Chapter Eleven: The Celestial Blood Hunt Begins
The hospital was barely standing.
Chunks of ceiling lay scattered across the floor.
Pipes dripped.
Dust still drifted from the cracks spiderwebbing through the concrete.
Aiden lifted Maya into his arms with trembling care.
She felt weightless.
Too weightless.
Her body glowed with a faint silver shimmer—like starlight trapped beneath her skin.
Her breathing was steady, but unnaturally calm.
Too calm.
As if she wasn't fully here.
Aiden swallowed hard.
"Maya… please wake up…"
She didn't.
The Heavenly System flickered beside him, its interface unstable—lines of text distorting and scrambling like corrupted data.
[ATTENTION: CELESTIAL ANOMALY DETECTED]
[HOST WARNING: BODY AND SPIRIT IN UNSTABLE STATE]
[CELESTIAL MANAGEMENT PROTOCOLS… FAILED]
[…FAILED]
[…FAILED]
Aiden grit his teeth.
"Enough! System—what's happening to her?"
The trembling text steadied for a moment.
[MAYA KURO — STATUS: STAR-VESSEL]
[HER SOUL IS LINKED TO AN ANCIENT CELESTIAL ENTITY]
[IF THE ENTITY FULLY AWAKENS…]
The rest of the message glitched out.
Aiden clenched his fists.
"Then I'll protect her until I find a way to undo that link."
Before the System could respond, the earth shook again.
Deep, heavy.
A beast still alive.
The SSS-Rank entity beneath the hospital.
Aiden's heart froze.
"…It's still moving."
A boulder of rubble rolled aside as the monster's massive hand twitched beneath the collapsing ground.
The runes across its skin flickered weakly.
It wasn't dead.
But Maya's celestial blast had wounded it.
Deeply.
From the darkness below, a low, furious growl echoed:
"FIRST STAR… VESSEL… MUST… NOT… LIVE…"
Aiden stepped back, shielding Maya with his body.
"System… can I fight that thing now?"
The System scanned.
[NO]
[THREAT LEVEL FAR BEYOND HOST CAPACITY]
"Then what do I do?"
The System hesitated.
Then:
[RUN.]
The building gave a violent lurch.
Metal beams snapped.
Dust spilled in choking clouds.
Aiden didn't hesitate.
He scooped Maya up carefully and bolted toward the stairwell.
B O O O O O O M—!!!
The floor behind him exploded as the SSS-Rank entity slammed its arm into the hallway.
Aiden leapt over rubble, dodging falling tiles, shielding Maya with his own body as debris rained down.
"Almost there, almost—!"
The hospital entrance came into view.
Dara stood outside, eyes wide in horror.
"BRO WHAT HAPPENED?! The whole building's screaming like a dying demon!!"
"No time—RUN!"
Aiden burst through the doors just as the ground buckled again.
Dara sprinted beside him, grabbing Aiden's arm to steady him as the street cracked open.
Behind them—
The entire hospital collapsed inward.
The remaining upper floors folded like paper as the sealed monster forced its way upward.
Dust blasted outward in a massive wave.
Dara coughed. "WHAT THE—!? Did you fight a Titan or something?!"
Aiden didn't answer.
He couldn't.
He was staring at the crater.
The SSS-Rank entity wasn't emerging.
It wasn't breaking free.
It was retreating.
The monster's massive silhouette sank back into the darkness of the earth, chains glowing faintly around it.
As if afraid.
Afraid of Maya.
Dara stared. "Bro… did your little sister just scare off a city-killer?"
Aiden didn't know how to answer.
Before he could speak—
The sky cracked.
A thin line of pure white light split the clouds like a blade.
Aiden froze.
"No… already?"
The System pulsed rapidly.
[ALERT: CELESTIAL BREACH DETECTED]
[MULTIPLE SIGNATURES ENTERING EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE]
[IDENTITY: CELESTIAL HUNTERS — RANK: SS to SSS]
Dara stepped back, panicked.
"What—what are those?!"
Aiden stared upward.
Through the crack in the sky…
shapes descended.
Armored silhouettes.
Holding weapons forged from stars.
Wearing halos of shimmering light.
Celestial Hunters.
Sent by the Dominion.
Here for Maya.
Aiden tightened his hold on her, stepping back, golden aura glowing around him.
"Dara… get behind me."
Dara obeyed immediately.
The Hunters landed silently in a circle around them, their helmets reflecting pale silver light.
One stepped forward—a tall warrior carrying a spear of broken moonlight.
His voice echoed coldly:
"By order of the Celestial Dominion—surrender the Star-Vessel."
Aiden glared, energy flaring brighter than ever.
"I said this once."
He stepped forward.
"I'm not giving you my sister."
The Hunters raised their weapons.
Then the leader spoke again.
"Then by heavenly law—"
He pointed his spear directly at Aiden's heart.
"—you will die standing beside her."
Aiden lowered Maya gently into Dara's arms.
His fists ignited with golden fire.
" Come and try "