Anna’s actions drove the demons absolutely wild. They weren’t the only ones, as Malachi cheered the loudest for his beautiful and deadly wife.

Even covered in demon blood, she was hot as hell. After all this time, he still couldn’t believe he had actually married such a knockout. If he stopped to think about it for too long, there was a large chance he’d forget all about the fight just to chase her.

As Anna flew over the dead body of her enemy, the tattoos along her skin began to glow.

Mal was mesmerized as the fallen demon lord’s blood began to soak into her skin, before disappearing without a trace.

Anna, on the other hand, wasn’t all that interested in what was happening. She was mostly mortified.

"FUCK! Gross, gross, gross! BABE! That demon guy’s blood went inside of me! I feel like I’m going to puke- oh wait, I actually feel kinda good..."

Anna was busy looking down at her hands when Barbas, the black lion, shook the stadium with the sound of his fury.

"TRICKERY! You make a mockery of this contest, you decrepit wench!"

The lion lunged at Anna before she was ready.

An equally large and ferocious Malachi barreled into the lion before he could even catch so much as a whiff of his wife.

As Barbas tumbled to the ground, his body began to change into something more streamlined and humanoid.

He lunged up from the ground, a half-man, half-beast hybrid as tall as a building.

As he moved for Anna, Malachi finally acted.

His fur fell out all at once, and his body lengthened. Dark scales raced to cover his diminishing form, as his head ballooned to form a rather ominous-looking hood.

As quick as a flash of lightning, Malachi’s serpent form wrapped around Barbas and held him in an iron grip.

Opening his mouth so wide that he nearly unhinged his jaw, he revealed his monstrously long fangs to the entire stadium.

Barbas’ eyes widened. Malachi was so much faster than he had anticipated. He didn’t have time to react and prepare a counter.

"I WON’T LET YOU...Huh..?"

The entire stadium made the same confused expression.

Malachi was gone. Not just him, but Anna had disappeared as well.

The lesser demons thought this might have been some sort of sneak attack plan that they had worked on. However, the older, wiser demons knew that didn’t make a lick of sense.

Malachi was about to deal a good blow to Barbas. Though it might not have killed him outright, being exposed to a potent enough venom was enough to steer the course of any fight.

So then why were they suddenly nowhere to be found...?

In the viewing box, Lucifer took off his sunglasses that were curiously similar to Mal’s.

"...Huh. Imagine that."

-

Two gasps came from the bathroom at the same time. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

In the shower, Malachi was being supported by Luna as she bathed him. But in the bathtub, Anna sat up abruptly, inadvertently splashing Shiro, who was in the bath with her, and Celeste, who was washing them both.

"W-What happened?! Why are we back already??" Malachi’s fangs were still enlarged, his body in a fight or flight state.

"And why does my mouth taste all gross!?" Anna was a bit calmer, but she had her own priorities.

Across the tub, Shiro glared at her mother fiercely, her arms folded, and a bubble beard slapped along her little jaw.

"...I get to have all of the dessert I want for forever and ever."

Anna tilted her head. "Uhh... I don’t know about that, kiddo."

"I know about that."

Celeste pinched their daughter lightly on her nose. "Don’t sass your mother, she just had an accident. You know she’ll feel bad enough without you dragging it."

"Accident?!" Anna was bewildered. "What accident?!"

"I think the accident was us coming back a bit too early." Mal poked his head out of the shower.

Luna grabbed him by his hair, pulling him back in. "Stay still, babe... Believe me, there’s plenty for you to freak out about, but right now, demons don’t even make the top of the list..."

"Does it have something to do with why you’re bathing me, and... *sniff, sniff* Why do I smell like puke?!"

Anna, who excelled at putting clues together, was understandably traumatized when the realization finally dawned upon her.

She looked toward her daughter, her eyes on the verge of tears.

"Bookie-butt... I am sooo-"

"Hmph!" Shiro turned her back on her mother.

"Bookie-Butt, nooo!!!"

While Anna cried and tried to beg her daughter to forgive her, Malachi wrapped himself in a towel before stepping out of the shower.

"Would someone please explain what’s going on?"

Celeste’s brow furrowed. "We’re not sure why you two woke up... Maybe Sei decided to break the spell early or something, but it doesn’t matter. We know where Morgan and Arias are."

"So Aubrey did it after all?" Malachi smiled brightly. Luna and Celeste almost hated to burst his blooming bubble.

"No, honey... The people who took them, they... they took control of the Met Gala and held something like a press conference on live TV."

"...What?"

Luna nodded as she dried herself off with her towel. "They had Morgan and Arias there as hostages, and... It turns out that Kincaid wasn’t running the New Day after all. There were two more players behind the scenes."

"I don’t do well with suspense here, girls." At some point, Anna had grabbed Shiro and held her like she was a tired infant. "Who are these two new guys, and why didn’t Opal know about them?"

"Honestly, the answer to who they are might have something to do with why she couldn’t find them..." Luna rubbed the back of her head.

Celeste nodded as she helped her wife and daughter get out of the water.

"I’m sure you’ve heard of them at least once or twice before... Adam, the First Man, and Cain, the First Murderer."