Morgan turned his gaze toward Luzbel.
She was standing there, eyes wide open. The expression of someone who had just witnessed something her mind still hadn't fully processed.
As for Zarathoz, she saw her, narrowed her eyes as if challenging her to do something, and instead of stopping, continued kissing Morgan. Harder. A little more aggressively.
Luzbel was slow to react. It was as if the world had frozen for a second before collapsing around her.
When she finally came to her senses—when she truly saw it—
With great effort, her voice cracking from sheer rage, she screamed.
"ZARATHOOOOOZ!"
A golden aura began to emanate from her, slowly at first, then violently.
She spread her wings in a single motion and lunged forward. Zarathoz released Morgan with enough force to send him falling to the ground, then faced Luzbel head-on.
Luzbel threw her first punch with everything she had. Zarathoz barely had to move, simply catching her arm and stopping her dead in her tracks.
But Luzbel wasn't really there. Not anymore.
She was somewhere else, in a place where only rage existed.
Zarathoz wrapped her tail around Luzbel's waist and tightened her grip. Luzbel didn't even seem to notice. She kept throwing punches wildly, struggling, twisting, desperately trying to reach her by any means possible.
Morgan remained on the ground, watching.
And then he saw it.
Not the shouting.
Not the punches.
Not the struggle.
Her face.
Luzbel's expression was pure hatred. The kind that hurt to look at.
Morgan turned toward Xol. Xol was already looking at him.
"What am I supposed to do?"
Morgan's desperate eyes asked the question for him.
Xol had no answer. He didn't know either.
Fighting wasn't an option. Zarathoz was far beyond any of them. Leaving wasn't an option either. And he knew, without anyone needing to tell him, that Morgan would never leave Luzbel behind.
So what now?
"Come on, Luzi. Don't act like a little child. It was just a kiss. I don't see why you're making such a fuss."
Zarathoz mocked her.
She kept Luzbel just far enough away that her punches couldn't reach, doing so lazily, as though the whole situation bored her.
Luzbel stopped babbling.
Instead, she began repeating the same words over and over, through clenched teeth, her voice shaking with resentment.
"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you."
Zarathoz touched her face.
"Pfft. This is why I hate dealing with naive young girls."
Morgan stood up.
He didn't think.
He just moved.
He wrapped his arms around Luzbel from behind, trying to stop her, trying to reach whatever part of her was still listening.
Xol watched and had only one thought.
(Idiot.)
"Please, Miss Luzbel. Stop. Please, stop already! PLEASE, STOP!"
Morgan pleaded desperately.
But the only thing that continued to leave Luzbel's mouth was the same sentence.
"I'm going to kill you."
Morgan struggled to hold her back. It was useless. Luzbel wasn't listening anymore.
"Tch."
Zarathoz clicked her tongue.
"This girl's way too far gone to talk to. I'll have to calm her d—"
But before she could finish her sentence, Luzbel screamed with everything she had.
"ZARATHOOOOOZ! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, NIRVA—!"
Zarathoz's expression changed instantly.
The mockery vanished.
The laziness vanished.
Only seriousness remained.
And something that looked almost like fear.
Her scales shifted into a dark blue color. In a swift, almost reflexive movement, she created a sphere of water around Luzbel's head before she could finish pronouncing that final word.
Silence.
Luzbel began to drown inside the sphere, struggling for air without letting go of her rage.
"Stop! Stop! You're going to drown her! She can't breathe!"
Morgan shouted as he struggled against Zarathoz.
Zarathoz took a second to react.
Then she lowered her hands.
The sphere burst.
Luzbel collapsed onto the ground, coughing violently as water poured from her throat, though she still hadn't completely given up.
Morgan immediately knelt beside her.
"Miss Luzbel? Are you okay? Miss Luzbel?"
She simply clutched her throat.
Coughing.
Breathing.
There was no time for anything else.
Zarathoz suddenly grabbed her clothes, yanked her up until her face was only inches away from her own, and shouted.
"Idiot! I was only playing around! But do you understand what you were about to do? Do you even realize it?! Tell me! TELL ME!"
End of Chapter.
Next Chapter: Settle Your Affairs.
Hello.
Sorry for being so absent this week. I got sick, and on top of that, I've been pretty busy, so I wanted to take a short break.
The original plan was to rest for the remainder of the month, but that felt like too long, so here we are, back to our regular schedule.
Thank you for your patience and for continuing to follow the story.
Thank you for reading.