The Yandere Demon Lords & Me-Chapter 24: Thorns, Mirrors, and a Goddess? - 6

The cathedral howled.

Its bones cracked. The altar split in two. The mirrors in the hall shattered all at once, screaming as they died.

Stone peeled back from the walls. Roots twisted out of the floor like snakes.

And Seraphael—

She wept.

Not tears.

But light.

Ribbons of golden ichor streamed down her face, steaming as they hit the floor, eating into the marble like acid.

Her voice rose—not as a scream, but as a hymn.

A prayer in reverse.

"Husband of Light, I sanctified your name."

"Bearer of Flame, I gave you mine."

"Lover of the Lost, I waited in silence."

"And you gave me nothing."

The fire circled her like wings now—six arcs of burning scripture spiraling outward as if trying to form a shape too divine for the world to hold.

Rein ran.

Not because of the fire.

Because of the grief in her song.

That was what would kill him.

The cathedral collapsed behind him.

Roof crashing.

Vines screaming.

Stone melting into ash and scripture.

He dove through a narrow break in the far wall just before it sealed, tumbling down a slope of cracked steps into a rain-soaked ravine outside. His robes burned at the hem. His arms were scored with searing glyphs that faded as they cooled.

He didn't stop until the sound of her voice—her mournful, angelic weeping—faded behind stone.

He collapsed under a thorn-covered tree.

Chest heaving.

Heart still echoing with the words he didn't say.

__________

Rain fell like ash turned cold.

It soaked the torn robe clinging to Rein's shoulders, trailed through the cuts along his arms, and gathered in his boots with every limping step.

The forest here was wrong—gnarled, thorn-bound, too quiet. No birds. No beasts. Just distant thunder and the smell of something divine still dying.

Behind him, the ruin that had once been a cathedral glowed like a wound.

Not destroyed.

Burning from within.

A single golden spire jutted from the ruin's heart—Seraphael's flame, flickering, clinging to some last echo of love she couldn't let go of.

She hadn't chased him.

She hadn't needed to.

Her voice still curled behind his ribs.

"You gave me nothing."

Rein stumbled down the slope, hand pressed to his side. His breath rasped.

He didn't know how long he'd been walking—only that the mud underfoot was beginning to warm again. The earth here steamed. The ash fell faster.

He paused under a twisted dead tree, panting, and looked down at his bloodied palm.

The glyphs from the cathedral were gone.

But in their place—something lingered.

A faint outline.

A brand? No. Not quite.

More like a memory. Trying to anchor itself to skin.

Rein clenched his fist.

He had to keep moving.

But the wind shifted.

And he heard it.

A soft growl behind him.

Low. Rumbling. Familiar.

"That smell," a voice purred, amused. "I leave you alone for one day and you go off getting engaged to a corpse-angel?"

Rein turned slowly.

Zeraka crouched atop a blackened rock outcropping, her silver mane slick with rain, eyes glowing with feral delight. Her armor was gone—just loose wrappings and pelts now, soaked and clinging to muscle. Her claws flexed.

She sniffed once, then smirked.

"You smell burnt and blessed. I'm gonna need to fix that."

Rein didn't run.

He was too tired.

He just sighed and sat down in the mud, back to the tree.

"How long were you following me?"

Zeraka licked a fang.

"Since you crossed into holy ground. I almost called out. But then I smelled the altar and figured...""...you'd do something stupid."

She dropped down beside him, crouched low.

Close.

"Didn't expect you to get married without me, though." frёewebηovel.cѳm

"I didn't."

"But she thought you did."

He didn't answer.

Zeraka sniffed him again.

"You look like you got kissed by lightning."

Rein glanced up. "You jealous?"

She growled softly.

"Only because I didn't get to burn the chapel down first."

He chuckled.

Then winced. The laugh hurt.

She sat beside him without a word, shoulder to shoulder.

Her warmth bled into him.

And for a moment—just a moment—Rein closed his eyes.

Rain.

Ash.

Silence.

But not alone.

Far behind them, the spire of the cathedral dimmed.

But the flame inside it—

Didn't go out.