Lower God

Within the Demon Clan, beneath the surface.

Natasha, Elara, Lilitu, and Thalvron sat quietly on the ground like prisoners behind bars, their skin soaked in sweat. A small hole led to the surface, allowing just enough air to breathe.

No one had spoken for a while, but the silence only added to the heat from the earthen walls, with the ball of flame in Thalvron's palm burning tirelessly.

"Allen is taking too much time," Lilitu said dryly, forcing an emotionless grin.

"Like you care," Natasha shot back with a scornful smirk.

"Please, now isn't the time for this," Elara interrupted, raising one hand to still them.

Lilitu sighed. 'Where did he even find these nuisances?' she thought, disgust curling on her lips.

"I suggest we go in search of him," Thalvron said, rising. The low ceiling of the underground chamber barely contained his height.

"We can't risk walking on the surface. It's still late noon," Elara replied, her eyes locked on him.

"Besides," she Lilitu added, "Thalvron and I can barely walk under the slightest view of the sun."

'Oh… right. Vampires,' Elara remembered, standing to her feet. "From the vibrations I feel, this underground area is filled with tunnels. One of them might lead us closer to Allen."

"But how do we know where he is?" Natasha asked, frustration etched in her voice.

"I'll handle that," Elara whispered. She closed her eyes, blue auras shimmering around her body as a third eye flickered open on her forehead. Her mind imagining Allen—vivid, clear.

She saw him lying on the ground, wrapped head to toe in chains that whispered with suppressive force.

"I know where he is!" she declared fiercely, deactivating her Ominisight.

"Where?" Natasha and Lilitu chorused.

Elara's voice dropped low, shaded in resolve, her fist clenched hard.

"The dungeon beneath the palace… where high criminals are kept."

No words followed. Just tension. Mouths shut. Hearts pounding.

"Thanks to the tunnels and my royal knowledge, I know a simple way in and out," Elara said with a determined smile. For her, this was the first real thing she could do for Allen—to prove her worth.

"Then lead the way," Thalvron said, stepping close with his flame orb offering her light.

Elara extended her hand to the wall on the left manipulating it with unseen powers. Stone softened into quicksand and poured down, revealing a tunnel cloaked in darkness. The echoes of dripping water hummed deep within.

"Let's go," she said, stepping forward to lead.

Maybe you're not so useless after all, Lilitu thought, her awe hidden behind indifference. Allen has built something undeniable in you… Maybe even in me.

Thalvron widened the tunnel with a single touch before entering.

'I don't know what happened to the young master, he thought, but he's my responsibility now, I know that— just as sure as my own name.'

---

Elsewhere,

Above the surface.

The moon had begun chasing the sun out of the sky. The streets of the Elf Clan thrummed with their usual nighttime rhythm—training, feasting, and pleasure. Laughter and clashing steel echoed in the lively air.

---

Below the palace.

Witin the palace was as down leading stairs restricted to most elves, royals included. In the lowest depths of the dungeon, buried beneath three underground floors, Allen's eyes fluttered open. Just as when he'd fallen unconscious, his vision was blurred, and a sharp, consuming pain throbbed in his skull. Chains wrapped around him like a cocoon—binding his aura and squeezing every breath.

When his sight finally cleared, his eyes met Kealion's fierce stature looming over him. No words. Just fists.

A devastating blow cracked Allen's jaw, pain searing through him as he coughed blood—but his body instantly regenerated.

"Where is Elara?" Kealion roared, the pressure of his voice alone enough to shake the ground.

Allen's eyes shut tightly. 'Damn it. I'm a palace fugitive now… Still alive. That means Amaterasu delivered my message. That's a relief.'

"Answer me!" Kealion roared again, striking him a second time, harder than before.

Blood sprayed, yet Allen forced himself to whisper, "Break…"

But no command was executed. His aura was blocked—suppressed by something greater.

"You're not escaping. These are aura-caving chains," Kealion growled. "So talk—or die."

Allen struggled to sit upright, his body fighting the chains like roots climbing a tree.

"Since when did you care?" he mocked. 'Word are my only weapon now.'

"That's not an answer," Kealion barked, slamming him again. The chains tightened with a cruel hiss, but Allen smiled through the blood and pain.

"You call yourself a father," Allen sneered, "yet you're too blind to know your own daughter."

Kealion's fury surged. He raised both fists like a hammer forged from wrath.

"Yes, Kealion… feel that truth burn in your gut. Punch me. Break me. After all, Elara's existence is now tied to mine, every hit you deliver to me is pain she suffered can't regenerate from."

Kealion froze his words pircing him like a lifeless needle, inflicting pain but could not take pain either.

"Curse you, Allen!" he roared, stomping the ground with force so immense it cracked and trembled.

"What do you want? What's your goal?!"

Allen's smile widened, his gaze now sharper than the king's, but behind it danced a sense of fulfillment.

"Simple trade. You get your daughter… I get your—"

BOOM!

A deafening explosion thundered from afar. Kealion flinched nit just from the sound. Something inside him stirred.

---

At the outer walls of the Elf Clan.

A single massive impact had shattered the wall. Dust choked the air. Yet the wall began regenerating like flesh closing a wound—stone by stone.

"What was that?" Natasha asked, stunned, opening a hidden underground door using her finger, now morphed into a key.

"The wall…" Elara whispered in terror. Her limbs trembled.

"He's here," Lilitu murmured. And now even more dominant than before."

"Who?" Natasha asked, dread mixed with curiosity.

"The hybrid. The nightmare we've kept our eyes open to avoid."

"What… in my clan?" Elara gasped. "We have to stop him—now!"

"That's suicide," Lilitu warned.

"What about Allen?" Natasha asked.

"You take it from here," Elara said, eyes burning with resolve. "Thalvron—open a portal to the walls. I won't let my kingdom fall to that nameless devil."

"I'm telling you—"

"We'll get backup if we must. But that creature must not take another step into my kingdom."

Thalvron opened the portal. Elara dashed through without hesitation.

Lilitu froze. Memories of the hybrid—her mother's screams, the carnage—rushed in. But Elara's bravery shamed her. She went in without fear. 'What am I doing standing still?' With a growl, she followed, hips swaying, fire in her soul.

Thalvron entered last—his gaze never leaving the princess.

---

Back at the palace gaol.

Kealion grimaced. His aura was being drained—as if feeding the regenerating wall and that it was doing.

The walls were all made by him in such a way the it keep it's initially originality mostly when damaged.

Footsteps raced toward the cell. A young elven guard arrived, pale and trembling.

"My lord—there is an intruder is to the west of the walls."

Kealion looked at Allen, then back toward the direction of the blast. Could he have been telling the truth all along?

He rose and left without untying Allen.

---

Inside the cell, Allen's head tilted. What's going on out there? Could the devil have caught up already? No… not this soon.

His wounds had healed, but the blood remained, and the chains showed no mercy.

Moments later, Natasha appeared at the bars.

"My lord… are you alright?" she whispered, breathless with worry. Her finger shifted shape, becoming the perfect key, and she rushed inside.

"I knew I could count on you," Allen smiled, his words like balm to her panicked heart.

"It was mostly Elara, my lord," she replied humbly, gripping the chains—but couldn't find a start or end to them.

"Try something else, Natasha," Allen said calmly.

"You're right," she gasped. "You're a genius."

Her entire body morphed—Undeadflux fully activated—transforming into a fluid, oily substance that slithered between the chains and unwound them like serpents loosing their prey. As the chains hit the ground, her body reformed beside him.

The instant they dropped, Allen's aura exploded—unblocked and furious.

[System Alert]

[Potential Threat Detected]

-Name: Zarynth (Hybrid of four bloodlines. (Ranking: Not of This World)

-Race: lower god

-Ability: ??? Accessment error 'could not be detected'

-Threat Assessment: 100%+

-Intimacy: secure new habitat

'No mistake', Allen thought. 'The end has begun.' He tilted his face with two words still echoing in his mind, "lower god?" He whispered, "could that mean his just steps away from being a god?"

Lightning charged across his body. His cells surged into hyperspeed.

"Hold on and hold tight," he told Natasha, turning his back to her.

Blushing, she climbed on without hesitation, dragging her body slowly against his delebratly.

'Thanks Elara you blindly gave me this opportunity', she thought, smirking as she wrapped her arms tightly around his chest from below his armpits.

"Here… we… go…" Allen whispered, feeling her warmth—but ignoring it.

He bent into a stance—and at the mark of "Go," he blasted forward, faster than time and destination clear but what awaited was still called the unknown.