Pain was a starburst behind Aiko's eyes. Black spots danced in her vision, swimming through the dim light of the ruined subway station.
Her head throbbed, a sick, heavy pulse that matched the ringing in her ears. The world was a smear of concrete dust and the faint, metallic scent of Kael's blood. Or maybe it was his essence. At this point, was there a difference?
"Aiko."
His voice. A raw anchor in the swirling chaos of her senses. Strong hands were on her, turning her gently, his body a solid shield that had taken the brunt of the shockwave.
"Are you injured?" he asked, his voice tight with a fear that sounded utterly alien coming from him.
"My head met a wall," she mumbled, blinking to clear her vision. "We're not friends anymore, the wall and I."
She tried for sarcasm. It came out as a pathetic groan.
He ignored her attempt at humour, his fingers gently probing the back of her skull. She flinched. "Ow. Okay, maybe a little injured."
He pulled his hand away. There was no golden blood on his fingertips. A small mercy.
"Stay still," he commanded, his focus entirely on her.
The rift was gone. The thought cut through the fog in her head.
The voice, the violet light, the impossible choice—all of it had vanished in a literal snap. Yuki was gone. Again.
Aiko looked at Kael's face. The raw agony from moments before was still there, but it was buried now under layers of fresh terror. A terror for her.
He had been ready to unmake himself. She had been ready to burn away her future. And the universe, it seemed, had simply said no.
"What happened?" she whispered, pushing herself into a sitting position. The station spun. "Did it… did we fix it?"
"It did not feel like something was being fixed," Kael said, his eyes scanning the empty air where the scar had been. He was right. It felt like a wound being cauterized with a branding iron. A violent, brutal end.
The air was different. That was the first thing she noticed as her head cleared.
The constant, low-level hum of spiritual energy that was the background noise of her life in Tokyo had changed. It was louder. Sharper. More chaotic.
Like a radio that had been knocked off its station, now picking up static from a thousand other channels.
"Do you feel that?" she asked, her own fear starting to prickle her skin.
Kael was already on his feet, his gaze sweeping the station. "The Veil," he said, his voice grim. "It's thinner."
Before Aiko could ask what that meant, the air shimmered again. Not a violent tear this time. It was a clean, precise cut in reality, and a figure stepped through as easily as walking through a doorway.
She was tall, clad in a black tactical suit that looked like it had been designed by a goth fashionista, and her silver hair was pulled back in a severe braid. Her face was sharp, beautiful, and etched with an expression of pure, undiluted fury.
Reaper Zara. Kael's ex-partner. And she looked absolutely, incandescently pissed.
"You did what?"
Zara's voice wasn't a shout. It was a blade of ice, slicing through the heavy silence. It wasn't directed at Aiko. It was aimed squarely at Kael, who straightened as if struck.
"Zara," he said, his tone guarded.
"Don't you 'Zara' me, you sentimental fool," she hissed, stalking toward them. Her boots made no sound on the debris-strewn floor. "I felt that little reality-rending stunt of yours all the way from Shinjuku. The entire celestial command felt it."
Her cold, silver eyes flicked to Aiko, dismissing her in an instant, before locking back onto Kael. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"The situation was… complex," Kael said, his voice stiff.
"Complex?" Zara let out a laugh that was utterly devoid of humour. "Oh, I'm sure it was. Let me guess. It involved a human. Your human."
She gestured at Aiko with a contemptuous flick of her wrist. "It always involves a human with you, doesn't it, Kael? You have a weakness for these fragile, emotional creatures that is going to get us all killed."
"She is not the issue," Kael stated, moving to stand slightly in front of Aiko. A small, almost imperceptible protective gesture that made Zara's eyes narrow.
"Isn't she?" Zara took another step closer, her voice dropping to a venomous whisper. "You fought a Nox Lord. You unleashed enough power to register on every spiritual sensor in this hemisphere. And then, you and your little medium decided to poke a hole in the very fabric of existence."
She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in. "That wasn't just a crack, you idiot. That was a puncture. You didn't just open a door; you shattered the wall."
Aiko felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cold concrete. "What does that mean?" she asked, her voice small.
Zara finally deigned to look at her. "It means, little girl, that the Veil between this world and the next is now permanently destabilized in this entire sector."
"It means the rules are frayed. It means things that were supposed to stay on the other side are going to start slipping through." "It means the Nox were just the appetizer. Now, you've invited everyone to the main course."
Kael's face was a pale, grim mask. "It can be repaired."
"Repaired?" Zara's laugh was sharper this time. "Can you repair a shattered mirror so it shows a perfect reflection? No. You can glue the pieces back together, but the cracks will always be there."
"Heaven Command is in chaos. They are dispatching agents. Not investigators. Cleaners."
The word hung in the air, heavy and final.
"They believe your binding to the human is the source of the instability," Zara continued, her gaze flicking between them. "A forbidden union creating an exponential, unpredictable power surge. They see it as a contamination."
"They're not wrong," Aiko muttered under her breath.
Kael shot her a warning look.
"So what happens now?" Aiko asked, pushing herself to her feet, ignoring the dizzy spell that followed. "They send a celestial repairman? A cosmic plumber?"
"They send a solution," Zara said, her expression grim. "And Heaven's solutions are rarely pleasant. They are always, however, final."
Aiko's stomach twisted. "What kind of solution?"
Before Zara could answer, the air chilled dramatically. The chaotic hum of spiritual energy in the station suddenly focused, coalescing into a palpable pressure.
Three more figures shimmered into existence. They appeared in a triangle formation around Aiko and Kael, their arrival silent, precise, and utterly menacing.
They weren't like Zara. Where she wore tactical gear, they wore long, severe black coats that seemed to absorb the light. Where her anger was a hot, sharp thing, their presence was one of absolute, unwavering cold. They carried no visible weapons, but Aiko could feel the power radiating from them. This wasn't the energy of a Reaper. This was something older. Colder.
The enforcers. The cleaners.
The one standing directly in front of them, a tall figure with a face that looked like it had never known a smile, spoke. His voice was not a sound, but a vibration that resonated directly in their bones.
"Kael. By order of the Seraphim Council, you are to be taken into custody for gross violation of celestial law and contamination with a mortal vessel."
The enforcer's gaze shifted to Aiko, and for the first time, she felt true, unadulterated fear. It was not the fear of a monster. It was the fear of being an error in a spreadsheet, about to be deleted.
"Aiko Tanaka. You have been classified as a level-four existential anomaly."
"The binding will be terminated. Your abilities will be neutralized."
The enforcer paused, its cold, empty eyes meeting hers.
"Your existence will be contained. By any means necessary."