Chapter 54: We Found Elena Alive—Then Uriel Corvax Walked In

Adrián didn’t move.

Both hands were still pressed against the glass of the container.

He was still staring at Elena’s face.

His sister.

The sister who had been missing for three and a half years.

The sister he had covered corkboards for, lied to psychologists for, deceived his father for, chosen his college major around access to case archives for, and accepted a demonic contract with a card everyone considered a joke for.

She was right there.

Inside a glass tube filled with blue liquid, cables connected to her chest.

Breathing.

Alive.

“…”

Ishtar appeared beside him.

She placed both hands on his shoulders.

Hard.

Very hard.

“Brother-in-law. Look at me. Don’t look at the tube. Look at me.”

Adrián didn’t.

“Brother-in-law.”

“…”

“Adrián.”

She had never called him by his name.

Not once.

Only brother-in-law.

Some distant part of Adrián’s brain registered the change, and he finally turned his head.

Ishtar’s golden eyes were very calm.

Very steady.

“Adrián. Listen to me. She’s alive. She’s still alive. She’s stable. We are not going to lose her because we leave her here for a few more hours. But if we act now, without a plan, without equipment, with four Fallen presences coming down here, we lose her and the other thirty. Do you understand?”

“…”

“Adrián. Look at me.”

“…I’m looking at you, Ishtar.”

“Are you listening?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You promised my sister you would control yourself. You promised Nikolás Ríos you would do this properly. You promised the parents of the other five. You promised Rhea. Are you going to keep those promises?”

Adrián breathed.

Very slowly.

He looked at Elena’s face.

At the scar through her left eyebrow—identical to his own, because three years ago he had deliberately cut himself trying to copy hers.

At her brown hair floating gently in the blue liquid.

At her slightly parted lips.

At her chest rising and falling very slowly.

Very irregularly.

But rising.

Falling.

Alive.

He pulled his hands away from the glass.

Took half a step back.

“…Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Okay. I’ll control myself.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Good.”

Ishtar released his shoulders.

On the other side of the container, Kael had been watching him in silence.

When Adrián stepped back, Kael nodded once.

“Vega.”

“Yes, Kael?”

“Four Fallen are coming. We’re in a room with no alternate exits. Silvano has the bubble until his mana runs out. We have three options. One: wait for them to pass and leave once they’re gone. Two: fight if they find us. Three: pretend to be personnel if the disguise holds long enough.”

“This is a hidden underground facility. There’s no human staff down here. Option three won’t work.”

“Correct. Good thinking. We go with option one. Silvano, can the bubble hold another twenty minutes?”

“It can.”

“Good. Everyone behind the shelves. Quiet. Vega, with Ishtar. I’ll stay with Silvano. We hide until they leave.”

Adrián nodded.

He crouched behind the shelving on the left with Ishtar.

She put a hand on his arm.

Held his gaze.

“Absolute silence,” she whispered. “No heavy breathing. No movement.”

“Okay.”

Silence.

Thirty seconds passed.

Then a minute.

Then they heard them.

Footsteps.

Four pairs.

Very light.

Descending the stairwell outside.

With the Mask enhancing his senses, Adrián heard every step as if they were walking inside his skull.

They stopped when they reached the basement corridor.

Then a voice spoke.

Female.

Melodic.

With a tone that made the hair on the back of his neck rise.

“…Do you smell something strange?”

“I do.”

“Could be the air conditioning. It’s been acting up lately.”

“It’s not the air conditioning. It’s something else. Like… ozone. Like an active spell.”

Silence.

Adrián felt his stomach drop.

“They detected Silvano’s bubble.”

The footsteps started moving again.

Closer.

“Let’s check.”

“Start with M-1.”

Adrián felt Ishtar tense beside him.

Her grip tightened around his arm.

And on the other side of the storage room, as the door slowly opened, four figures entered.

Three were women.

Long dark coats.

Black hair.

Yellow eyes Adrián could just make out through the gaps between the shelves.

Fallen.

The fourth was different.

Tall.

Very tall.

Hair so pale it was almost white.

Extremely pale skin.

Amber-yellow eyes like Sariel’s, except colder.

Older.

Her long coat wasn’t black.

It was an impossible color somewhere between very dark purple and bloodred.

Adrián froze.

“I know her.”

“I know her.”

“She’s the woman from the flashback.”

“She’s the one who took Elena.”

Uriel Corvax.

She was standing ten meters from where he was hiding.

Uriel stopped in the center of the storage room.

Lifted her chin slightly.

Smelled the air.

Closed her eyes.

“There are presences here,” she said.

Her voice was somehow soft and deep at the same time.

The other three Fallen stopped.

Looked around.

“…Demons?” one asked.

“I don’t know. Could be demons. Could be angels. But they’re here.”

Uriel opened her eyes.

“And they’re hiding.”

She extended her left hand.

A small sphere of dark light formed in her palm.

She tossed it toward the ceiling.

The sphere scattered through the air.

It became hundreds of tiny black droplets that began falling slowly across the entire room like ink rain.

“Come out,” Uriel said with absolute calm. “The rain will mark you wherever you’re hiding. In thirty seconds, I’ll know exactly where every single one of you is.”

She smiled faintly.

“I’d rather save you the surprise.”

Adrián felt the ink land in his hair.

On his shoulders.

One drop touched his cheek.

He raised a hand to his face.

The droplet glowed.

Beside him, Ishtar was already standing.

Silent.

Her golden pupils dilated as far as they could go.

Her fangs slightly longer.

Adrián had never seen her like this.

It was the same stance she had taken before fighting Silvano.

But this time there was another layer underneath it.

Something more dangerous.

More committed.

“Uriel,” Ishtar said clearly as she stepped out from behind the shelving. “You found us. Congratulations.”

Uriel turned her head.

Her amber-yellow eyes settled on Ishtar.

Then on Adrián, who found himself stepping out behind her almost on instinct.

And then, very slowly, Uriel smiled.

“Ishtar Alastor,” she said in that same soft voice. “How unexpected.”

Her smile widened.

“How delightful.”

“Rhea’s little sister, in person, inside my storage room.”

Uriel tilted her head.

“This must be a special occasion.”

“Uriel.”

“And you brought friends.”

Kael and Silvano stepped out from behind the shelving opposite them.

Both had their hands near their weapons.

Silvano still had both hands raised, maintaining the isolation bubble.

Uriel examined all four of them.

When her gaze reached Adrián, her expression changed.

Barely.

But it changed.

She tilted her head.

“And the new reincarnated one.”

“…”

“The one who caused that pulse two days ago.”

Adrián said nothing.

“Rhea is doing me a favor without even realizing it. I was going to send teams to track you for weeks.”

Uriel smiled.

“And you walked into my basement all by yourself.”

Adrián clenched his fists.

He felt the Mask push his senses to their limit.

Felt the glove over his right hand begin to heat.

Felt Lira’s violet birds from Copy beginning to form in his palm without being summoned.

Uriel noticed.

Her smile grew.

“Oh, darling.”

Her eyes sharpened with interest.

“Yes.”

“That’s you.”

She took him in slowly.

“Very interesting.”

A pause.

“Very, very interesting.”

Adrián stepped forward.

Ishtar stopped him with an arm across his chest.

“Adrián. No.”

“Ishtar—”

“She’s too strong for you. For all of us. You can’t.”

“She’s the one who took Elena.”

“I know.”

Ishtar’s voice hardened.

“And that’s exactly why you can’t.”

Uriel took a step forward too.

Still smiling.

With a calm that wasn’t human.

“Adrián,” she said. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”

“…”

“Rhea is careless with nicknames.”

Uriel’s smile softened.

“Your sister was too.”

Adrián went still.

“Come here.”

Uriel lifted one hand toward him.

“Come closer.”

“I want to see you up close.”

“…”

Adrián felt the command in her voice.