Elias threw his entire weight against the wood, his dark mana flaring just enough to overpower my leverage. With a heavy, echoing creak, the front door violently swung open, and the blinding morning light flooded the entryway, completely exposing me.
There I stood, trapped in the glare. I braced myself for the horror in his eyes… braced myself for him to look at the raw, jagged shoulder stump and the gruesome flank wound he had seen at the oasis.
But the stark white light revealed something impossible.
Thanks to the continuous, high-tier loop of Elicia's divine regeneration that had thrummed through my veins all of yesterday, my body had undergone a miraculous, rapid reconstruction. The skin was flawless. My left arm was no longer a withered, charred stump; it was grown back completely, a perfectly formed, alabaster-white limb resting against the fabric of my dress.
Seeing my brother standing there, seeing my true appearance entirely laid bare after months of hiding behind a calcified mask and a nameless title, the rigid, mechanical walls around my soul completely shattered. The fierce, stoic bounty hunter vanished. The weight of the pregnancy, the terror of the desert, and the sheer emotional overload of seeing Elias alive and well caught in my throat.
A ragged, piercing scream escaped my lips… a raw, childlike sound of pure vulnerability.
Tears instantly welled in my mismatched jade-green and crimson eyes, spilling over my pale cheeks in hot, heavy streams. I turned my back on the doorway, my legs trembling as I practically stumbled backward into the living room.
"Elicia!" I cried out, my voice cracking into a desperate, weeping sob.
I threw myself toward my oldest sister. I wrapped both of my arms… the right and the newly regenerated left… tightly around Elicia's waist, burying my face into her chest. I clung to her dress with a frantic, trembling grip, hiding from the light and the crushing weight of the doorway.
"Big brother... big brother is here," I sobbed into her sweater, my shoulders shaking violently as the long-buried fragments of the little six-year-old girl from Allure completely took over.
Elicia instantly dropped her arms around me, her maternal instinct taking over the second my tears hit her chest. She held me tight against her 5'8" frame, her hands rubbing soothing circles into my back as my massive crimson wings instinctively wrapped around the both of us like a protective, trembling shield.
"Shh, it's okay, little Ren. I've got you," Elicia whispered softly, though her own voice was thick with sudden emotion as she looked past my shoulder toward the entryway.
Elias stood frozen on the threshold, the heavy wooden door swinging slightly behind him. His jaw was slack, his breath hitching in his throat as his eyes darted from my weeping form to my newly regenerated left arm, and finally to the unmistakable, massive blood wings expanding from my spine. The legendary, unshakeable Shadow Walker looked entirely paralyzed, completely overwhelmed by the sight of the sister he thought he had lost to monstrosity, now crying like a frightened child in our oldest sister's arms.
"Eirene..." Elias breathed, his voice barely a whisper as he took a slow, hesitating step into the dim living room. The leather duster he wore seemed too heavy for him in that moment, his gloved hand reaching out toward me, trembling.
"You're... you're really here."
"Elias, Close the door. She can't handle the light right now."
Hearing her voice, Elias snapped out of his daze. He reached back and pulled the heavy door shut, sliding the iron deadbolt into place with a sharp, final click. The blinding morning glare vanished, plunging the room back into the cool, safe twilight of House 132.
With the light gone, the suffocating panic in my chest began to recede, though I refused to let go of Elicia's waist. I squeezed my eyes shut, my face still buried in her clothes, my ears straining to hear my big brother's footsteps as he slowly approached the sofa. The 18 gold fortune, the Bureau's relentless hunt… none of it mattered in the quiet shadows of our living room. We were just three siblings from Allure, finally standing in the same room after the world had torn us apart.
The soft leather of Elias's glove made a distinct, quiet rustle as he stepped closer. I felt the air shift beside the sofa, and then, his hand gently brushed against my shoulder… a hesitant, desperate attempt to anchor me, to assure himself that I was truly flesh and bone.
The touch felt like a jolt of pure static against my hyper-sensitive skin.
"Get away!" I gasped out, my voice raw and cracking.
My crimson wings violently flared outward with a sharp, protective snap, the translucent membranes buzzing with a faint, defensive vibration as I pressed myself even deeper into Elicia's waist, rejecting his touch out of sheer, overwhelming instinct. I couldn't face him yet. Not like this. Not while the monster inside me felt so completely exposed.
Elias flinched, pulling his hand back as if he'd been burned. His face fell, a look of profound, crushing hurt flashing across his features as he stood in the dim light of the living room, completely at a loss.
"Hey, shh... little Ren, look at me. Breathe,"
Elicia murmured gently, her warm hands sliding up to cup the sides of my face. She pulled my head back slightly so I was forced to look into her calm, reassuring crimson eyes.
"You're safe. Elias isn't going to hurt you. He's your big brother, remember? The one who threw the dark magic ball at the bullies. No one is fighting anymore."
She stroked my hair, her soft divine mana humming faintly around her fingers, working like a gentle sedative to soothe my racing heart and quiet the protective instincts of the child growing inside me. Slowly, the tense, rigid trembling in my shoulders began to ease, and my wings lowered, draping loosely over the back of the couch.
Once my breathing finally stabilized into a quiet, rhythmic deadpan, Elicia gently loosened her grip on my waist. She stood up from the sofa, smoothing down the fabric of her dress, her posture shifting into that of the protective eldest sibling.
She turned her head, her gaze locking onto Elias, who was standing there with his hands hovering awkwardly near his duster coat, looking completely out of his depth.
"Brother, Mind if I have a talk with you outside for a moment? Let's leave Eirene to rest."
Elias looked down at his empty hand, then over to my slim frame curled up on the sofa. The cold, unyielding mask of the 8th District's legendary Shadow Walker had completely melted away, leaving only the raw, processing shock of a brother who had just realized his little sister was alive… and radically transformed. He slowly nodded, his throat moving as he swallowed the heavy silence.
"Yeah, Yeah, let's talk."
Elicia reached down, gently squeezing my right shoulder one last time before she stepped away.
"I'll be right outside the door, little Ren. Just rest."
I didn't answer. I kept my face half-buried in the soft fabric of the sofa cushion, my mismatched jade-green and crimson eyes staring blankly at the dark velvet curtains. My massive crimson blood wings slowly folded tightly against my back, clicking into place under my white linen dress like a closing shell. I listened to the heavy, deliberate thud of Elias's combat boots and the light, graceful steps of Elicia as they walked past the entryway.
The heavy front door groaned on its hinges, opening just wide enough for the two of them to slip out into the small, shadowed alcove of House 132's porch before clicking shut with a final, echoing latch.
Outside, the cool morning air brushed against Elicia's face as she turned to confront our brother. Elias immediately leaned against the stone railing of the porch, burying his face in his leather-gloved hands. The dark static of his shadow mana flickered weakly around his boots, a physical manifestation of the absolute chaos tearing through his mind.
"Elicia, what the hell is happening? In the dunes... I saw her hand on the ground. I saw her intestines. I thought she was a monster, a anomaly that the Bureau needed to put down. And now... she's here. Her arm is back. And Chief Roman told me... he told me she's pregnant."
Elicia stood perfectly still, her G-cup frame creating a commanding presence even in the dim alcove. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, her expression shifting into a deeply protective, ancient maternal glare.
"She is a demon, brother, Her biology has adapted to survive injuries that would kill any human tenfold. Yesterday, my divine regeneration loops finally forced her body to reconstruct that arm. But do not ever call her a monster in this house again."
Elias flinched, looking up at our older sister.
"I don't want to call her that! But look at what she's carrying! The Death Chant Shotgun, a bayonet forged from a Fallen Angel's sword, an anti-heal curse... Elicia, she slaughtered a purebred vampire just to fake a death and throw the Bureau off her scent. She's living in the absolute darkest parts of the underworld."
"Because she had to!" Elicia snapped back fiercely, her voice dropping into an intense, furious whisper so the neighbors wouldn't hear.
"She didn't choose the blood curse, Elias! While you were climbing the ranks of the Luminous Knights, she was fighting to survive. And she didn't dump that 18 gold bounty at Chief Roman's feet for herself. She did it for you. She did it so your party wouldn't face the executioner's block for failing the mission, and so we could finally afford to keep her safe."
Elias closed his eyes, a heavy, agonizing sigh escaping his lips as the pieces of the puzzle finally locked together. The 18 gold wasn't a prize… it was a shield. His little sister had mutilated another purebred, dragged its head through the lower districts, and walked right into the lion's den just to buy his freedom.
"And the baby...? How is that even biologically possible?"
"We don't fully understand it yet, Her pregnancy cycle is wildly accelerated. The child is growing at a rapid pace, and it is draining her remaining human essence. That is why she is so volatile right now. Her trauma is healing, Elias, but she is terrified. She thinks that the moment you look at her, you'll see a target for your revolver, not the little girl you protected in Allure."
Inside the quiet living room, I could hear the muted vibration of their voices through the thick oak wood. I rested my right hand over my flat tummy, feeling the tiny, frantic pulse of the new life growing inside me. My big brother was right outside the door, holding the fortune I had bought with blood, and for the first time in twelve years, the shadows around us felt entirely unpredictable.
Elias let his head fall back against the cold stone wall of the porch, staring up at the wooden rafters of the overhang. The heavy weight of his legendary reputation, his status as the Shadow Walker, felt like a mockery. He had spent years mastering the shadows, believing he was the one controlling the dark, only to find out the dark had been swallowing his little sister whole while he wasn't looking.
"I would never point my gun at her, Elicia, you have to believe me. When I saw her in the desert... when I realized who the Crimson Phantom really was, my heart stopped. I didn't shoot to kill. I couldn't. I just... I didn't know what to do."
He pulled the spatial pouch from his duster pocket, the leather catching the dim morning light. Eighteen million gold coins. A king's ransom, sitting right in the palm of his hand, paid for in blood, deception, and the severed head of a rogue purebred.
"She did all of this to protect my squad, Patricia's ribs are crushed, Catherine is stable but hollow... but they're alive. Because Eirene chose to stage a execution instead of slaughtering them. She spared them. She saved me."
Elicia's expression softened, the rigid, protective posture of the eldest sister yielding to a heavy, shared grief. She stepped closer, resting a gentle hand on Elias's shoulder, just like she used to do back in Allure when he would come home scraped up from his training matches.
"She loves you, Elias, she always has. Even when the blood curse twisted her biology, it couldn't touch the part of her that remembers her big brother. But right now, she is incredibly fragile. The accelerated pregnancy is demanding everything her core has left to give. She's dealing with cravings, her body is re-learning how to feel whole with that new arm, and she is terrified of being hunted."
Elias gripped the spatial pouch tightly, a sudden, fierce resolve hardening in his chest. The confusion was still there, the sheer biological impossibility of a pregnancy was a storm for another day, but the immediate duty of a big brother was crystal clear.
"The Bureau thinks the Crimson Phantom is dead, Chief Roman signed off on the ledger. Captain Friedrich saw the head. As far as the Luminous Knights are concerned, the case is closed. The bounty is settled."
He tucked the pouch securely back into his coat.
"I'll handle the logistics. I'll make sure the 18 gold is moved into accounts that can support this house, buy whatever medical supplies Doctor Bob or anyone else prescribes, and keep the Bureau's nose entirely out of the 3rd District."
"And what about you? Are you ready to go back in there?"
Elias took a deep, steadying breath, letting his dark mana settle completely until there wasn't a single spark of volatile static left around his silhouette. He looked at the heavy oak door of House 132.
"I'm not leaving her again, twelve years ago, Mother told me she hoped I'd be a good brother someday. I've spent too long failing that promise. Let's go inside."