The sky above them swirls with faint celestial pressure.
Two paths diverge:
Blood Reaper, Constant, and Keuirseu head east toward the hidden Underground Temple.
Kenna, Big Jim, Benjamin, and Cyrus embarking on their mission to rescue survivors.
Both roads will define the war to come.
The air is colder here.
Blood Reaper, Constant, and Keuirseu move silently through dying forestland, the sky tinted a strange red-gray from the fractured Core far beneath the earth.
They sense it before they see it—
the heat of bodies, quiet murmuring, the desperate hope of people hiding.
A small, hidden camp sits in a hollow between fallen trees.
Tents made from tarps and blankets.
A single fire buried deep inside a metal barrel to keep the smoke hidden.
Dozens of survivors.
When Blood Reaper appears at the tree line, conversations die instantly.
Mothers pull children closer.
Men step in front of the weak.
Nobody breathes.
Constant steps forward with a gentle half-grin.
"Relax. She's on your side. Mostly."
Blood Reaper glares at him, but he only winks.
He turns to the people.
"There's a safe route west. Holy protections. A convoy. We'll guide you there."
A woman whispers, "Why help us?"
Constant glances at Blood Reaper, softening.
"Because she said so."
Blood Reaper pretends not to hear him.
He excuses himself to help the survivors prepare.
His flirting had earned a single eye twitch from her earlier—and he's learned to quit while he's breathing.
Keuirseu tries to stay near the edge of the camp… but the forest calls to him like a wound being touched.
His breathing tightens.
His spine cracks sharply as vertebrae shift.
His teeth lengthen into razor points.
Darkness coils up his arms.
He stumbles deeper into the forest, hiding behind thick roots.
His voice is a broken whisper:
"Not now… hold it—hold it—"
The demon Morvath planted surges.
His eyes flash black-white-violet.
He forces himself down to his knees, shaking… until slowly, painfully, the transformation recedes.
His teeth return.
His spine realigns.
He breathes.
But as he stands—
His wings snap out in a burst of corrupted white fire.
A full demonic angel form erupts around him, triggered without his consent.
People nearby scream.
The camp panics—running, scattering, tripping over their belongings.
Keuirseu looks horrified.
"No—no, stay back—I can't—"
He stumbles deeper into the dark.
Constant runs into the forest and stops dead.
"Keuirseu…"
Keuirseu's shoulders twitch violently, claws digging into a tree trunk.
His voice is layered, distorted:
"Don't come closer."
Constant clenches his fists, fire sparking.
He doesn't ignite—he knows Keuirseu isn't the enemy.
"You're fighting it," Constant says quietly. "That means it hasn't won."
Keuirseu snarls, instincts sharpening, ready to lunge—
but holds himself back, shredding bark under his grip.
The tension is seconds from exploding when—
She glides in silently, feet not touching the ground.
Her wings flare with cold starlight.
She hears a snap of twigs…
Turns sharply—
And finds two men at a shallow grave.
One crouches, lighting a match.
The other holds a flask of holy water.
Matthew mutters, "People can't burn the dead now. They'll rise."
Joseph sighs, tired. "Just salt and burn, Matthew."
Blood Reaper stares at them.
They freeze.
Matthew slowly lowers the match.
Joseph's eyes widen.
"That's… not a demon."
Matthew: "She's worse."
Blood Reaper ignores them completely and glides past, uninterested.
Her voice echoes back, cold:
"Burning corpses will not protect you anymore."
They both stand frozen as she disappears into the trees.
Matthew whispers, "…we are absolutely screwed."
She returns to the clearing where Constant and Keuirseu stand—
one fighting transformation,
the other fighting the urge to intervene too hard.
Her presence cuts the tension instantly.
Keuirseu collapses to his knees, wings cracking and retracting.
Constant exhales, relieved but shaken.
Blood Reaper looks between them—her expression unreadable, ancient.
"Both of you," she says quietly. "Stay close. The temple is calling stronger now."
The forest groans with shifting energy.
Something ahead is waking.
The forest grows quiet.
Too quiet.
Even the insects stop.
Blood Reaper steps through the last line of trees and freezes—
because the land ahead drops suddenly into a vast crater of stone and earth.
At the center stands a black marble seal, cracked down the middle like a giant door embedded in the ground.
An ancient Underground Temple.
It shouldn't exist.
She's never seen it.
But her chest burns with recognition.
Like she's been here before.
As she approaches, the marble seal pulses.
A deep hum rolls beneath her feet.
The crack splits wider—
like the temple is responding
to her blood.
Constant whistles quietly.
"Yeah… that thing is definitely calling you."
Keuirseu doesn't answer.
He grips his head suddenly, gasping.
A black ripple runs across his skin.
Then another.
His spine arches, his wings explode from his back, and a snarl tears from his throat—
a sound not entirely his own.
"Keuirseu?" Constant steps toward him.
Keuirseu jerks away, eyes glowing void-dark and white.
"N-no—stay—BACK!"
The Shadow Morvath planted inside him wakes, drawn by the temple's ancient power.
His feet slide backward in the dirt as if something is dragging him away from the entrance.
Blood Reaper turns sharply, sensing it.
Shadow venom curls up his spine, whispering through his veins.
His body jerks forward as if he wants to fight her—
then violently back as if something is restraining him.
Keuirseu claws into the ground, screaming.
"I CAN'T GO UNDERGROUND—
THE SHADOW—IT WON'T LET ME!"
His body convulses.
Darkness wraps around his wings, trying to force him into a full demonic transformation.
Constant grabs him by the shoulders.
"HEY—look at me! Stay with me, Keu!"
Keuirseu's voice distorts, layered with something else:
"SHE ENTERS ALONE."
Constant's blood runs cold.
"…You're not talking to me, are you?"
Keuirseu trembles violently, eyes going black.
"Get… away… Constant."
Constant doesn't move.
He just tightens his grip.
"I'm not leaving you. If you turn, you're not facing it alone."
Keuirseu's eyes flicker with his true self for a split second—grateful.
Then he collapses to his knees, panting, fighting the Shadow back inside.
Blood Reaper watches silently.
For a moment, her expression softens.
Then she speaks:
"You stay. Guard him."
Constant nods, jaw clenched.
"I'm not letting him out of my sight."
Keuirseu growls weakly, "I'm fine—just go—"
"No," Constant snaps. "You're not."
The temple hums again—louder this time.
Blood Reaper turns toward it.