The sound of metal slicing through the air echoed across the fog.
Kalina moved with the grace of a predator, her silver claws gliding in near-dancing arcs. Every strike carried the precision of someone who knew the pleasure that pain could bring.
Lucy dodged by a hair's breadth, her coat sliced open at the shoulder. A thin line of blood slid down, but she didn't even blink.
"Nice try, schoolgirl. But you will need more than a sharp manicure to take me down."
Kalina smiled, her eyes glowing a deep, blood-rich crimson.
"You still don't understand… what you see isn't always what is."
Before Lucy could react, the world around her shattered like glass.
The garden's trees melted into liquid shadows, and the ground beneath her feet morphed into mirrors stained with blood.
From every reflection, dozens of Kalinas emerged — each smiling, each advancing at once.
"Illusions…" Lucy growled, driving Nosferion into the ground.
"I've dealt with worse on a Sunday."
The copies attacked in unison. Lucy swung the blade in a wide arc, cutting down two —both bursting into smoke.
But a third lunged from behind, its poisoned claws carving through the air.
The strike landed on Lucy's left arm, the toxin spreading fast.
Her blood darkened, veins pulsing black.
Kalina stepped forward — the real one.
"Oh, you're going to love the sensation… it's like liquid fire."
Lucy staggered for a moment — and then smirked.
"Fire, huh? Funny coincidence."
She raised her wounded arm, and Chiron's gauntlets materialized in a burst of black flame.
The infernal heat swallowed the poison within seconds, evaporating it with a crack.
"I already have hellfire," Lucy said, fists tightening. "Now it's your turn to feel it."
She charged.
The impact was brutal, fist against claws. Each one of Lucy's blows carved fiery trails through the air. Kalina tried to dodge, but Chiron's power warped the surroundings, making even the mist tremble.
Lucy alternated between Nosferion and the gauntlets — striking, spinning, merging technique with raw brutality in one seamless flow.
A clean kick sent Kalina stumbling back, but she snapped her fingers in response — and the ground split open, releasing more illusions.
This time, the entire garden fractured, revealing twisted visions — Lucy fallen, bleeding out; Ulisses dead; Akira trapped in flames.
All false, but cruelly vivid.
Kalina circled her, laughing softly.
"I can give you anything… just accept me."
Lucy gritted her teeth, the flames surging around her fists.
"I already have what I want. And you're definitely not on that list."
With a roar, she slammed her fist into the ground.
Black fire erupted in a circular wave, burning the illusions one by one.
The mist screamed.
Kalina was thrown against a gnarled tree, her claws shattering on impact. She tried to stand, blood dripping from her mouth.
"You… will regret this… Lucy. I'll return."
"Great. Bring flowers next time."
Kalina laughed weakly as her body began dissolving into mist, her eyes still locked on Lucy.
Within seconds, she was gone.
Silence settled again.
Lucy exhaled, wiping the blood from her forehead.
The heat of the gauntlets faded away, and she stored them back as a fragment.
"If every romantic encounter ends like this, I'm staying single."
She kept walking through the garden, still drowned in that thick fog.
The air was cold, almost dead.
Up ahead, an old iron door rose between two broken columns.
Tall, marked with runes and scorch-like symbols, it looked like it led back inside the sanctuary.
Lucy approached and placed her hand on the cold surface.
"Finally, a way out of this graveyard."
But before she could push it open, the sound of bones clattering and guttural growls echoed behind her.
From the mist, deformed figures began to sprint forward, skeletal corpses in corroded armor, eyes glowing a sickly green.
"Oh, of course. Because a peaceful ending would be too much to ask."
Lucy drew her pistols — Raven and Seraph —and opened fire.
The silver bullets tore through the creatures, cracking bones and scattering dust.
One leaped at her, but Lucy spun, shooting it point-blank in the skull.
Gunshots echoed through the fog, mixed with snaps and inhuman shrieks.
She reloaded swiftly, kicking another creature back into the darkness.
"How many of you are there?!"
Suddenly, a loud crack.
The door behind her glowed, a golden barrier forming around it, sealing the passage with supernatural force.
Lucy tugged at it, but nothing budged.
"Tch… perfect. A magic lock."
With her last shot, silence fell once more.
She scanned the area — only mist and ruins remained.
Holstering her weapons, she breathed deep.
"All right, Lucy… just another night stroll through hell."
And so she walked again, wandering through the fog, searching for another way forward, while faint footsteps — perhaps not her own — echoed through the shadows.