The silence of the alley had grown even more terrifying. Cheng, who only moments ago had been a helpless, wounded, and weeping man, now stood still like cold stone. The injury on his knee, from which blood had been flowing, began to fill with dark veins. The pain had not vanished; instead, it had transformed into his strength.
Aethna's red eyes glimmered in the darkness. Leaning close, she whispered into Cheng's ear, "Go, Cheng. Settle your score with your enemies and punish those who wounded and humiliated you. Remember one thing— the more blood you spill and the more suffering you inflict, the stronger the power of the Andheri within you will grow."
Cheng clenched his fists. The bones in his hands began to crack. He took a deep breath, and cold vapor spilled from his mouth. At that moment, he was trapped in a battle between his mind and his heart—his heart urging him to walk the path of goodness his mother had shown him, while his mind, consumed by rage, prepared him to take revenge on the world. Then he remembered the bench where he had left his mother behind. But now, there were no tears in his eyes—only a light, burning for all those who had taken his mother's life. He had forgotten that even though his mother was no longer in this world, if she were alive, she would never have let Cheng walk down the wrong path.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Victoria hurried upstairs to her room. She locked the door from inside and rushed to her wardrobe, where she had kept the Truth Fairy. But the moment she opened it, she froze in shock. The Truth Fairy was unconscious, and her golden glow had grown dim.
"Oh, Truth Fairy, are you alright? Please forgive me—I forgot about you, and I had no idea it would take me so long to come back," Victoria said, pleading apologetically.
Because the wardrobe had been closed, the Truth Fairy had been deprived of oxygen; her breath had begun to fail, and she had lost consciousness. It became painfully clear that no matter which world a living being belonged to, oxygen was just as essential for them as it was for humans on Earth. Victoria was overwhelmed with guilt and anger toward herself, even as Olivia kept calling out from downstairs, urging her again and again to come for dinner.
Gently placing the Truth Fairy on her palm, Victoria carried her out and laid her down on the bed. After giving her warmth with her hands for a while, the Truth Fairy finally regained consciousness.
"I'm sorry, Truth," Victoria said softly, her eyes filled with tears.
"It's alright, Victoria. I actually lost consciousness because I wasn't getting enough oxygen. And there's another thing—fairies need to eat something sweet after a while so that the flow of our golden energy continues within our bodies. I hadn't eaten anything sweet for a long time, and that's why all this happened. But I'm completely fine now," the Truth Fairy said, sitting up on the bed.
Hearing this, Victoria offered her the chocolates she had nearby. After eating them, the Truth Fairy's golden glow returned, and once again she began to float in the air.
But then, suddenly, something unknown happened. Victoria's eyes began to glow blue.
"What is happening to me?" Victoria asked in shock.
"Victoria, there must be some new danger looming over the city, and your powers are making you sense it," the Truth Fairy replied, looking at her.
Just then, Olivia's angry voice echoed from downstairs, "Victoria! The food is getting cold. Come quickly!"
Victoria quickly composed herself and, gesturing for Truth to stay in the room, replied to her mother, "I'm coming, Mom!"
Although Victoria had now brought her powers under control, her heart was still pounding fiercely. Before going downstairs, she glanced out the window once more. The city lights were glowing, and everything looked normal, just as it always did. The city was calmly absorbed in living its nighttime life. But far above the industrial area, a dark cloud loomed—one that would never fall under the grasp of the weather department, because this was no natural phenomenon. It was a sign that darkness was once again preparing to envelop the world in its embrace.
Meanwhile, at the police headquarters, Marcus sat in his cabin, smoking a cigar. Cheng's file lay open in front of him. He stamped it with "Wanted: Dead or Alive" and smiled. At that moment, he felt deeply satisfied, knowing that after dumping all the pending cases onto Cheng, his promotion was now guaranteed and would begin as early as next month.
"Hahaha… a helpless, poor boy who must have thought he'd get bail and escape both the law and me. But he had no idea that people get caught in the noose of the law because of their mistakes—and how long they remain trapped in that noose is decided by us police officers. Cheng came to me at the perfect time; otherwise, because of my pending cases, not only would I have missed my promotion next month, but I would have surely faced a departmental inquiry. Here, it's my good fortune and Cheng's misfortune… and that makes Cheng the perfect scapegoat," Marcus thought to himself, pleased.
Just then, Marcus called in his junior. "Listen, tell all units—if Cheng is spotted, don't ask questions. Shoot on sight. We'll say he tried to counter-attack." Saying this, Marcus burst into laughter.
But he did not know that a dark threat was rapidly closing in on him, one that would punish him for all the sins he had committed so far by abusing the power of his position.
After the police teams went out on patrol, suddenly the streetlights outside the headquarters began to explode one by one, and pitch-black darkness spread across the road.
Blast! Blast! Blast!
Within moments, the entire area was swallowed by darkness. Gairy, who had just returned to headquarters, had barely stepped out of his car when he sensed something strange in the air. The weather outside the headquarters had changed completely all of a sudden—violent lightning flashed across the sky and thunder roared, even though Gairy had seen no such weather anywhere along the way, nor had the weather department issued any warning. At the same time, Gairy noticed a stench in the air, like the smell of rotting corpses.
"What's going on? What happened to the weather so suddenly—and what is this strange smell, as if I'm standing in a morgue?" Gairy muttered to himself as he drew his gun.
Just then, Gairy saw a shadow at the main gate of the headquarters. He recognized it instantly, because it was none other than Cheng. Yet he no longer looked like Cheng. His height seemed greater than before, and black smoke poured out of his body, slithering across the ground like a serpent.
"Cheng?" Gairy shouted. "Stop! Why have you come here? Run away from this place—Marcus will kill you!" Gairy warned, staring at him.
Cheng slowly lifted his head. There was no fear left on his face. In a heavy, echoing voice, he said, "Where is Marcus, Gairy? He has delivered plenty of 'justice' while sitting on the throne of the law—but today, I have come to deliver justice to Marcus."
At that moment, the other police officers present in the headquarters noticed Cheng. One of them shouted, "That's Cheng—the most wanted criminal! Sound the alarm and stop him!" And with that, the police opened fire on Cheng without any warning.
But what happened next made everyone's soul tremble. The bullets stopped in midair the moment they reached Cheng's body, as if they had struck an invisible wall. Cheng swung his hand through the air, and all the bullets turned back, redirecting themselves toward the very police officers who had fired them.
The bullets began striking all the police personnel standing there, and screams filled with agony echoed outside the headquarters. Cheng advanced one step at a time. Whoever came into his path—Cheng would merely wave his hand through the air, and that person would no longer be able to stand on their feet again.
The darkness and sinful power bestowed upon Cheng by Aethna had turned him into a living beast, driven by a single purpose—to take the lives of his enemies, and to kill anyone who dared come in his way.
Meanwhile, Victoria was in the dining hall when her Cosmic Sense warned her that something was terribly wrong somewhere. But at that moment, her parents were seated with her at the dining table, and she could not use her powers in front of them. She suddenly rose from her chair and, making an excuse about the bathroom, headed upstairs toward her room.
Seeing her come up so abruptly in the middle of dinner, the Truth Fairy was surprised. She flew closer and asked, "What happened, Victoria? Why did you leave your meal halfway and come upstairs like this?"
Hearing the Truth Fairy's words, Victoria looked at her and said, "My Cosmic Sense is warning me of danger. Something terrible is happening somewhere in the city, and I have to go stop it, Truth." Saying this, Victoria closed her eyes.
She summoned her superhero suit. In an instant, Victoria became the Secret Admiral. Her angelic, power-filled suit shimmered brilliantly even in the light.
"Truth, are you coming with me?" Victoria said as she opened the window and flew into the air toward the headquarters. Behind her, the Truth Fairy followed, flying close.
The way my Cosmic Sense is alerting me, Victoria thought as she flew, it feels like whoever is wreaking havoc on Earth right now is an extremely powerful enemy—someone in whom dark and demonic forces are fully active. This energy is different from the demons I've fought before.
When she reached the police headquarters, the sight was horrifying. The main gate of the headquarters had been ripped off and thrown aside. Many police officers lay on the ground—unconscious or dead. Everything around was in ruins, and police vehicles, now looking like wrecked cars after an accident, blared their alarms relentlessly. Voices crackled through wireless radios from every direction, and the headquarters looked like a place a violent storm had torn through just moments ago.
Seeing this terrifying scene, Victoria knew that once again the city had fallen onto the radar of a demon—one who had chosen to strike the very police officers responsible for protecting the city first, proving that he feared no one. What lay ahead, how the Secret Admiral's encounter with Cheng would unfold, and how Cheng—who believed the Secret Admiral to be his mother's killer—would react upon seeing her there, was impossible to predict.