The ruined throne hall was quiet—too quiet for a battlefield that had shaken the continent just hours earlier. Moonlight filtered through the shattered ceiling, falling over broken pillars, collapsed murals, and long streaks of dried ash where devils and humans had clashed. Dust still drifted in the air like pale snow.
Mia and Alia stepped inside cautiously, each step echoing through the empty palace. Both won were injured, exhausted, and ntally frayed from the battles outside—but the mont they saw the curled silhouette at the center of the hall, exhaustion disappeared.
Because there, leaning against a fallen throne, was Zero.
And curled protectively around him—arms wrapped tightly, wings half-spread, silver hair dimly glowing—
was the devil girl they had seen earlier.
Lilith.
Zero's head rested on her lap, his breathing uneven, his mana leaking out in unstable waves.
Mia froze.
Alia's throat tightened.
There were a hundred things they might have said—questions, accusations, heartbreak—but nothing ca out. All they could do was stare at the sight that pierced them deeper than any devil blade.
For years they had tried—quietly, subtly, sotis awkwardly—to get close to Zero.
Mia through loyalty and proximity.
Alia through warmth and gentle persistence.
Zero had always seed… detached. Focused. A little oblivious, yet never unkind.
Neither of them had ever imagined that behind that distance—there might have been soone else.
Soone like her.
Lilith noticed them imdiately. Her violet eyes sharpened, tail curling around Zero as her wings shifted closer, shielding him.
"Stop," she said quietly, her voice low with warning. "Don't co closer."
It wasn't a threat—not yet. But it was territorial. Instinctive.
Mia's fingers twitched toward her sword.
Alia inhaled slowly, trying to steady the jagged feeling in her chest.
Mia spoke first, her voice ice-cold.
"Move away from him."
Lilith's grip tightened around Zero, and the temperature of the air changed—thickening, charged with devil mana.
"I won't," Lilith replied. "Not while he's like this."
Alia stepped forward.
"We're not here to fight you. We just want to bring Zero back. He needs treatnt—"
"You can't touch him," Lilith snapped, eyes narrowing. "His mana is unstable. If you get any closer, he'll—"
But Lilith didn't finish.
Because Zero's body suddenly jerked in her arms.
All three won stiffened.
Dark mana surged from Zero's chest—pure, volatile, burning through the air like black fire. The stone beneath him cracked, crawling with spreading lines of darkness as if the palace floor itself feared him.
Alia whispered, "H-He's getting worse…"
He was.
Every breath Zero took unleashed another unstable pulse.
He was burning from the inside out.
And Lilith… was shaking.
Not from fear.
But from instinct.
That primal, devil-born instinct that surged strongest in tis of threat or stress.
Mia saw it too late—the way Lilith's nails sharpened, the faint glow forming around her pupils, the tension rippling down her spine.
"Wait—Alia, step back—!"
Lilith moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
She swiped her arm out in a defensive arc—not to kill, but to push them back, to protect Zero from any perceived threat while her instincts scread at her to guard the wounded mate-like presence in her arms.
A shockwave of compressed devil mana burst outward.
Mia barely had ti to channel frost into her arm before bracing.
Boom—!
Mia was thrown backward, skidding across the ground, her gloves freezing over as she absorbed the impact.
Alia reacted differently—her wind magic flickered around her, cushioning her before she slamd into a broken pillar.
Lilith's breath trembled, her wings puffing up, tail lashing.
"Stay back… I warned you…" she growled softly, but her voice shook, as if she herself was battling the instinct.
Mia rose slowly, wiping blood from her lip, eyes burning with cold fury.
"That wasn't a warning," Mia said quietly. "That was an attack."
"It was instinct," Lilith hissed back. "You frightened him."
"He's unconscious!" Alia shouted, frustration finally erupting.
Lilith flinched.
But the instinct refused to retreat—her body still coiled protectively around Zero, eyes flicking between them, weighing threat levels, adrenaline spiraling.
Mia's aura flared, frost swirling around her fingertips.
"Move," Mia growled, stepping forward. "That's the last ti I'll ask."
Lilith's wings shot open.
"Don't force —"
She didn't finish the sentence.
Because the mont Mia's foot touched the ground—
Zero convulsed again.
A violent surge of mana erupted—this ti larger, unstable, rippling outward in a radius that cracked stone and shattered the remnants of the throne.
Dark, shadow-like flas burst from Zero's skin, wrapping around his arms like liquid night.
"Zero!" Alia cried.
Alia rushed to drop a barrier, forming a do of wind to suppress the overflowing mana—but the mont the barrier touched Zero—
It burned away. Instantly.
"No—no, no—" Alia whispered, horrified. "His mana… it's devouring mine…?"
And then—
Mia made the mistake of reaching out.
Her hand was only inches from Zero's arm when a pulse of dark mana erupted—
And burned into her skin like acid.
"Mia!" Alia scread.
Mia yanked her hand back, frost forming automatically around the scorched flesh—but even frost struggled to suppress the agony.
Lilith's expression shattered into panic.
"No—don't touch him! His soul is unstable, his body can't contain the overflow—if you touch him, the mana will—"
Her voice cracked.
Alia bit her lip, staring at Zero's trembling body.
His breathing was ragged.
His veins glowed faintly with shadow and frost—the two forces spiraling, clashing, trying to stabilize and failing.
Lilith clutched him tighter, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
"He'll hurt anyone who touches him but ," she whispered shakily. "Our energies… resonate."
Mia glared, but the pain in her hand made it hard to argue.
Alia swallowed hard.
"So what do we do…? Let him die? Let you keep him like this?"
Lilith's voice was barely a whisper.
"I won't let him die."
Her instincts surged again—protective, fierce, absolute.
Mia stepped forward to grab Zero's leg, ignoring pain, ignoring logic—
But Lilith reacted in under a second.
Her tail shot out—not as a weapon, but as a push, slamming Mia back before she could touch Zero.
Mia crashed into a broken pillar, the impact echoing through the ruined hall.
"Mia!" Alia sprinted toward her.
Lilith trembled, shocked at herself.
"I—I didn't an to— I just… he's hurting, I can't let—"
They all froze.
Because Zero's mana flared again—this ti violently.
The floor cracked.
Stone dissolved into ash.
Air distorted with a sound like tearing fabric.
Zero's unconscious face twisted in pain.
The dark mana spread across his torso, his arms, even the air around them—
devouring, burning, lashing out with raw instability.
His dual affinity—ice and shadow—were colliding, spiraling out of control without his consciousness to keep them balanced.
Alia's voice broke.
"He's going to destroy himself…"
Lilith's eyes widened in terror.
"No. I won't let that happen."
Then—
for the first ti—
Lilith's aura fully ignited.
Black and silver flas swept around her, forming a protective cocoon around Zero. Her wings folded tightly, her mana reaching outward to stabilize his. It wasn't enough. But she kept trying, even though her arms shook violently and her expression twisted with effort.
Mia forced herself up, eyes locked on the glowing circle of unstable energy.
"Explain," Mia demanded hoarsely. "Why does he react to your mana? Why only yours?"
Lilith looked at them with a heartbreaking mix of fear and certainty.
"…Because he saved ," she whispered.
The hall went silent.
"His mana touched mine long before today. Our energies… linked. And now…"
Her gaze dropped to Zero's face.
"…he's slipping because he protected from sothing worse."
Mia and Alia exchanged a look—pain, confusion, helplessness swirling together.
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