The silence of the hotel room was heavy, broken only by the rhythmic hum of the air conditioner and the distant muffled sounds of Kyoto's evening traffic.
Jay sat on the edge of the bed, his head hanging low as water droplets fell from his wet hair onto the carpet. Every muscle in his body felt like it had been shredded and stitched back together with rusted wire.
He had just spent thirty minutes under a steaming shower yet the chill remained.
He don't want to spend another minutes in that blizzard cold of Absolute Demise.
Human limits, he thought. No matter how much mana he circulate and the power he possess, the vessel is still just flesh and bone.
He looked at his hands. They were steady now, but they had been shaking uncontrollably just an hour ago.
The fight against Augusta had been a wake-up call. This is definitely the most intense fight since that night in Romania.
"There is still so much weakness," he whispered to the empty room. "And far too many things left to chance."
He did not like gambling, especially when his life is on the line.
He stood up, his joints popping with audible protests.
He had returned to the hotel immediately after the encounter with Azazel, using the last of his mana to teleport back. Now that the adrenaline had completely bled out of his system, the sheer weight of his exhaustion was staggering.
Augusta had been a monster for human standard, there is no doubt about it.
But in normal circumstances, even if she had been in the peak condition, Jay still confident that he could win comfortably. But using a forbidden soul magic to possess a Longinus user? Now that is another variable that completely thrown away those normal circumstances.
But in the supernatural world, those were a given. You fought with what you had, and expect the unexpected, or you simply ceased to exist.
Jay grabbed a towel and rubbed his hair dry, catching his reflection in the darkened window. His eyes looked sunken.
KRUKKK
His stomach gave a violent, demanding growl, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since before the chaos began.
Since he feel like he doesn't have enough energy to get outside and grab some food. Jay decided to move to the small kitchenette in the suite. He found a loaf of bread, some honey, and a pat of butter.
He toasted the bread until it was golden brown, the scent of caramelizing sugar providing a small, much-needed comfort. He spread the honey butter as the warmth of the toast melting the mixture into the porous surface. After brewing a cup of chamomile tea, he carried his meager meal out to the balcony.
"Now, I must say I chose the right hotel," Jay muttered, sliding into a chair.
The view was breathtaking. The sun was dipping below the horizon, painting the Kyoto skyline in vivid strokes of burnt orange and shimmering gold. The ancient temples and modern skyscrapers were illuminated by the dying light, creating a bridge between the past and the present.
Jay took a bite of the toast, the sweetness of the honey hitting his tongue and sending a much-needed spark of glucose to his brain.
"There is few things better than warm bread with honey butter."
He watched the light fade, feeling the communication crystal on the table. It pulsed with a faint steady light. He can't help but thinking about it.
After I talk to Lavinia, then what? he wondered.
His visit to Kyoto was supposed to be a short trip to fulfill Sister Andrea's last wish.
'Should i just go to the devil's world... The underworld?' But he shook his head in the end, too much risks and variables. He might need to plan something after all this.
But for now, he pushed the thought away, focusing instead on the simple warmth of the tea and the fading beauty of the Japanese sunset.
***
For Lavinia, the world had become a kaleidoscope of fractured memories and cold suffocating terror. She was back in the past, seeing the faces of her parents, seeing the moment their lives were snuffed out like candles in a gale.
'I hate Ice Golem' Her younger thought seeping through her memories.
But then, the memory shifted. She saw Glenda.
The woman who had found her in the wreckage of her life and offered her a hand. Glenda had been her sun, the one who taught her that magic wasn't just a tool for destruction, but a craft of beauty and discipline.
She had nurtured Lavinia with a kindness that felt unconditional.
And then that witch had the audacity to tell me it was all a lie?
The thought sparked a flicker of rage in the darkness. Lavinia remembered the feeling of Augusta's consciousness sliding into her mind like a parasitic worm, trying to rewrite her history and steal her soul.
She remembered the cold of the ice, the feeling of her life force being drained away to fuel her balance breaker. A malicious intent to kill innocent people in the city.
Then, she remembered him.
In the midst of the freezing void, a black flame had appeared. It should have been terrifying.
It looked like the fires of the deepest abyss, yet when it touched her, she didn't feel the sting of a burn.
Instead, she felt a sense of familiarity, an ancient warmth.
It was a welcoming heat like being wrapped in a heavy blanket on a winter night, or the sensation of being hugged by her parents on a bright spring afternoon.
Her eyelids fluttered. The darkness retreated, replaced by a sterile, soft white light.
"Where am... I?" her voice was a mere ghost of a sound, her throat feeling as though it had been scraped with sandpaper.
She blinked, her vision slowly coming into focus.
She is in a bed with high-quality linens instead of the battlefield, surrounded by the hum of monitoring equipment.
A hospital. But the architecture was slightly off, the ambient mana in the air too dense for a human facility.
"Lavinia! Are you okay?"
The voice was frantic and familiar.
Lavinia turned her head slowly, seeing Natsume Minagawa and Tobio Ikuse leaning over her. Their faces were etched with relief, though they both looked exhausted.
"Toby... Natsu..." Lavinia whispered, trying to push herself up. Her muscles felt sore.
"Don't try to move yet," Natsume said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "You've been through a lot. Your mana reserves were practically negative when they brought you in."
Tobio didn't waste a second. He pulled out a communication crystal.
"I'm calling the Governor General. He said to notify him the moment you woke up."
"Are you feeling alright?" Natsume asked, her eyes searching Lavinia's for any sign of lingering pain. "Does your head feel... heavy? Is there any weird feeling in your chest?"
Lavinia took a slow, deep breath, testing the internal landscape of her own soul. The presence of the witch was gone. The cold was gone. All that remained was a lingering sense of peace, a remnant of that black fire.
She managed a thin, tired smile.
"It's quite alright, thank you Natsume. I feel... clear. Better than I have in a long time."
A few minutes later, a shimmering teleportation circle appeared in the center of the room. Azazel stepped through with his usual flamboyant suit. But he wasn't alone. Behind him stood a boy with messy white hair and a perpetually grumpy expression.
It was Vali. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets, and his face was set in a scowl that didn't quite hide the way his eyes softened when they landed on Lavinia.
"Haa~, finally the princess decides to wake from her slumber," Azazel said, his tone light but his eyes sharp with concern.
"You know, you had everyone worried. Even our impatient battle-maniac here was pacing the halls."
"Shut up, Azazel!" Vali snapped, though he didn't move away. He stepped closer to the bed, looking at Lavinia with a stern intensity. "I told you to get stronger. If you had lost to a third-rate witch like that, I would never have forgiven you."
Lavinia laughed softly, a weak but genuine sound.
She knew Vali's language.
His insults were just his way of saying he cared. She reached out a hand, and surprisingly Vali didn't pull away like he usually does.
She pulled him into a clumsy seated hug, treating him like the little brother he is.
"Thank you for worrying about me, Vaa-kun," she murmured against his hair.
Vali stiffened, his face turning a light shade of pink. He made a half-hearted attempt to squirm away before sighing and letting her hold him for a moment.
"Just don't do it again."
Lavinia eventually let him go and turned her attention back to the Governor General. "How long have I been unconscious, Azazel?"
"Two days," the Fallen Angel replied, his expression turning serious.
Lavinia's eyes widened. "Two days? That... that's too long. What happened with the Utsusemi Agency? And... Augusta?"
"She is dead," Azazel said. Almost imitating Jay when he said that.
"I see." A rush of memories flooded back and the sight of the black flames devouring the witch's essence until not even ash remained.
"Then the Utsusemi Agency has been taking care off?"
"Mostly," Azazel explained, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "While you... and him are dealing with the witch, Tobio managed to defeat Hanezu. And since the situation has been spiralling out of control anyway, Vali and I decided to step in personally. We mopped up the remaining Utsusemi forces and the four fiends."
He leaned back, crossing his legs. "And also about the Agency... the Five Principal Clans have moved in to take over their jurisdiction. They're handling the 'cleanup' and the restructuring of the magical barriers in the region."
Lavinia's expression soured. "They did nothing while the city was at risk, and now they swoop in to take the credit and the territory? What an entitled bunch."
"That's how they do it here," Azazel said with a shrug.
"And the traitor?" Lavinia asked, her voice dropping to a low, serious tone.
Tobio and Natsume shared a confused look. "Traitor? What are you talking about, Lavinia?"
Lavinia looked at Azazel, waiting for his permission.
The mission she had been sent on by Grauzauberer was more than just a witch hunt. It was a search for a cancer growing within the Grigori itself.
Azazel sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "As expected, it was him. And right now, we still don't know where he's hiding. He's gone."
"Wait, wait, wait," Tobio interrupted, stepping forward. "Who are you guys talking about? Is there someone else behind all this?"
Lavinia looked at him with a somber expression. "Toby, the reason I was sent here... Grauzauberer and the Grigori have been pursuing a group of magicians who infiltrated this world from a magical domain known as 'Oz.' They weren't acting alone. They were collaborating with a traitor within the Grigori high command... a leader-class Fallen Angel named Satanael."
The room went silent. Tobio and Natsume looked stunned, the weight of that revelation sinking in.
A leader-class traitor meant that the reach of this conspiracy was far deeper than a few rogue magicians in Kyoto.
Vali however just leaned against the wall with a bored expression, as if the betrayal of a high-ranking official was beneath his notice.
"We'll discuss the logistics later," Azazel said, standing up. "For now, the sun is down and you need rest. Real rest, not a magical coma. Everyone, out. Let the girl have some peace."
Tobio and Natsume nodded, offering Lavinia a few more words of encouragement before filing out.
Vali lingered for a second, giving Lavinia a short nod before following them. Azazel was the last to leave, pausing at the door.
"By the way, Lavinia... if a certain black-haired young man come here, try not to scare him off. He's a prickly one, but he's the reason you're still breathing."
With a wink, Azazel closed the door.
Lavinia sat in the silence of the room for a long time.
The Underworld was different from the human world. Even though she was indoors, she could feel the heavy, artificial pressure of the dark sky outside. She felt restless. Her body was tired, but her mind was racing.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, testing her balance. She was weak, but she could walk.
She then stepped out onto the balcony attached to her room.
The Underworld stretched out before her.
It was a realm of eternal twilight, illuminated by a fake glowing moon that cast a pale silvery light over the jagged landscape and the sprawling gothic architecture of the Grigori headquarters.
A cool breeze swept past, carrying the scent of dry earth and ancient stone.
"It's a strange view, isn't it?"
Lavinia gasped, spinning around. Her hand instinctively reached for her magic, but she stopped the moment she saw who was leaning against the railing just a few feet away.
It was Jay. He looked different than he had during the fight. He wasn't covered in frost or surrounded by death.
He was wearing a simple black hoodie and jeans, his hands buried in his pockets. His dark hazel eyes met her sapphire blue ones under the pale glow of the artificial moon.
"You..." Lavinia whispered, her heart hammering against her ribs. "How did you get here? This is the heart of the Grigori."
He reached out and tapped his own chest.
"You're still carrying a bit of my mana... Once I used the crystal Azazel gave me to get the general coordinates, finding your specific room wasn't that hard."
Jay then looked at her and asked, "How are you feeling?"
Lavinia looked at him, really looking at him for the first time without the fog of battle or possession. He looked young, perhaps no older than her, yet there was an ancient weariness in the way he stood.
She felt a surge of gratitude so strong it made her eyes sting.
"I'm alive," she said, her voice soft and full of emotion. "Because of you."
She walked toward him, the cool breeze of the Underworld ruffling her blonde hair.
"Thank you," she said with a genuine smile, standing right in front of him.
They stood together on the balcony, two humans longinus wielder in the world of devils and fallens.
At last, they had a chance to talk to each other.