The first wave hits hard. Dozens of shape-shifters pour in from the cracks in the walls, claws scraping stone, eyes gleaming with malice. The flicker of firelight casts long shadows over the two standing figures—Sho and Scott
Sho's wounds reopened by a sneaky shape shifter. Blood leaks from a gash across his ribs. His sword swings wide, cleaving the same monster from shoulder to hip, but another pounces from the side, slashing his back. He grits his teeth, heat pulsing through his veins.
I wanted to be more than a weapon… but maybe that's all I'm good for. Power, angelic essence… Angelic tears.
That girl. The town. Alice. I can't let this be for nothing.
He slams a palm to the ground—white fire bursts in a ring, searing back five approaching creatures. Still, they keep coming. His breath is ragged. His body won't stop shaking.
Scott parries a leaping monster, then chants in Nightospheric tongue. His voice distorts. The ground cracks beneath him as a red sigil lights up around his boots. His blade extends into a scythe of black flame.
"… the debt falls to you. Spare this angel afterwards and the energy you've built will weaken. Your blood will return to cherry red, your eyes will grow further remorse."
"Fair trade." Scott smirked, his humanity returning by the second.
Scott whirls through the mob, each strike leaving after-images that burst with delayed explosions. One creature grabs his leg—he mutters an incantation, and its body folds in on itself, imploding silently into ash.
Sho flashes forward and plants his feet next to Scott.
"Behind you." he informed.
He ignites his fist and slams it into the stomach of an ambusher, engulfing it in divine fire. The monster writhes as white and gold flames tear it apart.
Scott wipes sweat from his brow, horn tips peeking through his hair.
"You're bleeding everywhere." Scott said, worried he wouldn't be able to finish off the monsters on his own if Sho fell.
"You're glowing like a war crime." Sho called back.
"Compliments now? We might die." Scott remarked, cutting down another monster and returning to Sho's back.
"Assuming she'll soul siphon us. The most she can do is slow us down." Sho said with a smile.
They share a beat of grim humor. Then another horde breaches the chamber.
Sho pulls from a pouch and scatters crushed salt and mirror shards across the floor—the creatures recoil, slowed by the reflective ground and divine interference.
The altar… two more spots. Clara knew. She planned it. I was just the fuel.
But if I can turn this… if I can use what she stole back against her…
Suddenly, Scott is clipped across the jaw by a winged brute, blood spurting from his lip as he's sent skidding. He coughs, staggers up, and raises a palm.
"Night Command: Shatter Spite."
Six runes flash in the air and bolt into his enemies. A moment of stillness—then the runes erupt into razor-sharp spikes of dark crystal, skewering five monsters instantly.
Sho lights another burst of fire. His arms shake violently now, the heat cracking his skin.
"WE END THIS! NOW!"
MONSTER HOWLS fill the chamber.
Suddenly—a thunderclap of red lightning.
A dozen monsters vanish in an instant. The walls burn crimson as Elsa steps from the smoke, her coat tattered, her hands glowing with arcane symbols.
Next to her: the man from Room One, guitar slung across his back, sparks still dancing from his fingertips.
ROOM ONE GUY
"You guys are loud."
ELSA
"Sorry we're late."
Sho's knees buckle. His strength is nearly gone—but something changes. Clara's scream echoes through the chamber as her confidence snaps.
Power floods back into Sho like a tidal wave. His white flame blazes brighter than ever.
"You made it… damn freak. How do you keep coming back from the brink." he murmured.
The tide is turning.
CUT TO: CLARA — watching from the altar
Her eyes widen in panic.
"How… how did they find this place?!"
A tiny voice answers her.
"I remembered… I remembered the stairs." a good thing to come out of following a shape shifter.
Clara stares in disbelief. She begins to scream—but it's already too late.
Sho and Scott charge forward one last time, launching themselves through fire, blood, and ruin—ready to break through Clara's shield and end it all.
The chamber trembles as the walls pulse with heat and pressure. Smoke and blood swirl into a vortex of chaos. Monsters lie scattered, disintegrating into ash and bone.
Clara, cornered near the altar, summons her last defense—a translucent barrier laced with white veins, pulsing with the stolen energy of Sho. Her eyes are wide, wild, unhinged.
"This wasn't supposed to happen—You weren't supposed to falter! What are you!"
"We're more than pawns now." Sho, now standing tall, bloodied, burning.
"No mercy for manipulators." Scott raised his blade, grin gone.
They dart forward in tandem—Sho veering left, Scott right, flanking Clara in a blur of red lightning and white fire. Her barrier flares as they crash into it, sparks erupting across the dome-like shield.
Alice rolled off the altar, falling off to the side, away from the blast radius.
"You're supposed to be mine! Your souls are mine!" Clara shrieked.
"No. We're free!" Sho said ,teeth clenched, eyes glowing with determination.
They press harder—Sho digs deep into the fire, his palm searing against the shield, feeding it divine heat. Scott strikes in pulses—each blow cracks the barrier further, red lightning boiling the stolen magic from Clara's veins.
Behind them, Elsa chants. The man from Room One tunes his guitar, then slams a final chord—a red lightning riff tears across the altar, a straight bolt aimed right at Clara's chest.
The shield shatters.
CLARA (gasping, realization hitting too late)
"No—!"
Red lightning rips through her, the impact lifting her off her feet. Her back smashes into the stone wall behind the altar—the sound of her skull fracturing echoes over the sewer's collapse. Her body slumps, lifeless, into the rising murk.
Silence falls, heavy and real.
Sho collapses to one knee again, gasping. His body is barely holding together. But the fire is gone from his skin. The room seems… cleansed.
Scott stands still, blade lowered. His breathing slows. He looks down at Sho—then over at the small girl, now huddled next to Elsa.
"Looks like I made the right call. I'll just have to be human a little longer."
He closes his eyes and mutters an incantation. The runes that tethered Scott's soul to the Nightosphere dim—not broken, but dormant.
Sho turns his head, blood dripping from his lips.
"…We won? For real?"
"Looks like it." Elsa said from across the clearing.
"You're lucky I like good endings." Romero, the room one guy.
"Not over yet." Alice shakily rose from the side of the altar
Everyone turns.
Sho jumps to his feet, immediately moving to help her up.
Alice stands over the broken remains of a wolf beast. Her body is torn up, but her sword is ready. She points toward the far end of the chamber, where a second passage leads even deeper.
"She wanted to use us for a ritual. That altar… it was only part one." Alice explained.
"…Of course it was." Scott sighed.
"Then we finish it. No more sewers. No more sacrifices." Sho wiped blood from the side of his mouth.
"One more dive." Scott rested his blade over his shoulder, his other arm naturally moving to his hip.
They glance around the ruined chamber. The girl is safe. Clara is gone. But somewhere deeper—something still waits.
Sho looks down the passageway, then back at the girl.
"It won't be safe down there for the girl." Sho turned.
"She's come too far to turn back. Who knows what's down, all of us need to stick together." Elsa rebuttal, putting her hands on the girl's shoulders.
The survivors gather at the mouth of the dark corridor. Cold wind slithers from the depths, carrying a low hum—like a sleeping beast breathing beneath the world.
ROOM ONE GUY (tuning his strings)
"This place has bad vibes."
Scott turned back to him "They're not just vibes." he squinted his eyes, his disdain clear towards Romero's coolheaded act.
Alice dropped back to walk with Sho "You sure you can keep going?" she looked him up and down, at his tattered clothes, bleeding wounds.
He straightened his limp "No. But I'm not stopping." he said with his goal and intention clear.
Why push yourself like this? You aren't even your former self… You aren't immortal.
The group enters the passage—Sho, Alice, Scott, Elsa, Romero, and the wounded girl riding piggyback on Elsa, lightly dozing.
As they descend, moss glows faint green along the walls. Their footfalls echo for miles, and every shadow looks like it's breathing.
They emerge into a vast, cathedral-like cavern. Old runes line the walls—glowing with a deep red pulse, like a heartbeat.
At the center sits a throne. Or maybe it was. It's grown over with flesh—pulsing with veins and teeth and eyes—a cocoon that had once been stone.
"This… is what Clara wanted?" Sho, stepping forward, cautious.
"Looks like it's still gestating." Alice deduced.
Suddenly, the runes pulse faster. And from within the cocoon, a gurgled groan bubbles out. Something is waking up.
"She was feeding it. Using us to rip open reality. I can feel it. Whatever's inside—if it wakes, it won't care who set it free." Scott's tone went low, he gripped his blade tight, ready for a battle.
The cocoon shudders—cracking in places.
"The three altars weren't to kill us. They were to offer us. Our power. Our will." Sho said, horror filling his eyes.
With terror in her eyes Elsa finished their thoughts "And now it's full." she exclaimed.
Romero simply adjusted his guitar strap.
"So we unplug it." he added.
The cocoon splits.
A massive arm bursts out—charred, withered but divine. Its hand is wrapped in golden bandages. Another follows. The creature is still half-trapped, but its presence is overwhelming.
Sho moves to the forefront of the group, preparing to shield whatever attack the beast unleashes.
"I know this energy…" he moved forward, shielding his eyes with a single hand.
"What is it?" Alice trekked behind, close enough to protect Sho from an ambush.
"It's part of me. Clara… used me as the seed." he continued, the very air from his lungs gone. Drained as if the cocoon were milking him.
"Then we cut it out." Scott pointed his blade, black flames dancing on the edge.
The cocoon screams—a deafening, celestial wail. Eyes open across its exposed arms—hundreds of them.
Sho's back arches—a beam of light explodes out of him, connecting him to the throne.
"Oh hell no—don't you dare turn into a boss fight!" Romero and Scott sycnronized, sharing equal shock.
"Break the connection!" Alice barked at the others, not allowing a loss now.
Everyone springs into action. Elsa raises barriers to shield the girl. Scott charges the cocoon, blade flashing with infernal glyphs. Romero, summoning a lightning circle and launching a shockwave through the walls.
Im not losing you now! I'm not going back to being a soloist! I won't let this curse hold me back!
Alice climbs onto the stone ribcage, leaping from bone to bone, trying to sever the beam tethering Sho.
Sho screams, caught between himself and something greater.
"She made me the lock. This thing… I was supposed to be its anchor. But I can be the key too."
He grips the light—his body steaming from the energy.
"I'm not your vessel. I'm your executioner."
And then—
Sho implodes with divine fire—white and gold flames shooting in all directions.
The cocoon howls. The tether breaks.
Scott slices the entity's arm clean off.
Alice reaches the top and plunges her sword into its main eye.
Everything falls quiet.
The body collapses back into the cocoon. The heartbeat stops.
Sho lies unconscious. The light is gone.
"Sho?!" Alice rushed to his side.
He's breathing. Barely.
Scott sheaths his blade. His eyes linger on the cocoon.
"It's done… usually it should come back… Unless..." he turned to Sho.
Is it possible that he siphoned back all of his energy? Just how strong is this guy?
Romero began to pace "Guess we're just… done?" He brought a finger to his chin.
The camera pans up—to the vast cavern ceiling where cracks of sunlight now peek through.
But that was far from the end. Following the fall of the curses binder and her stolen power, the catacombs and sewers began to unfold into itself, the magic that once held it together collapsed under a lack of the support provided from a vow.
"It's not over. We have to go!" Elsa yelled, she moved first, holding the little girls hand.
The others looked around at each other then to Sho, his escape was trivial.
Nonetheless, the group moves fast, feet slamming against stone as the tunnels quake and split apart. Slime and broken pipes rain from the ceiling. Stone cracks like thunder. Alice shouts for everyone to move faster as a jagged beam nearly takes her head off. Red lightning flashes behind them—Romero clearing a path.
Then—
Scott yells, his leg crushed beneath a slab of sewer infrastructure, wedged under a twisted archway. The weight of a town above him.
The others skid to a stop—but the tremors are intensifying.
Scott breathes heavy, eyes wide with disbelief. "So this is how it ends?"
The Nightosphere whispers, "Oh you won't die. Only be crushed under agonizing weight."
Scott chuckles bitterly. "Guess I'll live in agony a while longer."
Then—
Sho's hand bursts into frame.
He lifts Scott with the last surge of his strength, muscles shredding, divine fire pulsing faintly under his skin. He throws Scott out like a ragdoll, saving him—just as the ceiling caves in behind him.
"GO!" Sho screams.
They hesitate. Alice freezes. Elsa gasps. Even Scott stares back.
"GO!" Sho roars again. A second wave of rubble comes down. His light vanishes.
Everyone runs.
Even Scott— now carrying the little girl, could only ask... Why?
They barely make it out.
The fog recedes like a tide going out for the first time in centuries. The cursed land breathes.
They patch wounds, finally breathe. Names are exchanged. Light banter. Trauma hanging in the air like smoke. They're alive—but changed.
Except Alice.
She stands alone, staring at the smoldering crater that used to be the town square.
The crack is still there. Still glowing.
She doesn't cry. She doesn't move. Just watches.
He saved me. Not just back then. But today. And probably every time after.
He was light. Then he was fury. Now… he's buried.
From angel to mortal. From legend to man. Now?
Missing.
Romero stands tall, guitar slung low, facing the cracked earth where Sho was buried. He runs his hand along the frets and strums low.
"I barely know the guy," he says, eyes half-lidded, tone cool. "But if he means that much to a beautiful lady like you… Miss Alice." He casts a glance at Alice. "Then there's no way I'm lettin' him stay under there."
The others turn.
Scott squints. "What's your name, anyway?"
He finishes his tuning, letting the air vibrate around him.
"Romero," he says. "Romero Stein."
He starts playing "Electric Funeral." The notes bend the air. Gravity shifts. Dust lifts. Stones float slowly, rising like lazy planets around him. A storm of riffs and pressure.
The others can barely breathe under the intensity of his aura.
Then—
Scott jumps.
He rockets above the range of Romero's gravity field, eyes glowing faintly red. "Get outta the way, goth Hendrix!"
He chants. A deep flame incantation erupts from his palm, scorching rock thirty feet at a time.
The two work in tandem. Romero tears the pieces loose. Scott torches them. The earth groans. They dig like gods.
Why am I doing this? Me, a demon, a non debt paying, backstabbing, traitorous by nature demon. In fact the only one I've betrayed so far was myself… But why? Why risk my plausible future of running Eden like a god… All to save an Angel. To fix the wings of a long broken bird.
Scott glanced down at Alice. He watched her expression grow more and more weary. Each chunk they disintegrated meant Sho was packed under more weight.
How far down is he? Is this the right spot? Can he die now?
They dig for what feels like hours.
Finally—they reach the bottom of the ruined underbelly of the town. Tired, drained and sweating like pigs
To no avail, to no Sho.
Only blood. Shredded muscle. Feathers. Splattered flesh.
Romero drops to the ground, panting.
Scott follows, leaning against a chunk of broken steel. "Damn…"
Alice drops in without hesitation. She digs with bare hands. Bleeding. Crying.
"Come out," she whimpers. "Come out, please…"
The others stare in silence.
Sho was more than a warrior. He was their bridge. Their link.
Even Scott closes his eyes, leaning back and brushing his hair back, revealing horns that started to protrude again.
Sho, in the couple of hours I knew the guy I tried to kill him, chased him, fought back to back with him, now practically left him for dead. I thought I'd bury you one day. Not like this.
I didn't follow you here to lose you. To feel human, this was another means of burying the light. So why do I feel… at a loss?
Then—
A voice from above.
"Why are you cryin' down there, huh?"
Alice looks up.
White flecks fall like snow.
Sho, wings restored in jagged holy form, hovers above the hole. Smiling.
His jacket flaps with each wingbeat. Hands in his pockets. Radiant and exhausted, but whole.
Alice laughs through tears. Elsa chuckles, folding her arms. The little girl squeals with joy. Romero smirks as he cases his guitar. The others shout and clap.
Scott folds his arms. "You dramatic bastard. I torched hundreds of feet of Earth– and you were up there the whole time!" he said, middle fingers up to the sky.
Sho lands next to him, brushing soot off. "So you do have a soft side. Didn't expect that from a demon."
The Nightosphere cackles, whispering in Scott's mind, "One day, I'll make you carve him open. For now, you'll live out your days weak, human. You're not what I thought you could become."
Scott just grits his teeth. "Shut up." his features returning to complete human, his dark sigil shrinking under his clothes.
Through the fogless grasslands, they walk back. But there's nothing left.
The town is gone. Only the train station remains. Like it had been waiting for them the whole time. Even the crater refilled, the Earth healed as the wretched fog moved further away.
No sign of Clara. No more shapeshifters.
Only the train, still warm on the tracks. Waiting.