The ground trembled with every breath of the cursed wind.
Elden Louve, blood on his boots, turned sharply as the screams faded behind him. He spotted the others broken, shaken and ran to them.
"Are you guys alright?" he asked, his voice low but urgent.
Souta clutched his ribs, his shirt soaked in red. "We need to save him... We can't lose Ren."
Elden knelt beside them. "Don't worry... I promise. We will."
Arisa's hands trembled as she tried to patch up a wound. Tears welled in her eyes. "Please... just save him. Please..."
Elden glanced over at Itsuki, barely breathing, twisted in agony. "What happened to him?"
Aria's voice was like a whisper in the storm. "He took Ren's blood. Injected it into himself. He transformed... went berserk. But Ren stopped him. He... he held on."
Without another word, Elden dug into his sack. A deep blue vial shimmered in his hands ancient alchemy. He uncorked it, forced it into Itsuki's mouth.
The reaction was instant.
Itsuki's back arched. Blood poured from his mouth as his eyes shot open.
"Wh... what's happening…?"
His breathing ragged, he looked up and froze. "What... is that... in the sky…?"
Above them, chaos reigned.
On a shattered rooftop, Kaela Noir, Velmira Noir, and Aster Malrick stood over the twisted body of Lucien Veylor. The air was thick with death and burnt magic.
Kaela narrowed her eyes. "Hope he's finally dead..."
But then came the laugh.
Twisted. Mocking. Rising like bile from the earth.
"You think that pitiful combo could kill me?" Lucien's voice oozed madness. He stood, blood dripping, face smiling wide. "My father dropped a tear today. And I caught it... Just in time... to drag you all into hell."
Aster cursed, eyes wide. "Stop him!!"
Kaela leapt, blade drawn but Lucien's foot met her mid-air and blasted her through a ruined church.
Velmira raised her staff too slow. A fist slammed into her gut and sent her spinning through stone.
Aster threw his sword in desperation a perfect strike
But Lucien flicked it away with a single finger.
Then
A sickening crunch.
Lucien drove a dagger straight into Aster's skull. A burst of magic red, black, and vile surged outward as Aster collapsed.
"NOOOO!!!"
Cries echoed across the field.
Lucien laughed. He pulled out a dark jar forged with Demon Arc sigils and whispered forbidden words.
The eye in the sky that watching, godless thing shrieked.
Then... it was sealed.
The sky turned crimson. Blood red clouds tore across the heavens.
Lucien turned, walking into shadow.
"I'll return for the boy soon. For now... handle the rest."
His voice vanished in the wind.
But Ren Akagawa remained.
Twisted. Consumed. Crimson blood pouring like rivers from his eyes.
Kesshō Kikan's hands shook. "Shit… SHIT… SHITTY!!"
Everything was silent. Too silent.
Ren's eyes fluttered open. Blood stained the ground like dark ink around him. He tried to move but
"Where... am I?" he whispered hoarsely.
The air was cold and heavy. Shadows danced in every corner of this broken space. And then... a whisper.
A girl twisted, torn, her body mangled and her face still grinning with something demonic crawled from the black behind him, whispering twisted nothings in his ear.
Ren froze.
But before he could scream, his gaze drifted forward and there stood another version of himself. Not quite a reflection. Taller. More cruel. With a body that seemed forged in hell.
Hair long and white like ash. Skin pulsing with blood-red marks that glowed like cracks in dying stone. His right eye was a deep abyssal red, and his face bore scars beneath the eyes like carved warnings.
He grinned.
"You're awake," the demon said.
Ren tried to stand but he couldn't.
He looked down.
His arms. His legs. Gone. Torn clean off.
"Wh...Who are you?" Ren croaked.
The demon chuckled, stepping closer.
"I am you. The real you. The Crimson Vein... The rightful heir to this body. The son of the Demon King himself."
Ren's eyes widened.
"No... that's a lie!"
The demon crouched to his level, face twisted with glee.
"This body was never yours, Ren Akagawa. You're a parasite. A placeholder. I've waited so long for your little 'hero' shell to break."
Ren gritted his teeth, trembling.
"Get out... of my body!"
"And what will you do?" the demon whispered, laughing. "You can't even stand."
A beat of silence. Ren looked down, breath shivering.
"...Please... stop," he muttered.
The demon paused. Then laughed. "Begging? Really? After all that bravado?"
Then Ren looked up something dark gleaming in his eye.
"Then let me join you."
The Crimson Vein paused. His grin faded for just a moment. "...What?"
"If I can't beat you... then I'll become you."
A long silence stretched. Then, the demon grinned.
"Now that's more like it."
The air cracked apart. Blood and shadow wrapped around Ren's body, swallowing the void in a storm of screaming souls. Veins ignited white and red as his flesh burned and reshaped.
And from that storm... a new form emerged.
Ren stood tall.
Hair now long and pale as snow. One eye gleamed its natural color sharp, human. The other, blood red and glowing like a demonic furnace. His markings were thicker, sharper, pulsing. And from his skull, a single jagged black horn curved upward.
The Crimson Vein had not taken over...
They had become one.
And a new him shall awaken
---
Back on the battlefield...
Lorth and Kesshō stood barely breathing. Their bodies were ragged and bloodied.
Ren's new form descended like a god of wrath.
Each step he took cracked the ground beneath. His aura shook the ruined city like thunder.
"Stay back!" Kesshō shouted, readying his blade again.
But before anyone could react, Ren vanished.
BOOM
Lorth flew backward, blood spraying from his mouth as Ren's punch cratered the air. A second blow came before he could hit the ground. His body was hurled through a building stone and fire consuming him.
Kesshō roared and leapt but Ren caught his attack mid-swing.
"I'm not the same as before," Ren said darkly.
His arm swelled blood runes pulsing. He crushed the blade and slammed Kesshō into the ground with such force the shockwave burst the surrounding trees into splinters.
Souta, Arisa, Aria all watched in horror.
"Ren!!" Arisa screamed, stumbling forward despite her wounds. "Come back!! Please!!"
Ren turned his body crackling with wild magic. Blood surged from his shoulders and back as if wings would erupt any moment.
Then
BOOM.
His demon body shuddered.
Cracks formed down his arms. His chest erupted in light and blood. The form began to burst apart.
"Ren!" Souta shouted.
The transformation exploded, screaming in pain and regrets
Blood sprayed outward in a storm like rain falling across the battlefield.
And then
Silence.
Ren's body fell to the ground with a thud.
Everyone stared.
His form was still glowing long white hair over his face, one red eye still shining even unconscious. A horn remained. The marks still burned into his skin.
He was no longer just Ren.
He was something else.
Arisa limped forward, tears spilling freely now. She fell to her knees and pulled Ren into her arms, cradling his blood-soaked body.
"Please... please wake up..."
Lorth rose slowly from the rubble, breathing like a beast. Rage in his eyes.
"That thing... is not human."
He marched forward, fist clenched.
But Kesshō stepped in front of him, placing a hand on his chest.
"No."
Lorth's eyes narrowed. "Move."
Kesshō shook his head slowly.
"We don't kill him... not now."
Lorth glared, but he said nothing. And the rain began to fall.
The world changed forever.