The world seemed to have descended into madness, the lines between vampire, angel, and human blurred beyond recognition. A seemingly holy figure, landed in front of Shino and Lilith—a pale, white-haired girl whose wings shimmered with light. Her soft, almost childlike voice cut through the night's stillness.
"Excuse me," she said with an ethereal smile, resting a hand on Shino's shoulder, "do you know where the True Ancestor is?"
Shino struggling to comprehend what was happening. But before he could speak, Lilith interrupted, her voice hoarse but resolute. "I know where the True Ancestor is."
The angel—Moon, as Shino later learned—turned her gaze toward Lilith. There was an unsettling stillness in her white eyes, as though they saw beyond mere flesh and blood.
"Then," Moon asked, her tone unnervingly polite, "will you guide me?"
Lilith's gaze flickered, her body tense. "Let him carry me," she nodded at Shino, "and I'll take you to the True Ancestor."
Moon's face remained passive, but something shifted in her expression. In an instant, she appeared in front of Lilith, inches from her face. Her wings flared behind her, casting a stark shadow over them both. "Your eyes betray you," Moon whispered, her voice ice-cold. "You seem… frightened. Do you really know where the True Ancestor is?"
Lilith's jaw clenched. With a snarl, she lashed out, her sharp claws swiping toward Moon. But before she could land a blow, the angel's wings sliced through the air, severing Lilith's arm in one clean motion.
Blood sprayed into the night as Lilith let out a sharp cry of pain. Without hesitation, her bat-like wings erupted from her back as she shot skyward, desperate to escape. But Moon was faster—inhumanly fast. Her hand latched onto Lilith's leg, yanking her from the sky with terrifying force. Lilith hit the ground with a sickening crash, her body a broken heap.
"Ahhhh!" Lilith screamed as Moon's feathered wings descended like blades, piercing through her chest. The high-pitched wail that erupted from her sent waves of sound through the air, a harrowing cry only vampires could produce. It echoed through the night, reverberating through the city like the toll of a death knell.
Moon's expression remained serene, almost satisfied as she twisted the feathers deeper into Lilith's body, drawing out every last drop of agony.
Shino, frozen in place, felt a surge of revulsion. His hands shook. He turned to run—just run—but then his eyes caught Lilith's pitiful, writhing form. She was suffering, helpless. He stopped. 'She saved me. She's a vampire, but she saved me.'
He gritted his teeth. Then, with a burst of desperate courage, Shino shouted at the angel, "Is this what angels do? Do you take pleasure in torturing the living?"
Moon's wings stilled. Slowly, she turned to face him, her head tilted as if studying something strange and foreign. "Living?" she repeated, her voice soft. "You consider vampires… living beings?"
Shino swallowed hard, the weight of her gaze like a crushing force. "Yes," he said, his voice shaking but firm. "And what you're doing—it's not justice. It's cruelty."
Moon's expression remained unreadable as she approached him, her eyes filled with an eerie calm. "I am punishing evil," she said simply. "This is supreme justice."
Shino clenched his fists. "I don't know if you've heard this story before," he began, his voice gaining strength, "but once, there was a man who killed a criminal to punish evil. But the number of criminals didn't decrease—because in killing, he became a criminal himself."
Moon's lips curled into a cold smile. "An interesting parable," she said, "but let me ask you: if I kill one criminal, then another, then ten thousand, will the number not decrease?"
Shino paused. "Even if you kill ten thousand," he said, "can you be sure that every single one is guilty? What if some of them were innocent? What if you've killed someone who hasn't done anything wrong, or was framed? Then your justice… it would be nothing but hypocrisy."
Moon regarded him with a measured silence, her wings drawing closer around her like a shimmering halo. Shino's words seemed to reach something within her, even if just for a moment.
"Lilith saved me," Shino continued, gesturing to the bleeding vampire at his feet. "Yes, she's a vampire, but does that automatically make her evil? Can you condemn her just for what she is?"
Moon withdrew her wings from Lilith, turning her full attention to Shino. Her expression was thoughtful, though still tinged with the cold detachment of someone far removed from mortal concerns. "Idealism," she mused aloud. "It's intriguing. Perhaps you are right—seeing is not always believing."
She stepped closer to him, her pale eyes locked on his. "But consider this: a vampire, today, might not kill. But tomorrow? Can you guarantee that they will never give in to their nature? That they will never fall to darkness?"
Shino's voice grew stronger. "If you kill someone just because they might do evil, you should kill every human as well. After all, none of us are free from the potential to do harm."
"There's no such thing as an absolutely good person," Shino said, holding Moon's gaze. "People are complicated, flawed. It's the darkness that gives them depth, that makes them… human. If there's anything in this world that's perfectly good, it sure isn't humanity."
Moon rested a hand beneath her chin, contemplating his words. "You make an interesting case," she admitted. "I almost find myself agreeing with you."
Shino blinked, surprised.
"But," Moon continued, spreading her arms wide as the feathers on her wings glistened in the moonlight, "have you heard this saying?"
Shino hesitated. "What saying?"
Her smile returned, cold and serene. "My heart is as clear as a mirror—all my actions are righteous!"
Shino's heart pounded as he found himself completely surrounded by the massive white wings of the so-called angel. This wasn't the divine being he'd imagined, not the embodiment of justice she claimed to be. Her soft voice, now laced with cold calculation, felt more like a predator toying with prey.
"Young man," she said with a sweet yet chilling tone, "are you interested in becoming one with me?"
The words sent a surge of dread through him. Without waiting for a reply, Shino instinctively began to step back. But it was too late—the wings had already formed a cage around him, blotting out the moonlight. He squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the worst.
Then, out of nowhere—a sharp crack echoed through the night. Bang! A gunshot rang out.
The bullet shot toward the angel, but with a mere flick of her wing, she batted it aside like an annoying insect. Unfazed, she turned her head toward the source of the attack.
"I heard you were looking for me?"
The voice was confident, almost amused. Shino turned, and there she stood—True Ancestor. A white-haired, black-eyed woman, clad in dark attire, a sleek gun still aimed at Moon. Her presence commanded the night, her aura as cold and unyielding as the bullet she had just fired.
"True Ancestor?" Moon said, her voice tinged with recognition.
"You can call me whatever you want," the woman smirked, but her gaze was lethal, unwavering.
Moon didn't waste any more words. In an instant, she darted forward, her hand wrapping around the True Ancestor's neck with terrifying speed. But something shifted in that moment. The woman's body twisted, and in her place was now a red-eyed man, his white hair flowing like liquid in the night.
"So urgent?" he chuckled darkly, catching Moon's wrist in his iron grip. Before she could react, white wings unfurled around her, slashing toward him like scythes of light. But 008's body erupted with blood threads, shooting out from his skin, weaving through the air like barbed tendrils. They pierced her wings, anchoring them in place, preventing them from striking further.
Moon's eyes narrowed as her arm morphed into a sharp, gleaming wing. With a swift motion, she sliced clean through 008's body, separating his upper torso from his lower half.
Pfft!
Blood sprayed across the rooftop, and Shino winced at the sight. But 008 didn't flinch. Instead, the blood threads that filled the air wrapped around his severed parts, pulling them back together. In mere seconds, his body had stitched itself whole again.
A low, humorless laugh rumbled from 008's chest as he looked down at his abdomen, still feeling the lingering pain. "Neurotoxin," he mused, "a bit interesting."
He looked up at the angel, his grin widening. "Guess it's time to get serious."
Without warning, 008 surged forward, his speed blurring as he closed the gap between them. The angel flapped her wings, lifting herself and 008 into the sky, dragging the battle into the clouds. Thousands of her wings, each as sharp as a blade, descended upon 008 in a relentless storm. To anyone else, the barrage would have been a death sentence.
For 008, though, it was different. Each strike of those celestial wings brought searing, agonizing pain. Yet, the more he endured, the more exhilarated he seemed to become. His face twisted with a wild, almost sadistic excitement as he slashed back, his blood forming into weapons—spears, swords, whips—each one fluid and deadly. His attacks changed form constantly, as if he were manipulating living, sentient metal.
Meanwhile, Shino, still grounded, shook himself out of his daze. He knelt down, helping the injured Lilith to her feet. Her breathing was shallow, but her eyes were wide, locked on the sky.
"Hurry up, let's go!" Shino urged her, already feeling the weight of their predicament. "What are you still looking at?"
Lilith gritted her teeth, eyes still fixed on the fight above. "The True Ancestor… He's actually here. Himself."
Shino glanced up at the battle, feeling the immense power radiating from both fighters. He frowned. "That just means the opponent is someone at the same level as your boss."