Aria's POV
The portal spits us out into the shrine courtyard, and I land on my feet for the first time in my life feeling steady.
Powerful.
Alive.
The ritual circle is still glowing red beneath us. Kenji and the Sato clan elders stand frozen in shock, their mouths hanging open like they've seen a ghost.
They have.
"Impossible," Master Sato breathes, his face going pale. "You should be dead. The chains took you to the Abyss—nothing survives the Abyss!"
I brush dirt off my academy uniform—the same one that was soaked with my blood minutes ago. Except now it's clean. Whole. Like the ritual never happened.
Like I never died.
"Surprise," I say, and my voice sounds different. Stronger. Cold. "Did you miss me?"
Yumi stumbles backward, her pretty face twisted with fear. "What... what ARE you?"
I smile, and it feels dangerous. "I'm exactly what you tried to make me. A sacrifice." I take a step forward, and black chains flicker around my wrists—visible for just a second before disappearing. "Except the demon you tried to summon? He chose ME instead."
"Lies!" Kenji shouts, but his voice shakes. He holds up the glowing orb—my stolen angelic spirit. "You're just a failed F-rank trying to scare us. Seraphiel! Destroy her!"
The angelic spirit materializes behind Kenji—a beautiful being of white light and golden wings. It raises its hand to attack me.
Then it sees what's standing behind ME.
Azrael manifests.
Not fully—just enough to make his presence known. His crimson eyes glow in the darkness. Black chains ripple across the ground like serpents. The temperature drops twenty degrees in an instant.
The angelic spirit takes one look at a Demon King and SCREAMS.
It's a sound of pure terror—high and broken and desperate. Seraphiel tears itself away from Kenji, breaking the contract in its panic to escape. The spirit vanishes back to the celestial realm so fast it leaves scorch marks in the air.
Kenji's stolen power disappears with it.
He collapses to his knees, suddenly powerless. "No... no, that's impossible! I'm S-rank now! I EARNED that spirit!"
"You earned nothing." I walk toward him slowly, savoring every step. "You STOLE my spirit. And even it knew you were too weak to hold it."
Around us, the clan elders start backing away. Master Sato's confident mask cracks, showing fear underneath.
"Aria, wait." He raises his hands like he's calming a wild animal. "I know you're angry, but we can talk about this. We're family—"
"FAMILY?" The word explodes out of me with so much rage that the ground shakes. "You murdered my real family! You killed my parents when I was FIVE! You sealed my memories and made me your SLAVE!"
The elders exchange panicked looks. They didn't expect me to remember.
"How..." Master Sato's voice falters. "The sealing ritual was perfect. You shouldn't be able to—"
"The demon broke it." I feel Azrael's presence in my mind, warm and approving. "When we made our contract, all your lies shattered. I remember EVERYTHING now."
I remember my mother's face. My father's laugh. A brother I forgot existed.
I remember the night the Satos came with fire and blades.
I remember Master Sato standing over my mother's body, searching for me.
"You were supposed to forget," Master Sato says desperately. "It was kinder that way! We gave you a home, Aria. We fed you, clothed you—"
"You made me a PRISONER." My hands clench into fists, and I feel power surging beneath my skin, begging to be released. "You made me scrub your floors and thank you for it. You let your son torture me and called it love. You were going to SACRIFICE me like I was nothing!"
"You ARE nothing!" Kenji screams, stumbling to his feet. His handsome face is twisted with desperation and rage. "You're just a worthless girl who got lucky with a demon contract! Without that monster, you're still the same pathetic—"
Chains explode from the ground and wrap around Kenji's throat, cutting off his words.
I didn't summon them consciously. They just responded to my anger.
Kenji claws at the chains, gasping for air. His face turns red, then purple.
"Aria, please!" Yumi runs forward, tears streaming down her face. "Don't kill him! I know we hurt you, but please! We can make this right! We can—"
"Make it right?" I turn to her, and she stops like she hit a wall. "You were my best friend, Yumi. For SEVEN YEARS. I told you everything. I trusted you."
"I know, I'm sorry, I—"
"You slept with my fiancé." My voice is ice. "You laughed while they planned to murder me. You called me pathetic while I BLED in that circle."
Yumi's fake tears dry up instantly. Her face hardens into something ugly. "You want the truth? Fine. I HATED you, Aria. Every single day. You were so PATHETIC, always trying so hard, always acting like you deserved to be here." She spits at my feet. "You were weak. Useless. At least now you're useful for something—being a demon's slave."
The chains around Kenji tighten.
"Azrael," I say quietly. "She just called me your slave."
"I heard." His voice echoes from everywhere and nowhere, amused and deadly. "Shall I correct her?"
"Please do."
Azrael manifests fully this time.
He steps out of the shadows behind me—all six feet of terrifying beauty. Silver hair catches moonlight. Crimson eyes burn. Black chains move across his body like living art. Power radiates from him in waves that make reality itself bend.
The clan elders drop to their knees, unable to stand under the pressure of his presence.
"Let me clarify something," Azrael says conversationally, walking past me to stand over Yumi. "Aria isn't my slave. She's my CONTRACTOR. My equal. The girl whose soul is bound to mine for eternity." He tilts his head. "And I am extremely protective of what's mine."
Yumi tries to run.
Chains catch her ankles and drag her back, slamming her to the ground. She screams.
"Aria gets to decide your fate," Azrael continues calmly. "I'm just here to make sure her decisions are... executed properly." His smile is all teeth. "So tell me, little contractor. What shall we do with these people who tried to murder you?"
Every eye in the courtyard turns to me.
Master Sato. Kenji. Yumi. Two dozen clan elders who watched me bleed and did nothing.
I could kill them all. Right now. Azrael would do it with a thought.
The power thrums in my veins, begging to be used. Seventeen years of abuse. Seventeen years of pain. They deserve death.
But death is too quick.
"Let them go," I say quietly.
Azrael raises an eyebrow. "Are you certain?"
"Let them go," I repeat, louder this time. "I want them alive."
The chains release Kenji and Yumi. They collapse, gasping.
Master Sato looks confused. Relieved. "Thank you, Aria. I knew you still had kindness in your—"
"I'm not being kind." I cut him off with a smile that makes him flinch. "I'm being smart. Because killing you now would be mercy." I look at each of them in turn. "I want you alive to watch what I become. I want you to see me rise higher than you ever could. I want you to spend every day knowing you created your own destroyer."
I turn away from them, heading toward the shrine entrance. Azrael falls into step beside me, looking pleased.
"Tomorrow is the real Grand Contracting Ceremony," I continue without looking back. "I'll be there. As Aria Nakamura—the last daughter of the bloodline you tried to extinct. With the Demon King as my contracted spirit."
Master Sato's voice shakes. "The council will never accept a demon contractor. They'll hunt you—"
"Let them try." I pause at the entrance and glance over my shoulder. "Oh, and Kenji? That S-rank position you stole from me? I'm taking it back. Along with everything else you have."
"You can't!" Kenji screams. "I'm a Sato! I'm powerful! I'm—"
"Nothing," I finish for him. "You're nothing without stolen power. Just like I was nothing when you stood on me." My smile sharpens. "But don't worry. You'll have plenty of time to reflect on that while you're scrubbing floors."
I walk away from the shrine, leaving them alive but broken.
Azrael chuckles beside me. "Revenge through success. I like it. Very creative."
"I learned from the best," I say. "After all, you've been waiting centuries for revenge on whoever betrayed you, right?"
He goes quiet. When I glance up, his crimson eyes are distant—remembering something painful.
"Yes," he says finally. "I have."
"Then you understand." I take a deep breath of the night air. It smells like freedom. "Killing them would be too easy. I want them to SUFFER."
"You," Azrael says with genuine admiration, "are going to be a magnificent contractor."
We walk through the academy gates together—the demon king and the girl who came back from death.
Behind us, the Sato family realizes their worst nightmare has just begun.
Ahead of us, the world waits.
And tomorrow, at the Grand Contracting Ceremony, everyone will learn that Aria Nakamura is not just alive.
She's unstoppable.