The week after Kaias suicide attempt, Teon is still keeping a keen eye on her. It's Friday night; most of the group is deep asleep as Kaia sneaks out of her bed and towards the bathroom door. She pushes the doorhandle down, and a quiet clicking sound breaks the silence of the room. The door creaks silently open, and Kaia takes a step forward to enter. She blinks for just a second, and as her eyes open again, she bumps into Teon, who is suddenly in front of her, blocking the way. Arms crossed in front of his chest, his eyes muster her thoroughly.

  "Hey?! What are you..."

  Kaia's words fall silent at Teon's intense look. For a moment the two just look at each other until Teon speaks up; he pleads that she promise to not hurt herself when he lets her through. Kaia forces a smile before gently forcing her way past him. After the door closes, the clicking sound of the lock being turned disrupts the silence of the night for a second time. Teon's eyes fall to the ground, and his arms loosen and hang limply on his sides. He sighs.

  "She is going to do it again."

  Sitting down next to the ground, the only thing on his mind is that the least he can do is wait and help her tend to her wounds later. Occasionally he is able to hear a pain-filled whimper through the door, and the scent of metal creeps through the slit under the door.

  "She has been in there longer than the other times."

  Concerned, Teon stands up and knocks on the door, asking if everything is alright. He gets only silence as a response, not even the occasional whimper from Kaia. Just complete silence. Even more concerned than before, he hammers against the door, calling out Kaias name. Still no response. Then suddenly the air inside the room starts to heat up rapidly.

  "Guys, wake up. Wake up! Something is wrong with Kaia!"

  His friends shoot up from their beds, but it's already too late; the entire corner of the base goes up in a massive explosion, leaving it in rubble and ashes. A huge pillar of smoke rises to the night sky, turning it dark. Teon stands in front of his friends, shielding them with his body. Coughing with smoke in his lungs, Percy yells out.

  "What the hell is going on?"

  His question remains unanswered as an unfamiliar voice echoes through the thick dark cloud.

  "Finally, I got the control!"

  As the dust slowly fades, a female silhouette comes into view. Teon wipes his teary and burning eyes to see clearly again. In front of him in the bathrooms remains a humanoid dragon-like creature. Black scales spreading over every inch of her body. From the small gaps between them shines an orange-red hue. The head has features of a dragon and human alike; despite consisting of mostly human skin, some black scales are scattered across it. The eyes share the same color as the glow between the scales. Long blond hair, with some black strands, falls down her back, hiding a structure of scales and bones that ends in triangular openings pointing downwards. A vibrating light emits from them. Hands and feet both end in long, deadly claws, and a tail sprouts from her lower back.

  "Kaia, is that you?"

  "Kaia is not here right now."

  The creator responds, a menacing undertone in her voice. A gruesome grin spreads over her face, revealing rows of sharp teeth, made to rip through flesh.

  "I'm Aziel, the dark Sun Wyrm, the black Sun of Hell."

  She takes a step in the group's direction, and the stone ground beneath her feet melts instantly. Stunned by what happened, the group remains frozen in place, staring at the thing that was once their friend. Aziel stops right in front of Teon, staring into his eyes. The heat coming from her body burns holes into his clothes and leaves burn marks on his skin. Percy, Max, and Lloyd hurry away towards where the exit once was, and before disappearing, Max yells that they're going to get Lucius.

  "I'll have to hold out for a few moments till Lucius comes."

  "You, I've witnessed what you're capable of. Show me the bleeding angle, boy. I wish to see it."

  Not responding to Aziel's wish, Teon takes on a defensive stance. Aziel looks disappointed for a second. The grin fades, and she scratches the back of her head.

  "Then you'll die sooner than necessary."

  In an instant she thrusts her arm forward, effortlessly piercing through Teon's muscles and ribcage. The sound of tearing flesh and his bones snapping is nearly as bad as the physical pain itself. Teon's eyes, wide in shock, slowly move down to look at the damage. He yelps and spits blood as he feels with agonizing accuracy how her claws wrap around his heart and squeeze it slightly. The blood he spits out evaporates the moment it comes in contact with Aziel's body.

  "Want to change your mind? At the moment your heart is still beating; you still have the chance to transform."

  Coughing up more blood, Teon gives in, and a second later, his two wings hover behind his back, and from the broken halo, blood drops into his hair and face. Aziel's grin returns, and she praises Teon for making the right choice. He shows no reaction to her word. His right arm snaps up, cutting clean through the one stuck in his chest, before grabbing it, pulling it from his chest, and throwing it aside. Aziel's grin doesn't fade, and her arm just grows back. For milliseconds the two have a stare-off before both attack at the same time. Aziel's fist is blocked by one of the wings. Blood splashes over her arm. Meanwhile, his fist fully connects with Aziel's side, catapulting her away. Teon flies after her and snaps with his fingers. The blood on her arm bursts into black flames. Aziel laughs, inspecting the flames dancing on her arm. Holding her arms close to her face, she breathes in deeply, inhaling the fire. After she absorbs it all, the heat coming from her body increases while simultaneously the glow from between her scales lights up for a second.

  "That tastes amazing, just as I had hoped."

  She abruptly stops in the air and aims to strike at Teon, who shoots in her direction with full speed. He stops at the same height as her, just a few meters apart. They stare at each other for a moment before Aziel speaks up, saying that she is disappointed, that she thought Kaias friends would be more of a challenge. Teon's expression remains unchanged. His arm raises, and with two fingers he draws an upside-down cross in the air. Aziel musters his movements before bursting into laughter as nothing happens.

  "You're cute, but as long as you aren't Lucifer himself, your hellish attacks will do nothing to me."

  Just as she finishes her sentence, a bright light illuminates the night, and a lightning bolt of red color shoots through her back, exits through her stomach, and hits the desert beneath them. Aziel looks surprised at the whole inside her body before turning in the direction the lightning came from. There, way above the two in the air, stands Kai, smirking down at the monster.

  "Looks like I came just in time."

  The hole inside Aziel's body closes while she inspects Kai. With the use of a flash step, he moves to stand right next to Teon. He asks what this beast is and where it comes from. Teon explains the situation in short sentences, his eyes never leaving Aziel, who seems to get more annoyed by the second.

  "Stop talking already!"

  She growls before moving towards them at exceptional speed. While evading the incoming attack, Kai summons a golden katana in his hand. Flames burst from its blade as he aims to strike Aziel. Teon yells to not use fire, but it's already too late. Aziel blitzes Kai and holds him by the throat; her jaw opens, and she absorbs all flames. The orange on her body lights up for a second, and the heat around her increases again. It's beginning to reach a point where the air around her flimmers. She exhales and lets out an almost happy clickering.

  "Sooo refreshing! What kind of fire is this boy?"

  Kai has no time to respond as something pierces the arm holding him. Aziel let go of the boy, and her eyes instantly shot in the direction of the attack. Deep below them, on a dune, stands Nova, cheek resting on her sniper rifle, one eye closed as the other aims through the scope. Her aim moves from Aziel's arm to her chest, and she pulls the trigger. Millimeters before the bullet is about to hit its target, Aziel vanishes. Nova pulls her face from the scope to witness Aziel standing in front of her, the molten rest of the bullet in beast's open hand. She jumps into what feels like a "safe distance."

  "Why does something like this have to happen on my week off?!"

  Nova takes aim again and fires one bullet after another, at a speed that no one except for Ragnar should be able to evade at this distance, until her rifle clicks. Magazine empty. But not a single one of the fired bullets hit its aim. It all melted before they could hit their target. Aziel smirks, and her body heats up more. The sand near her begins to turn into glass, which instantly melts again. She lifts her foot to take a step forward before vanishing. Teon and Kai slam with full force into the spot she just stood in. Nova and the boys witness as Aziel appears back, standing next to Nova, her hand resting on the scope of the rifle, and without exerting any pressure, it melts right through the weapon. The draconic beast reaches forward to grab Nova, but before her clawed fingers even come near her, Teon's foot connects with the side of Aziel's head, and after three more impacts appear in the same place, she is buried deep in the sand. But even this gives them no time to take a breath.

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  "You start to annoy me!"

  The voice, a loud growl from beneath the sand, echoes in their heads before Aziel's claws dig out of the ground. She launches at Teon like a wild animal. He raises his guard, the wings moving in front to shield him even more. Meanwhile, Nova draws a gun from her back, and Kai also gets ready to attack. But before Aziel even comes close to reaching Teon, a dark shadowy figure slams with both feet into the side of the draconic beast. Sands stir up, and as it settles again, Rumi, in all her Oni glory, stands between Aziel and the three. The fact that she entered the fight like this means that she recognizes Aziel as a real threat. This is something the three behind her understand well, and they realize that Aziel didn't really take them seriously. Aziel shakes her head, her hand resting over cracked scales on her side. His eyes move up from the minor injury to assess the new threat. Her sharp eyes light up, and the glow from between her scales lights up again, as if a sign of excitement.

  "The number 4. Maybe you're a worthy opponent."

  "Don't come in my way."

  Rumis tells the ones behind her, her eyes never leaving the thing in front of her. The two clash; Rumi catches a fist from Aziel in her palm, and Aziel does the same. The two just push against each other. Aziel seems to have the upper hand, but then Teon appears behind her and delivers a full-force kick to the back of her knee. It gives in, and she goes down to one knee. Rumi starts to push harder while her two extra arms deliver blow after blow against Aziel's torso.

  "I told you to stand back!"

  Surprised by the tone of her voice, Teon moves away. In this moment Aziel is swallowed by a massive energy beam, fired by Kai; Rumi gathers distance as well before giving Kai an angry side eye. As the beam fades, Kai pants and rests her hands on his knees. All four look at where Aziel is supposed to be. She stands there, her body steaming, but not the tiniest injury in sight.

  "Fine. I'll take on all of you at once!"

  She blitzes Kai and Teon, holding both their faces before slamming them into the ground, before grabbing their feet and throwing them at Rumi. She catches both, each with one hand. Aziel's jaws open wide, blinding light emitting from them before a giant beam of fire shoots out. Rumi dodges while carrying both boys. Aziel's head follows her movement, but what Rumi doesn't notice is that she is evading the attack in a way that will inevitably cause it to hit the base in the distance. As Rumi finally realizes what is happening, it's already too late. Aziel has noticed it too and aimed for the base instead. The blast engulfs its target, and in less than a second nothing of it is left.

  "No..."

  Rumi gasps out as she is forced to watch the building being reduced to molten stone and ash. She lets go of the boys and turns around to look at Aziel, who is grinning, almost proud. Rumi's eyes start burning purple. It only fuels Aziel's lust to fight her.

  "Show me everything you got, Oni!"

  Energy of the same color as Rumis's eyes crackles around her four fists. The air around Aziel almost seems to burn. Both get ready to attack, but before they are able to battle again, a bright light comes from the sky. Between them stands Lucius, drowning the surroundings in light even brighter than the sun. Rumi stops, the frenzy in her subsiding in an instant. She turns back to normal and moves to a safe distance. More out of fear than anything else, as she can't remember a time when Lucius has ever been this serious.

  Three pairs of wings hover behind him; one pair shields his legs, and the other two are spread open. One more additional pair sprouts from his hair and is crossed in front of his eyes. Above him floats a halo, which is the source of the light. Aziel seems shocked.

  "What is an angel doing outside of heaven?!"

  After she finished her thought, Lucius was holding her by the head, his touch alone leaving an imprint on her body, like a burn. With almost no effort and a flick of his wrist, she is slammed to the ground. After pushing herself off the ground, blood drips from her mouth. Rumi, Nova, Teon, and Kai, now all only spectators, all have the same thought. It took this just to draw a bit of blood from her.

  Aziel stands up straight and wipes the blood from her chin.

  "I never got the chance to kill an angel, you know. Lucifer would always forbid it. I'm going to enjoy this."

  Lucius remains silent. Annoyed by this, Aziel takes a deep breath and shoots a fire beam even bigger than the one before. As it connects with its target, it splits into two, and after a bit, it settles. Aziel watches the three pairs of wings, shielding Lucius, unscathed. She tries to attack again; in this moment a circle with a small radius forms around her, and a ray of light comes out of the sky, pressing her to the ground and seemingly burning her skin. In pain, Aziel repeatedly screams "burn" while the area around her heats up more and more. At the same time, the glow between her scales shines brighter and brighter. She opens her mouth, and another beam of fire shoots out. She wildly shakes her head, firing in all directions. Everyone hides safely behind Lucius, who is shielded by his wings. This time they're not as unscathed as before, and half of them are burned. Lucius's body slumps forward, exhausted.

  "When did I get so weak? I'm not even this old."

  The light fades, and Aziel gets up.

  "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

  She launches at Lucius. He ducks swiftly under her, grabs her leg, and slams her into the ground. As she is lying there, her tail coils around his ankle and returns the favor, smashing him multiple times into the sand before letting go. Helpless and exhausted, the other can just watch. Aziel stands over Lucius and lets out a few clicking sounds before her jaw slowly parts. Fire spurts from deep within her and swallows her and Lucius alike.

  Rumi screams out no. As the fire fades, Lucius is unscathed. Aziel tilts her head confused. The rest, even Lucius, look just as confused and shocked as her.

  "Now now, Lucius and Rumi, are you really losing to some kid?"

  Ragnar's calm voice clings in their ears. He walks past the spectators towards the draconis girl, who turned in his direction, hands in his pockets.

  "You want to die too?"

  She growls.

  "Sure. One day."

  Aziel lets out an excruciating scream and swings at Ragnar with both hands. Then suddenly she stumbles backwards. Ragnar's left hand has left his pocket to flick at her with a finger. Spitting blood, she looks down at her body to find a huge gaping hole in her torso. The look of shock and utter defeat spreads over her face before she falls. After her body has hit the ground, it transforms back to Kaias original look, with no injuries in sight; even her clothes are intact. Teon rushes past her, followed closely by Kai, and kneels down. He checks her pulse and lets out a long sigh.

  "Still alive."

  Carefully she positions her head on his leg while Kai checks for any injuries that might not be visible at first sight. After finding nothing, he clambers over to sit down next to Teon and rests his head, exhausted, on Teon's shoulder.

  Lucius groans while getting up and wipes sand from his clothes.

  "That was more than ruthless from you, Ragnar!"

  "Whatever. It worked. And nothing worse happened. I'm going to check for any survivors."

  He says while looking in the direction the base once stood and vanishes. Nova and Rumi walk towards Lucius and discuss what will happen now, with the base gone and most likely not many survivors. After a while they come to the conclusion that Teon's group will all be relocated to Lucius Island.

  They could've never imagined that something like this would happen. The Souls-Corp has never been damaged so much in its history, and it will take a long time for it to recover completely. Not much later Ragnar reports that luckily many of the members were not at the base, either on minor missions or on vacation. Still, they suffered too many casualties.

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