[Arcane Academy – Eris Vaeloria's Dorm Room]
Rael lay motionless on Eris Vaeloria soft mattress, the scent of lavender and moonlight easing the tremors in his soul. The battle against Demon General Greed had drained him—mana stripped, muscles torn, bones aching with invisible wounds. Eris Vaeloria had carried him back herself, brushing off the Academy's protocols and judgmental stares.
His eyelids fluttered. Every breath felt like ash in his lungs, yet his mind would not quiet. Visions of Demon General Greed's twisted form haunted him, mingling with the echo of his own scream.
"I survived," he whispered to no one, "but something darker is coming."
The peace in Eris Vaeloria room was fragile—like stained glass over a rising tide.
---
[Demon Realm – Throne of Black Flame]
Far from Eldoria, buried beneath ten thousand layers of darkness, the throne room of the Demon King pulsed with ancient power.
The obsidian floor rippled with molten cracks, runes seething beneath every step. Towering at the room's center was a throne wrought from the bones of ancient titans, held together by flame and hatred. Atop it sat Lucifer—cloaked in living shadow, crowned in eternal fire. His presence alone bent the realm around him.
Floating in a circle were nine demonic rings—sigils of the forbidden Ritual of Summoning—rotating slowly in the air like chained stars.
Lucifer sat motionless, meditating at the center.
Then he felt it.
A fracture.
A tremor in the Abyss.
His eyes opened—slowly, silently, catastrophically.
> Lucifer (quietly):
"I underestimated him…"
"The boy who slew Pride—I took him for a fluke. A ripple in still water."
"…But now… Greed has fallen too."
The fire wreathing him flared, distorting space. The ritual faltered for the first time.
Lucifer rose.
The rings froze mid-air, each one crackling with halted demonic energy. The silence that followed felt like the moment before a kingdom's execution.
> Lucifer (darkly):
"Two of my Generals... defeated."
"By a boy. A nameless peasant crawling through the cracks of fate."
"He should not exist—and yet, he dares to resist."
His voice echoed across dimensions, making even the infernal shadows recoil.
From the far ends of the chamber, two figures emerged through walls of black smoke.
Envy—robed in sickly green-black, their face ever-shifting, flickering between stolen visages.
Lady Gluttony—a grotesque colossus of flesh and hunger, eyes blinking beneath skin, mouth yawning open in anticipation.
They knelt before the throne without a word.
> Lucifer (cold and calculating):
"Envy. Gluttony. You are the last of my true generals."
"The Ritual of the Nameless God draws near... but the boy—Rael Ramos—has become more than a thorn."
"He is… a crack in inevitability. A light in a realm of shadows."
Above him, a mirror of flame ignited—showing Rael, broken but breathing, still glowing faintly with Solar remnants. His eyes, burning with the will to fight, stared toward something greater than himself.
Lucifer clenched a fist, and the flame shivered.
> Lucifer (low, venomous):
"He is no longer just a peasant."
"He is evolving."
"A singularity born from defiance. That spark must be extinguished."
He turned, flames curling around his form, casting his silhouette like a god of ending.
> Lucifer:
"Forget the plan. Abandon patience."
"I will not lose another general without vengeance."
He looked down upon Envy and Gluttony with eyes of collapsed stars.
> Lucifer (commanding):
"Find him. Hunt him. Break him."
"Let the corpses of Pride and Greed guide your path."
"Bring me Rael's shattered body... or do not return at all."
Envy looked up, face rippling into Rael's form—twisted with a cruel grin.
> Envy (mocking):
"With pleasure, my king. I've always wanted to try playing the hero."
Lady Gluttony's body pulsed with wet, monstrous hunger. Acid dripped from her gaping maw and hissed on the obsidian.
> Gluttony (growling):
"His light... will taste divine."
Lucifer stepped back into the ritual circle. The sigil rings resumed their rotation—faster now, more frantic, as if aware the ritual was racing against destiny itself.
> Lucifer (final words):
"I will complete the summoning. Do not fail me."
"The boy must die before the Nameless God arrives."
Envy and Gluttony vanished in swirls of green smoke and gluttonous vapor.
The throne room fell silent once more.
Lucifer closed his eyes, the ritual symbols glowing brighter around him. He whispered not with rage—but with chilling certainty.
> Lucifer (to himself):
"Shine while you can, Rael Ramos..."
"All lights fade eventually."
"And I will be the one to snuff yours."