Azel's gaze flicked to the ceiling. The glyph that had once shimmered with cursed radiance—gone.
His eyes narrowed.
"What did you do to Piero?"
Hakugo adjusted his grip on the unconscious Anna, then smirked.
"That glyph… was connected to that rat, wasn't it?" I merely followed the thread. Found the source. Dealt with it."
Azel's expression tightened.
Moments Earlier...
Piero stood alone in the shadows behind the auction chambers, a hand glowing faintly as he maintained the spell's power. His breathing was shallow, nerves stretched thin.
"How long will it take… damn it… just hurry, Azel…"
He muttered, sweat running down his neck.
He glanced over his shoulder, paranoia growing.
"Well well what we have here. An incompetent son of Macedonia?"
Piero froze. His stomach twisted.
He turned slowly—too slowly.
Bishop Hakugo was already behind him.
"No—!"
Before Piero could even raise his hand, Hakugo's palm struck his chest. A divine seal spread across his body, paralyzing every muscle in place.
"Ngh—ghk!"
Piero grunted, trying to fight it, but his limbs wouldn't move. Pain locked his spine like chains.
Hakugo's expression was cold.
"You should be more careful where you play sorcerer, kid. Your family won't appreciate your lack of subtlety."
With a flick of his fingers, Hakugo forced Piero to the ground, a painful twist in his body making him grunt through clenched teeth.
"I'll deal with you later but first… I have a fire to put out."
_____________
Azel looked at Anna, limp in Hakugo's grip. His heart drummed louder than ever. Her skin was pale. Her breath shallow.
"Put her down, now."
Hakugo grinned, mockingly lifting her just an inch higher.
"Then take her from me… Cursewright."
Without a second of hesitation, Azel raised his hands.
The cursed mark on his chest pulsed. Shadows gathered around his feet, and a humming cube of translucent force snapped into existence, forming a barrier around them—Hakugo, Azel, and Anna, trapped inside.
"What's this?"
Hakugo muttered.
Azel's fingers twitched.
"Burn."
Black flames erupted.
The cursed fire consumed everything within the cube. Walls boiled. Marble cracked. The floor scorched into black glass. The cursed energy screamed as it twisted reality, and Azel stood at the center, unaffected. So was Anna, her body protected by a thin sliver of Azel's will—his mastery of cursed fire allowing it to spare only whom he chose.
The cube glowed brighter—hotter—until it exploded outward with a deafening BOOM.
The auction hall trembled. Dust and debris crashed from the ceiling. The pressure flattened corpses and crumbled statues, and a wave of force surged through the air so violently that even the torches outside the chamber flickered.
When the smoke cleared… the chamber was silent.
Azel stood still, breathing heavy, his eyes glowing dimly as cursed energy crackled along his arms.
Then, from the center of the crater, a shape emerged.
A figure.
Unburnt.
Untouched.
Hakugo stood tall, a hand still resting on the hilt of his sheathed sword. Not a single thread of his robe was scorched. Anna was still in his other arm, completely unharmed.
The divine cross on his chest shimmered with a golden light.
Azel's stomach twisted.
"Was that your strongest spell? I must say… I expected more."
Azel didn't answer. He clenched his fists again, black fire flickering back to life.
Azel's breath steamed in the wet underground heat, eyes narrowed beneath his shadowed brow. Inside, he screamed. A cry that never touched his lips.
"Forbanna... more. If we fall now, it's over."
There was no time for restraint. Not anymore.
"I know and I am trying my best to give you more power."
Azel didn't reply. He didn't need to.
Hakugo shifted Anna in his grip, still limp, her wrists bound in blessed silver, her dress singed from the earlier inferno. He smirked.
"You should be dead. I saw your heart stop. Is it some curse of immortality? Fascinating."
"..."
"No retort? Then maybe you are cursed by something old. Something rare. maybe it's not something I can stop from keeping you alive."
He stepped forward.
"Perfect as a lab rat."
And then—he vanished.
Azel's instincts flared. He twisted back, a sharp motion—too late.
Hakugo's knee drove into his spine.
Crack.
Azel stumbled forward from the force, spinning with a roundhouse kick, but Hakugo caught it with ease, the impact absorbed like it was nothing.
"The sword I carry once bathed in the blood of a hundred thousand Cursewrights. You're nothing new."
Hakugo said casually, holding Azel's leg in place.
Azel growled, wrenching free and swinging a flame-hardened fist toward his ribs.
Blocked.
Hakugo's blade flicked once.
BOOM.
The air split like thunder. Azel was launched across the collapsing stone, through shattered auction walls, into the dirt. Wood splintered. Metal shrieked. The ceiling above gave way.
He crashed into the cavern wall.
BOOM!
Hakugo appeared above him, midair, fist drawn back.
CRACK.
The blow hit like a falling god. Azel's body folded, then tore through the floor, a screaming shockwave blasting debris across the cavern. He soared like a cannonball, flying up, bursting through the collapsing roof—then slammed onto the surface above, shattering stone and earth.
Rain greeted him. Cold. Relentless.
Desert rains came rare. But when they came, they came heavy—a sky's worth of grief all at once.
Azel didn't move.
Bones crushed. Muscles torn. Every breath was blood.
"Heal it"
He muttered, barely audible.
Forbanna didn't answer. She already was.
The pain surged back into his chest as bones clicked into place, flesh reknitting, nerves screaming—but it was enough. He sat up, coughing hard.
That was when Hakugo landed, gentle as a whisper.
Anna still in his grip.
He stared down at Azel, his robes damp, his sword humming faintly with divine power. The cross on his chest shimmered through the rain, mocking in its purity.
"I was going to have fun with her. You ruined it."
Azel's eyes twitched, but his face didn't change.
"So, instead... Let's make this fun another way."
Hakugo's smile widened.
Then he stepped forward.
"Since I can't kill you… then I'll take you. Let's see how long you last, little heretic."
Azel stood slowly, flames whispering around his fingers. His eyes burned dim red through the haze.