The tension broke the way only family could break it.
Nyk stepped forward first, grin wide, eyes bright with that familiar reckless warmth.
"What's good, bro?" he said—and pulled Rayon into a dap so clean it echoed.
Rayon blinked once… then returned it without hesitation.
Azelar followed immediately after, no words, no ceremony—just a firm embrace. The kind given by someone who had buried too many people and chose to hold the living when he could.
Then Azelar stepped back, eyes softening as he looked down.
Two cradles of fate lay beside Nexus.
Lucifer Veynar stirred first.
Black hair, thick and unruly already, framing a small face far too calm for a newborn. His eyes opened—deep black, endless, watching without fear. Along his shoulders and ribs, faint golden scales shimmered softly, a quiet inheritance from his mother.
Azelar inhaled slowly.
"Balanced," he murmured. "Dangerously so."
Then Esdeath Nexus Veynar moved.
Her hair was pure shadow—Rayon's shadow—falling like ink across the sheets. When her eyes opened, the room dimmed just a fraction. Black stars rotated slowly within her gaze, distant and unreadable. The same faint golden scales glimmered at her collarbone and thighs.
Christine swallowed.
"…She's staring at nothing," she whispered.
Rayon shook his head gently.
"No," he said. "She's staring at elsewhere."
Eventually, the world settled.
Nexus slept, exhaustion finally claiming her. Christine collapsed into a chair, gun resting across her lap like a reflex she hadn't bothered to drop. Azelar poured tea again. The mansion breathed.
Rayon leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
Then he looked at Nyk.
Really looked.
The air around Nyk no longer bent—it respected. His presence wasn't heavy like Rayon's, nor vast like Azelar's. It was sharp. Defined. Ruin with intent.
Christine, too. The verdict no longer hovered in potential—it rested inside her, awake and patient.
Rayon smiled faintly.
"So, lil bro," he said, tone easy, approving. "Seems y'all locked in for real."
Nyk laughed, scratching the back of his head.
"Well, it's me. Had to do it in style."
He glanced over his shoulder.
"Babe."
Christine didn't look up.
"What."
"Delivering bro's kids is kinda a massive feat, you know that right?"
The gun came up instantly.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Nyk yelped and bolted, bullets tearing divots in the wall exactly where his head would have been.
"YOU DUMB—" Christine chased him halfway down the hall before Azelar calmly lifted a finger.
"Enough," he said.
The gun jammed.
Christine froze, then sighed.
"…Worth it."
Laughter filled the mansion.
Then—
Every smile faded.
The sky screamed.
Not audibly.
Existentially.
Rayon's head tilted.
Nyk's cigarette paused halfway to his lips.
Azelar's cup cracked.
Nexus stirred in her sleep.
Christine stood, gun already reforming in her hand.
Above Averis, space folded inward like a wound being pried open.
A sigil burned into the air—stellar, ancient, arrogant.
A being descended wrapped in a cloak of crystallized night.
Tall. Pale. Eyes like frozen moons.
Behind him—five figures, armored in arcane plating, cores blazing with refined Arcane power. Not resonance. Not primordial authority.
Core energy.
Raw compatibility made manifest.
The being smiled as his boots touched the sky itself.
"I am Dracula of the Stellar World," he declared, voice carrying across continents. "This universe will kneel."
Rayon exhaled slowly.
"…Upper realms," he muttered. "Always late. Always loud."
Nyk flicked his lighter, relit his cigarette, and rolled his shoulders.
"So that's Dracula, huh?" he said casually. "Bottom-tier back home, top-tier tourist."
The five guards descended first, arrogance blazing.
Rayon stepped forward.
"Nyk and I will take care of it," he said calmly.
Azelar nodded once.
"Don't stain the land too badly."
Rayon Smiled. " I'll Try but I can't promise you".
Rayon Snapped his fingers and a portal Appeared before him and he stepped through with Nyk.
He appeared above the Northern Continent in the Sky.
Dracula and his men saw them and didn't ask any questions.
The guards rushed.
Rayon didn't move.
Nyk flicked his cigarette aside and grinned.
"It's finally time to start some shit."
Rayon's voice followed—cold, absolute.
"Rush toward your death," he said, darkness blooming beneath his feet, "or return with your lives."
They laughed.
They charged.
Nyk cracked his neck.
"Let's run it then."
The sky shattered.
Ruin met darkness.
And the Stellar World learned—too late—that Averis was no longer unclaimed.