung Min was already at Azari's side. Checked her pulse. Still breathing.
Minjae dragged himself up with one hand.
"We're not built to handle that power," he rasped. "Not you. Not her. Not anyone."
Jung Min didn't look at him. "Then maybe it's time the world stopped building shit like this."
He picked up the relic. It didn't resist. Didn't hum. It just sat cold and silent in his hand.
Minjae's eyes narrowed. "You gonna run again?"
Jung Min stood.
"No," he said. "I'm going to finish what I should've burned nine years ago."
Minjae chuckled, wiping blood from his mouth.
"Then I'll see you on the other side, Bullet Saint."
Jung Min walked past him, dragging Azari with one arm, relic tucked under the other.
"No," he said. "You won't."
And then he was gone.
Back into the rain.