Thana had just torn space—the way you tear a fragile sheet between your fingers.
Her rage still vibrated, unyielding,a silent scream rending the air with it.
But her body did not follow.Her legs gave out, betrayed by a weakness she refused to admit.
Before she could even step through the rift, she faltered.Her breath broke,her shoulders sagged,and even the shadow around her seemed to hesitate.
She hadn't recovered—not yet.Not from that dark.Not from that cold.Not from the imprisonment that had gnawed her essence down to the bone.
Just as she thought she would collapse completely,crushed by the weight of her own frailty…
Kael had already understood.From the first second he saw her waver, he knew.
And still, he let her continue—out of respect.For her feelings.For that relentless fury she refused to release.
So, when she was about to fold,he pulled her in.His arms closed around her—firm, protective.His breath steady, anchored, against hers.
He held her up.And together, he helped her cross the rent in space.
Refined version:
You could see—and even feel—the dimension crumbling beneath their steps,as if their departure announced its end.
Kael stepped over the tear with Thana in his arms.A shiver rippled through the air behind them,as if the rift were closing the curtain for good on a doomed world.
On the other side…a strange place.
At first glance, it resembled a throne room.Wide. Ruddy.The walls throbbed with a suffocating damp,as though the stone itself breathed at their arrival.
Walls and columns were of a blackish stone,hard and glossy like scorched marble.
Each column bore a glowing standard.But Kael didn't recognize the blazon stitched into them—an alien, forgotten symbol, humming with a troubling aura.
In the air, braziers floated like will-o'-wisps,their flames dancing without wind,casting shifting shadows across the dark stone.
At the end of the hall, atop a short flight of steps,a figure sat on a throne.
Trembling.Barely perceptible in the wavering glow.And yet…the dread it breathed filled the chamber,like an icy breath in the heart of heat.
Thana tried to stand on her own.Out of breath, her body still shaking, but forcing it—refusing to yield.
Kael stopped her cold.His firm hand on her shoulder, his gaze locked in hers.
They held each other.Pressed together.She, bent, half-swaying on her legs.He, solid, holding her as if to keep her will from breaking her further.
Thana panted, lips parted, pride still burning in her eyes.Kael shook his head—gently.A clear sign.
— Enough.
He needed no words.The message was plain: she had already done more than enough.From here, it was on him.
Thana managed a sincere smile.Head slightly inclined, a glint of joy crossed her face.
It had been so long…Kael couldn't remember seeing her like this.
She laid her hand against his chest.A light touch, almost fragile, yet charged with burning intensity.
Her breath dropped to a whisper.Barely audible.
— I think you're ready for the next step.
Her voice vibrated like a sacred confidence.
— Accept this… and rise where no mortal will ever rise.Become my voice.Become my wrath.Become my other half.
We are two, but we will be one.Sharing the same fate.Each will hold the other.Each will suffer for the other.
A shiver ran through Kael as the words rooted inside him.
— Accept this gift… and rise now, Kael.
As Thana spoke the last words,two pulses burst from the palm on Kael's chest—right over his heart.
A double flash, dark and golden,lanced through his flesh as if her words had been a key.
Kael screamed—raw, animal, split by pain.
His veins swelled at once,black and corded under the skin,as if torrents of black liquid were injected into him,forcing passage, flooding his body with unbearable brutality.
His breath shattered.His limbs shook.Each pulse hammered his frame like an anvil.
And in the middle of that chaos,the rhythm began.
A drum.Heavy.Dull.
A beat from elsewhere, resounding in the air as in his veins.Then a second.Faster.A third—stronger, closer.
The floor itself vibrated to the cadence.A guttural chant rose,voices from beyond reciting a forgotten tongue.Each word linked to the last—ritual chain—quickening the pulse,quickening the pain.
Kael arched,his heart struck from within,as if an invisible forge were beating white-hot metal inside.
Then a window sprang at the edge of his sight—flickering, shaking.
System — ??? Princess of Hells is observing.
The message held.Letters warped,shivering as if rewriting themselves.
Observation updated.Authority identified: Death.
A glacial hush seemed to pass through the panel,as though Lilith herself held her breath at the recognition.Then the notification vanished, swallowed by black.
Kael heard nothing now.The drum pounded faster.Harder.Skirting trance.
And then—
The crest.A single, absolute impact.
Within his heart—where his first Magia flame once burned—something sprouted.
Thana drove her black Magia down into it,condensing, compressing,shaping it into a seed.
A seed of primal Authority.Still sleeping.But there.
Ready to grow with him.Ready to rise.
Then everything stopped.
Clean.
Silence—as if the universe itself held its breath.
Thana gathered what energy she had left.Her voice trembled, already breaking, as she whispered:
— I used what remained… to prepare you for what's coming.But I can do no more now.You'll have to deal with that wretch alone.I'm s—
Her sentence died before it finished.
Kael, without thinking, drew her in.His hands framed her face, her head resting in his arms.
A simple gesture—absolute.As if to say: no need to go on.
He lowered his eyes—grave, resolved.
— I understand.You've done enough.I'll take it from here.
He breathed in, slow, and added—low but clear:
— I don't know exactly what's happening to me.But I know this…you've never made me suffer without a reason.So… I trust you.
Kael summoned his kusarigama with a breath.The chain coiled, then unspooled into the air.
He set it whirling with surgical precision.Each motion traced a perfect, controlled arc.It was a dance—beautiful, but cold.An implacable descent, as if the weapon itself announced a judgment.
His steps rang on the black stone.One by one. Measured. Inexorable.
He advanced toward the throne.Each stride crushed the space a little more.Gradually the figure upon it sharpened—first a wavering outline,then shapes,then detail.
As he drew near, the shadow became flesh.And with it, fear grew more tangible.
At less than ten meters, Kael finally saw her features.A woman.A human silhouette.
Everything in her wore the face of a mortal—except the eyes.Blood red. Incandescent.Not what he expected.
He'd imagined something misshapen, a corrupted half-thing…not a fully humanoid form.
But even beneath that deceitful mask, Kael didn't slow.He kept coming.And under his steps, the floor fissured—as if his weight multiplied with every pace.
The Queen tried to recoil.But her throne bound her more surely than any cell.
— Don't come closer!Stay there… don't come closer!
Her voice shook—a mix of terror and a broken authority.
She tried to stand—but what she felt slammed her back down at once.An invisible pressure crushed her, refusing her rise.
It was the atmosphere of Domination.She'd felt it before.Never like this.
Never with this intensity.And never from a… mortal.
In her mind, a name rang.This aura wasn't a man's.It was Lady ???'s.
She refused to yield.Crawling with difficulty, she clutched the throne and, by a desperate effort, dragged herself back into it.Her will to survive won her that meager victory.
But as soon as she'd regained the seat…a black chain lashed forth.
It wrapped the throne's back, then her throat—cold, tightening—locking her completely.
Kael approached.
His face was bloodless.His eyes unreadable.No emotion—only the absolute cold that froze her to the core.
He leaned in, close enough for her to feel his breath—yet there was no warmth in it.Only the void.
And his voice rose, low, irrevocable:
— You know who I am.You remember what I told you.
I have a great deal to share.And also… to thank you for.
You had your fun, didn't you?It's time I returned the favor—properly.
And while we're at it, you're going to help me understand what I've become.
But don't worry.I'll make sure you don't die too quickly.
We'll take our time…you and I.
(Silence. She trembles, unable to look away.)
He lowers his gaze to her and murmurs:
— Dear Queen… now you know your place.
(Silence)… [ Domination Aura acquired. ]