The air inside the castle was thick and jaundiced, every step Lucy took echoing against the warped metal walls. The flickering lights gave the impression that the place itself was breathing — in agony.
At the center of the vast, circular hall — its floor covered in corroded sigils and shattered tubes — hovered a blue orb, pulsing softly, radiating a cold, living energy.
Lucy tilted her head, unimpressed.
"Cute... what happens if I touch it? Do I win a prize?" she muttered, raising her hand.
But before her fingers reached it, a guttural voice thundered from above—its echo multiplying like a chorus of the damned:
"ULYSSES! ULYSSES!"
The ceiling split apart like paper. Dust and metal shards rained down in a violent storm.
From the opening above, a colossal wolf crashed down with a roar that shook the floor. Its fur was black as burnt coal, claws raking the metal beneath it. A grotesque scar split across its left eye — blind and hollow. The other burned crimson, like a beacon from hell itself.
Lucy arched a brow, slowly drawing one of her pistols.
"Oh, poor thing…" she taunted.
"Didn't your mom ever teach you to use the door?"
The wolf took a heavy step forward, its breath rumbling like thunder.
"That scent... I know it well," it snarled.
Lucy glanced at herself, sniffing her arm.
"Really? Next time I'll wear more perfume, alright, puppy?"
The creature's roar shook the hall.
"The stench of betrayal! The taint of Ulisses! I am Fenroth, and I shall annihilate every trace of his cursed bloodline!"
It lunged — massive claws tearing through the air. Lucy spun midair, dodging, landing in a crouch amid a rising cloud of dust.
She smirked, eyes sharp.
"A daughter cleaning up her father's mess... where have I heard that one before?"
Gunfire erupted — twin pistols blazing in her hands as bullets ricocheted off the wolf's scales, pushing the beast back with sheer force.
Lucy dashed forward, unsheathing Dracallion, its crimson blade blazing with unholy light.
The monster struck with its claws like scythes. Lucy blocked, but the impact hurled her backward into a metallic wall.
Blood spilled from her lip as she laughed through the pain.
"Damn… you hit harder than you look."
The wolf turned, smashing the floor with its tail. Lucy rolled aside, pulling the BarukMace and slamming it into the creature's ribs. A crack — then a howl of pain.
Switching weapons again, she unsheathed the TwinBlades, spinning them in a storm of thunder and lightning. Each strike sang through the air — but Fenroth endured, stomping the ground until fissures spread like veins around them.
Lucy leapt onto a broken pillar, extending the VelmorahStaff, smashing it against the wolf's snout and forcing it back. But the beast retaliated, pouncing with devastating force, crushing her beneath its weight.
She screamed — the world blurred with dust, pain, and the iron scent of blood.
"The blood of the traitor runs in you!" the wolf roared.
"There is no redemption for Ulisses' spawn!"
Lucy coughed, her face streaked with blood and dirt — then smiled wickedly.
"Funny thing is... I never asked to be born."
With one desperate twist, she hurled Dracallion. The blade spun through the air and pierced the wolf's remaining eye —burying itself deep with a sickening crack.
Fenroth roared in agony, thrashing wildly, clawing the walls, blood dripping like molten fire.
"My heart beats... only with hatred... for Ulisses!" he howled. "
Even without my sight... I know your scent! I'll hunt you — for all eternity!"
With that, he scaled the walls, vanishing into the abyss above, leaving behind only a trail of steaming blood.
Lucy fell to her knees, gasping.
"Why do I always have to pay for his mistakes? Come on, give me a break..."
She wiped her mouth, stood, and pressed forward through the trembling corridors.
Far below, in the bowels of the castle, the corpse of Cletus lay still — but the book resting on his chest fluttered open on its own. A black wind turned its pages as dark energy seeped out, whispering like something eager to awaken.
Eventually, Lucy stepped into another chamber — colder, darker, more suffocating than the last. At its heart floated a violet orb, pulsing slowly atop a pedestal.
When she reached out and touched it, a shock of energy coursed through her veins. Lucy fell to her knees, screaming as her blood boiled beneath her skin.
Then, a mad laughter echoed through the shadows.
"Incredible!" cried Ponyus, emerging from behind a pillar, twirling his staff like a toy.
"Even the little half-blood can't withstand that! Magnificent!"
Lucy grabbed him by the collar with one hand and pressed her pistol to his face.
"Keep talking, and I'll give you a reason to shut that mouth for good."
"Oh, don't be so hasty, my dear!" he giggled, tilting his hat.
"I've still so many delightful stories to tell!"
She threw him aside, staggering as the orb's power drained her strength.
Ponyus straightened his hat, still grinning.
"You've seen it too, haven't you? The castle that rose from the earth — this wretched place is a tunnel, connecting the demon world to the mortal one! And guess who's pulling the strings? Your sweet little sister, Nyra, wearing mommy's amulet!"
Lucy's eyes widened.
"The amulet...?"
Ponyus twirled his staff like a conductor.
"She's already in the control chamber below! If you don't hurry, she'll open the gates of hell itself! Isn't that terrifying?"
Lucy narrowed her eyes.
"Why tell me all this?"
"Oops!" he chuckled.
"Almost forgot the best part. That orb you're holding... it's the key to move forward. It feeds on blood — and the soul. Isn't it beautiful?"
He jumped onto a rising platform, waving cheerfully.
"But in return... it grants power! Glorious, dreadful power! Let your spirit guide you, my dear! Farewell!"
He vanished in laughter — mad, echoing, endless.
Lucy clenched her fists.
"You could've led with that, you chatterbox son of a bich."
The orb blazed with blinding light. Her veins turned molten red, and vast black wings tore through her back.
Her skin deepened to carmine, scales rippling across her chest. Horns curved backward as her eyes burned into twin suns of crimson.
Dracallion trembled — its central eye snapping open to gaze upon her.
Lucy — no longer human — smiled like a predator reborn.
"Alright, Nyra... let's see what kind of hell you've unleashed this time."
She beat her wings once — the floor cracked beneath her feet — and with a blast of flame and fury, she surged down the burning corridor, vanishing into the heart of the infernal castle.