Dante’s patience was razor thin. Every heartbeat that passed without seeing Alina and the babies safe only fed the fire inside him. He had already lost too many people in his life, too many names buried in shadows, and he would not, could not, lose more.
His crimson eyes blazed like molten coals, each spark of fury turning into a storm that radiated from his body. The ground trembled beneath his power, the air grew heavy and suffocating. Trees bent away from him, their leaves burning at the edges, and the sky cracked with faint streaks of unnatural lightning.
Flix, who only moments ago had been smirking with arrogance, now faltered. His chest tightened as though invisible chains wrapped around him. He tried to push back with his own darkness, but the black flames he conjured flickered weakly, crumbling against Dante’s overwhelming aura. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ NoveI(F)ire.net
His expression twisted with denial, his pride refusing to bow even as his strength drained away. "You... think you can crush me?" he spat, though his voice cracked. His wings beat furiously, scattering sparks of shadow, but his movements lacked the sharpness from before.
Dante’s gaze never softened. "I do not think. I know." His voice was low, cold, carrying absolute certainty. "You came after what is mine. You dared to set your eyes on her, on them. That is your sin, and you will not walk away alive."
The words struck Flix harder than the blasts of energy. For a fleeting second, fear flashed across his eyes. He wanted to sneer, to mock, but his body betrayed him, sagging under Dante’s growing pressure.
Still, his pride clawed desperately for control. "I... I will never admit defeat," Flix rasped, forcing dark shadows to coil around his hands, though they shook violently.
But Dante advanced, his aura flaring brighter, his power swelling until even the sky seemed to bow. Every part of him screamed with one truth: he would destroy Flix before letting anyone he cherished be taken.
The air around him quaked, shadows recoiling from his body as his power expanded beyond control, raw and merciless.
Flix barely had time to raise his trembling arms before Dante’s darkness slammed into him. The blast hurled him backward through the sky, ripping through clouds with a deafening roar. His wings shredded at the edges, blood spraying in the wind like ink. He screamed, but Dante gave no room for air, no space for mercy.
The land beneath them cracked apart, trees splitting at their roots, stones disintegrating into dust under the sheer pressure of Dante’s fury.
Dante appeared in front of Flix in a blink, faster than the demon could comprehend. His hand pierced through Flix’s chest, dark energy exploding outward. The cry that left Flix’s throat was more beast than man, a howl of pain and disbelief. Shadows writhed around him, trying to heal, but Dante’s energy devoured them like fire eating paper.
"You dared to touch what is mine," Dante growled, his voice vibrating through the ground, through the forest, through the terrified echoes of every living thing nearby. "And for that, you will die screaming."
Flix coughed black blood, his face twisting between rage and terror. "I... will never—"
Dante didn’t let him finish. With one merciless pull, he tore Flix from his own shadows, ripping apart the core of his being. The demon’s body convulsed as cracks of red light spidered across his skin, each one bursting violently until chunks of him disintegrated into nothingness.
The final sound was Flix’s scream breaking into silence, his body collapsing into dust scattered by Dante’s unyielding aura.
And still Dante stood there, chest heaving, eyes alight with fury. His power had scarred the land itself, burning trenches through the earth, melting stones, twisting trees into unnatural shapes.
For a long moment, there was only silence, until Dante whispered coldly into the air where Flix had vanished.
Dante moved like a storm tearing through the forest. Every step left the earth blackened, trees splitting, shadows screaming as he ripped apart Flix’s remaining demons without hesitation. His great wings, if they could even be called wings, were not feathers or flesh but vast arcs of writhing darkness, spreading so wide they blotted out the moonlight. He was no longer a ruler in control. He was destruction itself, and he wanted to annihilate everything that breathed.
Alina stirred awake with a start. Her lashes fluttered as a strange weight pressed against her chest. The night hadn’t changed. Why was it still dark? It felt endless, suffocating. She turned, her heart seizing when she realized the babies were still asleep, their breaths steady, untouched by what shook the air outside.
But she felt it. The suffocating aura pressing on her lungs until she struggled to breathe. Her legs shook as she carefully slid Boo and Lucien’s heads onto the ground, brushing their hair back gently before standing. She wrapped her arms around herself as the tremors in the earth guided her eyes forward.
Her lips parted in shock. The man she had known as cold but composed, controlled and terrifying in his own regal way, looked nothing now. His body radiated pure rage, power exploding in all directions like flames too wild to contain. His wings weren’t wings at all. They were shadows alive, twisting and writhing, spreading across the forest like claws that wanted to swallow everything whole.
Her throat tightened. Was this truly a demon? Was this the principal she worked beside every day? She had never seen power in her life.
"Dante?" she called as she ran towards him, her voice soft at first, then louder when he didn’t stir. "Dante!"
But he didn’t hear her. He couldn’t. His mind was locked in fury, and all he could feel was destruction. His aura lashed out like a whip, and before she realized it, the force slammed into her.
Alina’s body flew back against a boulder. The sharp crack of her back meeting the rock made her clench her teeth, pain burning through her spine. She refused to scream, refused to make a sound, afraid of waking the babies. A single tear welled in her eye, slipping down her cheek as her hands pressed against the cold stone behind her.