"Hmm?" William jolted, consciousness snapping back like a rubber band stretched too far.

He dragged in a breath that tasted metallic and sour, pushing himself off the cold ground. His palms slid on something wet. It clung to his skin like a film. He scanned his surroundings with a sluggish gaze—dim, colorless, as if someone had washed the world in murky ink.

Then, over his shoulder… he froze.

Suspended in the air was that figure.

Blood-soaked. Motionless. Watching him.

The same being that had haunted him since his childhood and recently for the first time, they conversed.

"You… again…" William rasped, clutching his skull as a throbbing ache pulsed behind his eyes.

He found himself sitting on a floor that rippled faintly like wet stone, or flesh. "Where am I? What happened?"

His memory was a fractured blur—Nana… a swirling storm… the world tearing open above her—and then, nothing but a snap of darkness.

The being's voice seeped through the stillness. "You… collapsed. The sinful energy of the Devil overwhelmed you."

William's entire body flinched. "Devil?!"

"The child you seek to protect was used as a host," the being continued, voice eerily calm. "Its manifestation was too vast for your mortal senses. Thus, your consciousness fled."

William's breath hitched. Beneath the calm tone, his thoughts churned violently.

"Nana's contracted Devil appeared… now? But how? Why?"

The floating being answered before the question finished forming.

"The contract's reason may differ… but your beloved's blood became the lure. A potent catalyst. Temptation for a Devil of that rank."

William went still.

"You mean… that thing is after Emma?"

He knew Emma's blood—marked by one of the three Archangels—was potent. Sacred enough to bless. Sacred enough to burn.

But attractive enough to tempt a General-ranked Devil?

His hands shook. Breath uneven.

"Where is she? I need to go back. Now."

He forced himself upright, legs trembling like they no longer remembered how to belong to him. His head spun, but his resolve did not waver.

"Look," the being said, pointing toward the left.

The darkness tore open like bruised flesh splitting, and Emma's face surfaced through the cloud—struggling, panting but alive.

…

Emma's breaths came jagged, each one scraping against her ribs. Her vision flickered between clarity and distortion as she stared at the creature towering before her.

Seven feet tall—yet it felt bigger, as if the shadows around it bent in its favor.

Its arms were unnaturally long, ending in curved, obsidian nails—black scythes dripping a viscous sheen that reflected nothing.

Its body was a dark, saturated red, skin stretched so tightly over angular bones that every twitch revealed some other shape shifting underneath—movements that didn't align with joints or anatomy. Something inside was crawling, writhing, repositioning.

What should have been its head simply wasn't.

Instead, a huge vertical maw carved through its chest, full of uneven fangs—jagged, stained, grinning without any need for a face.

Emma stood in front of Nana and William's unconscious bodies, her arm stretched protectively across both of them. Why had she remained awake? Why her?

She knew the answer instantly.

Her blood.

Her damn blood.

"A chosen one, keke! I didn't expect something this delicious so soon~~~" The Devil hopped excitedly, each landing making the ground twitch.

Emma's expression hardened. "Don't you fear burning from that same blood?"

"Oh, it buuurns," the Devil hissed gleefully. Its voice gurgled, bubbling like boiling tar. "It burns and peels and screams. But temptation makes even pain… exquisite. Especially when sipped from a dying fish… not a dead one."

Its claws rose, the long, glossy tongue slithering out from the gaping chest-maw, curling hungrily.

"It will be delightful," it whispered, stepping closer as its aura thickened. "To savor your blood while your body trembles… while you beg for death… and I refuse to grant it."

The ground cracked under its weight.

Air twisted, collapsing around Emma like fists tightening around her lungs.

Her chest tightened. Breath halved. The world dimmed at the edges.

She had never—never—felt pressure like this.

Her legs quivered. Her fingers twitched. Fear crawled up her spine, slow and deliberate, sinking its teeth in.

The Devil took another step.

Emma's breath stuttered.

Every instinct screamed the truth—

She was standing before something not meant for the mortal world.

A hunger older than language.

A predator that enjoyed listening to hearts break before bones did.

….

[In the monitoring room]

The screens flickered. Stuttered. Then died.

A chorus of warped tones echoed through the room as every monitor went black at once. The man maintaining the connection—a skill-user trained for reconnaissance—collapsed onto the floor, eyes leaking thin streams of blood that pooled along his temples. His breathing was shallow. His skill, his link, his very *

sense—gone, as though something had bitten it clean off.

A trembling voice rose from the technical staff.

"We… we've lost all contact with Island Beta's soldiers. They're either unconscious or— or dead."

The council members exchanged terrified glances before filing out in a rush, leaving Domella standing rigidly in the sudden silence.

She inhaled to steady herself—only for her breath to catch when she noticed the tall figure entering.

"Sir Broad."

A senior member of the council who wasn't supposed to be here. But maybe he sensed the danger and came rushing back.

He walked toward her, frown deep, the air around him turning heavy. "What's the situation, Domella? My connection was severed without warning. No ordinary being can cut through my link like that."

Domella swallowed, nodding. "Yes, sir… whatever this thing is, it doesn't want anyone to see what's happening on Island Beta."

Outside, the sky had darkened.

A colossal dome—opaque, unnatural—had grown around the entire island like a monstrous egg. Its surface rippled, rejecting every prying eye or prevent any skill that could directly teleport them to that island. Troops were already mobilizing, but Domella felt a cold certainty sink into her bones.

They wouldn't be able to enter.

Not through that.

Broad's eyes narrowed. His tone dropped.

"…What are the chances that the cursed child has already brought the Devil into the mortal plane?"

Everyone froze.

Domella's heart lurched. The other officers stiffened; someone audibly gasped.

Because the truth was horrifyingly simple.

Only one thing could wipe out an entire squad of trained elites…

shut down every surveillance skill…

and raise a barrier of that magnitude—

A General-ranked Devil.

A creature whose presence alone warped reality.

Domella felt her throat tighten as she whispered, "If that is the case… then Island Beta isn't just isolated."

Her voice dropped to a trembling murmur.

"It's been claimed."

Broad immediately made the call, "Someone reach Arthur as soon as possible. We need him now or maybe no one would survive to see the rising sun."

°°°°°°°°

A/N:- Thanks for reading.

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