"R–Reheil?"
Silence.
Appolyth turned slowly, her corrupted skin rippling as she forced it back to normal. Her lips curved into a dark, almost playful smile.
"Welcome home, darling," she purred. "How was your day?"
"Stay back!" he shouted, terror cracking his voice. "You're not my wife… you're from the abyss!"
He pointed a trembling hand at her, eyes darting to the lifeless bodies on the floor. "What did you do to my children—you abomination!"
Appolyth's smile faded into a frown. Her voice, calm but venomous, filled the room.
"You don't like what I made?" she asked softly. "I made them worthy of their mother—and you call me an abomination? A being you can't even begin to fathom?"
Then, the air trembled.
From the corpses came a chorus of voices—Leon's, Reina's, Lemuel's—all speaking at once, layered in agony.
"My children," Appolyth whispered through the chorus, "have been made anew… cleansed from filth. And now…"
Her eyes turned void black.
"…you will create me a new vessel—pure, and born of me."
Before he could move, a hand burst through his back, bones cracking, blood spilling through his shirt. He froze. Slowly, he turned his head—
—and saw his daughter smiling. Her small face was twisted, tears of black blood running down her cheeks as she let out a broken laugh.
He screamed, despair consuming his final breath—
And then, thump.
His body hit the floor.