Ascension of the Dark Seraph

18++++

Some of you might find this chapter disturbing, so heads up.

…

It was unfair.

She ran from certain death only to meet another certain death.

Before she could even properly celebrate inside, thanking God that she was able to get out of that scary situation, one that chilled the bones—she was greeted by Lucivar waiting for her to settle back into her new body.

Instinctively, she tried to sit up, but she was already too late.

Lucivar already placed his hand to cover her mouth and pressed his knee against her hipbone.

He pinned her to the ground with nowhere to go.

Vanessa struggled, unwilling to die like this.

She tried forcing her ether to surge, desperate to push Lucivar off of her—the body was still new, and drawing power from her Supernatural Ego might feel clumsy at first, but she was confident that adapting would not be too hard for her.

It wouldn't take long before she gets the hang of it again.

But then, her breath was caught.

Her eyes snapped downward when she realized Lucivar's hand, which was pressed against her mouth, was siphoning her ether in a relentless pull. In mere seconds, the flow was gone, every drop of ether inside her Supernatural Ego was drained empty.

Driven by instinct to survive, she reached her weak, trembling hands at Lucivar, scratching him.

But she has no more strength left in her.

Her desperate attempt only amounted to weak scrabbling of fingernails that couldn't break the skin.

Not even three months ago, Lucivar's hands were trembling after killing someone.

Now, they were completely steady, and there was no emotion on his face.

Only a hard, icy face that has no trace of mercy.

"Don't flail too much," Lucivar mumbled as he wrapped both hands better around her neck, savoring the shape and curve of the fragile cartilage—and windpipe on his palms. His thumbs could feel the rabbit-fast pulse inside, the pulse that he was going to end. "If you swore to kill someone, then you have to be prepared to be killed too. Don't you know at least that much?"

Vanessa's eyes widened for a second.

A mixture of confusion and shock could be seen plastered across her face.

Lucivar smiled a little and pressed his knee against her hip harder.

"Maybe Tobias hadn't told this to you, but below the Gods' powers, I'm an Angel Hybrid," He explained with chilling calmness, as if that wasn't a shock that struck Vanessa like a physical blow. "Among other things, I can sense killing intent."

It was only then that Vanessa realized when she messes up.

Had she not harbored killing intent towards him, had she withheld her bloodlust from him, perhaps she could still plead for her life and be spared. After all, his true problem lay with Master Tobias. But now that she revealed malice, her fate was sealed.

Of course, that's what Vanessa might think—but Lucivar will show no mercy either way.

Mercy was never an option.

But she didn't know that.

She snapped back to reality with a blink when Lucivar began to put his weight onto the choke.

Slowly, deliberately, he leaned forward and pressed against her neck.

"Heukk…!"

Vanessa's breath hitched at first, then it turned into a strained wheeze.

Both of her legs thrashed violently, desperately trying to push Lucivar's knee away and break free.

It was futile.

Even if she were at her peak strength, she still wouldn't be able to overpower Lucivar's raw strength.

He possessed the physical body that was forged through the furnace of Gods, his bones already turned golden—and his physical limits had already broken through the mortal shackle. Even as a mere Chrysalis-rank Hybrid, hurting him would need the power of a Savant-rank Hybrid.

A level of power that Vanessa doesn't have.

'No. No, this can't—I just need to push his knee away—Why won't it move?!'

Vanessa raised her hands, not with strength, but with the slow, puppet-like stiffness of a failing nervous system. Her fingers scratched feebly at his hands, his wrists, and even his face, but none did anything that helped her situation.

Her flailing only left behind pathetic, bloodless marks.

"You know," Lucivar said with cold-blooded calmness, watching Vanessa's struggle as if it were a show that was meant for entertainment. "I mostly killed people with weapons, and for some reason, I always felt like I was missing something. Do you know that feeling? The feeling that something was missing— but you don't know what?"

Vanessa's face flushed red, and her eyes bulged with animal terror.

She stared at Lucivar like he was a monster.

Just earlier, they were talking as if they were bonding, and now, he has become an ice-cold killer.

One that was determined to kill her.

Lucivar noticed every change on her face, but he thought nothing of it.

"Now that I'm doing this to you, it suddenly hits me." He said, eyes sparkled with clarity as if Vanessa were a book that gave him insights. "My first-ever kill was done with my bare hands. It was the same for my next two kills—I killed them with my bare hands. I realized this is what I've been missing, the thrill of death's dance against my skin. It's more invigorating than stabbing someone or using supernatural abilities."

"I can feel your blood rushing..."

"Your veins bulging against my hands…"

"Your windpipe breaking…"

Each time Lucivar described what he was feeling was another blow to Vanessa's will to survive.

She already summoned all her strength to break free earlier, and it failed—now, she could only gasp for air that never seemed to be enough. Saliva and mucus were trapped inside her throat, creating this wet gurgle sound as a thin, high-pitched whine escaped her windpipe occasionally.

As spit bubbles at the corners of her lips, and her face turning mottled purple, Lucivar leaned towards her.

Despite death's grip tightening around her soul, he still forced her to listen.

"My second kill was my own mother, not my biological mother, but still a mother to me," He continued, looking directly into Vanessa's glassy eyes. "I killed her similarly, too. Back then—I wrapped my hand around her neck, and hauled her from the floor."

"Krggfshh…"

Lucivar looked away, reminiscing about that thrilling moment, "I see fear for the first time on her face at that moment, and for a fleeting second—I remembered that she was my mother. She… She was the one who raised me in place of my real parents."

"Kahhk…!"

He then turned to look at Vanessa again, veins already throbbing at her temples and eyes.

But he was too immersed in his memory to care.

"So anyway, I looked at her again, and then… snap! I broke her neck." Lucivar cackled maniacally. "I thought I would feel bad right after, but as I looked down at her corpse, the weakest I've ever seen her, I feel no guilt. Instead, I was relieved. At that moment, I thought, 'So this is what it feels like to have power.' And I know then and there that I'm fitted for this beautiful way of life."

During all of this, Vanessa could only stare at Lucivar.

As her brain was deprived of oxygen, her senses turned numb.

Death, she could feel it approaching.

Its darkness made the world tunnels.

Lucivar's maniacal face that loomed a few inches from her becomes the only thing she can see clearly in the darkening world. His words trailed, becoming muffled—as if she was underwater. It was her first time experiencing something like this.

The last thing she smelled was the acrid air of the basement.

The last thing she felt was Lucivar's hands around her neck.

The last thing she heard was his cackle.

The last thing she tasted was copper.

And the last thing she saw was Lucivar's face before dark spots bloomed like ink across her vision.

Even in her final moments, her life did not flash before her eyes—the slow, suffocating death Lucivar dealt her left no space for such mercy. And as the last threads of breath unraveled, she heard a familiar voice, Master Tobiaas' voice.

She couldn't make out the words, but the sound alone washed over her like a final comfort.

One last pleasure before death claimed her.

'I'll find you again, Tobias.'

Lucivar stared at her when he realized that there was no more struggle.

There was no dramatic crack, and her body didn't suddenly go limp all at once. Instead, it was a gradual thing. At last, the feeble struggle ceased. The bulging glass eyes were over, now fixed and sightless. A last, shuddering exhale escapes her lips—confirmation of her death.

Once the gurgling and choking stopped, the silence that followed was deafening.

It was only Lucivar's steady breaths and the sound of a small leakage of water that could now be heard.

Lucivar didn't linger.

He stood up and stared down at her one last time.

"At first, I told myself I was doing this because I was angry with you—angry that Tobias settled on you over Delilah. " He muttered, brushing his hands together as though ridding them of dust. "But Delilah was nothing but an excuse. The truth is, I wanted to do this all along."

Shaking his head, Lucivar turned around.

"Don't let her soul be judged fairly," He said as if talking to someone. "Bring her straight to Hell."

As soon as he said that, sand particles seeped from the ground and dragged Vanessa's body into the soil, swallowing her whole. Just as he promised, her death was the easy part—what lies after death was the real torture.

Perhaps she hadn't realized it now, but she soon would.

It's not going to be her last time seeing him.

Glancing to the other side, Lucivar fixed on Master Tobias' second body.

Seems like he cast this special ability of his not only on Vanessa, but also onto himself.

A perfect escape for them, but Lucivar caught on and dismantled it.

Nodding his head, Lucivar grabbed Master Tobias' second body by its collar and dragged him out of the basement. He would have the pleasure of killing Master Tobias, and out of the kindness of his heart, he'll also give the pleasure of doing that to the others, too.

Mirel would certainly want the pleasure, especially after Bakar was killed.

Meanwhile, outside, Mirel was panting heavily and trying to catch his breath.

He had already zapped his open wounds shut with his yellow lightning, and now, he needed to rest.

But his eyes glanced at where Lucivar's impaled body was.

'That's not the real him. I don't know how, but I don't feel like that's him.'

As if the world itself had answered his thoughts, a sound stirred at his side—measured footsteps, followed by the harsh scrape of something dragged across the earth. He turned, and his eyes widened in shock as another Lucivar emerged from nowhere.

And he was dragging a man who looked really familiar.

"Am I hallucinating? What am I seeing right now?"