Aria's POV
"Again."
I slam into the ground for the fifth time in ten minutes, tasting blood and dirt.
"Get up," Azrael commands from above. He's in his full demon form now—massive black wings spread wide, chains writhing around him like living serpents, crimson eyes glowing with merciless intensity. "You're facing the council tomorrow. They'll kill you in seconds if you fight like this."
"I'm trying!" I gasp, struggling to my feet. My whole body aches. We've been training in this pocket dimension for hours, and I haven't landed a single hit on him.
"Trying isn't good enough." Azrael's chains shoot forward, and I barely dodge. One catches my ankle and yanks me off balance. I crash down again. "Stop thinking like a victim and START THINKING LIKE A PREDATOR!"
Frustration burns through me. "Easy for you to say! You've had centuries to master your power!"
"And you have until tomorrow night." His voice is ice. "So stop making excuses and FIGHT ME."
He attacks again—chains coming from all directions, too fast to track. I raise my hands instinctively, and my own chains materialize to block. They shatter on impact.
"Your chains are too weak!" Azrael doesn't slow down. "You're not putting enough power behind them. Stop holding back!"
"I'm not holding back!"
"YES, YOU ARE!" His chains wrap around my wrists, lifting me into the air. His face is inches from mine, furious. "You spent seventeen years being told you were weak. Being told to make yourself smaller. And even NOW, with all this power, you're still apologizing for taking up space!" He drops me. "If you can't break through that mental cage, you'll die tomorrow. And your sister will laugh over your corpse."
The mention of Emiko hits like a physical blow.
My sister. Alive. Working with the people who murdered our parents.
Rage explodes through me—hot and desperate and powerful.
I SCREAM and slam my hands into the ground.
Chains erupt from beneath Azrael—MY chains, thick as tree trunks, edged with silver lightning. They move faster than before, stronger than before, fueled by pure fury.
Azrael dodges, but barely. One chain grazes his shoulder, and he actually looks surprised.
"BETTER!" His grin is vicious. "Again! Show me that anger!"
I attack without thinking. Chains burst from my hands, from the ground, from the air itself. I'm not holding back anymore. I'm not apologizing. I'm not that scared girl who scrubbed floors and said thank you.
I'm ARIA NAKAMURA, and I'm done being weak.
My chains clash with Azrael's in midair, and this time they don't shatter. They HOLD.
"Yes!" Azrael's laugh echoes across the dimension. "That's it! That's the contractor I need!"
We fight for what feels like hours. He pushes me harder than anyone ever has. Every time I think I can't go further, he demands more.
And somehow, impossibly, I give it.
By the time Azrael finally calls a break, I'm lying on my back, staring at the swirling sky of the pocket dimension, completely exhausted but grinning.
"How do you feel?" Azrael settles beside me, his wings folding back.
"Like I got hit by a truck." I laugh breathlessly. "But also... powerful. For the first time ever, I feel like I could actually win tomorrow."
"You can." His voice softens slightly. "You're stronger than you know, Aria. You just needed someone to beat it into you."
I turn my head to look at him. "Why do you care so much? About me being strong?"
His crimson eyes meet mine. "Because I failed someone once. A long time ago." Pain flickers across his face. "Someone trusted me to protect them, and I was too weak. They died because of my failure."
My chest tightens. "Who?"
"Her name was Selene." Azrael stares at the sky. "My younger sister. She was gentle and kind—everything I wasn't. When my brother betrayed me, he knew the quickest way to break me was to hurt her first." His voice goes hollow. "He killed her right in front of me. Made me watch. Then threw me into the Abyss."
Tears prick my eyes. "Azrael..."
"I swore I'd never let someone I cared about die again." He looks at me. "You remind me of her sometimes. That determination to see good in monsters. That stubborn refusal to give up." His hand cups my face gently. "So yes, I care about you being strong. Because I won't lose another person I—" He stops himself.
"Another person you what?" I whisper.
He pulls his hand back, looking away. "We should continue training."
But I saw it in his eyes. Felt it through our bond.
Azrael cares about me. Maybe more than just as a contractor.
Before I can push the thought further, pain stabs through my head—sharp and vicious. I cry out, clutching my skull.
"Aria!" Azrael catches me as I double over. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know... something's... in my head..." Images flash through my mind that aren't mine. A little girl with violet eyes. A dark room. Chains. Pain. Training. "Emiko," I gasp. "I'm seeing... I'm seeing her memories."
"That's impossible." Azrael's voice is sharp with concern. "Soul bonds don't work that way—"
"Unless we're blood related." The realization hits me. "Kaito said Nakamuras have a special connection. Family bonds that transcend normal spirit links." Another wave of memories crashes through me. "She's... oh God, she's in so much pain..."
I see flashes of my sister's life. Being found in the rubble. Taken by the council. Raised in isolation. Trained to be a weapon. Taught that her family abandoned her. That only the council cared.
Tortured when she failed. Praised when she killed.
They broke her. Just like the Satos tried to break me.
"She doesn't know," I whisper, tears streaming. "She doesn't know the truth. They made her believe we left her to die."
"Aria." Azrael grips my shoulders. "You need to stop. This connection is dangerous—"
"No." I push through the pain, reaching deeper. "If I can see her memories, maybe she can see mine. Maybe I can show her the TRUTH."
I focus on my own memories—Mom and Dad smiling. Kaito teaching me to summon my first spirit. The night of the massacre when Mom screamed for us to RUN. The Satos' betrayal. The council's conspiracy.
Everything.
I push the memories toward that connection, praying Emiko can feel them.
For a moment, nothing happens.
Then I feel shock. Confusion. Denial.
And a small, broken voice in my mind: ...Sister?
Emiko! I reach for the connection desperately. I'm alive. Kaito's alive. We never abandoned you. They LIED—
The connection shatters.
I scream as feedback pain explodes through my skull. Azrael catches me before I hit the ground.
"What happened?" he demands.
"She... she cut the connection." My head throbs. "But she heard me. I know she did."
"That might make tomorrow worse." Azrael helps me sit up. "If she tells the council about your mental connection—"
"She won't." I touch the spot over my heart where I felt her presence. "She's confused. Scared. But she felt the truth in those memories." I meet Azrael's worried gaze. "She's my sister. Some part of her must remember us."
"Or the council's brainwashing is too deep, and she'll use that connection to destroy you." His voice is harsh but honest. "You need to be prepared for that possibility."
I know he's right. But I can't give up on Emiko. Not when I just found out she's alive.
"We should head back," Azrael says. "You need real rest before tomorrow."
He opens a portal, and we step through into Kaito's apartment. My brother is pacing the living room, phone pressed to his ear.
"—don't care what the council says, I want answers now!" He's practically shouting. When he sees us, relief and worry war on his face. "I'll call you back." He hangs up. "Thank God. I felt something through the family bond. What happened?"
"I connected with Emiko." I collapse onto the couch. "I saw her memories. Kaito, they tortured her. For years. Made her into a weapon."
Kaito's face goes pale. "Our little sister..."
"She's alive but broken." Tears spill down my cheeks. "And tomorrow I might have to fight her."
Kaito sits beside me, pulling me into a hug. "We'll find a way to save her. Both of us. I promise."
I want to believe him. But the council has had seventeen years to break Emiko's mind.
What if there's nothing left to save?
My phone buzzes. Another message from the same unknown number as before.
"Sister. I felt you in my mind. Saw your lies. The council warned me you'd try to manipulate me. Tomorrow, I'll prove my loyalty by killing you myself. Don't bother coming. I'll bring the fight to you. —E"
The apartment door explodes inward.
Emiko stands in the shattered entrance, and she looks exactly like me—same violet eyes, same face, but colder. Harder. Broken.
She's wearing combat gear and holding weapons covered in spirit energy.
Behind her stand a dozen council enforcers.
"Hello, sister." Emiko's smile is empty. "Surprise. I moved up our meeting."
She attacks before anyone can react.
Spirit energy explodes through the apartment as Emiko moves with deadly precision—faster than I can follow, more skilled than anyone I've faced.
This isn't my little sister.
This is a trained killer.
And she's here to end me tonight.