Alexia opened her eyes and looked around. She found herself sitting on the very chair she had occupied before, with her grandmother, Caelia, still seated across from her, diligently writing in her book.
"So, how was your day? Did you find anything interesting?" Caelia inquired. She placed the quill down and looked up at Alexia.
"You made my heart stop for a moment," Alexia said, her breathing still slightly fast. "At least warn me before doing something like that."
"Sorry about that. I'll remember to warn you next time," Caelia said with a soft smile. "But you still haven't told me how your day was."
"It was nothing special. Just normal, like always," Alexia replied, averting her eyes.
Caelia didn't say anything, but a knowing smile played on her lips. She snapped her fingers, and the book and quill slowly faded from existence. She rose from her chair gracefully and looked at Alexia.
"Well, let's go and rest," she said.
Alexia nodded. Another similar magic circle materialized beneath their feet, and in an instant, they vanished from the spot without a trace.
---
In a stately hotel room, Seiichi, Lumine, and Seraphina sat around a dining table, finishing their meal. Azariel and Dómvalka had retired to their respective rooms, and Iris was waiting in Seiichi's chamber.
As they ate, Lumine spoke up. "Mom."
Seraphina looked at her daughter. "What is it, dear?" she asked.
"Seiichi and I met Alexia today," Lumine said between bites, watching her mother's reaction.
"Is that so?" Seraphina replied, taking a spoonful of food and chewing it thoughtfully.
"You don't look surprised," Lumine noted. "Did you already know?"
Seraphina swallowed. "Well, yes. Caelia told me she and Alexia would be there."
"I see," Lumine said. "Did Yuki come with them?"
"No," Seraphina answered. "Caelia said Yuki would not be coming because she knows the two of you would cause trouble for everyone if she did."
Lumine pouted. "Come on, she's like a sister to me. Besides, she's going to be my sister-in-law someday."
"Well, you can cause all the trouble you want with her when she does visit, but I don't want any of that now," Seraphina said firmly.
The three of them finished their meal in companionable silence.
"Let's rest well tonight. Tomorrow is a special day, and we need to be up early and ready," Seraphina announced. With that, she headed toward her room, and Lumine followed close behind.
Seiichi, left alone at the table, sighed quietly and made his way to his own room.
He walked upstairs, his footsteps muffled by the plush carpet, and stopped before his door. He pushed it open and stepped inside. A sudden, faint sensation of wrongness prickled at his senses, accompanied by a brief, static-like sound. He paused, scanning the room, but saw nothing amiss.
After a moment of stillness, with no repeat of the strange sound or feeling, he shrugged it off and closed the door. Inside, he found Iris, who had fallen asleep while waiting for him for hours. He didn't disturb her. Instead, he walked to the bathroom, took a long, hot shower to wash away the fatigue, and emerged feeling more settled.
He then walked to the large bed, climbed in, and pulled the blanket over himself. In a rare gesture of care, he gently adjusted the covers over Iris as well. Finally, his body relaxing bit by bit, he closed his eyes and was quickly pulled into a deep, restorative slumber.
---
In the Endless Realm of Spirit, the lower existential plane where souls ascended after mortal beings died, an eternal twilight reigned. This was the afterlife, a dimension maintained by the angels who had long ago defeated the threats that once sought to destroy the sacred cycle between the realms of mortal life and spiritual rest.
It was a higher-dimensional realm that transcended the mortal realm but it was a realm below the divine realms like the realm of fate, the realm of angel and all the endless realms that the pathway contained as each of those endless realms were on a higher-dimensional plane and transcended both the realm of mortal and the realm of spirit. Beings from the mortal plane could not exist here without their physical forms being utterly erased from existence. To survive in the Realm of Spirit, one needed to possess a spiritual or astral body, a form only angels, demons, apostles, and a very few other ancient races naturally possessed.
---
Within this vast, silent realm, a cataclysmic explosion suddenly tore through the fabric of reality. The blast was so devastating it shook the entire endless expanse, erasing countless ascended souls from existence in an instant.
The destruction was wrought by a monster of the demon race. It stood colossal, with massive, twisted horns curling from its skull, skin like polished obsidian, and eyes that glowed with a malevolent crimson light. A crazed, ecstatic smile was plastered across its face as it reveled in the chaos it had unleashed.
Suddenly, a slash of pure, searing light cut through the spiritual ether toward the demon at incredible speed. The demon noticed the attack at the last moment and twisted its body aside, narrowly avoiding it.
It spoke in a grating, guttural voice that felt like sandpaper against the mind. "Who are you?" the demon demanded, its glowing eyes narrowing.
"A naive little thing like you doesn't even deserve to know my name," a voice replied, smooth and dripping with condescension.
The speaker was Aurora, an angel and the vice-general who served directly under Dómvalka. She was clad in a crisp white military dress with long trousers, her posture radiating lethal elegance. In the angelic military, Aurora was infamous for her dual nature of masochism and sadism. She took profound pleasure in witnessing her targets writhe in pain, begging for a mercy she would never grant.
She raised her hand casually and unleashed another blinding slash of light. It shot toward the demon at the speed of light, but the creature dodged it with contemptuous ease.
"Do you think mere light attacks are enough to stop me?" the demon roared.
Without waiting for a reply, it vanished from its spot. In the next fraction of a second, Aurora moved, swinging the blade of her sword behind her neck without even looking. The flat of the blade met a monstrous fist with a shockwave that rippled through the Realm of Spirit once more.
Aurora glanced over her shoulder, meeting the demon's crazed grin. A menacing smile of her own spread across her flawless features.
"I love the confidence and ego you have," she purred, her voice laced with venomous amusement. Then it dropped to a low, chilling whisper. "I'm going to enjoy breaking you."