The world didn't just shake.
It lurched.
Like reality itself flinched.
A pulse of raw demonic force rippled outward from Luci's body, bending the air, warping the ground, cracking the sky-blue barrier spell surrounding my house.
Grey and Tey both skidded backward—not thrown, not blown away—just forced to retreat by pressure so heavy it felt like trying to breathe underwater.
Ami raised her sword with trembling hands.Yergba braced her lightning-wreathed fists.Sam pushed herself in front of me again, even though her legs were shaking like they were made of wet paper.
And Luci…
Luci was smiling.
Not the cute shy smile she used to lure us in.Not the sadistic grin from earlier.
This one was slow.Calm.Almost gentle.
The scariest kind.
The kind someone makes when they stop playing around.
Her horns—now glowing like black diamonds—split open at the tips, blossoming into jagged, crown-like branches. A second pair twisted out of her skull, curling back like demonic ram spirals.
Her shadow thickened, then rose behind her like a second body—a hulking monster made of pure darkness, mirroring her every movement.
Luci:"…Finally. You forced me to bloom."
Grey muttered, "…she was holding back that much?"
Tey clicked her tongue, hiding a tremble."This is beyond Devourer-class… this is Ascended."
My heart sank.
Ami whispered, "Oh no…"
Yergba's lightning flickered and sparked out of rhythm.
Sam didn't speak.She just stood in front of me.
Breathing hard.Bleeding.Barely conscious.
Luci tilted her head at her.
"Aww… Sam. Loyal dog. I like that."Her shadow-beast grinned behind her."But you're in my way."
She raised one hand.
Just a finger.
A tiny, effortless gesture—
—and the air detonated.
A blast of compressed shadow ripped toward us.
"MOVE!!" Ami screamed.
Grey grabbed Tey.Sam shoved me backward.Yergba used her own body as a shield.
The explosion hit.
BOOOOOM—
I flew through a wall of dust, tumbling across the ground as the barrier flickered violently. The shockwave shook my lungs so hard I thought they collapsed.
When the dust cleared—
Grey and Tey were already up, guns raised.Ami lay on one knee, panting.Yergba was coughing blood but still on her feet.Sam was flat on the ground, barely conscious.
Luci didn't even look winded.
She tapped her new horns with curiosity.
"Mmm~ I forgot how good this form feels."
The shadow-beast behind her opened its mouth—a mouth not in her shape, but something monstrous, ancient, and ravenous.
Grey's voice was tight:"Tey. Null mags. Full."
Tey swallowed."On it."
They reloaded with shaking hands.
Ami whispered hoarsely:"Everyone… brace. She's about to—"
Too late.
Luci vanished.
Not teleported.
Just moved faster than human perception.
Grey barely reacted in time—
PING!
Her claw sent his gun flying.
Tey jumped back—but Luci's shadow tentacle wrapped around her ankle, hurling her like a ragdoll into the barrier wall.
Ami swung.
Her sword—blade glowing fiery red—clashed against Luci's bare hand.
The impact created a ring of fire.
Luci didn't budge.
Ami flew backwards, skidding across the ground as her weapon's aura flickered dangerously.
Yergba roared and launched a lightning-coated punch.
Luci caught her fist with two fingers.
TWO.
FINGERS.
"Oh sweetie," she cooed."You're strong… in human terms."
Then she crushed Yergba's lightning aura—snapping it like a twig—and slammed her into the ground, forming a crater.
Sam tried to stand.
Failed.
Tried again.
Failed again.
But she still crawled between Luci and me.
Still trying to protect me.
Even broken.
Even dying.
Luci crouched in front of her, smiling almost sadly."Still guarding him? Even like this?"
Sam spat blood at her feet."Go… to hell."
Luci's expression sharpened.
She raised her claw.
Sam couldn't dodge.Couldn't block.Couldn't even scream.
I found my voice—finally—
"STOP!!!"
My scream split my throat open.My heart felt like it burst.
The air flashed gold around me.
The twins' eyes widened.
Grey:"…No way…"
Tey:"He's awakening again?!"
A card materialized in front of me—not pulled from a window.Not rolled from a gacha spin.
It wrote itself into existence.
A glowing sigil.Lines of divine code spiraling around my chest.My heartbeat syncing with the magic.
My fists clenched around the light.
Aki:"Touch her… and I'll tear your whole world apart."
Luci froze mid-strike.
Not scared.
Amused.
Interested.
"Aki…" she whispered, eyes glowing violet.
"…what are you becoming?"
A new card fully formed:
[SUPREME GACHA — OVERLIMIT TIER UNLOCKING]
Ami gasped."That's—impossible—! That tier doesn't exist—!"
Grey's voice trembled."It's theoretical. Hypothetical. A developer myth."
Tey swallowed hard."But he's doing it naturally—?!"
Sam, barely conscious, whispered:"Aki…"
The card began to crackle with unstable power.
Magic spilled out like liquid light.My veins burned.My breath shook.
But I didn't let go.
For once in my life—I didn't run.I didn't break.I didn't scream.
I stood.
On shaking legs.Bleeding.Terrified.
But standing.
Luci lowered her claw slowly.
"Oh? Are you finally going to fight me, Aki?"She smiled like she'd waited centuries for this."Good. Very good."
The ground cracked between us.
The air shimmered.
My card pulsed with golden light—
—and Luci's horns pulsed with obsidian flame—
—and the battlefield felt like it would collapse entirely.
Ami forced herself back up.Yergba roared through the pain.Grey steadied his breath.Tey prepared her last null magazine.
Everyone braced.
Everyone trembled.
Everyone stared at me.
And Luci whispered, in a voice like velvet wrapped around steel:
"Show me, Aki…Just how far your gacha luck can go."