The air split.
Not with sound. Not with light. With pressure, a sudden, crushing weight that drove Hoshimi to his knees, that pressed against his lungs like the deep ocean, that made every vein in his body pulse in terror.
Lucy's net of blood hung suspended in the air, frozen mid-weave.
Her eyes widened.
Dominic's pale blue irises had swallowed everything, the whites, the pupils, the last traces of crimson that had flickered moments ago. They were empty now.
"Zenith of Wrath."
The words came from everywhere and nowhere, from Dominic's lips and the walls and the blood that coated the floor. They vibrated in Hoshimi's teeth, in his bones, in the marrow.
"Abyssal Theatre."
The temperature plummeted.
Frost crawled across the wooden beams, spiderwebbed across the stone floor, crystallized on the surface of the blood. The moisture in the air turned to ice, glittering like suspended diamonds in the dim light.
Then the rain began.
It started as droplets, warm at first, almost gentle, pattering against Hoshimi's face like summer showers. He touched his cheek. His fingers came away red.
Blood.
The droplets thickened. Quickened. Became a downpour, a torrent of crimson that fell from nowhere, from everywhere, from the empty air above them. It wasn't magic. It wasn't a spell. It was simply rain, falling upward and downward simultaneously, defying every law of physics.
Lucy flinched.
The first drop that struck her shoulder, it didn't just hit, it punched through, tearing flesh, shattering bone, exiting through her back in a spray of red that was indistinguishable from the rain.
She didn't scream.
Then another. Another. Another.
She collapsed, her remaining arm coming up to shield her face, but the rain found her anyway, through her arm, through her ribs, through her thighs. Each drop was a bullet, each impact a small explosion of blood and tissue.
Edward, still unconscious, took a dozen hits before his body even registered the pain. His chest opened. His side tore open. His face, his face became something else.
Neila dragged herself underneath a bed, she rolled her eyes.
"This is bullshit."
Kira was already unconscious, slumped against the wall where Dominic had thrown her. The rain fell on her too, on her chest, her stomach, her legs, and she didn't move, didn't scream, didn't do anything except bleed.
Crimson.
Hoshimi's blade came up.
The light along its edge flared, not bright, not blazing, but steady, a small warmth in the freezing dark. The rain struck the blade and sizzled, evaporated, turned to steam that rose around him like a shroud.
He stood.
His legs shook. His arms shook. Everything shook, a fine tremor that ran through his body like a current, like something was trying to tear its way out of him from the inside.
"Dominic."
His voice was flat. Empty. The voice he used when he didn't want to feel anything, when he couldn't afford to feel anything, when feeling would kill him faster than any blade.
"I'm going to kill you."
Dominic didn't respond. His pale blue eyes were fixed on something Hoshimi couldn't see, something beyond the chamber, beyond the rain, beyond the world itself.
The rain intensified.
Hoshimi's blade flared brighter, holding back the droplets that fell toward him, but he could feel the strain. The sword was consuming his mana faster than ever, burning through his reserves like paper in a fire.
[I probably only have a couple minutes left]
The doorway behind him creaked.
He didn't turn. Couldn't turn. His eyes were fixed on Dominic, on those terrible empty eyes, on the blood that still poured from the wound in his chest.
"I'm going to try one more time," a voice whispered.
Seraphina.
She stepped through the doorway on legs that barely held her. Her pink hair was matted with blood, it was impossible to tell whether it was her's or someone else's. Her hands hung at her sides, the fingers still bent at wrong angles, the wrists still swollen and discolored.
Her face was the color of paper.
But her eyes, her amber eyes, were clear.
"Seraphina." Hoshimi's voice was sharp. "Do you really think this is going to work?"
"I have faith."
Hoshimi's eyes narrowed.
[She's going to die. But there's no reason for me to get in her way, if she wants it this way then so be it. I'm not entitled to saving people's lives]
She walked past him.
Not fast. Not slow. Just walked, her bare feet leaving prints in the blood that coated the floor, her too-large sleeves dragging through the crimson like bridal train.
The rain fell on her.
She didn't flinch.
Droplets punched through her shoulders, her arms, her legs, each impact drawing fresh blood, fresh screams that she swallowed, that she held behind clenched teeth, that she refused to let escape.
"Dominic."
Her voice was soft. Barely audible over the rain.
"Please."
A droplet tore through her left calf. She stumbled, caught herself, kept walking.
Step.
A droplet punched through her right shoulder. Her arm went limp at her side, but she didn't stop.
Red.
She was close enough to touch him now.
"Dominic." Her voice cracked. "Look at me."
His head turned.
Those pale blue eyes, empty, absent, wrong, fixed on her face. There was no recognition there. No warmth. No Dominic.
But he looked.
"That's it." Seraphina smiled. It was a terrible smile, bloody and broken and beautiful. "That's it. Just look at me."
She raised her hand.
The fingers were bent at wrong angles, the wrist swollen and discolored, but she reached for him anyway, reached for his face, his cheek, his skin.
Her palm pressed against his cheek.
"Come back to me."
Dominic's hand moved.
It wasn't fast. It wasn't dramatic. It was simply there, his fingers closing around something that glinted in the dim light, a shard of broken wood, sharpened at one end, the same kind Hoshimi had used moments ago.
He drove it into her stomach.
The sound was wet.
Final.
Seraphina's breath caught. Her eyes went wide, then soft, then something else entirely, blood dripped down her mouth, her hand smearing his face with her own blood.
Crimson poured from the wound, dark and hot, spilling over Dominic's hand, over her torn sweater, over the floor between them.
She didn't look down.
She kept her eyes on his face.
Hoshimi glanced at her. "I'm not going to help you."
"It's okay." Seraphina's voice was soft. "It's okay."
Her hand was still pressed against Dominic's cheek.
Her palm was warm despite the cold, steady despite the trembling, there despite everything.
"I've loved you," she whispered, "for so long. Since before I left the Shaw estate. Since before everything. I've loved you, and I've watched you, and I've waited for so damn long."
Blood dripped from the wound in her stomach, ran down her legs, pooled at her feet, her vision started to blur.
"I thought if I waited long enough, you'd see me. Really see me. Not as just your friend. Not as the girl who ran away. Just... me."
Her thumb traced his cheekbone, light as a feather.
"And then Sarah came. And she offered me a chance. Some stupid contract for you to love me back." She laughed, a broken sound. "I was desperate, didn't know what I was signing. I didn't care. I would have given her anything. Everything."
Her eyes searched his face, those empty, pale blue eyes that didn't see her, didn't know her, didn't remember.
"But I don't need a contract. I don't need magic. I don't need you to love me back."
She smiled.
"I just need you to live."
Her other hand came up, slow, trembling, the fingers bent at wrong angles, and pressed against his chest, over his heart, over the wound that was still bleeding, still healing, still fighting.
"So live, Dominic. Please. Live."
Dominic's eyes flickered red, his face turned ugly, his brows furrowing, tears dripping down his cheeks.
The rain stopped.
Not slowly. Not gradually. Instantly, as if someone had closed a door, turned off a tap, ended the world.
"Seraphina," Dominic grasped the back of her hand, his knees shaking.
It felt as if a large stone sat, weighing down his heart, his breathing became shallow, his cheeks flushed.
"Don't you dare go, don't leave again, please, I won't be able to follow you this time. Seraphina, please."
The droplets that hung in the air fell to the floor with a wet, collective sigh, and the chamber was silent.
Dominic's eyes flickered.
Pale blue. Crimson. Pale blue. Crimson.
His hand was still wrapped around the shard of wood in Seraphina's stomach. His fingers were still wet with her blood.
Something flickered in those eyes.
She smiled.
"There you are."
Her knees buckled.
Dominic caught her, his arms coming around her, pulling her against his chest, holding her up as her legs gave out. The shard of wood was still in her stomach, still bleeding, still killing her, but he didn't pull it out.
Couldn't.
Wouldn't.
Red.
"I'm sorry," he gasped. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't, I couldn't, "
"Shh." Seraphina pressed her fingers against his lips. "It's okay."
"It's not okay."
"Maybe not." She smiled. "But I'm here. And you're here. And that's... that's enough."
Her eyes fluttered closed.
"Seraphina." Dominic's voice was raw. "Seraphina, stay with me. Please. Stay with me."
"Tell Neila, that I don't really hate her, I've always admired her until now, it's just that she still pisses me off."
Dominic's hand shook.
"No, tell it to her yourself, don't ask me to do things for you."
"Dominic, do you know what my dream is?" Seraphina smiled. "I want to run away, I want to live in a warm cabin in the middle of nowhere, together with you."
"Seraphina.." Dominic's eyes twitched, the corner of his mouth shook violently, every single breath felt painful. "After you heal up, we can run away, I'll leave my position as the patriarch behind, we can run away from here."
"Dominic, I'd give up every single second, every single hour, every single one of my future lives just to spend a little more time with you."
Her eyes opened.
Just barely.
"I'll be watching you from above, even when you're studying, even when you're crying. I'll be there. Just promise that you'll live, that you'll conquer that thing inside of you."
"D-don't say things like that."
"I'm tired." Her voice was barely a whisper. "Everything hurts."
"Shut up." His forehead pressed against hers. "Don't do this to me, don't."
"I love you."
"I love you too, Sera."
She smiled.
"You finally said it."
Her chest rose.
Fell.
Her eyes lost their color.
Black Scene.