Delilah screamed at the top of her lungs, when she saw Lucivar, pulling the Fire Primordial to the edge, intending to fall together. She was trying to buy time for Lucivar to help the others and escape but he instead made the heroic act.
Looking at Lucivar falling with a smile on his face, Delilah shed a tear, "It's my fault..."
She blamed herself for being too close to Lucivar.
It was a deep fall, there was a huge chance that Lucivar might not survive the fall.
On the other hand, the Fire Primordial could easily sustain the fall.
Even though there was doubt inside of her heart that he would survive the fall, Delilah shook her head, and looked over her shoulder—her eyes searching for the others, "No. If there was even a small chance Lucivar survived the fall, I need to help him"
Not losing hope yet, she swiftly went to the others, aiming to bring them back to their feet.
But before she did, she gazed to the other side with tears overflowing her eyes.
"Tobias, where are you...?" She whispered.
In the next second, however, her eyes widened, "No... Oh, no, no, no. Please don't do this"
Meanwhile, Lucivar plummeted from the steep drop alongside the Fire Primordial.
He could feel the heat radiating from the Fire Primordial was scorching his skin, as even the bridles already snapped—and burnt. Feeling that he might die from the heat, before the fall, Lucivar pushed it away from him.
Swoosh!
Pulled by gravity his fall accelerated, the wind was whistling hard into his eardrums.
Eventually—Lucivar crashed through multiple branches and leaves—their frail forms breaking and transforming into sharp wooden swords under his weight that scratched and stabbed his skin, wetting his clothes in crimson.
'Seriously, what am I doing...?' Lucivar pondered inside his head.
His body was becoming battered, and bruised as he went down.
Despite his vow to be more selfish, and think only for himself, his body acted on pure instinct and he found himself making this foolish, sacrificial act, 'Maybe because it was her. I couldn't stop myself from acting like this'
Crash!
Lucivar's body crashed against the earth, blood forced its way to squirt out of his mouth.
It had only been a month, but Lucivar had already seen Delilah as his mother.
She had become more of a mother to him than his own biological mother, who treated him as if he was not a person for years. Delilah had reignited his fragile hope that there were good— genuinely good people in the world.
Perhaps being good once again wouldn't hurt.
After all—doing good is not useless, karma will always pay for what it was due, eventually.
Or at least, that was what Delilah said.
'But I can't do that...' He pondered as he shifted his eyes to the side at the sound of a groan.
Unlike him, the Fire Primordial was completely fine from the fall.
It suffered only minor wounds at best.
Getting back to his feet once again, the Fire Primordial glanced over to Lucivar.
As opposed to ending Lucivar, it smirked and looked up above again, his intention was clear.
Seeing this—Lucivar's eyes bulged and glowed with fury, as it was clear the Fire Primordial was about to go back to the others. He didn't want that to happen and at that moment, his eyes widened at the sight of a dark trail of energy piercing out of his chest.
It seeped out like a worm and connected to the Fire Primordial.
He knew that this was his innate ability as an Angel, to sense killing intent.
However, this was the first time this dark trail appeared from within instead of from outside.
'Is it... Is it responding to my killing intent too?' Lucivar thought in surprise.
Despite his recovery, he was slapped back to reality again when the Fire Primordial began to blaze with fire once again. He tried to get up and stop it, but his body was not responding to him, he was paralyzed.
Lucivar wants to use his last bit of ether, but the wound makes him unable to tap his power.
No matter how badly he wanted to move, he couldn't.
'Come on, move!!' He screamed inside his mind, glaring at his unresponsive body.
Swoosh!
But then—amid Lucivar's internal struggle, trying his best to force his battered body to move, he abruptly stopped, and was stunned, when a radiant silhouette suddenly appeared, formed from fragments of light a distance away from him, right beside the Fire Primordial.
Its form was crafted entirely of pure light.
Additionally, its graceful curves suggested a feminine figure with elegant wings folded on her back, hinting at the likeness of an Angel. However, her true nature, was impossible to discern through the blinding luminescence.
Her only discernible features were the soft, glowing outline of her body and her faint halo.
Seeing this, Lucivar was confused, thinking that it must be an illusion.
Perhaps even worse, he might be dying right now and began hallucinating this silhouette.
"Do you want to draw upon your power...?"
Out of nowhere, a dulcet and soft voice penetrated Lucivar's ears.
Upon hearing this, Lucivar could only turn his head to look at the silhouette as his body could not be moved. In his mind, he was still wondering whether he heard it right—even then, there was no harm in believing it right now, "Yes, if you know how to do it, tell me!"
"I'll repay you with anything you want!" He added desperately.
"Dispell your negative emotion, focus on the positive," the voice replied. "Focus on the good"
As the voice said that, Lucivar saw a white trail of energy coming out of his chest.
It hovered before him and shot upwards, piercing the forest's canopies.
Seeing the two trails of energy, one was white while the other was dark, Lucivar recalled the incident of his bloodline awakening—he was also confronted with the same situation then. It was happening to him again.
"Don't focus on your desire to kill, focus on saving her," the voice continued.
Lucivar looked up at the white trail of energy, presumably connecting him with Delilah.
"Focus on good...?" Lucivar muttered, his heart swayed.
But then, flashes of his past emerged and devoured his mind like dark clouds.
Gritting his teeth, his eyes glowed brighter, as he glared at the silhouette of light—flickers of the color green could be seen in his eyes, "I have tried to be as good as possible in the past, and where did that get me? I'm not going back to that route again!"
"It's the darkness talking, do not let it control you..." the voice answered.
Unlike her tone before, she now bore concern and sadness.
Surprisingly, she began crying, crimson tears began to drizzle down her cheek.
"Control me? No, this is the decision I made," Lucivar replied, his body began to radiate with more and more energy as he turned to the Fire Primordial once again. Compared to before— he now could see a golden sphere forming within the Fire Primordial's body.
It was the same exact gold sphere that provided him with immense ether he got from Dorian.
Upon seeing this, Lucivar smiled, his eyes flashed with the desire to absorb it.
Slowly, he regained the strength to stand.
"Besides, it doesn't matter what my intentions are—it doesn't matter which desire I was fixed on," He whispered, his smile turning savage as he forced himself to stand with his murderous eyes fixed on the Fire Primordial, "If I rip that thing apart, Delilah would be saved, and I would also get stronger after I get my hands on that"
Seeing this sight, the silhouette cried even harder, and more tears overflowed her eyes.
"Don't do this... If you do this, there will be no turning back," She warned.
Lucivar was not disturbed, causing her to be desperate, "You're not destined to be like this!"
Gritting his teeth, Lucivar pushed himself to his feet despite his trembling legs.
He was blatantly ignoring the words from the silhouette of light.
But as he stood up, Delilah's voice echoed in his mind.
"Persevere... let your true self win"
He was only half-asleep, and her words were engraved into his mind deeply.
Recalling those words, Lucivar began to waver again, he gritted his teeth in contemplation.
"Fine, I'll listen to whoever you are this one time only," Lucivar eventually said, he decided to do as he was told, and tried to focus only on saving Delilah, not his desire to kill, hoping that the power within him would respond.
His ether reserve was exhausted, but he still needed to fight to buy time for the others.
Lucivar began to focus, calming himself while still fixing his gaze on the Fire Primordial.
But then, his eyes widened when a figure came from the side.
"Lucivar!" Delilah rushed towards him, and following her were the others plus Ravenna.
Upon seeing this, however, Lucivar's eyes bulged in anger as he couldn't believe that Delilah had come back, when he sacrificed himself to buy time, "No! Go back! Run!! Don't get close, don't waste the chance I gave you! Leave!!"
Realizing that Delilah and the others were not stopping, Lucivar gritted his teeth hard.
Glancing to the Fire Primordial, it was already posing to attack.
Just like earlier, its eyes were fixed on Delilah, especially seeing the others were healed.
"Protect Delilah! It's aiming for her!!" He shouted at the others.
Nodding their heads, the others sprinted towards the Fire Primordial, while Delilah, headed over to him with concern plastered on her face. Knowing that he needed to move now—he gazed intently at the white trail of energy.
'Focus on saving her, focus on saving Delilah!' He screamed inside his mind.
As he tries desperately to draw his power to save them, he feels warmth beginning to spread inside Supernatural Ego—and surprisingly, his depleted ether begins to be filled, again. As he was about to move, Delilah managed to reach him.
She grabbed his hands and held them tightly before beginning to inspect Lucivar for injuries.
"Don't worry, I'm here, and I would not le-"
Splash!
Lucivar listened intently to Delilah, staring into her sparkling blue eyes—anger brewing within him for her reckless return to help him when she was supposed to run away instead. But thenhis entire body stiffened when Delilah abruptly stopped mid-sentence, followed by hot and red liquid spraying onto his face.
For a moment, Lucivar felt his blood run cold as he saw the vibrance in Delilah's eyes waver.
His eyes gradually widened when she coughed, blood flowing from the corner of her lips.
At the sight of this, his expression paled.
In a heart-wrenching moment, he slowly looked downward, fixing on a burning hand brutally protruding, from Delilah's chest. His heart sank—as he turned to see the Fire Primordial was standing directly behind her, its flaming arm having pierced through her.
Seeing this, the silhouette of light wanted to help but a deep green energy stopped her.
"Release me, you Devil!" She shouted, struggling to break free to no avail.
Eventually, her entire form was devoured by the forceful green energy and she vanished.
Her disappearance made the entire place dim in Lucivar's vision.
Mirel, Bakar, and Ravenna clung desperately to the Fire Primordial's burning arm.
Despite the scorching pain they were suffering, they were holding onto its arm with their all.
All of them tried to stop the attack, but their efforts ultimately failed.
None of them was able to stop the Fire Primordial's advancement, leading to this situation.
"D- Delilah...?"