Nemor's eyes exploded in a cascade of energy — gold and red intertwining like serpents of pure light. The colors spun around the irises in hypnotic spirals before concentrating. Converging to a single point in the exact center of each eyeball.
A red cross.
Bright as living ember. Pulsing slightly with rhythm that didn't correspond to human heartbeat. The crosses on his forehead also became visible — not just marks on skin, but three-dimensional symbols that seemed to float millimeters above the surface, emitting heat that distorted the air around.
Then the mouth moved. Slowly. Deliberately. Lips separating as if each movement cost immense effort.
The words that came out weren't Nemor's:
"Finally... finally... I can be useful to my lord."
Female voice. Not soft — piercing. Loaded with excitement so intense it bordered on mania. Nemor's fingers dragged to his own lips, caressing them gently as the voice continued:
"Finally..."
---
Meanwhile, the sleepless still squeezed Sun's neck with force that made trachea bones creak under pressure.
Sun was already in his last breaths. Face was no longer purple — was almost blue, cadaverous tone that indicated zero oxygenation. Neck and forehead veins bulged like tensioned ropes about to rupture. Eyes rolling back, showing more white than iris.
The sleepless smiled — that impossible smile, lips widening beyond anatomically possible. Eyes still closed as always. Said while squeezing harder, fingers literally sinking into the flesh of Sun's neck:
"I'm... feeling..."
Pause loaded with something that could be called joy.
"Something... strong."
Squeezed even more. Cartilage began to give way under brutal pressure.
"I'm gonna kill... everything that's strong."
Squeezed with final force — trying to crush completely. Sun couldn't even try to breathe anymore. Just exist. Saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth — not blood yet, but clear sign that life was leaking out.
The sleepless continued:
"First... I'm gonna kill you!"
Smile widened so much that small cracks appeared at the corners of lips, something black dripping.
When it tried to squeeze more...
At that exact instant, the air didn't just vibrate — exploded in pressure.
The sleepless felt its shoulder being grabbed. Not gently. Brutally. As if iron claws had been driven into bone through flesh.
It raised its face slowly. Eyes still closed. But something in its expression changed — smile wavered for the first fraction of a second.
Nemor was there. Held the creature's shoulder with force that made bone creak audibly — small cracks like dry branches breaking.
Nemor's lips moved, female voice echoing with absolute authority:
"Come with me, creature."
Voice still piercing, continued:
"Let go of the boy... and come now!"
But the sleepless's arms trembled — not from fear, from stubbornness. Still tried to squeeze Sun's neck, fingers refusing to let go.
It felt within seconds.
Its body was already a meter off the ground. Didn't rise gradually — was ripped off. As if gravity had been canceled just for it.
Sun felt his neck being released abruptly. Air invaded collapsed lungs in painful jet. He coughed repeatedly — each cough sending waves of agony through the damaged trachea. Blurred vision, barely able to process. But he saw.
The sleepless in the air. Held by a single arm — Nemor's arm, extended as if holding the weight of a feather instead of an adult body.
Then the movement.
Nemor threw the creature downward with force that created visible shock wave — air compressing, dust exploding in a circle.
The impact should have crushed the sleepless. But it drove both arms into the ground at the last moment — fingers piercing earth as if it were soft clay. Absorbed impact, reducing force. When it rose, it was eleven meters from Nemor.
Sun's vision began to return to normal — still blurred at the edges, but functional. He asked breathlessly, each word hurting to come out:
"Who... are you?"
Because he saw something impossible. Nemor's hair changing color drastically — left side becoming golden like liquid gold, right side red like fresh blood. The strands undulated even without wind, colors glowing with their own light.
Nemor took slow steps toward the creature. Each step deliberate, calculated. The creature seemed to tremble but maintained confident posture — muscles tense, prepared to attack or defend.
He said — female voice now loaded with something perverse, almost sadistic:
"I could be fair with you in battle to exterminate you."
Stopped briefly. Fingers caressing his own body in movement that was simultaneously gentle and disturbing.
"But do you have any idea what you just did?"
Held his own body with more force — not protectively, but possessively.
"You touched your filthy fingers..." Voice rose slightly in intensity. "...on my most powerful creator."
Loaded pause.
"That's unforgivable for such a horrible creature."
At that instant, the creature clenched its fists so tightly that something cracked — finger bones compressing. As if about to explode from contained rage.
Nemor continued approaching. Slowly. Unhurried. Predator that knows prey has nowhere to run.
Sun witnessed that while his wounds released pulsing pain and blood that dripped slowly. Breathing still breathless, hindered by damaged trachea. But his mind was terrified — not by physical pain, but by what he witnessed.
That appearance brought memories. From the day they had to retreat. When his attack — launched with all force — couldn't even scratch that winged woman. The same feeling of absolute helplessness.
Nemor approached, staring at the creature fixedly.
The sleepless said with dragging voice:
"Kill..."
Pause.
"I'm gonna... kill you."
Nemor then responded, voice loaded with disdain that cut like blade:
"Kill? You still have audacity, such weak and pathetic creature?" Deliberate pause for effect. "Archangel level, isn't it? Too ridiculous."
At that instant, Sasha's voice echoed internally — not for whoever controlled the body, but existing as observer:
"Like that... I feel equally weak."
But at that exact moment, the air vibrated with brutal intensity that made small stones on the ground jump.
The sleepless launched itself at absurd speed — leaving pressure trail, mists opening in its path like curtains being pulled.
Golden blades materialized in its hands. Were millimeters from hitting Nemor's body — perfect trajectory to pierce heart and lung simultaneously.
When, without even moving from the spot, Nemor brutally grabbed the blades.
Didn't defend them. Didn't deflect. Grabbed. Empty hands closing around impossible metal that should cut anything. Held even the sleepless's own arms — fingers wrapping around the creature's wrists.
The creature widened its eyes. For the second time, they opened. Golden and full of something close to shock.
Nemor said with voice that dripped venom:
"Insolent."
Pause.
"As answer... I'll do everything you dared to do to my creator."
The voice penetrated the creature's mind like needle piercing brain. Made it swallow hard involuntarily.
Sasha's voice echoed again — almost pleading tone:
"Please... don't disturb my lord's rest."
There was no answer.
Just silence.
Then, the punch that followed.
Tore through the air with sound that was half explosion, half fabric tearing. Hit the sleepless's shoulder. Didn't hit superficially — pierced. Went through flesh, broke bone, came out the other side leaving hole the size of a closed fist.
The creature felt pain exploding through every nerve ending. Something it had never felt before — real pain.
When it tried to pull its arms to break free, Nemor held it by the head. Fingers wrapped around the skull completely, sinking slightly into skin. The creature couldn't move even a millimeter.
Just felt.
Its face being crushed against the earth with force that created shallow crater. Earth entered its mouth and nose. Black blood — viscous like oil — escaped from lips.
In a single, fluid movement, it was lifted off the ground. Suspended in the air for a second.
Then brutally, the head was brought down. Connected with Nemor's knee.
CRACK.
Sound of bone breaking echoed. First time.
Lifted again. Brought down.
CRACK.
Second time. Jaw broke on the left side — felt bone fragments coming loose, cutting soft tissue of cheek from inside.
Lifted. Brought down.
CRACK.
Third time. Jaw broke completely now — hanging only by pieces of flesh, no longer properly connected to skull.
Nemor let it go by the head. Body staggered, trying to balance.
Without hesitation, delivered punch that pierced the sleepless's abdomen. Didn't go completely through like it had done with shoulder, but sank deep — burying up to the wrist in flesh and internal organs.
The impact launched the creature backward brutally. Body slid over uneven earth, tearing the ground — leaving deep furrow of five meters before stopping.
Sun narrowed his eyes, processing with difficulty. The brutality was beyond anything he had ever witnessed.
When the creature, with all efforts remaining in destroyed body, got up staggering — said, still with eyes closed (they had never opened again after that moment of shock):
"Still... not..." Coughed black blood. "Still... I'm gonna... kill."
At that exact moment, something sprouted from its back.
Two wings.
They weren't small and atrophied. They were magnificent — golden like the crosses on its forehead, glowing with light that made the surrounding mists retreat. Each feather was perfectly defined, undulating with its own movement.
And its wounds — hole in shoulder, pierced abdomen, broken jaw — began to close. Flesh regenerating in seconds. Bones reconnecting with audible cracks.
The veins under that grayed skin became visible — bulging like tensioned ropes, pulsing with something that wasn't common blood. Something golden flowing through them.
When it beat its wings, it disappeared. Speed so high it left vacuum — air being sucked to occupy empty space, creating explosion sound.
Reappeared millimeters from Nemor. Golden blades already in deadly trajectory.
Then a smile sprouted on Nemor's face. It wasn't a common smile. It was expression of pure sadistic anticipation.
Whispered calmly — but voice carried weight that made reality tremble:
"Reality... Break..."
Licked lips slowly while saying it.
Then it happened.
The world didn't change gradually. Disappeared.
There was no more grayed sky. No more black mists. No more ruined temple.
Just infinite white space. Absolute void that extended in all directions without end. No floor, no ceiling, no walls. Just pure whiteness that hurt eyes when trying to focus on anything.
The sleepless was six meters from Nemor. Suspended in that void as if standing on invisible ground.
Near the sleepless, two lines appeared. Thin as spider webs but glowing intensely. One red. Another golden. They floated vertically, connected to something above and below that couldn't be seen.
The same threads were near Nemor.
In that impossible space, the creature widened not just its eyes — eyebrows too, facial muscles contracting in expression of something close to terror.
Nemor at that instant held something. Scissors. Large — almost the size of a forearm. Half red, half golden. The blades glowed with brightness different from the environment — as if absorbing light instead of reflecting it.
Then said, voice echoing in that void unnaturally:
"I'll summarize..." Took a step forward. Sound of the step echoed infinitely. "...since you can see, right?"
Pointed with the scissors:
"The two threads near you."
Advanced another step.
Continued:
"The golden one represents your power." Pause. "Same for the threads near me."
Placed the scissors near lips, caressing own cheek with cold side of metal.
The creature clenched its fists hard. Wings fully open, beating slightly to maintain balance in that space without defined gravity.
Nemor continued:
"If I cut it..." Opened and closed scissors demonstratively. Metallic sound echoed. "...you lose your power."
Narrowed neck, tilting head slightly.
"And the red one..." Voice became lower, more dangerous. "...it's the reality of your existence."
Pause enough to take another step.
"If I cut..." Opened scissors, positioning around the red thread near the creature without touching it yet. "...you'll be erased from reality. It'll be as if you never existed."
Smiled.
"This applies to me too!"
Then began moving toward Nemor's threads.
"So I'm coming to cut yours."
Pause.
"If you don't want to die... you should hurry to cut mine first."
The sleepless trembled intensely. There was no time for hesitation. For thought. Just action.
Beat wings with explosive force. Passed very close to Nemor — so close it felt heat emanating from body — going directly to the threads floating near him.
Evoked the golden blade desperately. Materialized in its hand in flash of light.
Didn't hesitate. Didn't think.
Swung the blade with all remaining force. Collided with Nemor's red thread.
Then it happened.
The blade — that golden blade that had pierced Nemor multiple times, that had killed countless intos — broke.
Not small crack. Disintegrated. Exploded into fragments that dissolved before falling.
The sleepless's eyebrows widened. There was no more confidence. Just absolute dread.
Nemor said, voice loaded with cruel amusement:
"Ah... I forgot to mention." Smiled even more. "You can't cut my thread."
Held own lips while scissors were already perfectly positioned around the sleepless's red thread. Blades open, wrapping the thread without touching it yet. Just waiting.
Continued:
"After all... this is my power."
Loaded pause.
"The power of a Seraphim."
SNIP.
The cut was dry and absolute. Sound was almost inaudible — like metallic whisper. But the effect was immediate.
The red thread disconnected from the other half. Cut in perfectly smooth line. The two halves began to unravel — not falling, but dissolving into light particles that disappeared.
The white space disappeared instantly.
Back to reality — ruined temple, black mists, grayed sky.
The sleepless's body that was millimeters from Nemor began to evaporate. Not burn. Evaporate. As if made of mist being dispersed by wind.
Started with fingers. Then hands. Forearms. Golden wings were next — feathers disintegrating one by one, turning to golden dust that floated before disappearing completely.
Sun widened his eyes, processing with difficulty through pain and confusion. Said with weak voice:
"What... is... happening?"
The process continued. Arms. Shoulders. Torso. The marks on forehead — times and golden crosses — were the last things visible, glowing intensely for final second before fading.
Then there was nothing more. No dust. No ashes. No residue.
As if it had never existed.
Sun tried to get up, body protesting. Each muscle screamed. Broken ribs sent waves of agony with each breath.
Then Nemor's voice echoed. But came from inside — wasn't the female voice that had spoken until now:
"What... was that?"
The external voice — feminine, loaded with absolute satisfaction — responded:
"You can return to control now..." Reverent pause. "...my most grand lord."
At that instant, everything changed.
Hair returned to original color — common black. Eyes lost red crosses, returning to normal brown. The presence that emanated from body — that suffocating weight of power — evaporated instantly.
Nemor was in control of his own body again.
Stared at his own arms — those arms that had just done such absurd, such impossible things. Turned hands, looking at palms and backs as if they belonged to someone else.
Sasha's voice echoed in his mind:
"Sir, fifteen minutes completed."
Blue and black rays began to materialize around both — Nemor and Sun.
The nightmare was releasing them.
But the question remained in Nemor's mind, echoing like a bell:
What the hell just happened?
END OF CHAPTER 12