Vali's eyes widened, his relief at seeing her instantly crushed by the realization that she was now in grave danger.
'No...'
Sister Andrea, the last person he expected, the one person wholly dedicated to god stood before him.
She stood barefoot on the cold stone, wearing only a simple night gown.
And on her hand was a light-based sword, its golden-black hilt molded perfectly to her palm, while the platinum blade caught the moonlight streaming through the window.
Runes, faintly humming with holy energy, traced lethal paths along its length.
"Are you okay, Vali?" Sister Andrea asked, her voice calm and steady, a soothing contrast to the weapon in her hand.
Her gaze remained fixed on the devil, but genuine concern softened as it fell on the bruise blooming on Vali's neck.
"I… Sister Andrea…" Vali swallowed the lump in his throat.
The cloaked man, who had been lurking in the alley's deep shadows, stepped forward, drawing the moonlight fully onto his face.
Sister Andrea and Vali could now clearly see the devil. His sharp, almost vampiric features, skin so pale it seemed to leech the color from the air, and eyes like pools of dried, stagnant blood made him appear otherworldly.
His thin, predatory smile revealed teeth just a little too long.
Berjequel the Cruel... an executioner, a name Vali knew all too well, for he had been one of his father's subordinates.
"Huh, hahaha," Berjequel laughed, the sound grating and unnatural in the stillness of the night.
He tilted his head, staring at Sister Andrea with the detached curiosity of a predator sizing up a particularly foolish prey.
"This is funny… truly funny. Do you even have the slightest idea who you're protecting behind you right now, woman?"
Sister Andrea remained perfectly still, her posture one of serene readiness. Her grip on the sword tightened.
"Fancy me," she replied, her voice low and even.
Berjequel sneered, spreading his arms theatrically as his shadow twisted and writhed like a living thing.
"That child is a devil! A descendant of Lucifer! The incarnation of an ancient evil that your scriptures, your very faith, despise!"
Vali flinched, his gaze sharpening, yet he stole a glance at Sister Andrea, as if seeking her reaction.
He braced himself for the inevitable judgment, the fear, the revulsion that always seemed to follow the revelation of his heritage.
But Sister Andrea did not step back. Instead, she moved forward decisively, placing herself fully between Vali and the devil.
The faint divine aura around her seemed to intensify, pushing back the cold darkness.
"You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in this land," she recited, her voice gaining strength.
Her eyes, usually soft and blue, now gleamed like shards of hardened sapphire.
"Even if it is Lucifer himself, as long as he is my guest, I will protect him."
The simple conviction in her words struck Vali.
He had never believed in unconditional kindness before, but every single day he had spent in this isolated, old orphanage was the very definition of it.
Berjequel's cruel smile vanished, replaced by a look of lethal frustration.
"Such self-righteous foolishness," he muttered, shaking his head.
The shadows beneath his feet began to bubble and writhe, coiling like countless sleeping vipers.
"Very well, then. I shall grant you death."
The moment the words left his mouth, the alley erupted into chaos as Berjequel dissolved into the shadows, his form melting into the blackness clinging to the stone walls.
The darkness surged outward like a tide, instantly swallowing the moonlight and plunging the narrow space into suffocating obscurity.
"Sister Andrea! Get back! Don't let him touch your shadow!" Vali shouted.
Sister Andrea responded with a nod and stepped back.
Vali's reaction was instinctive as a blinding, sapphire-blue light erupted from his chest.
Then, translucent, shimmering blue dragon wings of pure sacred energy erupted from his back.
"Divide!"
The Divine Dividing.
The Sacred Gear more commonly known as the Vanishing Dragon, the White DragonEmperor, roared to life.
In an instant, the burst of shadows rushing toward them was halved, but it was a fraction of a second too late. Berjequel had already materialized in the air, barely a meter behind Sister Andrea.
His hand, carved from darkness and tipped with sharp claws lunged toward her neck.
A strike meant to kill her instantly
But Vali was faster.
He lunged forward with inhuman speed, a sonic boom tearing through the air as his fist, charged with demonic energy, slammed into Berjequel's torso mid-materialization.
BOOM
"Kugh!" Berjequel yelped as he lost his footing.
But Vali didn't give him a moment to breathe, raising his hand again.
"Divide!"
Before Berjequel could retreat into his shadows, they were instantly halved once more, causing his dematerialization to fail.
Berjequel was hurled backward like a rag doll, his body smashing through the brittle stone wall of the chapel's outer structure.
BOOM
The sound was deafening, a sickening crunch of rock and bone.
The impact tore a massive breach in the orphanage's stone wall, sending debris raining down into the courtyard.
Sister Andrea moved before the dust had even settled.
She was a blur of light, springing forward into the wreckage.
Her platinum blade cut through the swirling smoke and shadow as its light pushing back the suffocating darkness Berjequel was attempting to generate.
She vaulted through the hole, landing lightly amidst the rubble, sword raised and ready.
"Haaaa!"
She lunged forward.
With a clean strike, a light-based slash cut through Berjequel's left hand before he could dematerialize into the shadows.
SHING
"Kugh!"
He stumbled back, but Sister Andrea didn't stop there. She thrust her sword, aiming straight for Berjequel's heart. He managed to dodge successfully, only to be struck by a flying kick from Vali that sent him crashing into another wall.
BOOM
Berjequel emerged from the pile of stone fragments, his face contorted into a mask of indifference that barely concealed the rage and pain within. Patches of seared, smoking flesh marred his hand, yet he laughed a gurgling, defiant sound.
"Kukuku… you are indeed as strong as he said you would be, young master," he spat, wiping blood from his lip.
Even though Berjequel was smiling, his mind was racing. The effect of Vali's Divine Dividing was clear in how much slower his shadow manifested.
"But still… too green, unripe, not yet," Berjequel said with a slight grin.
"Let me tell you something about being a devil, from one hybrid to another."
And then he snapped his fingers as his eyes glowing like embers.
Vali and Sister Andrea felt the air around him vibrating differently.
As a former exorcist, Sister Andrea knew very well what this usually meant. A devil who appeared human was often masking their true form and nature, a stark contrast to the stray devils she had encountered during her active duty.
Bones cracked, and Berjequel's face twisted into something ugly, almost bat-like, with elongated ears and a pointed nose.
His skin creased and darkened, transforming into a grotesque grey abomination. And suddenly, eight pairs of bat-like wings erupted from his back, spreading into the moonlight and casting an eclipse of darkness.
"Behold, my vampire form..."
The shadows obeyed.
The darkness beneath Sister Andrea's feet suddenly solidified, rising to coil around her ankles and shins like thick iron chains, locking her in place. She stumbled, momentary surprise flashing across her face, disrupting her attack rhythm.
Berjequel seized the opening.
His own shadow stretched unnaturally, slithering across the rubble and rising behind her, forming a solid, grotesque silhouette poised to strike from her blind spot.
Vali moved instantly, his power surging as he attempted to break her free.
"Divide!"
The blue energy pulsed, stripping the shadow's power from the air and reducing both its mass and its hold on Sister Andrea's body.
He drove himself toward the shadowy darkness, slamming his fist into the ground where the shadow was attempting to rise.
The shockwave of sacred energy tore through the solidified darkness, forcing Berjequel to withdraw his attack before it could be destroyed.
Windows instantly shattered under the sheer force of the shockwaves.
The metallic clang of the chapel bell rang wildly as debris battered it repeatedly, each strike echoing through the darkness. Its tolling sounded like a terrifying anthem.
Meanwhile, inside the kids' room.
Jay was jolted awake by the immense cracking of the chapel wall. The ground trembled beneath him.
"What is going on?!" he muttered, scrambling upright.
Elena burst into the hallway, her hair wild and her eyes wide with fear.
"Jay! Wake up! It sounds like the roof is falling off!"
"An earthquake?"
The other children, startled, began to emerge from their rooms, huddling together in the narrow hallway.
Dread pierced Jay's mind.
He knew instinctively that this was not an earthquake. He followed Elena as she threw open the front door and sprinted onto the lawn.
When they saw what was happening outside, they froze in place, eyes wide like statues, breath catching in their throats.
The scene before their eyes looked like something torn straight from a biblical fantasy, illuminated by clashing energies of blue, gold, and darkness.
Vali hovered midair, his translucent blue wings radiating intensely as he tried to intercept Berjequel, who glided like a bat and vanished repeatedly into his own shadows.
Below, Sister Andrea, weapon held high, fought with unshakable focus, deflecting and carving through the tendrils of Berjequel's shadow.
'What is happening...' Jay tought.
He turned to the others. Mihea and Andrei tightened their grip on Elena's long skirt. Iacob and Ilea clung to each other in fear. Filip stood frozen, statue-still.
And Elena, no matter how hard she tried to hold herself together... the trembling in her body was impossible to hide.
Vampire-like familiars, skeletal and fast, with glowing crimson eyes began peeling themselves out of the shadows that engulfed the orphanage yard.
They hissed like escaping steam, their heads snapping from side to side as they surveyed the battlefield.
Then their gazes locked onto the children huddled in the broken alleyway.
Jay's heart seized.
'Oh no… they're coming!' He thought, stepping forward instinctively, ready to throw himself in front of the kids.
Then Elena screamed, her voice trembling with terror.
"Sister Andrea! Vali!"
Her cry was swallowed by the roar and chaos of the battle.
Vali and Sister Andrea reacted instantly, their heads snapping toward the broken alleyway. Sister Andrea's eyes widened in horror.
Oh no… not them.
Berjequel smiled, a slow, sickening curl of his lips as a diabolical thought crossed his mind.
"Oh?" he purred, his voice carrying clearly through the chaos. "It seems we have visitors here, kukuku"
"No! Don't you dare!"
But Berjequel didn't concern himself with her words.
The shadows surged as the summoned vampire familiars veered sharply, abandoning Vali and Sister Andrea and heading straight for the children huddled in the broken alleyway.
"NO!"
Sister Andrea screamed a warning, abandoning her attack pattern. She sprinted backward across the threshold, positioning herself to shield the children.
"Run! Get back inside! Go! Now!" she shouted, pushing the terrified children farther back, her focus completely divided between defense and protection.
"Bastard!"
Vali also roared.
"Divide!"
He dove downward in a flash of blue, intercepting the familiars midair. The Divine Dividing tore through the vampire creatures, shredding their shadowy forms, but there were too many.
They flowed around his strikes, swarming his defenses and bearing down on the vulnerable children.
Berjequel pressed his advantage with merciless efficiency.
He abandoned all focus on Vali and Sister Andrea.
Sister Andrea's eyes darted between the advancing shadow creatures and the children she was trying to shove to safety. She was distracted, her rhythm faltering, her focus on the battle slipping.
It was a fatal lapse.
And for a creature like Berjequel, that was more than enough.
The air around Sister Andrea turned violently cold.
Her own shadow, warped by the intense energy of the battle, twisted unnaturally.
Suddenly, Berjequel emerged from the shadow at her feet. He was on her back in an instant, his movement so fast it defied the eye.
His weapon, a long, curved claw fused to his obsidian-black hand, gleamed menacingly.
And then-
SPLURTTT
The sound was wet and sickening.
The platinum sword slowly slipped from Sister Andrea's grasp, striking the ground with a soft, metallic thud as its light vanished instantly.
CLANK
Silence fell.
Everyone froze, their eyes widening in shock.
A dark, blossoming stain of blood spread rapidly across the back of her thin nightgown. Berjequel's claw pierced her heart as effortlessly as cutting through butter.
Her eyes drifted, staring sightlessly over the heads of the children. Her mouth opened, silent words of disbelief and farewell trapped inside. Vali froze mid-flight, his roar dying in his throat.
The night held its breath.
"Sister… Andrea?" Jay's voice broke the silence, a thin, trembling gasp of absolute terror that finally pierced the stillness.
"I'm… sorry."
She collapsed forward, her body giving way. The last vestiges of her divine light flickered and died as the darkness rushing up to claim her.
That night, she failed.