Chapter 124: Birth of the Demon.

As the air finally calmed, a feeling of collective victory floated around them.

Sakolomé slowly approached Sally, his gaze softened by emotion:

— So, Sally... or should I say Melinda?

She briefly looked away, blushing and moved, then gave him a tender smile:

— You deserve the whole truth. I... I've wanted to tell you for so long...

But suddenly —

BOOM.

Space itself contracted, groaned, then twisted in a silent scream.

Bakuran: — What was... what was that?!

A piercing whistle sliced the air.

Then, SCRRRRCHHHH.

A tear in the fabric of reality opened, like a gaping black wound. From this rift, a figure violently emerged:

Grijan.

Whole. Regenerated.

But twisted, inhuman, saturated with a red and black liquid oozing from his pores.

Salomé, stunned:

— H-h-how is this possible? We erased him... he shouldn't even exist anymore!

Yuki, gritting his teeth:

— Damn... he survived total erasure?!

But Grijan was no longer a man.

He convulsed, fighting himself, holding his head between his hands, his screams tearing the atmosphere:

— AAAAAARRRGHHH!! Help me! Please!! What... what am I becoming?!

Sakolomé, attentive, felt the air grow heavy, reality shiver.

— This is... not normal...

Rivhiamë, inwardly, in a grave whisper:

— He is finally awakening.

Your attack was too powerful... It fractured the mental cage.

The demon hidden deep inside him... is coming out.

Sakolomé, struck full force by this revelation:

— Wait... You mean that...

— Yes, replied Rivhiamë.

The true fight... the ultimate fight... begins now.

On the ground, Grijan writhed, screaming, his body covered with a corrosive essence, as if matter itself rejected his presence.

His skin turned whiter, pale. Abyssal feathers sprouted from his skin covering his waist.

Nairo, chilled with dread:

— What's happening to him?!

Sakolomé, standing upright, serious look:

— Prepare yourselves all.

The real enemy was not Grijan...

But what was imprisoned inside him.

What is about to be born... could destroy us all if we make the slightest mistake.

Silence fell. Everyone's eyes widened.

Ramos, tense:

— Seriously? As if that bastard wasn't annoying enough already!

He raised his right eye, ready to impose his power:

— Constraint!

But at the very moment he spoke the word...

A sinister CLIIINKKKKKK rang out.

The spell shattered like glass. A black wave repelled the magic.

Ramos, stunned:

— Wh-what?!

Impossible... My constraint was refused?!

Grijan's twisted silhouette rose with a non-human growl, his voice now doubled, as if speaking with another entity inside.

— Help me, damn it!!!!

BOOOM.

Grijan exploded.

A blinding flash tore through the battlefield.

A white, penetrating light crossed the horizon, forcing everyone to look away.

Then... silence.

A heavy silence. Thick.

When their eyes adjusted to the residual light, all looked up toward the center of the smoking crater.

And there...

It was no longer Grijan.

Crouched amid the ashes, an inhuman creature slowly rose.

Its skin, spectral white, seemed to shine with abnormal purity.

Long hair floated, immaculate white, contrasting with its wide, majestic black crow wings — but marbled with white feathers in their center.

Around its waist, a cloak of dark feathers cascaded down.

Its body was chiseled, athletic, almost perfect.

But it was its red gaze that chilled everyone: empty, dehumanized, as if no consciousness existed behind those eyes.

The creature observed its hand.

It opened its fingers. Closed them. Opened again.

Like a newborn testing its body, or a god rediscovering its mortal shell.

Sakolomé, frozen, thought inwardly:

— Rivhiamë... what is this?

Rivhiamë, voice tenser than ever:

— I believe... it is now more or less at my level. It's no longer Grijan. Be extremely cautious.

— You're going to help us, right?

— Always. You are not alone, Sakolomé.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group watched the creature uneasily.

Grafay, tense:

— What is this monster...?

Sally, trembling:

— It's doing nothing... but I have chills all over and a metallic taste in my mouth... as if my very body knew we were in danger...

Nairo, quietly:

— I thought it was me... But no... It's him.

Grafay, grinding his teeth:

— Whatever. I'm not waiting for it to move!

He leapt into the air.

— Watch out, I'm coming!!

Sally, alarmed:

— Grafay, no! WAIT!

Too late.

Grafay sliced through the air toward the creature.

It slowly raised its eyes to him, its scarlet pupils without the slightest hint of fear or interest.

With a slow gesture, it raised a pale hand...

as if to stop a fly.

Ramos, reactive:

— CONSTRAINT!!

The spell struck. An invisible force pinned the creature in place, preventing movement.

— Now! shouted Ramos.

BOOOOM!

Grafay struck with all his might. A huge blast exploded around the impact, throwing dust and flames in a wide radius.

Grafay, landing on his feet, exhaled confidently:

— Bullseye...

But as the smoke cleared...

Everyone froze.

The silhouette was still there.

Standing. Intact. Motionless.

The gaze still as empty.

Not a scratch.

No reaction.

Grafay, mouth slightly open, murmured:

— Huh...?

Ramos, frowning, shocked:

— Even my constraint... didn't work.

Then the creature simply tilted its head, as if beginning to understand something...

Grafay: — What the hell is this?!

Sweat beads on his forehead. His jaw tightens.

His body ignites with an aura of raw mana, red and black energy crackling around him, tearing the air with chaotic lightning.

Grafay, teeth clenched, shouts:

— TATATATATAA!!!

His fists machine-gun the creature at sonic speed, each wrapped in a destructive impact, shockwaves resonating with every strike.

The ground cracks, the sky itself seems to vibrate under the fury of the assault.

He finally leaps back, a victorious smirk at the corner of his lips:

— No way it took that without flinching.

The dust slowly dissipates...

And the impossible happens.

The creature is still standing.

Intact.

Not a scratch. Not even a speck of dirt on its white skin.

Its red gaze is still as empty, icy, mechanical, as if none of those attacks were even felt.

Grafay, incredulous, steps back:

— This... this is a nightmare...

A slight flutter of wings.

And suddenly, BOOM!

A black lightning bolt. A supersonic shock.

Grafay is propelled like a rag doll, crossing the horizon at an extraordinary speed, his body slicing through the air, pulverizing trees, fracturing a mountain in his path.

Sally: — GRAFAY!! NOOOO!!!

But too late.

The creature vanished.

And reappeared in the air, above Grafay, who is still suspended, unconscious.

CLAC!

It grabs his neck with one hand.

And in a lightning-fast vertical movement, slams him against the ground.

KRAAAAAAAAANG!!!

The impact is such that the earth trembles from one end of the world to the other.

Entire cities feel the earthquake.

Towers collapse.

Streetlights explode.

Storefronts shatter.

The sky tears with strange lightning, as if reality itself wavered.

Then...

The creature slowly raises its hand. A black and white glow pulses there.

It strikes down.

BOOOOOOM.

One blow.

Only one.

But the planet splits in two.

Oceans rage, continents fracture, entire tectonic masses shift, and space opens in places, as if the universe protested what it just witnessed.

A cosmic abyss opens in the ground.

All present are thrown backward, against their will, as if a higher will refused their presence on this battlefield turned too absolute.

Sakolomé, Salomé, Yuki, Sally, Ramos, Nairo, all try to stabilize themselves.

Rivhiamë, voice graver than ever:

— He's not here to play around, it seems!!!

Sakolomé, eyes dilated:

— We're going to have to fight something... like that?