Sometimes, it's hard to accept the truth.
Sometimes, it's not easy to recognise the lie.
And sometimes… some things… are simply beyond one's grasp.
That's the truth and the lie… the same coin, just shown on different sides.
Leo stood frozen, helpless, as he stared at Ophis... her lifeblood slowly draining over the stone altar. Crimson rivulets traced along carved channels, feeding into the glowing magic circle etched into the ground, which pulsed and fed that power upward… to Dracula, hovering high above like a god awaiting ascension.
The cloaked figure beside him lowered its head.
"It's over," it murmured. "Let's go."
What else could they do?
This was it.
The end of Ophis's story.
Just like she'd once written.
'Sometimes… I wonder… am I cursed?'
Leo's chest tightened. Tears clung to the edges of his vision as he looked at her... so alive yet, so pale.
Her expression was frozen mid-thought, as if her soul had already started to drift.
