"Ahh, shit. This is too bad." I think now is the time for them to help us, I thought.
I desperately tried to look for Sera and Arthur in the stands, but when I scanned the chaotic, broken amphitheater, they weren't even there anymore.
"Shit."
I was losing blood fast, and Isaac was in just as bad of shape. Then, the shadow-creature was on us again, hitting us with another relentless barrage of attacks. Uppercuts, low blows, devastating kicks—he unleashed it all, laughing maniacally through the madness. Finally, he stopped and stepped back, almost as if he was waiting for us to struggle to our feet just so he could beat us down all over again.
"How much time has it been?" Isaac wheezed, looking over at me. His face was barely visible beneath the severe bruising. Both of our Oni masks had been completely shattered, leaving only the blood smeared across our faces for all to see.
I didn't even know if I would wake up if I closed my eyes. Running purely on raw survival instinct, I forced myself up, grabbing Isaac by the coat and hauling him to his feet alongside me. We were barely alive. Our posture was slouched, our arms hanging dead at our sides, completely numb and too heavy to lift.
But we were still ready to fight.
Then, suddenly, something clicked.
The agonizing pain completely vanished. Isaac and I were no longer in the ruined underground cathedral. We were standing on an endless, featureless expanse of pure white. We were totally fine—no blood, no broken bones, no exhaustion. We looked at each other, but for some reason, neither of us could speak.
Kallisto? I called out internally.
No answer.
We tried to search our surroundings, but everything was exactly the same. There was no up, no down, no left, no right. It was an infinite void of nothingness.
Then, I remembered the ancient cosmic lore. This perfectly fit the description of the primordial origin. The place where the Sins were born from desire, where the Seven Virtue Pathways and their sub-pathways were born from the fear of human beings, where the Devils were born from the abyss, and where the Gods themselves resided.
It was the Sea of Concepts. And somehow, we were here.
[Meanwhile, at a restaurant above ground] [Sera and Arthur's POV]
"Shall we help them?" Arthur asked.
"No. Do not worry, I trust them," Sera replied calmly.
They were both sitting back at the exact same high-end restaurant where they had been earlier, completely ignoring the massive terrorist attack underground so they could casually eat cream pie once again.
"Who knew Lucian would be here?" Sera noted, taking a delicate bite of his dessert. "Oh, the more I eat this, the tastier it gets."
"Yes, I was surprised to see him down there, and with a companion, no less," Arthur rumbled, swallowing a massive spoonful. "Did he make a new friend?"
"Perhaps," Sera smiled.
"Yes, this is definitely the best cream pie in the whole world," Arthur declared, happily focusing on his plate.
"But Sera, you knew he would be here, right?" Arthur asked, pausing between bites.
"Yes and no," Sera admitted.
"Huh?"
"I divined that his thread of Fate would cross here, but I did not know he would boldly name himself Lucifer of all things. And on top of that, I did not know he was the type of guy to actually make friends."
"I know, right?" Arthur chuckled, yawning lazily. "Well, it's about time for the climax."
"You know they can't win as they are now, right?" Arthur pointed out, his draconic eyes glinting.
"Yes. That pirate captain is a Tier 4 of the Devil Pathway, and you know they do not die easily," Sera said, swirling his crimson wine. "Yeah, they have that annoying second phase that makes them invincible for five minutes, and then they just return to their normal Devil state even after being 'killed.' Such annoying people."
Sera took a final sip of his wine, a knowing smile playing on his flawless face. "Also, it is about time they get the Ascendant Flow."
"Yes, it is," Arthur agreed.
[Lucian POV]
Suddenly, we were back.
The infinite white void of the Sea of Concepts vanished, replaced once again by the ruined, blood-stained stones of the underground cathedral. Physically, nothing had changed. My body was still battered, I was still losing blood, and I didn't have a single ounce of Ether left in my core.
But mentally? Everything was different. My mind was terrifyingly clear. Despite my broken body, I felt this overwhelming, surging sensation that I could keep fighting all day.
I glanced over at Isaac. He was experiencing the exact same thing. His laid-back demeanor was entirely gone, and his eyes had shifted completely pitch black, fully giving in to the predatory instincts of his Hunter sub-pathway.
Without thinking, I took a single step.
Swish.
I moved so fast it felt like teleportation. I wasn't using Ether; this was pure, unadulterated combat instinct pushing my physical muscles beyond their human limits. I appeared right in front of the shadow-creature and drove a brutal, twisting punch square into his face.
Before the creature could even recoil, Isaac was there. Using my shoulder as a springboard, he vaulted high into the air above me and brought his heel down in a devastating axe kick. The strike connected directly with the top of the creature's head, cracking the stone floor beneath its feet into a massive spiderweb crater.
But it wasn't enough to stop a Devil. All hell broke loose.
We were all moving at unfathomable speeds, exchanging blows in a violent, high-speed blur.
The creature lashed out, aiming a sweeping kick at my leg. I dropped low, checking the kick with my forearm. Instantly, Isaac ducked under my guard and delivered a vicious, open-palm slap right across the creature's face. The sheer force made the Devil stagger and bend forward, exposing its neck.
I didn't hesitate. I pivoted on my heel and delivered a spinning hook kick right to its temple, driving its face straight into the dirt.
Isaac and I were in perfect synchronization. We didn't need to speak; we could practically read each other's micro-movements, instantly calculating every strike and outcome.
Infuriated, the Devil shrieked. It unleashed a deafening, sonic roar that forced us to cover our ears. But even as the sound disoriented us, our kinetic vision remained absolute. We could see his muscles twitching milliseconds before he moved.
He vanished, reappearing right in front of me with a lethal thrust kick. I caught his leg, anchoring my feet into the ground. Reaching my free hand backward, I grabbed Isaac by the wrist and violently slingshot him forward.
Riding the massive momentum of my throw, Isaac twisted mid-air and drove a crushing elbow directly into the creature's face. Black, viscous blood exploded from its nose as the impact sent the monster spinning wildly across the floor.
The Devil dug its claws into the stone to stop its momentum, rising into a feral stance. Isaac and I dropped back into ours, raising our bloody fists, ready to keep throwing hands.
Then, the mechanical voice echoed in my head.
[Notice: Five-minute duration expired.]
I was so deep in the zone that I hadn't even been counting the seconds. The swirling, invincible darkness clinging to the creature suddenly destabilized and violently evaporated into thin air.
He was no longer a towering monster of the abyss. He was just the red-haired pirate captain again—exhausted, bleeding, and missing a leg.
All of my suppressed hatred and adrenaline instantly boiled over.
Isaac and I moved in simultaneously. We didn't use technique anymore; we just beat him down. A relentless, back-to-back barrage of heavy punches and kicks drove him straight into the floor.
When he finally collapsed completely, I dropped to my knees, mounting his chest.
"How dare you do this to me?!" I roared, my Pride bleeding into sheer rage. I hammered my fist into his face. Left, right, left. Beside me, Isaac was casually driving his boot into the captain's ribs over and over again.
"I am the Si—"
I was half a second away from screaming 'I am the Sin of Pride,' completely exposing my deepest secret, when a sharp, precise impact struck the back of my neck.
My vision instantly shattered. The adrenaline flatlined. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Isaac's eyes roll back into his head as he collapsed lifelessly beside me.
Who is this now?! I thought wildly as my consciousness rapidly faded.
But then, a very familiar, infuriatingly calm voice drifted into my ears. It was Sera.
"Good job, Lucian," the Angel said softly, standing over my paralyzed body. "And you as well."
Sera stepped over us, walking toward the broken pirate captain. "We will handle it from here. Take a rest."
And then, everything went black.