On the ground floor of the Redgrave Group headquarters, chaos reigned. Alarm sirens blared continuously, and thick gray smoke billowed through the shattered lobby. Rexon wiped a heavy layer of sweat and soot from his forehead, guiding the last wave of panicking office workers out the heavy glass doors into the rain-slicked street. He leaned against a cracked stone pillar, gasping for air as he looked up at the crumbling upper levels of the skyscraper.
"Somebody help us..." Rexon muttered under his breath, his voice swallowed by the roaring thunder outside.
"What happened?"
Rexon jumped violently, spinning around on his heel. Renjiro was standing mere inches behind his shoulder, his face unnaturally pale and his eyes dark with unreadable tension.
"A little warning next time!" Rexon exhaled sharply, clutching his pounding chest. But as he locked eyes with Renjiro, the dead seriousness in the man's expression made Rexon's tone drop instantly. "The upper levels took a direct, heavy hit. The structural integrity is completely gone. I think... I think people died on the top floor."
Renjiro didn't waste a single second on a verbal reply. Turning toward the emergency stairwell behind the main lobby, he pushed hard against the tide of terrified employees rushing down. He took the steps three at a time, vaulting over fallen concrete and twisted steel reinforcements. He swept the first floor—nothing but swirling dust, scattered paper, and abandoned files.
He stopped mid-stride on the second landing, slapping his own forehead in frustration. What am I doing walking?
With a swift flicker of dark magic, space bent unnaturally around him. Reality rippled, and Renjiro vanished on the spot, reappearing directly inside the ruined executive suite.
The suffocating stench of thick copper and heavy smoke instantly filled his lungs. Divine rain poured through the giant hole where the outer wall used to be, mixing with the concrete dust covering the floor.
Renjiro stood completely frozen.
In the center of the shattered floor lay three motionless bodies. Two were young human employees. The third was a high-tier demon, its vibrant life force entirely extinguished, its skin turned a pale, deathly gray.
Renjiro stepped closer, his jaw tightening as he recognized the monstrous corpse. "Mantra... the mastermind behind all of this is dead? How? Who could have killed her?"
He didn't waste time asking questions to an empty room. Dropping to his knees, he reached out to gather the young humans. As he lifted the young man, his eyes caught the broken smartphone still gripped tightly in the boy's rigid fingers.
Renjiro gently tapped the cracked glass screen. The display flickered dimly back to life.
It showed a candid photograph of the boy working diligently at his desk, taken secretly from across the room. Written across the lower corner in delicate, handwritten font was a small, hopeful caption:
My future husband.
Renjiro's heart sank into his stomach like a lead weight. Looking down at the blood-stained nametags pinned to their corporate attire, the harsh reality settled in.
Ashu. Vrinda.
A sudden wave of memory hit Renjiro like a physical blow. He vividly remembered those rare, quiet evenings back at the sanctuary—how Kael, the usually cold and unshakeable deity, would occasionally talk about these two ordinary mortals with a faint, genuine warmth in his golden eyes. Out of millions of humans, these two were the quiet, innocent lives Kael had secretly sworn to protect.
Renjiro's expression turned as dark as a starless night. A suffocating silence fell over him. Carefully, he gathered the two young lovers into his arms, using his shadow magic to lift Mantra's heavy corpse behind him as he prepared to descend.
Down outside the main gates, Sara and Sarina materialized near the entrance. Rain soaked their hair as their wide, anxious eyes searched the dark clouds above, watching the shimmering golden barrier that locked the demon army in the sky.
The heavy lobby doors creaked open. Renjiro stepped out into the open courtyard, carrying the unbearable weight of his burden.
Kael was standing near the threshold, his back turned to the entrance. He stood perfectly still, staring silently up at the golden dome trapping the demons high above.
"Status report," Kael said. His voice was completely flat, devoid of any human emotion. "How many casualties?"
"Two," Renjiro answered quietly, his voice heavy with grief.
Kael's broad shoulders stiffened. He closed his eyes, taking a slow, steady breath. "Two..." He paused, his breath hitching ever so slightly in his chest. "Names?"
"Ashu. And Vrinda."
Renjiro released his shadow magic, letting Mantra's limp, heavy body crash onto the shattered pavement with a dull, sickening thud.
Kael turned around slowly. His golden eyes widened, shattering his usual terrifying calm as his gaze fell onto the pale, motionless faces of the two young humans. Then, his eyes shifted to the third corpse lying at their feet.
Kael frowned, his voice dropping to a fragile whisper. "Who... who is the third?"
"Mantra," Renjiro replied heavily. "The one who orchestrated this entire attack."
An agonizing, quiet silence stretched between them. The wind howled through the ruined street, kicking up dust and ash.
Suddenly, Kael let out a soft, hollow chuckle. The chuckle slowly grew, morphing into a bitter, unhinged laugh that echoed off the crumbling walls of the courtyard.
"Never plan anything, Renjiro," Kael whispered, lifting his face toward the black storm clouds. "Because the exact second Destiny realizes what you care about... it ruins your work just to watch you break."
BOOM!
Four massive, pitch-black divine wings erupted from Kael's back with a violent shockwave, cracking the asphalt beneath his feet into spiderweb patterns. He shot straight into the sky like a dark comet, ascending toward the absolute center of the True Infinity Barrier.
High above, hovering in the middle of the glowing golden cage, Kael stopped. The rain beat against his skin, but his expression was entirely blank.
He raised both hands before his chest. Slowly, deliberately, he crossed the index and middle fingers of both hands, forming a precise, ancient plus sign.
The brilliant, divine gold in his eyes shattered, bleeding into a deep, terrifying crimson that glowed like fresh blood.
The atmospheric pressure inside the barrier exploded. The divine rain stopped falling straight down—it caught the gale-force winds swirling around Kael, transforming into a violent, spiraling vortex of holy liquid and pure dark energy.
Below him, 1.3 million demons looked up in absolute terror as the air around them began to burn with suffocating, lethal power.
Kael's lips pulled back into a cold, psychotic smirk.
"Domain Expansion."