Mag-log inThe bell rang, sharp and sudden, snapping the class out of its dull rhythm.Aria stretched slightly in her seat, rolling her shoulders as she packed her books into her bag. Her mind wasnāt on the lecture she had just sat throughāit hadnāt been for a while now. Too many things had been happening lately. Too many things she couldnāt explain.Lucas weird attitude.Selene's warning about a coming war.The things she had seen⦠the things she had felt.She exhaled softly, shaking her head as if that alone could clear the weight off her thoughts.āAria, are you coming?āShe looked up briefly, offering a small smile to her classmate before nodding. āYeah, I am.āBut as she stepped out of the classroomā¦She paused.Mark was there.Leaning casually against the wall, one hand tucked into his pocket, the other holding a drink. He looked completely at ease, like he had been there for a while and didnāt mind waiting at all.Her lips curved into an automatic smile.āHey.āHe pushed himself off the w
Before Lucifer ever fell⦠Before Hell learned how to mock, how to tempt, how to play with humanity⦠There were the Five. They were not created. They did not rise. They simply⦠were. Ancient. Unnamed by time. Unbound by order. Hell did not rule them. Hell formed around them. They were not demons in the way lesser creatures crawled and clawed for power. They were principlesāembodiments of impulses so deeply rooted in existence that even gods had learned not to provoke them. And among them⦠The First. Incubus. He did not walk into a room. He entered the mind first. Desire preceded him. Longing announced him. By the time his physical form appeared, it was already too late. His victims did not resist himāthey welcomed him. Incubus did not simply seduce. He studied. Every flicker of emotion, every suppressed craving, every hidden weaknessāhe tasted them all. He knew what a person wanted before they admitted it to themselves. And when he gave it to them⦠He gave it perfect
The descent into Hell was not marked by fire.It was marked by silence.Lucas did not step through a gate, nor did he summon a portal. Hell recognized himāfelt himāand parted.The air shifted first.What little movement existed in that cursed realm stilled, as though the world itself had drawn in a breath it dared not release. Then the ground beneath his feet darkened further, veins of molten crimson receding like blood retreating from a wound.He had not been here in a long time.Not because he feared it.Fear was a language Hell understoodābut never dared speak to him.No⦠he had stayed away because this place remembered.Every scream. Every fall. Every moment of weakness.And worst of all⦠it remembered his father's humiliation of him.Lucas walked forward, his steps measured, unhurried, yet carrying a weight that pressed against the very bones of Hell. The corridor stretched before himāendless, suffocating, lined with walls that pulsed faintly, as though alive. Shadows clung to th
Aria stepped out of the school gates beside Mark, the late afternoon sun casting long shadows across the pavement. Their conversation had been light, easyāMark always had a way of making things feel uncomplicatedābut her mind wasnāt entirely in it. It hadnāt been for weeks.Ever since Lucas had started keeping his distance.She had told herself it didnāt matter. That she didnāt care. That whatever they hadāwhatever he had made itāwas better left alone.And yetā¦Her steps slowed.There, parked just across the road, was a sleek black sedan. Polished. Imposing. Familiar.Her breath caught.No⦠it couldnātāBut it was.Lucas leaned casually against the car, his posture relaxed in a way that didnāt fool her for a second. Even from a distance, there was something sharp about him today. Something controlled. Dangerous.Her heart betrayed her with a sudden, violent thud.Why is he here?After weeks of silence⦠weeks of distance⦠now this?āAria?ā Markās voice pulled her slightly back, but s
Lucasās mansion did not feel like a home. Not today. The structure stood tall, elegant as always, its towering windows catching what little daylight filtered through the overcast sky. But insideā Inside, the air felt wrong. Heavy. Charged. Like something unseen had settled into the walls, pressing in, waiting. Lucas stood near one of the large windows, his back partially turned to the room. His gaze was fixed outside, though it was clear he wasnāt really seeing anything. His thoughts were elsewhere. On her. Always on her. The image refused to leave his mindāAria, smiling softly, standing too close to someone else. Letting someone else lead her. Trusting someone else. His jaw tightened. āYouāre going to wear a hole into the glass at this rate.ā Her voice came like silk over steel. Lucas didnāt turn immediately. He didnāt need to. āSelene,ā he said flatly. She stood near the entrance of the room, leaning slightly against the doorway as though she owned the place. Her
Morning came, but it didnāt feel like morning. There was no softness to it. No gentle easing into the day. Just a dull, dragging awareness that time had moved forward whether Aria was ready or not. Rain tapped lightly against her windowānot the violent storm from the day before, but something quieter. Lingering. Like the world hadnāt quite shaken off whatever weight it had carried overnight. Aria lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. Sheād been awake for a while. Long enough to notice the way the light shifted behind the curtains. Long enough to realize she had no intention of getting up anytime soon. Her body felt heavy. Not tiredājust⦠unwilling. Her mind, however, refused to be still. Selene. That image wouldnāt leave her. The way she had stood in the apartment like she belonged there. The calm confidence. The unsettling ease with which she had spoken about things Aria barely understood. And then there was what she had said. About a coming war... and the decisio
Lucifer appeared at the edge of the world. The ocean beast felt his presence and rose from the bottom of the ocean."Even the devil chooses to visit. What an unpleasant surprise.""The great Leviathan. Lord of the oceans. I've come for my son." Lucifer replied with a tight smile."Your son? You mea
Levi lay on the bed with his eyes open in deep thoughts. He worried for his master, and in the darkest part of his mind, he imagined his master going through hell in the hands of Leviathan. Lucas had planned prior to his journey that he'd return in two days, but two days has passed already, and the
The oceans split for him, and Lucas descended. The echoes of Leviathan's last words of an impending enemy was loud in his head. He wondered who would dare cross paths with him again after Behemoth. He thought of Aria, and hoped she would be save until he returned from his quest, and put an end to B
When two days passed without Aria getting a word from Lucas, she got worried and tried to pry out information from Levi, but he wouldn't give in to her demands, and she didn't make it easy for him either. "So you're seriously telling me that you don't know where Lucas is?" "Yes, Aria. I have no i







