She found him in Eden, staring silently into the stream water. "Kilian is angry. I understand his feelings right now... After all, the one he admired the most perished and he felt every second of the pain... don't take what he says too personally," she said as she approached him.

"... But he's right." Lucifer turned to face her. "I've been avoiding taking responsibility and doing what's expected of me so far, aside from studying and training.... But now... Now we have a situation where I can't run away from it anymore... I have to do what is expected of me, I have to step up now... but I'm still afraid of it.",
"Why?",
"Because something in my mind tells me that something is wrong..." He raised his eyes to the sky. "...But we no longer have a choice. We have no room to think for ourselves in the face of such peril. Lady Crypto has called us to battle... so we must follow. I came here one more time... before my hands are sullied with blood.",
"So... you've made up your mind?" She asked him. He nodded. "I will not let my lady down.... She needs us now.",
"I mean... I understand what you're trying to do, but.... Lucifer, what do YOU want?",
"Me...?" He looked at her, his gaze void of any emotion. Empty as a mirror in front of which no one stood.

"I know you have to and want to be loyal to Lady Crypto, but don't neglect to think for yourself and not just do what you're told. Wear your heart in the right place and do what you think is right. Many have confidence in your judgment."
Lucifer gritted his teeth. "I don't know what to do or think, Tiriara. Look at this..." He opened his hand and a space sphere appeared above his palm. He used his magic to project onto it a streak of time. As she looked at its surface, she saw nothing but white fog that obscured eveything like a veil. "...What is that?"

"My future." Lucifer made the sphere disappear again. "It's blurry. I can't see it clearly anymore, as if the mist of uncertainty has come to obscure it... This is never a good sign. I am afraid of this uncertainty, Tiriara. I have a feeling that my decisions will lead me down a wrong path. That's why I can't overthink everything. That's why... I must follow Crypto's call, regardless of my own reservations... Maybe that can clear the fog that surrounds my fate." Tiriara thought about what he had said for a moment before taking his hand. "What are you dreaming of, Lucifer?",
"...dreaming? Me?",
"Yes. What are your dreams and aspirations like?"

"I don't know that either..." He shook his head and a shadow fell over his face. "I feel lost. I know I have to push on and keep moving forward... but I can't shake off this feeling that I have failed. Failed to protect what was most dear to Lady Crypto. Her happiness. I always wanted to make sure that she would never again have to live through such horror as she did during the war... and have to mourn someone she loved. But I remained idle. Too absorbed in my insecurities and my self-doubts. They have caused clouds and fog to settle over my gaze towards the future... If I had not been so foolish, I could have foreseen and prevented the attack on Saint Daydara. But here I am, useless. Unable to view upon where the thread of time leads because I'm a failure... But I have to make it up to her somehow. Even if I have to kill and drench my hands in the blood of demons, I would do it... if that is how I can live up to my purpose. If I start doubting everything again, what's the point?"

"A heart without dreams is like a flower without petals." Lucifer felt Tiriara's fingers move over his palm. He felt her gentle touch, sending a light wave of warmth into his hand. "It can never truly unfold its beauty and radiate out into the world. Your dreams are the illustrations of a book your soul is writing about you. Is there really no vision you have?",
"I told you... I can't see...",
"I am not talking about what your eyes see." She looked up at him. "I am talking about what your heart sees. Listen to what moves it. What keeps it beating.",
"..." His breath stuttered and his hand shook. "...What keeps my heart beating", he repeated to himself quietly. He paused for a moment, before putting his other hand onto his chest. "... To find the truth of why all this happened. I want to know what is the root of it all... to break this vicious cycle of retaliation."

"...then see your vision through to the end", his sister whispered.
"..." Her words finally reached through to him and reawakened something in him he had believed lost. Courage. Determination. "I will. Thank you, Tiriara... I know that my constant quarreling with fate won't get me anywhere... and that I must break the chains of self-doubt to be able to finally spread my wings. As long as you are by my side, I know that I can do that."
She chuckled. "You're giving me way too much credit. But now, it's your turn to make a promise to me.",
"I'm all ears."

"Never lose sight of your vision again. Follow your heart wherever it leads you. For I know your heart knows the way very well, and its shine will forever be strong enough to pierce through any darkness. It is righteous one, so trust it.",
"..." His hand closed around hers as he sealed his promise to her. "I promise.",
"That's good. Now... let's face this perilous shadow together.",
"Yes. Don't lose sight of me." He opened a portal to Aphadrim, the world... of humans. The world that they had sworn to protect. The garden was left behind them. The wind stroked a bed of Xeranthemums that bathed in the light of the fading sun. Slowly, they began to lose their petals. A picture of eternity slowly withering away...

Lilith had hidden in the shadows of that very world, holding what she had stolen from Saint Daydara in a bubble above her hand. She smirked darkly. "So, this is the fruit of life... The pure legacy of the Seraphim." She watched as the bubble was slowly consumed by the corruptive power of her magic. "May the life rising from it be incarnations of my darkness." She laughed as she watched the birth of demons from Daydara's sacredness, staining his legacy with the dark ink of shadow. The first one to awake was the one she would call Baal. The Ichiko, the first-born of her own legacy, the one original Lilithian. He embodied her primordial will, her desire to destroy and curse the world. To destroy Ainu, the realm of the angels who denied her knowledge and redemption, and to destroy Aphadrim; to lay ashes to the selfish humans that had mistreated her.

But not all of them shared her thirst for revenge and destruction, for some of the demons were more gentle in nature than their siblings.... or less stupid. When Lilith stood before the demons she had created, she raised her arms. "The world has chosen to forsake us. Now we, the forsaken, will make our presence known to the world! These blatant fools from the outter realm believe they are omnipotent and omniscient, but they're living in a bubble of ignorance and self-serving justice. We shall pop this bubble and show them the shattered and brutal reality that is laying by their feet! Their oppression must end here. And once their colorful but false reality has been smashed to pieces, we shall make them suffer, just like they made ME suffer by turning deaf to my pleads. Rise to rebellion!!",
"Rise to rebellion!" her children shouted out in unison. Yet, not all of them were convinced by her vision of liberation. From the sidelines, a demon with elegant and long, black hair tied to a high ponytail looked at the crowd of battle-ready beasts whose mind Lilith had corrupted. His look was serious, almost apathetic. 'All she is doing right now is condemning us to die. The goddess will descend upon us now that she has invoked her wrath. I will not oblige with this fatal madness that is her twisted sense of justice...' With a scoff, he turned away, intending to leave them behind.

"Where are you going, my dear Azra?" Lilith asked. He looked over his shoulder. "I'm staying out of this. I'm not going to fight this pointless battle for you.",
"And here I thought we were in agreement. Disappointing..." She moved closer and stared him straight in the face. She was shorter than him by a longshot, as he was really tall. But that made her no less intimidating with her wrathful glowing eyes. "You will not fight for me? For me, who gave you life?",
"I have nothing to say to you, mother", he snarled at her. "All you are doing right now is condemning us. You can never win this fight. No matter how many demons you summon, you will lose everything and gain nothing.",
"..." She gave him a wicked smile. "It seems to me that you don't quite understand the situation, my child. But I don't hold that against you." She hovered in the air to be at eye level with him and tapped against his forehead. "... soon, you will understand."

Azra's eyes widened and his pupils contricted as Lilith's venom crawled into his brain and tried to take root there like an evil virus. "Nrgh...!!!" He held his head and fell to his knees, shaking like electricity was wiring through his nerves. Her suffering flickered before his inner eye and her feelings of hatred, anger, disappointment and loneliness drilled into his heart. Her unheard cries for help, her confrontation with Saint Daydara.... all a shadow that spread like poisonous fog in his head. His resolve was melted away bit by bit like ice in the sunlight, leaving nothing but emptiness. Emptiness just waiting to suck in all the contempt for the world that his mother was harboring like a black hole.

Lilith turned to face the others. "Destroy the church of Saint Daydara. He is no longer here... So we don't need it anymore." The majority of the demons obeyed her and disappeared, led by Baal. A smaller part remained behind. "What are you doing with him?" a demoness with dark skin and short, green hair asked. Lilith laughed. "I'm just reminding him of what we're fighting for here, Ranya! He will come around eventually." Then, she vanished. Ranya-an knelt down next to Azra. "Azra...! Say something!"

"Nrgh... She... she's going to... send us into ruin..." he growled as he battled her corruption. His will was strong enough to resist what many had fallen victim to. "She killed one of the saints. Do you think the goddess will just let that stand? I doubt it. Soon enough, all hell will break lose..." He got up on shaky legs, holding his forehead still. "And when that happens, I will not be the one to descend into it. She thought showing me her memories would convince me.... but it rather showed me how wrong what she is doing is... How messed up...",
"...What should we do now? Fighting our way out is useless",
"We have to hide," he said. "We won't survive for long on the open streets...",
"Hide where?"

"..." Azra looked around and then put a hand on the ground to check the structure of the earth. "There is an extensive underground network beneath out feet. We should try that. It may not be the most dignified place, but it is good enough to hide us from their eyes and senses. There are multiple stormdrains serving as entrances. You go ahead, I will join you later.",
"What will you do?",
"... I will look for supplies so we can survive down there before the hunt begins.",
"...be careful out there." His sister nodded at the other few demons that had refused to follow Lilith's violent onslaught. "Let's get going, quick!"

Temena, another one of his sisters, looked at Azra in sheer worry. "Are you sure you're going to be okay? They will come like a hammer from heaven...",
"Don't worry about me, worry about yourselves. We really can't afford to cling to each other right now." Azra shook his head. "If I don't come back, then you know I didn't make it. Then you have to take care of yourselves. It's as simple as that. Run." She nodded. "Okay... Come back safely.",
"I'll try."

They left. Azra stayed behind, looking up at the sky. "...Is there gonna be a tomorrow...?" After a few moments of his question fading into the depths of night without an answer, he set out. Nevertheless, a thought crept into his mind. 'I want to see for myself the pain she has caused. I will pray for him who has perished tonight. My father. I want to see his face so my will cannot be shaken again by HER. Every time her will tries to cripple me, I will see his face in front of me and burn into my memory what she has done. Never again shall she exert power over me.'

Orion had been paralyzed by Daydara's death. As if his heart had been torn out of his chest and died with him. He felt numb, cold. His vision was blurred with tears and his body refused to move. He remained sitting next to Daydara's corpse, cowering in his blood. Kilian landed next to him. "Move, Orion," he demanded. "Sitting here and mourning will get us no closer to their destruction.",
"..." The saint of starlight did not respond.
"Orion... Come on, we must bury him.... Get up. Crypto's orders shall be executed tomorrow, after we've bidden Daydara a final farewell.",
"..."

Kilian sighed in frustration, his heart clenching painfully. Seeing Daydara like this broke him into a thousand pieces, but he had to stay strong. Orion, on the other hand, was broken. It was as if the world had died around him. Soaked in darkness. The light of the stars above him flickered, as if it itself was struggling to hold its own against the shadows of the night.

Kilian heard footsteps approaching and he slowly turned around. "...Well, well, well. To think a rat would dare to come out into the daylight like that," he growled when he saw Azra and immediately recognized him as a demon. The red eyes, and the ominous aura... "Didn't think you monsters were so stupid." The demon looked at him wordlessly, and then stared past him, at Daydara. And at Orion, who crouched beside him, completely unresponsive and far gone as he lamented his fellow saint's death in the rain that had started to fall. Azra just... stood there. Motionlessly. Kilian drew his sword and pointed it at him. "...leave, demon. No... Offspring of HER... before I kill you right where you stand.",
"..." Azra now looked at Kilian again. "... I did not choose to be born like that. I am... deeply sorry for what you've lost."

"Your words mean nothing, worthless insect. You deserve a fate worse than death. And someday... I will deliver it to you. Be lucky that Lady Crypto's order is halted until tomorrow... until his funeral. But once that happened... there will be nothing holding us back from slaughtering you and your kind. You will crawl through the mud and beg for mercy just like your cursed mother will, yet I will not grant you a swift death... I want to hear you scream and cry for what you've done... I won't stop until your bloodline has been erased from this earth!",
"... I am not seeking to fight with you.",
"I do not care. I will seek your destruction, no matter the cost.",
"..." Azra closed his eyes. "Do what you deem necessary... I will not stop you.",
"You would never be able to even if you tried." His voice quivered with anger and was about to crack. The demon did not respond to that. Instead, he opened his eyes again and asked: "... who are you?",
"Kilian, saint of golden flames... My revenge will be your curse for eternity!" He raised his hand and golden flames shot forward. Azra created a stone shield in front of himself, which held them back. Kilian appeared behind him and grabbed his left arm. Golden flames burned into his skin and paralyzed his nerves. His gaze was full of venom. Azra growled and kicked the angel in the stomach, forcing him to back away. He fled and Kilian cussed. "Yeah, go ahead and run... That won't do you any good either...!"

Lucifer and Tiriara reached them. "What's wrong, Kilian?" Tiriara asked. He turned to face them. "One of the beasts was just here.... But Lady Crypto has scheduled the hunt for after Daydara's funeral. We still have to wait... Even though every hair on my head is bristling against it. I feel like they're up to no good...",
"..." Lucifer closed his eyes, gazing into the future for a brief moment. "...They will destroy Daydara's church. This very night.",
"Will they now? Over my dead body." Kilian looked at the young angel. "Take Daydara to the palace. I'll go and stop them bastards from continuing to trample on Daydara's memory like this!" With that, he disappeared. Lucifer glanced at Orion, who hadn't moved an inch. Wordlessly, he bent down and lifted Daydara up in his arms. He took him to the divine palace so that Crypto and everyone else could say goodbye. Orion remained behind... staring holes into the street. Then, after a sheer eternity of immobility, he finally managed to stand up and followed Kilian. It was the first time in his life... he chose violence over kindness.

Azra leaned against the wall of a house and held his arm. "Ngh... Shit... I can't move my arm anymore..." He rolled back his sleeve and saw the thin, golden lines that had spread over his skin. "...That angel cursed me... But I can't just sit here now. I have to... find food..." Even though his arm was burning and throbbing like crazy, he gritted his teeth and turned to his mission. He couldn't let the others down now. They had only a short time left before the blow of revenge would come. And it would come. He had no doubt about that. So he had better hurry...