Alexa remained motionless in the center of the destroyed plaza, still panting, surrounded by smoldering ruins and the thick smell of fresh blood. Her wings had vanished, her horns receded, and her hybrid form had given way once more to the body she recognized as her own. Even so, the newly awakened energy still trembled beneath her skin like a restless animal, ready to escape at the slightest carelessness. Her eyes scanned the ruined Sankaria, trying to comprehend how a few hours had been enough to transform an entire kingdom into a field of punishment.

The wind shifted direction for an instant.

When she blinked, Vergil was already beside her.

He appeared without fanfare, as if he had always been there, only beyond the reach of ordinary perception. His presence contrasted absurdly with the surrounding chaos. While everything burned, shattered, and wept, Vergil seemed an island of silence. Without saying anything at first, he simply raised his hand and placed his fingers on Alexa’s shoulder.

The touch was light.

Still, all the uncontrolled energy within her immediately subsided.

Alexa turned her face to meet his, and for the first time since the massacre, her eyes showed something close to fragility. There was guilt, shock, and a rage without a defined target fighting inside her all at once. Vergil perceived all of this and simply maintained his usual expression, too cold to be cruel, too calm to be ordinary.

"That’s enough."

The sentence came out simply, almost casually, as if he were ending a prolonged training session.

He then raised his gaze to the distant hill where Alexa’s surviving siblings remained buried up to their necks, forced to watch the fall of Sankaria. The fear etched on their faces no longer seemed like wounded pride, but pure psychological disintegration. They had seen armies fall, cities crumble, and their own sister become something beyond their comprehension.

Vergil observed them for a few seconds.

"Honestly," he said, in a disinterested tone, "I don’t even know your names."

The words struck deeper than elaborate insults. For beings driven by hierarchy and honor, being reduced to utter irrelevance was worse than death.

"I’m not going to kill you all and cleanse this dimension out of pity for you."

He inclined his head slightly, as if offering an administrative concession.

"Consider this undeserved mercy."

The three swallowed hard, too afraid to reply.

Vergil then slowly pointed to Alexa.

"And listen carefully. She’s no longer a werewolf."

The wind seemed to hold its breath.

"Alexa is now a high-level demon."

The words echoed across the devastated field like a sentence. Even from a distance, several survivors hiding among rubble or trees heard and trembled. The change wasn’t just physical. It was political, spiritual, and existential. Alexa officially ceased to belong to the race that had persecuted her.

"Therefore, ignore her existence from now on."

Vergil’s voice grew a degree colder.

"If any of you touch her, pursue her, mention her, or even think of repeating what you did... I’ll be back."

He paused briefly.

"And I’ll exterminate the entire race."

Neither of the brothers doubted for a second.

Beside him, Alexa clenched her fists, still staring at the hill.

"I can’t leave without killing those bastards."

The anger resurfaced in her voice, still alive, still hot. The brothers’ faces paled again.

Vergil didn’t even look at them.

"You can."

She turned away angrily.

"Vergil—"

He interrupted her with a slight nod.

"There’s a little wolf watching you."

Alexa froze.

Instinctively, she followed his gaze to the top of a distant hill, partially shrouded in mist and ash. There, standing among ancient stones and twisted trees, was a colossal wolf. Its fur was as black as a starless night, so dense it seemed to absorb all the light around it. Its eyes gleamed with an ancient and terrifying intelligence. Its entire body emanated an authority that no mortal alpha could imitate.

Alexa felt her heart race.

"Fenrir..." she murmured.

Yes.

It was Fenrir himself.

Even the survivors scattered across Sankaria bowed or averted their eyes upon recognizing him. Not out of tradition, but out of primal instinct. The creature didn’t just seem powerful. It seemed inevitable.

Vergil raised his face to meet it without any reverence.

"We’re leaving."

The wolf didn’t move its mouth. Still, his voice echoed in the minds of everyone present, deep and vast like mountains gliding into the ocean.

"You invade my home... and now you want to leave?"

The ground vibrated around the hill with the mere resonance of the question.

Alexa held her breath. Many would have knelt. Others would have fled. Vergil simply put one hand in his pocket.

"You are a creature of the End," he replied, in his usual calm tone. "I’m sure you can’t attack me without creating a problem for your own kingdom."

Fenrir’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"I don’t know where the king you support is," Vergil continued, "but you have no authority over me here."

He let out a small sigh and looked around at the destroyed Sankaria.

"Besides, all of this is the werewolves’ own fault."

His voice hardened only slightly.

"Don’t blame me for coming to avenge one of the women I love."

The world seemed to stop for a split second.

Alexa’s eyes widened.

Then she blushed so intensely that she almost forgot the blood on her clothes. Her heart pounded erratically, and for a moment all the devastation around her vanished from her mind. She looked at Vergil as if to confirm that she had really heard that.

It was the first time.

The first time he had said something so direct.

Fenrir observed her reaction, then turned his immense eyes to Vergil. There was a long, heavy, almost philosophical silence. Finally, the great wolf let out a sigh so deep that trees on the nearby slopes swayed.

"Was such a massacre necessary?"

The question contained no true anger. Only old weariness.

Vergil answered immediately.

"They were the ones who falsely accused Alexa."

He pointed to the buried brothers.

"Without investigation. Without remorse. Without a doubt."

Then he indicated the ruins around them.

"A minimal investigation would have shown she wasn’t a traitor. Just follow the tracks, the rumors, the bodies... anything."

His gaze returned to Fenrir.

"She was hunting monsters worse than they could imagine."

Fenrir remained motionless. The wind passed through his black fur like shadowy currents. Then, slowly, he nodded.

Not in approval of the massacre.

But in recognition of the truth.

The great creature turned to the destroyed horizon.

"Go away."

That was all he said.

Permission.

Sentence.

Closure.

Vergil inclined his head slightly.

"Thank you for your decision."

Without wasting a moment, he reached for the hilt of his sword. The movement was too quick for ordinary eyes to follow. A single stroke flashed in the air and vanished in the same fraction of a second.

Nothing happened for an instant.

Then the space before them opened.

A luminous line emerged from the void and tore through reality like thin fabric. The fissure expanded into a dimensional rift, revealing a corridor of starry darkness and distant lights. The surrounding air was pulled into it in gentle spirals.

The survivors of Sankaria gazed at it with reverent terror.

Vergil extended his hand to Alexa.

"Let’s go."

She stared at his offered hand for a few seconds, still processing everything: the massacre, Fenrir, the declaration, the escape. Then she smiled. Not the crazed smile from before, nor the cruel smile of battle.

A sweet, small, genuine smile.

She placed her hand in his.

"Okay."

Vergil closed his fingers around hers and pulled her slightly closer. Without looking back again, he led Alexa to the rift opened in the world. Before they crossed, she cast one last glance at Sankaria.

At the kingdom that had pursued her.

For the blood he spilled.

For the life he left behind.

Then he crossed beside him.

The fissure closed immediately with a clean cut in the air.

Silence fell over Sankaria.

At the top of the hill, Fenrir observed the void where they had stood for a few seconds. Then he raised his snout to the red sky and let out a deep, ancient, and endless howl.

It sounded like mourning.

It sounded like a warning.

It sounded like the end of an era.

Within the dimensional rift, the outside world vanished as if it had never existed. There was no sky, ground, or horizon in the usual sense. The surrounding space was composed of silent streams of broken light, fragments of distant stars, and translucent surfaces that reflected memories instead of images. Each step echoed in impossible directions, as if the sound chose new paths at every instant. The air had no defined temperature, alternating between a gentle chill and an almost comforting warmth.

Vergil walked with his usual tranquility, as if crossing realities were just another ordinary road. His posture remained erect, his expression neutral, his eyes fixed ahead. The hand that held Alexa remained firm, guiding her through the void between dimensions without any apparent effort.

Alexa walked silently beside him.

For a few seconds.

Then she stopped abruptly.

Vergil barely had time to turn his face before she lunged at him without warning. Alexa jumped directly into his lap, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck and her legs closing around his waist as if afraid to let go for a single second. The impact made him recoil half a step, more from surprise than difficulty.

She buried her face in his shoulder.

"Idiot..." she murmured, her voice breaking mid-word.

Vergil remained motionless for a moment, clearly caught off guard by a form of attack that didn’t involve blades, claws, or destructive energy. Then he let out a short sigh, one of those that always seemed half irritation and half silent acceptance.

"Alexa."

She squeezed him even tighter.

"Don’t complain."

Her fingers trembled against his back. Her entire body, previously dominated by battle euphoria and uncontrolled fury, now succumbed to the emotional weight that had been pushed away for far too long. All the adrenaline vanished, leaving only the woman behind the warrior.

"You came to get me..." she said, muffled against his shoulder. "You really came."

Vergil looked ahead, as if the impossible landscape of the rift was suddenly very interesting.

"Yes."

"You invaded Sankaria."

"Yes."

"You scared half the kingdom."

"Probably more."

"You carried me in front of everyone."

"Unfortunately."

Alexa let out a broken laugh that turned to tears instantly.

The tears began silently, streaming down his face and wetting the collar of his coat. Then they came for real, deep and trapped for years. Her shoulders trembled as she clung to him like someone who had finally reached dry land after nearly drowning.

"That race..." she sobbed. "All they gave me was pain."

Vergil didn’t interrupt.

"It never mattered how hard I fought. It never mattered what I did. There was always a rule, punishment, guilt, debt... always some new chain." She breathed unevenly. "They killed my mother. They hunted me like an animal. They called me a traitor. They broke me inside and out."

Her arms tightened even more around his neck.

"And you..." Her voice faltered again. "You just went in there... and pulled me out of it all."

Vergil lowered his gaze to her. Alexa’s face was partially hidden in his shoulder, her white hair disheveled, tears still falling shamelessly. There was exhaustion, relief, and a vulnerability too rare for someone like her to allow.

With a simple movement, he placed one hand on her back and held her firmly.

"It’s over," he said.

She shook her head.

"No. It’s not over just because I left." She sniffed, taking a deep breath. "It’s over because you went there."

Silence returned for a few steps. The lights of the surrounding dimension passed by them like rivers of shattered constellations.

Alexa then raised her face to look at him. Her still-wet eyes shone strangely in that skyless space.

"I love you so much."

Vergil stood completely still.

The phrase hung between them like something more dangerous than any magic used in Sankaria. Alexa, still in his lap, watched his reaction intently with a courage she hadn’t even shown in the face of armies.

"Like..." She wiped her face with her fist and laughed nervously. "A lot."

Vergil blinked once, slowly. "You chose an unusual moment for this."

"I was almost tortured to death. I thought it appropriate."

"I understand."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Is that all?"

Vergil maintained a neutral expression for another two seconds, as if pondering internal war strategies. Then he raised his hand and gently brushed away a strand of hair stuck to her face because of her tears.

"I noticed."

Alexa remained silent.

"You bastard..." she murmured, already smiling.

"I also thought it appropriate to mention it before."

Her eyes widened.

"Before? You mean in Sankaria?"

"Yes."

"In front of Fenrir?"

"Yes."

"In front of my brothers?"

"Yes."

She stared at him for a full second and then buried her face in his neck again, now red to her ears.

"I’m going to die."

"Unlikely."

"Of shame."

"More plausible."

She gave him a weak pat on the shoulder.

Vergil continued walking through the dimensional rift, carrying her effortlessly. The surrounding environment slowly began to change, the currents of light becoming more stable, a sign that they were approaching an exit to another plane.

Alexa took a deep breath, calmer now. The crying had passed, leaving only traces and a deep weariness.

"Did you really turn me into a high-level demon?"

"Partially."

"What does that mean?"

"That you now have a lot to learn."

She sighed dramatically.

"So you saved me just to give me training?"

"Among other reasons."

"What reasons?"

Vergil glanced at her sideways.

"You’re noisy."

"That’s not a reason."

"It’s a fact."

She huffed and rested her forehead against his without warning.

"I still love you."

"I noticed."

"Are you going to give me a useful answer?"

Vergil remained silent for a few deliberately long moments. Alexa was about to complain when he finally spoke.

"Stay alive for a long time."

She winked.

"That was almost romantic."

"It was the most I could do today."

Alexa smiled that cute, completely satisfied smile that only appeared when she lowered all her defenses. Then she hugged him again, now without despair, simply because she wanted to.

"It’ll do."

Further ahead, a new opening appeared in the dimensional fabric, revealing natural light and the distant outline of another world waiting for them.

Vergil adjusted his posture, still holding Alexa in his arms. "Are you going down alone or do you intend to stay like this?"

She thought seriously for a moment. "Stay like this."