The stone coffin let out a low hum, pulsing with dormant energy. Serian stepped forward, his breath trembling. Kira stood beside him, eyes wary, hand resting on her blade—just in case.
> "Are you ready?" she asked.
> "No," Serian replied. "But I don't think I ever was."
He placed his hand on the lid.
The sigil flared.
And the world changed.
---
Azel Awakened
The chamber was swallowed in light—
And when it faded, Serian was standing in a place beyond reality.
A gray void.
A floor of shifting glass.
Reflections of himself danced across the surface: the Hero, the Demon God, the Third Clone… all fractured parts.
And in the center—
A throne.
Empty.
Until he appeared.
Not a god.
Not a monster.
But him.
The first self.
Azel.
Dressed in worn armor, one eye burned gold, the other violet.
He looked at Serian with a smile full of sorrow.
> "Finally… we meet."
---
A Conversation With the Soul
Serian tried to speak, but Azel raised a hand.
> "I've been watching you. Every choice. Every pain. Every scream."
He stepped down from the throne, walking slowly toward Serian.
> "You were never meant to be a weapon. I was."
Serian flinched.
> "Then why was I created?"
Azel's smile faded.
> "Because they couldn't destroy me. So they shattered me. Into you… into the Demon Lord… and now into her."
The glass cracked under Serian's feet.
> "If we merge… what happens?"
> "You will remember everything," Azel said. "And you will become complete. But once you do…"
He paused.
> "You may not like who you truly are."
---
In the Real World
Kira knelt beside Serian's body, which floated inches above the ground.
He hadn't spoken in minutes.
But the air around him warped. The ground cracked.
And slowly—
His hair began to change.
A single streak of white split through the black.
> "You're changing again…" Kira whispered.
---
The Demon Lord's March
He rode alone.
No army. No cloak.
Just the fury of a soul that had seen too much.
The Demon Lord walked through a field of lightning, uncaring as it scorched the earth around him.
> "Who am I… really?"
His hand tightened on his blade.
> "And why does the name Azel make my heart feel… whole?"
---
The Third's Decision
The Third stood before the command relay—the device that linked her to the divine order that birthed her.
She lifted her blade.
One stroke could cut her off from them.
Give her freedom.
But it would make her the enemy.
The blade shook.
And she whispered:
> "I… want to choose."
The sword fell.
Sparks burst.
And the Third Clone vanished into the shadows—free for the first time.
---