Chapter 55: I Left Elena Behind—and Swore I’d Kill Uriel Corvax

It wasn’t a magical command.

It wasn’t compulsion.

But it was the kind of voice that belonged to someone who had spent centuries getting used to being obeyed.

And for half a second—only half a second—Adrián felt his legs wanting to comply.

Ishtar felt the impulse move through him.

She grabbed his arm with both hands.

“Brother-in-law. No. That voice is a Fallen technique. Ignore it.”

“…”

“Ignore it.”

“…Okay. Okay.”

Uriel’s smile widened.

“Interesting. You’re resisting the resonance. Most demons your age wouldn’t last even a second against that. You’re more than Rhea admitted when we asked.”

Her smile sharpened.

“Very good, Rhea. Well played.”

Silvano spoke for the first time.

His voice was dry.

“Uriel. Let us leave. Four against four, and you win. But you won’t win without casualties.”

Uriel shifted her eyes toward Silvano.

She studied him for several seconds.

“Alastor’s Hermit,” she said. “You and I have history.”

“Old history.”

“Painful history.”

“Yes.”

“…”

Uriel slowly ran her tongue across her lower lip.

So calmly it almost seemed affectionate.

Then, without changing her expression, in that same soft voice, she said:

“No.”

The three Fallen behind her moved at the same time.

Adrián didn’t see the full movements.

He saw three things simultaneously.

He saw Kael draw his short sword—a broad, compact black blade threaded with red veins, the kind designed for close-quarters combat in narrow corridors.

The blade flashed as it cleared the sheath.

He saw Ishtar disappear.

He saw Silvano lower one hand—the isolation bubble collapsed instantly, without transition, with a faint sound like breaking glass—while his other hand traced a symbol through the air.

And then the storage room exploded into violence.

The closest Fallen launched herself at Kael with a speed Adrián had never seen from anyone before.

Kael intercepted her with his sword.

The impact was brutal.

Metal screamed against something Adrián didn’t even manage to see properly—some weapon the Fallen materialized at the exact instant of impact.

Ishtar reappeared behind another Fallen and drove her fingers into the back of her neck.

Five fingers.

Five pressure points at once.

The Fallen collapsed as if someone had cut her strings.

The third one turned toward Adrián.

She raised a hand.

A spear of dark light formed in her palm, smaller than Sariel’s but every bit as fast.

She threw it.

Straight at Adrián’s chest.

“Mask.”

“Luck.”

“I want to survive.”

“I want.”

A pulse of Void erupted from Adrián’s left palm before he could fully control it.

It struck the spear in midair.

Disintegrated it.

And the remaining force kept going.

It slammed into the Fallen’s shoulder.

She flew three meters backward.

Crashed into one of the industrial shelves.

The containers shook.

One of them—the third—fell.

It shattered against the floor.

Blue liquid spilled everywhere.

The figure inside—a woman Adrián hadn’t managed to identify—collapsed onto the ground as the cables tore free from her body.

Adrián’s stomach dropped.

“No.”

“No, no, no.”

“ISHTAR!” Kael shouted from the other side of the storage room, still fighting the first Fallen. “GET VEGA OUT! NOW!”

“Kael, I can’t leave you with two—”

“SILVANO WILL COVER US! GET VEGA OUT!”

Silvano was already attacking Uriel.

Not with a weapon.

With open hands.

The Hermit’s magic streamed from his palms in thin beams of pale golden light.

Uriel deflected them with almost visible boredom.

Silvano kept attacking.

Buying time.

Ishtar spun toward Adrián.

“Brother-in-law. We’re leaving.”

“Ishtar, the girl—the container fell. The girl—”

“Brother-in-law, leave her. We’ll rescue her later.”

“Ishtar—”

“NOW.”

She grabbed his wrist and pulled.

Adrián ran after her.

They burst out of Storage M-1 and into the hallway.

Ran toward the staircase.

Behind them, Adrián could hear the fight.

Kael’s sword colliding with Fallen weapons.

Silvano’s magic pulsing.

Uriel’s voice calmly issuing orders to the remaining Fallen.

They reached the stairs.

Ishtar shoved Adrián ahead of her.

“Up. Fast. I’ll cover you.”

“Ishtar, I’m not leaving you—”

“Brother-in-law. Kael is right. You are the objective of this mission. You get out alive. If you die, everything Silvano, Kael, and I are doing right now means nothing.”

“Ishtar.”

“GO!”

Adrián climbed.

He sprinted up the spiral staircase.

Five floors.

The Mask pushed to its limit.

His lungs burning.

His legs screaming.

Ishtar two steps behind him, guarding his back.

They reached the main floor.

The west building hallway.

The service door they had used to enter.

They burst outside.

Crossed the courtyard.

Ran the four hundred meters back to the van.

They climbed inside.

Ishtar started the engine.

“Brother-in-law, seat belt.”

“Ishtar, the others—”

“They’ll get out. Silvano can isolate himself with the Hermit and find another exit. Kael has escape methods. We can’t stay.”

“Ishtar.”

“Brother-in-law. They’re alive. They’ll get out. They’ve survived worse.”

She slammed the van into gear.

“We’re leaving.”

The van tore out of the empty lot at full speed.

Ishtar drove with exactly the kind of aggression expected from an eighteen-year-old demon who had been awake since four fifteen in the morning and had just left her blood brother and her mentor fighting a centuries-old Fallen.

Adrián stared through the rearview mirror.

For half a second, just before the van turned, he saw an explosion of golden light burst from the west building.

Silvano.

Then nothing.

“Ishtar—”

“Don’t look back, brother-in-law. Focus.”

Adrián dragged both hands over his face.

He was shaking.

His hands were stained with ink from Uriel’s rain.

His pulse had to be pushing two hundred.

His chest felt painfully tight.

And burned into his mind was the image of Container V-11.

Elena inside.

Eyes closed.

That scar.

Alive.

And he had left her there.

“Ishtar.”

“Yes, brother-in-law?”

“We’re going back for her.”

“I know.”

“We’re going back for all of them.”

“I know, brother-in-law.”

“Ishtar.”

“Yes?”

“When we go back, I’m going to kill Uriel.”

Ishtar turned her head for half a second.

Looked at him.

Then returned her eyes to the road.

“Brother-in-law.”

“Yes?”

“Welcome to the real demon world.”

Adrián said nothing.

He watched the sunrise beginning to creep above the industrial warehouses disappearing behind them.

Orange light painted the sky.

Birds—real birds, not violet ones—were beginning to sing.

And somewhere beneath Ferrera Central Pharmaceutical Distribution, thirty women were still floating inside blue containers with cables connected to their chests.

One of them was named Elena Vega.

And he was going to get her out.

Even if it cost him everything.