As I turned to deliver my declaration of victory to Hinata—my voice already forming the words of final judgment—I caught it.
A flicker. A faint, unnatural glow at the corner of my vision.
Hinata still stood locked beneath the overwhelming hold of my Judgment of Osirion, her body rigid, her soul dragged into the abyss I had prepared for her. She could not move. She could not speak. And yet…
Before my eyes, something else emerged.
A giant sword. Its presence radiated malice. Its shape was unstable, jagged like a broken star, and the air around it warped violently.
I narrowed my gaze.
"…What is this?"
Then, in my mind, Solarys' calm, mechanical voice rang out like a warning bell:
My eyes sharpened as I took in its unstable glow.
"Someone is controlling it from afar…" I muttered, stepping back slowly as the hum of raw power grew louder.
Could this weapon be a desperate attempt to slay me? Or worse—an offering meant to kill everything in its radius?
The thought barely finished forming when the world itself split open.
In the next instant—light and devastation became one.
A shockwave, so violent it tore apart the stone beneath my feet, erupted with a sound that could have shattered the heavens. The explosion's light swallowed the battlefield in an instant, drowning out screams, silence, and even thought.
My cloak snapped violently in the wind, my barrier straining against the sheer force. The sky burned white. For a moment, nothing existed but annihilation.
The kingdom of shadows. A realm untouched by sun or moon.
Beneath the soil of this dark empire, buried deeper than even time's memory, lay a place forgotten by mortals.
A crypt.
Here, within the icy silence of stone and frost, slept something sacred.
A coffin—fashioned of frozen crystal, glowing faintly as if holding back an eternity. Within it rested a girl.
A beautiful girl with black hair, her form bare, unadorned, vulnerable—yet untouched by decay. Her body was preserved in perfect stillness, as though she were merely sleeping, awaiting the toll of some destined hour.
And before her coffin, there was a presence.
A young woman—petite, delicate in frame, yet carrying herself with the arrogance of eternity. She reclined casually atop the frozen coffin, her soft pale skin glimmering faintly against the icy surface. An enchanting smile curled on her lips, her gaze drinking in the sight of the girl imprisoned within.
Her hands caressed the frozen lid with a gentleness that bordered on obsession. Her cheeks were faintly flushed, her breath uneven, as if intoxicated simply by the closeness of this forbidden treasure.
Her silver hair fell in soft cascades over her shoulders, catching the dim light of the crypt like threads of moonlight.
But it was her eyes that pierced the dark—heterochromatic, one a piercing azure, the other a deep crimson that glowed like fresh blood. Both burned with an alluring, dangerous light that could devour the soul.
And when her lips parted ever so slightly, two delicate fangs flashed, pristine and white against the faint pink of her tongue.
This was no mortal woman.
This was the ruler of endless nights.
The Demon Lord—Luminous Valentine. The Queen of Nightmares.
Her beauty was beyond compare, her aura suffocating. Each time she brushed her hand across the frozen surface, a faint hiss filled the air, and scars bloomed across her pale skin—marks that looked like burns. Yet she did not recoil.
Instead, her smile deepened, tinged with something between ecstasy and madness.
"Ah…" she whispered, her voice breaking the silence of the crypt like velvet steel.
"How beautiful you are. How untouchable. Even sealed in silence, you shine brighter than the heavens themselves."
Her breath quivered, her voice trembling with delight as her fingers traced the coffin once more.
"Each time I touch you, you scar me… yet I cannot resist. The pain is exquisite, the proof of your divinity. This… this beauty is mine alone to worship."
Her heterochromatic gaze softened, her lips curving into an entranced smile as she pressed her cheek against the coffin, ignoring the searing pain it left upon her flawless skin.
The Queen of Nightmares sighed.
Alone in her crypt. Alone with her obsession. Alone with the girl who had never opened her eyes.
But even here, beneath the kingdom of darkness, the tremors of the explosion above reached faintly into the earth. The crystal coffin pulsed once—just once.
And Luminous Valentine's smile sharpened.
"…So. The game begins."
For this is a holy ark.
It is a container for the pure energy of the Holy Spirit, and so Luminas would naturally sustain injuries.
As a Vampiric Demon Lord, this coffin is undoubtedly poisonous to her.
And yet, Luminas doesn't mind it at all.
These injuries are the utmost joy to her.
Even with the immense power Luminas possesses as a Demon Lord, she would not be able to destroy this coffin.
Since Luminas dreams of one day liberating the young girl slumbering within, she has once again come to tease and caress the frozen coffin…
Her pale fingers glided across the glass surface, each touch scorching her skin like molten iron, branding her body with faint burn-like scars. And yet, her crimson lips curved into an intoxicating smile.
"Ahh… beautiful… so unbearably beautiful."
Her heterochromatic eyes—one blue, one red—gleamed with unrestrained desire. She whispered to the girl locked in eternal slumber, almost as if the frozen one could hear her.
But then—
"My most sincere apologies for interrupting you, but there is something I need to report."
A man's firm voice echoed into the crypt.
The one reporting was Louis.
He held the position of "Pope" in the Holy Empire of Lubelius under Luminas's rule.
Luminas suppressed her displeasure—since Louis seldom disturbed her during her moments of indulgence, it must have been something extremely urgent.
"I see it is Louis who's caused all the fuss," Luminas said coldly, withdrawing her hand from the coffin. Her eyes flickered with faint irritation. "What is it?"
Louis bowed his head and began his report.
"Hinata wished to resolve things with Atem, which I permitted. However, the situation seems to have complicated."
"—What do you mean?"
"As I mentioned—" Louis's tone hardened as he recounted his findings.
When his explanation ended, Luminas's lips parted slowly. A sharp silence filled the chamber, broken only by her voice—a voice that shook with restrained fury.
"Is that so… how troublesome. Atem is far stronger than even myself… he crushed Guy Crimson, the strongest of us Demon Lords. And now you tell me Hinata faces him?…"
Her words dripped with venom, the atmosphere so heavy that even Louis dared not breathe too loudly.
Luminas's tone was not one of mere worry—it was one of cold terror disguised in fury.
With a swirl of her dress, she withdrew fully from the frozen coffin and strode into the shadows of the Night Garden.
"Gunther!"
"Yes, I am here—"
An elderly butler emerged from the darkness. The ancient vampire, one of Luminas's oldest and most loyal servants, had attended the Walpurgis Banquet by her side.
Along with Louis and the late Roy, he was counted among the "Three Counts" who served Luminas.
Louis oversaw the Pope's Ministry.
Gunther governed the Night Garden.
Roy had once disguised himself as an enemy, serving as Luminas's double until his death.
Together, they were her pillars, her bodyguards, her shield and sword.
Since Luminas was currently in the crypt, it was Gunther who stood closest to her. He approached immediately, assisting her into her formal attire with meticulous care. Unlike most, he never relied on magic to dress her—every fold, every button, every tie was a ritual, a reflection of the reverence he held for his mistress.
As he adjusted her cloak, Gunther's eyes narrowed toward Louis, and he spat out heated words.
"How bold of you, Louis, to interrupt Luminas-sama with such trivial matters—"
"My sincerest apologies," Louis replied sharply, though his tone remained controlled. "However, if this is left unattended, Luminas-sama risks losing her beloved pet."
"It is precisely that which makes it trivial," Gunther countered with a scowl. "Hinata is nothing but a fleeting human. But indeed, to pit her against Atem… that is reckless."
"I came to inform my lord to prevent that outcome," Louis said firmly. "If Hinata is killed, Luminas-sama would—"
"Enough."
Luminas's voice cut through the crypt like a blade of ice, silencing both men instantly. Her patience had reached its limit. She stepped between them, her beautiful eyes gleaming with dangerous light.
"Louis. Cut your words short. And you too, Gunther. Quarreling here achieves nothing. Won't it be fine if I move out myself, in case there's any trouble?"
She turned away, her fangs flashing slightly as she gave her verdict.
"Besides… there is no choice. And if Atem kills her… there is nothing I can do about it."
Her words fell into the still crypt like a death sentence.
Louis bowed his head deeply, while Gunther tightened his fists in silence.