At the dead of night, the battle pressed on.
Having once again been rejected by the Phantom and left with no other choice, Danny activated Genji's Modification.
His eyes shut.
His posture shifted.
When his eyes half-opened again, his back hunched, and his demeanor changed entirely.
Pstzz—wzz—
Lightning rippled across his body. A strange mist gathered around him, coiling until a dark silhouette of Danny formed within it holding a weapon.
A pair of daggers.
Randy froze. That unmistakable blue glint… she recognized it instantly. Danny was wielding daggers identical to hers.
Before she could react
Danny vanished.
Boom.
Randy's head snapped toward the sound.
Boom.
Another closer.
Boom.
Her eyes tried to follow him, but the impacts came faster and faster, the gaps shrinking until it was impossible to track him. Danny was accelerating moving beyond anything human.
In under two minutes, the entire orphanage fell silent.
One hundred vampires.
All slain.
Danny reappeared, lightning still coiling around him, his aura wild and unstable. His expression twisted feral, almost unhinged as he dashed straight toward Randy.
She braced herself, ready to fight him if she had to.
Danny skidded to a stop inches from her face and whispered, voice deep and unsettling:
"Got you… hehe."
Randy struck by reflex, throwing a sharp jab. Danny slipped aside effortlessly, laughing.
"Hey, stop messing around, Randy."
Just like that, he was… normal.
Well normal for Danny.
He added, almost cheerfully:
"By the way I found an elevator while I was clearing the place. Let's go."
Randy blinked.
Not only had he been conscious during the rampage
he had been aware.
Aware enough to explore, navigate, and plan.
To clear a three-thousand-square-foot building filled with nearly a hundred vampires in under two minutes
Only a monster could do that.
Now she understood why the Captain favored him so much.
The duo entered the elevator, bracing themselves as it rattled to life and began to descend into the hidden base beneath the orphanage.
....
At the descent of the elevator, an angelic being drifted into view.
She was a maiden of ethereal grace her hair a glistening waterfall of white, her figure possessing a beauty that could entrance any soul who laid eyes upon her. She appeared to be waking from a deep slumber, eyelids fluttering open slowly.
When her eyes fully opened, the world seemed to pause.
They were like polished jewels vast orbs of iridescent starlight, shimmering as if entire nebulae were trapped within them.
And through that silent gaze, a message reached them both.
Save me.
Randy and Danny felt it instantly.
The treasure they had spent lifetimes seeking was breathing right in front of them.
They rushed forward.
But a shadow detached itself from the corner of the chamber.
A figure stepped between them and the maiden.
He wore a mask carved from bleached bone twisted into a jagged, permanent grin. Hollow eye sockets devoured the light around him, as if the darkness itself clung to his presence.
The duo instinctively brandished their blades.
Then
The figure lifted his hands.
And removed the mask.
Randy's world shattered.
"Nero…?" she whispered.
Her brother.
The one she believed had died during the brutal Hartford Clan Trials.
Her breath hitched.
Before she could move, a strained whisper brushed past her ear.
"Randy… something is wrong. I—he's—"
Danny collapsed.
Not dead but emptied. As if something vital had been severed inside him.
A thick purple mist bloomed around his body.
The Phantom.
It shielded him, cocooned him… and sealed him away.
Randy straightened.
Her shock hardened into resolve.
She knew Nero's rhythm.
She lunged.
Her daggers carved a silver arc through the air aimed to end the fight in a single, merciful strike.
The blade connected , shattering glass.
---
The Architect and the anomaly
Nero Wolfe Tones was a bastard child.
Despised by a clan that worshiped blood purity above all else.
But his father, Ronald Krigg Hartford, was a man who saw endings long before they arrived.
He knew the King viewed the Hartford Clan as nothing more than disposable pawns.
He knew extinction was inevitable.
That night, Ronald stood alone before the Hartford records.
Names crossed out.
Bloodlines severed.
He did not pray.
He calculated who would remain.
In memory, Ronald stood over a young Nero, fists clenched in frustration.
"Nero," he asked quietly, "if the Hartford name vanished tomorrow… would you let it die quietly?"
Nero shook his head violently.
"The Hartford innate gift was meant to be inherited by the worthy," Ronald continued, his gaze lingering not on Nero's face—but on his eyes.
He leaned closer.
"There is a power that rivals that of the gods that power was gifted to our clan by a god whose name has been lost through time
Nero nodded.
Thus, Nero became one of many to attain the Hartford Clan's innate gift they being The heavenly blue or azure caelum
With this new power he gained the title worn by many before him a title with a history , attained by many of the strongest men to walk the land along with his gift house of mirrors .
Nero Wolfe tones became the
Thirty Third Anomaly
For he was one of the few people to ever wield two gifts .
---
Azure Caelum — The Heavenly Blue
The House of Mirrors activated.
The bunker transformed in an instant walls, floor, and pillars reshaping into a shimmering labyrinth of reflective crystal.
Randy's eyes widened.
Too late.
She had struck a mirrored sculpture.
"Slide. Shift," Nero commanded.
The pillars ground against the floor, rearranging like a massive puzzle.
A path opened.
At its end stood Nero.
"Bingo," he grinned.
Their eyes met.
And in that instant
The Heavenly Blue erupted.
A crushing force slammed into Randy's body.
This was the Hartford Clan's heavenly blue an intangible invisible force encompasses an opponent
the force increased exponentially the longer eye contact was maintained
as long as the user of the heavenly blue can withstand the force it could theoretically increase indefinitely .
If the user exceeds the force that he can withstand the user and the opponent will perish
and the heavenly blue will seek another member of the Hartford clan
And seek a new host.
Randy was flung across the chamber, crashing through multiple glass pillars .
"You can't even contest it," Nero remarked calmly, walking through the shards.
"Your companion lasted three seconds. You didn't even last one."
He stopped.
"Our father chose me to inherit the heavenly blue so that I may restore the Hartford clan ," he said.
"I am the Messiah of the new Hartford."
He turned toward the Phantom's mist.
Dismissive and concluded nothing can be done.
But when the dust settled
Nero's gaze snapped to the elevator.
The doors once sealed were pried open.
Understanding dawned.
Randy had anticipated the attack.
She had met his gaze on purpose positioning herself so the recoil would blast her straight through the sealed gate .
She had taken the white-haired maiden.
And left Danny behind.
A tactical sacrifice.
"Oh, man…" Nero muttered, pulling a shadow-travel device from his pocket.
It sparked.
Died.
"The boss is going to be pissed," he sighed.
"'Convenient,' my ass. How am I supposed to get out of here?"
Far below—
Randy arrived at the hidden base.
She was fully healed.
Her breath steady.
Her eyes sharp as flint.
She looked as though she hadn't just danced with death.