---
"Hello, Samuel. I'm Angel Ramiel. We have a lot to discuss."
Samuel scanned the new angel warily. Unlike the previous two angels he'd encountered, Ramiel seemed to radiate a brighter hue. Her presence was imposing yet calm, like the sun looming just above the horizon.
Her wings caught his attention. She bore two pairs, though the second pair was much smaller, barely the size of a grown man's hand. Yet those smaller wings seemed to enhance her in some unexplainable way. Samuel felt an overwhelming sense of power emanating from her—terrifying and incomprehensible. It made the other angels pale in comparison.
Her smile never wavered, but her glowing eyes studied him intently. Finally, she spoke. "You're right. He does have origin energy," she said, her voice laced with intrigue. "But the part that makes this fascinating is that he's still human."
"How's that possible?" the female angel asked, confusion written across her face.
Ramiel clasped her hands behind her back and began pacing. "It's possible because the origin energy has always been inside him. Long ago, ancient demons gave humans who worshiped them wisps of impure origin energy in exchange for loyalty and worship. Over generations, this energy was passed down, gradually becoming purer until it manifested in him. His lineage can be likened to breeding stock, cultivated and waiting to be harvested."
She paused, letting the weight of her words settle.
"When the demoness attacked him, she attempted to extract that energy but failed. The origin energy had fused with his soul. To take it, she would have needed to devour his soul entirely. Her failure not only wasted centuries of her ancestors' effort but also awakened the latent origin energy within him, making him a being unlike any other."
"What does that mean for him?" the male angel asked.
Ramiel turned her piercing gaze toward him. "I don't fully know. He is the first of his kind. But I can help you understand a fragment. Humans are creatures of balance, existing between light and darkness but unable to transcend either. Samuel, however, can now step into either domain. If a greater demon had attacked instead of the young one, they would have seen his potential and dragged him to the Demon Realm without hesitation."
Samuel, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke up. "What do you mean by 'dragged to the Demon Realm?'"
Ramiel regarded him with a mixture of sympathy and caution. "The form of energy you absorb first will determine what you begin to evolve into. If I imbue you with my light energy, you will begin to evolve into an angel. But this is not a permanent state. If you come into contact with a stronger source of demonic energy, your evolution will reverse, and you'll transform into a demon."
Samuel's expression darkened as the implications sank in. "Does this mean demons will come after me now?"
"That would have been the case," Ramiel replied, "but not for long. You won't remain in balance forever. Once you adapt fully to one type of energy and begin generating your own, you will solidify your nature. For example, if you absorb enough light, you'll become an angel. Your ability to shift will disappear, and the opposing energy will become your opposite. That's why it's crucial to start your transformation now."
The female angel frowned. "Won't there be side effects? He's not like a normal being."
Ramiel shrugged lightly. "He's the first of his kind. We won't know until it happens. For now, start infusing him with harmless light energy. When you can no longer feel your energy within him, it means he has fully transformed it into his own."
The female angel's eyes widened. "That already happened once. When I tried to erase his memory, the energy I gave him transformed into something else."
"Good," Ramiel said with a nod. "That means he's already evolving."
She stepped closer to Samuel and gently placed her hands on his head. Her touch was soft, almost maternal, and within moments, Samuel's eyelids grew heavy, and he slipped into a deep sleep.
"It's faster if he's unconscious," Ramiel explained. "Start imbuing him with light energy—slowly and gently. I'll report this development to the council." Without waiting for a response, she vanished, leaving the other two angels to their task.
They exchanged uncertain glances before raising their hands, light energy pouring from their palms into Samuel's sleeping form.
---
The Demon Realm
In the depths of the Demon Realm, the air was thick with malice and despair. The demoness who had attacked Samuel, Lilithra, sat hunched in her darkened chamber. Her once-pristine skin was now pale and mottled, her body trembling as waves of sickness coursed through her.
"What's happening to me?" she whispered hoarsely, clutching her stomach.
Lilithra's condition had baffled the lesser demons who attended to her. Her power had waned significantly since her encounter with Samuel, and the energy she had extracted from him seemed to have turned against her.
The heavy doors to her chamber creaked open, and three towering figures entered. They were ancestral demons, their forms exuding an ancient and overwhelming power. Their leader, Malakar, stared down at Lilithra with disdain.
"You are a disgrace," he growled. "You were sent to harvest the origin energy, and instead, you return empty-handed and sickly."
Lilithra's head shot up, her eyes blazing with defiance despite her weakened state. "I tried! His energy... it was different. It fused with his soul. I couldn't take it all without destroying him completely."
Malakar's eyes narrowed. "And now you've made him aware of his power. You've awakened a threat to our kind."
Before Lilithra could respond, another ancestral demon, Morgath, stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Wait," he said, his voice thoughtful. "There's something more here."
He raised a clawed hand and placed it on Lilithra's abdomen. His expression shifted to one of shock.
"She's pregnant," Morgath announced.
The chamber fell silent.
"What?" Malakar barked, his voice filled with disbelief.
"The child she carries... it's unlike anything I've ever seen," Morgath continued. "It carries both light and darkness within it. A true hybrid."
Lilithra's eyes widened as the truth dawned on her. The encounter with Samuel—the origin energy she had failed to extract—had somehow altered her. The child growing within her was the result of their clash, a fusion of their opposing energies.
"This... this could change everything," Morgath said, his voice trembling with both awe and fear.
Malakar's expression darkened. "Or it could destroy everything. We must act quickly. This child could either be our greatest weapon or our ultimate downfall."
Lilithra clutched her stomach protectively, her instincts kicking in. "You will not harm my child," she hissed.
Malakar sneered. "That is not your decision to make."
As the ancestral demons deliberated, the Demon Realm itself seemed to tremble, as if sensing the significance of the life that had just been revealed.
---