The oppressive weight of their aura thickened, the lab trembling faintly beneath the pulse of their corrupted mana. Nex stood his ground, vectors humming faintly around him, ready to strike — yet the two figures did not attack.
Instead, the taller one tilted his charred head, ember-like eyes narrowing as if sniffing the air. A faint, twisted smile carved into his burnt face.
"…I smell another."
His partner's wings twitched, scattering blood drops across the broken floor. He turned his gaze away from Nex, staring as if through walls and corridors into the distance. The demonic energy curled outward like tendrils, and they both froze for a moment — as if savoring something.
"There," the shorter one rasped, voice like burned metal. "A strong prey. Far… but close enough."
Nex's violet eyes flickered. His chest tightened as he realized who they were sensing.
The taller demon turned back to him, wings spreading slightly, dripping blood. "You are… only a D+ rank human. Pathetic." His voice was calm, almost amused. "But you did survive this far. Strong will. That makes you… more fun."
He leaned forward, charred skin cracking with the motion, and whispered like a lover sharing a secret:
"I will not kill you now. Not yet. I want to watch you break. Watch despair eat you until you beg me to end it."
Every word slithered into Nex's mind, feeding the growing fire of rage inside him. His vectors lashed out against the floor in response, leaving faint scars on the steel, but the demon only chuckled.
The other one's wings flared fully, shaking dust from the ceiling. "I will take this other prey. She is strong. When she screams… when she dies… you will know."
Nex's blood ran cold. Irene.
He stepped forward, rage boiling over.
But the taller demon raised a clawed finger, mocking silence. "Ah… so you know her. Good. Then it will hurt more."
The shorter demon spread his wings and with a single flap, his body dissolved into a streak of black and red light, vanishing down the ruined corridors like a predator unleashed.
The taller one remained, eyes never leaving Nex, as if relishing his reaction. He tilted his head, smile widening through his burned features.
"She will scream soon. And when you hear it… remember—it was me who spared you, so you could break."
With that, his wings folded close, his presence pressing heavier, and yet he did not strike. He simply turned away, as if Nex was nothing more than a toy waiting to be played with later.
The lab fell into a tense silence after the sound of beating wings faded. The broken puppets, the blood, the wreckage — all of it blurred as Nex's rage grew sharper than any blade. His violet eyes glowed darker, violent vectors sparking at his side.
The air thickened like molten lead as the demon's aura pressed harder, pinning Nex flat to the cracked steel floor. His ribs groaned under the weight, breath rasping in his throat, each inhale tasting of ash and blood. He forced his violet eyes up, meeting the charred figure looming over him.
The demon didn't attack. It simply vanished—like a shadow flickering out of existence—and reappeared across the chamber in a blur of bloodstained wings.
In its clawed hand dangled one of the researchers who had tried to crawl away. The man was still alive, whimpering, face streaked with tears and sweat. His broken glasses fell from his nose, clattering uselessly to the ground as he kicked and screamed.
"Pathetic," the demon rasped, its voice like burning coal.
Before Nex could even twitch, the creature shoved the man's head into its cracked jaws. A wet, crunching sound echoed as bone split, skull giving way like brittle porcelain. The researcher's scream cut short as the top half of his head collapsed inward.
Crunch—crunch—
The demon chewed deliberately, jaw muscles tearing through cartilage and brain as thick streams of blood and grey matter oozed down its chin, dripping onto the floor in steaming splats. One eye dangled for a moment from the mangled skull, still attached by a nerve, before it was slurped up between jagged teeth.
Nex's hands shook against the ground, vectors trembling, not from fear but from the unbearable rage boiling inside him.
The demon tilted its head back, swallowing the last of the mush in one gulp. A blackened tongue dragged across its lips, smearing the blood around its mouth into grotesque streaks.
It turned back to Nex, smile splitting the cracked skin of its face. "Your kind tastes weak. Bitter. Their souls rot before I even touch them."
It dropped what was left of the body — a twitching, headless corpse spilling blood across the steel — and then it paused. Its charred nostrils flared, wings twitching. The ember-glow of its eyes narrowed as if catching some distant scent.
"…There are others."
Nex's heart froze.
The demon's lips peeled back further into something halfway between a smile and a snarl. "Not humans. Hybrids."
Nex's violet eyes widened — the children.
The demon's aura shifted, not in hunger, but in disgust. Its entire body convulsed once as if gagging, and it spat a clot of black blood onto the floor. "Filth. Abominations stitched from beasts and essence. Not even worth the bite."
It looked back at him, sneering, voice dripping with contempt. "Keep them. Keep your trash. They sicken me."
Nex's body screamed under the pressure, but his fury burned hotter than the demon's aura. His vision blurred with crimson, heart pounding with every oath he had sworn.
The children—those tiny bodies curled against him, the blonde boy calling him knight, the shy girl tugging his sleeve, the warmth of their smiles—flashed through his mind.
And then the image of the demon spitting on them as if they were less than dirt.
Something inside him snapped.
The vectors around him sparked against the floor like lightning shackled to his will, thin blades of invisible force etching scars into the steel. His rage no longer boiled — it sharpened. Focused.
The demon only laughed, amused by his defiance. "Ah… there it is. Hatred. Good. Break yourself on it. It makes the taste sweeter."
Blood still dripping from its chin, it leaned closer, its ember eyes burning into Nex's. "Survive long enough, worthless maggot. I want to savor the moment your heart is crushed in front of your prey."
Then Nex's world darkened.