“MINJI!”
I reached her just as she fell to one knee, blood seeping through her shirt, her fingers shaking as she tried to stand. The sound I made wasn’t human. It came from somewhere deeper — darker. Older.
I lifted my head… and I snapped.
Wings of black flame erupted from my back — feathered and torn, remnants of divinity and damnation. My halo, long cracked and lost, flickered back to life in jagged crimson.
The demon angel rose.
I wasn’t Jisoo anymore.
I was wrath wrapped in divinity.
The demon who struck her was already backing away, eyes wide. Too late.
“You hurt what is mine,” I growled, my voice layered — demonic echo woven through fallen light. “Nowfeelwhat I am.”
I struck.
One blow. One scream. Then silence. Dust.
The others rushed me. I tore through them like paper, a whirlwind of flame and light and ancient fury. My magic seared through the air, not precise, not clean —desperate.
I felt her pain like it was my own.
And then I was beside her again, falling to my knees, scooping her into my arms.
Her blood on my hands made me want to rip the world apart.
“Minji,” I breathed, frantic. “Minji, don’t — don’t close your eyes, dammit.”
She blinked slowly, reaching up to brush her fingers over my cheek.
“You… glowed,” she murmured.
I let out a sound that might’ve been a laugh, or a sob.
“Yeah. That tends to happen when Ilose my fucking mindover you.”
She winced.
“Over me?”
I pressed my forehead to hers, voice cracking.
“I burn for you, Minji. Even if you never forgive me, I’ll burn until there’s nothing left.”
And as the bond ignited between us, stronger than ever… I held her like she was the last thing keeping me tethered to this world.
Because maybe she was.
Seori
The unraveling flame
The words of the ritual were a knife against my tongue — ancient, sacred, and soaked in a power I didn’t yet understand.
Each chant echoed through the marble platform, each syllable dragging more heat through my veins, more celestial fire from my soul. I was tethered to this throne of bone and magic, light burning beneath my skin like I was being hollowed out from the inside.
