"Are you going to kill me?" Lily asked, her eyes fixed on Michael's face.
"I've no choice," Michael replied, releasing Lily as if they were an ordinary father and daughter.
He sat down beside Joy Boy's hat.
This outcome had become an inescapable deadlock. Lily had to die.
Even Lily herself had no desire to live.
"Lily, you've always been extreme. Imu and I noticed this long ago... But I thought those ten years had tempered your extremism. I can even understand why you allowed the Twenty Kings and their descendants to become Celestial Dragons. After all, you aren't me. You rebelled without understanding why... Though I taught you, as a former royal, you never took it to heart. I can understand that too."
"But why..."
"Why did you kill Joy Boy?"
For a rare moment, sorrow flickered in Michael's eyes.
He gazed at Lily, watching the filthy little creature he had fished out of the sewers transform into the queen who had ruled with an iron fist for over eight centuries.
It was a monumental achievement.
And an equally profound sin.
"I thought... if I became evil, you would surely return... Look, I even killed my only friend. Why haven't you come back yet? So I wanted to know... at what point of the world's devastation would the Archangel of the End reappear?"
As Lily spoke, she remained calm, her voice devoid of emotion, as if describing something detached from herself.
Michael rose and took a few steps forward before turning back.
Father and daughter stood within arm's reach, yet they seemed separated by an invisible, impenetrable barrier.
Michael smiled.
He understood that this barrier was built from eight centuries of time and countless lives. It was insurmountable.
"So... I've come now," Michael sighed.
Then he drew Morning Star, the Supreme Grade Blade he had named himself.
"This must be... our fate, Michael."
Lily rose to her feet, her entire being radiating a darkness so profound it seemed to devour even the light.
The darkness enveloped her white dress, as pristine as a lily... Pitch-black, twisted. Evil, alluring.
In this form, she resembled a true final boss.
But for Michael, this battle was unlike any he had faced before. It brought him none of the exhilaration of fighting the strongest, nor the overwhelming pride of defeating an enemy... It was about killing.
He dared not let a flicker of emotion show... Even the slightest hesitation, he feared, would make him unable to strike.
"Even now, you haven't once called me... Father."
"Don't you understand yet? You know nothing, Michael." Lily gave a shy smile, like a young girl in love, but the surging darkness behind her made it seem sinister.
"I love you, not with the love of a daughter for her father, but with the love of a woman for a man!"
"Is... that so?" Michael paused, then chuckled. "So that's why you've always called me by my name?"
"If I had ever called you 'Father'... then I would've lost my chance forever."
As Lily spoke, she approached Vivi, who stood with her eyes closed.
She reached out and stroked Vivi's chin.
"A beautiful girl, a descendant of the noble Nefertari bloodline... And I heard that at birth, she received your blessing... and even possesses one of your feathers? It makes one... envious."
Michael stared at Lily, his voice calm as he replied, "Then you've quite a few people to envy... Besides my many daughters, I've also had... ambiguous relationships with several older women."
"Are you trying to provoke me, Michael?" Lily turned her head, her eyes gleaming with amusement and curiosity.
"Back then, you were a man shrouded in mystery, one I couldn't begin to understand... But now, you seem rather... immature."
"Perhaps that's because I'm only in my forties, while you're over eight hundred years old?" Michael retorted, showing no regard for fair play.
With a flap of his six wings, he lunged at Lily, sword raised.
Morning Star, a blade that had always been invincible, was blocked by Lily's hand...
More precisely, it was blocked by the flowing darkness that enveloped her.
Solid yet possessing the fluid texture of liquid.
"What ability is this?"
"Aren't you asking what you already know?" Lily flung off the downward slash of Morning Star.
"Didn't Toki tell you? This is the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Type, Model: Demon she gave me."
As she spoke, the tangible darkness behind Lily coalesced into a pair of demonic wings.
They bore a striking resemblance to Stussy's Bat-Bat Fruit, Model: Vampire and Patrick Redfield's Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Type, Model: Vampire.
But its core... was different.
The Bat-Bat Fruit derived its power from blood, and its wings were made of flesh and blood.
Lily's Demon Form, however, manifested wings of pure energy... Composed of malice, fear, hatred... all negative emotions.
In other words, Lily could now be called "the embodiment of all evil in this era."
For eight centuries, she had absorbed countless negative emotions, granting her unparalleled power.
Morning Star had shattered countless weapons, yet failed to breach even a thin layer of this energy construct.
Michael's expression shifted...
This battle... might be more challenging than he had anticipated.
But...
This was his purpose.
Difficulty was no reason to avoid battle. He had always relished tackling the toughest challenges.
"Lily, it seems you're far stronger than I imagined."
"Is that so, Michael? There's still much you haven't seen."
A smile spread across Lily's lips. Not a cold sneer, but a warm, genuine smile.
To her, this wasn't a life-or-death struggle, but rather a flirtatious and tender exchange between a man and a woman.
This perception, combined with the profound, tangible darkness surrounding her, made the scene unsettling.
Beneath her demonic wings, a dozen thick tentacles emerged in response to her words.
The tips of these tentacles weren't repulsive suction cups, but razor-sharp spikes capable of piercing anything.
"Michael, the Joy Boy of old died impaled on these. The Drum of Liberation you forged for this world, the Sun God Nika you created for all... they both died on these spikes. Even as he died, he kept telling me... You'll disappoint Michael."
"So, Michael... now that I'm like this..."
"Are you disappointed?"