The disciple had faced demons, curses, and death itself—but none of those terrified him the way Amelia's silence did now.
She stood frozen, staring at nothing, as if the world had tilted beneath her feet.
"My… what?" she whispered.
The slayer exhaled slowly, his silver eyes heavy with truths he'd hoped never to speak.
"You were a queen, Amelia," he said. "Not of a kingdom or empire… but of the spiritual realms."
Amelia felt the floor sway.
"A queen of what?"
The disciple stepped closer, his voice low, steady—trying to anchor her.
"Of souls."
Her breath hitched.
"You don't mean—"
"Yes," the slayer said. "Before you were Amelia Gao…before any of your mortal lives…you were born from divine power. A soul sovereign. A guardian of reincarnation."
"And the demons…" Amelia whispered, "…weren't supposed to touch me."
"They didn't just touch you," the slayer replied. "They coveted you."
The disciple's fists clenched at his sides.
"That's why Azrael wants you. You were the one being in existence he could never claim. So he made a pact—using your mother as the doorway."
Amelia staggered back.
Her mother.Her human mother.A soul queen reincarnated into mortal flesh—with a mother who had bartered her life.
"So my mother… she didn't know who I truly was?"
"No human could have," the slayer said gently. "But the demons could sense you even before your birth."
Amelia pressed a hand to her temple.Memories flickered.
A throne of light.Black wings breaking through the sky.A voice whispering her name not as Amelia, but as—
Elyndra.
The disciple inhaled sharply.The slayer went still.
"You spoke your true name," the slayer said.
Amelia froze.
"No," she said. "I didn't mean to. It just—escaped."
The disciple reached her in two steps, gripping her shoulders with trembling hands.
"Amelia—listen to me. If your true name is awakening, then your past-life powers will follow. And the demons will stop at nothing to take you."
Her eyes lifted to his.His black irises were storm-torn, swirling with things he didn't say.
Fear.Possession.Recognition.
"Why do you look at me like that?" she asked softly.
His breath shook.
"Because," he said, voice almost broken,"I knew you. Not as Amelia.But as Elyndra."
Amelia's blood froze.
"You… what?"
"I served you," he whispered. "In your first life. Before you reincarnated. Before everything fell. I was bound to you by oath and by fate."
Her heart hammered.
"So you're telling me this connection—this pull between us—"
"It didn't start in this life," he said. "It is older than memory."
A pause.Heavy.Electric.
"Am I wrong?" he asked quietly. "Do you not feel it too?"
Amelia opened her mouth—but the room exploded.
Crimson cracks ripped through the air,forming a jagged tear in reality.
The slayer cursed, sigils already igniting in his hands.
"Azrael is forcing a breach—this is too soon."
A voice spilled out of the tear, smooth and vicious:
"Elyndra… your throne is waiting."
The disciple moved in front of Amelia instantly—protectivedesperateready to tear the world apart.
"Over my dead body," he snarled.
Azrael laughed.
"That," the demon purred,"is exactly what fate requires."
The tear widened—
—and Amelia felt the world lurch as something tried to drag her through.
She screamed.
"AMELIA!"
The disciple grabbed her hand—and for a split second their souls collided.
Light.Heat.Memory—
He kneeling before her in a golden hall.Her hand on his crown.His voice swearing eternal loyalty.
Then—
Everything shattered.