Levi dropped to his knees.
His legs gave way beneath him, not from the poison anymore—but from something far worse.
His hands trembled violently, palms sinking into the blood-warmed sand. The weight on his shoulders wasn't just the fall it was a crippling and suffocating despair.
Suddenly he heard a thud. It was soft, but heavy. The sound of something landing nearby. Then it rolled. A sickening, wet sound as it tumbled across the sand until it stopped at his knees
Levi blinked. His gaze began to shift downward slowly like time it's was flowing in slow motion. And there it was, her head.
The girl's lifeless, glassy eyes stared up at him, mouth slightly parted as if trying to say something that never came. A thin trail of blood marked the path her head taken to reach him.
His breath froze. He tried, but he couldn't look away. It was like his guilt had formed into hands which held his head in place.
At this point, his heart wasn't beating, it was hammering. A brutal rhythm, like a war drum beneath his ribs. His pupils dilated, locking on the expression frozen on her face.
Then his body started to shake. A full-body tremble that began in his fingers and spread like wildfire.
This feeling, It crept into his chest, coiling tight around his lungs, making it impossible to breathe.
He had only felt it once before. Long ago. On the very first day of the apocalypse—when the world shattered and monsters tore through the skies, when cities burned and hope died screaming.
That helplessness. That overwhelming realization that death wasn't just a possibility—it was a guarantee. That the end wasn't just near, it had arrived.
And now, that same fear had returned. It consumed him.
He couldn't scream. Couldn't cry. Couldn't move. He was drowning inside himself—his body no longer his own.
Then a screen popped up in front of him.
[Poison Resist: Successful]
[Poison: Dispelled]
[New Passive Skill Unlocked: Poison Resist]
The message flashed in front of his eyes, glowing faintly in the air. But Levi didn't notice. The system could've screamed at him and it wouldn't have mattered.
His limbs were now free, but he still couldn't move. He wasn't paralyzed by venom anymore. He was tied down by the shackles of fear.
"This is quite a mess you're in…" A family clear and calm voice sliced through the fog in his head.
Levi's eyes twitched. He turned his head slowly to the side, gasping again—but for a different reason.
There she was.
Standing just a few feet away, the moonlight catching in her long brown hair as it swayed gently with the breeze.
Her expression was half calm, half curious but her eyes were locked onto the demon like a predator eyeing another.
She looked unbothered and composed.
She even looked beautiful, in a terrifying kind of way.
"You see… one problem I have with young adults and their rebelliousness," Lyra began, her voice soft, almost conversational, as if they weren't standing in a field painted with blood. "They rebel... and then they go on to get themselves into trouble."
She stepped forward, leisurely, like she had all the time in the world. Her footsteps barely made a sound as they kissed the sand.
Her eyes dropped to Levi.
He was still on his knees, staring up at her like she was both an angel and a ghost. His lips quivered, but no sound came. His eyes brimmed with the weight of helplessness.
"You've lost the will to fight," she said, her voice turning flat but she didn't sound disappointed. She sounded more sympathetic.
A soft sigh escaped her lips as her gaze shifted.
She looked at the little girl's head still resting near Levi's knees. Then back to the demon, whose clawed hand still held the decapitated lifeless body.
She sighed again.
"And as for babies..." she continued, tone switching into cold indifference. "They're just so damn annoying most times."
Levi's head turned instinctively toward the demon—almost like he needed to remind himself that the true monster here wasn't her.
But what he saw made his surprised The demon's expression had changed.
Gone was the smugness, the theatrical pride in its cruelty. Now, its brows were drawn low, the ridges on its face trembling. Its sharp teeth clenched tight, and its nostrils flared.
Its eyes darted between Lyra and the girl's corpse—confused, disturbed... and angry.
However it wasn't just anger. There was something else like an unease. Like it had just recognized something dangerous.
It took a sudden leap backward, claws dragging shallow trenches in the sand. Its limbs tensed. Its tail lashed behind it.
The stance it took wasn't just defensive—it was preparing to attack, yes, but there was caution in every movement.
It moved like a predator currently feeling threatened.
"To be honest..." Lyra spoke again, now addressing the demon directly, "I can't let you go. Not after this atrocity you've committed."
She took another step forward. The wind shifted, brushing her hair past her cheek as her eyes narrowed, glowing faintly now.
"So come at me like your existence depends on it."
To anyone listening, Lyra's words definitely sounded like a threat—a deadly one. But there was something unsettling about the way she said it.
It lacked emotion.
No fury. No sadness. No thirst vengeance. Just a flat, bored acknowledgment that what had happened was wrong and needed to be dealt with.
She spoke like someone who had seen it all before. Like someone who had long run out of tears.
The demon's lips curled into a sneer.
It spread its clawed hands apart, then slammed them together with a clap that cracked the air.
Sparks of sickly green and red energy erupted where its palms met, spinning and churning like a vortex.
It took a step back and pushed its arms forward, compressing the chaotic mass into a massive, glowing orb.
The ball was pulsing violently. Without warning, the demon roared and released it.
A colossal beam of spiraling energy tore through the air, shredding the very atmosphere as it hurtled toward Lyra.
The ground beneath it blackened and melted from the sheer heat, leaving behind a path of molten dirt and ash.
Levi's eyes went wide, the sound was deafening and he was confident he didn't see Lyra move out of the way.
She stood perfectly still, hair fluttering behind her in the gust of heat and force, as the beam slammed into her and swallowed her whole in a blinding explosion.
Levi stumbled backward, nearly falling, arms rising to shield his face from the wave of dust and burning light. He stared into the glow, his eyes stinging
Still, he said nothing. His tongue refused to move. His voice was now buried beneath a mountain of disbelief.
The demon tilted its head back and began to laugh—a twisted, childlike giggle that echoed off the crumbling walls. It began to sway from side to side like a toddler proud of its drawing, even as wisps of smoke curled from its fingertips.
Suddenly, it froze. Its laughter cut off mid-chuckle, like a toy that had been suddenly switched off.
"You really are freshly awakened…" Lyra spoke, her voice smooth and unbothered.
The smoke began to clear.
As the dust finally settled, the demon's eyes locked onto her—standing there, untouched.
Not a single scratch marred her skin. Not a strand of hair out of place. Even her clothes, looked like they had just been ironed.
It took a shaky step back.
"Did you just awaken minutes ago?" Lyra asked. "Tch. Figures."
She sighed, glancing once at the remains of the headless child in the demon's claw… then back at Levi, who hadn't moved an inch.
"Right now…" she said softly, raising her hand, "I'm going to teach two kids a few lessons."
She raised her index finger.
"One…"
She didn't shout or read a chant or say anything of sorts. She simply flicked her finger through the air, almost lazily.
But the response it triggered from the world wasn't as lazy as the gesture.
Reality itself shivered as the space around the demon twisted, as though some invisible force had been drawn into a pinpoint behind its chest and tugged.
There was no flash or explosion.
The demon's body crumpled inward, like paper folding on itself, shrinking into a singularity of silence. It was unable to scream for pain but Levi could feel it. How much pain it went through within seconds.
The forest around it began to peel away, vanishing like charred parchment catching fire from the edges, curling, dissolving, and blowing into the wind like dust.
Where the demon once stood, there was only empty air.
Lyra lowered her hand and turned slowly, her eyes locking onto Levi.
He was still on the ground, staring.
She gave him a look—not angry, but not filled with sympathy.
"Two…" she said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "When adults are talking, don't interrupt them."