Chapter 19
I curled my arms over my chest as I watched my Virtues return to the Enchanted Forest, each resting on the back of a unicorn.
“They’ll hate it there,” I said, my voice cracking with pain.
“But they’ll survive,” Kaito pointed out, his husky tones scratchy after pulling out the raw essence of Calamity from his body.
Only my demon had managed to resist the effects of Lucifer’s trick. This had been his plan all along, and it was a sick scheme to force me to see the error of my ways and help him take Hell’s throne.
That was only the beginning. He wanted to rule it all—Heaven and Hell.
Life and Death.
All of the realms were at risk of falling to his tyranny and madness unless I stopped him.
I wasn’t sure if I was up to the task, not after this.
Not after losing so many of my Virtues at once.
“They’re not dead,” Kaito reminded me. Our connection ran powerful and hot, my only lifeline against succumbing to grief. He took my hands and forced me to look at him.
The silver ring around his red eyes had darkened into a charcoal gray. His power sputtered and his flames burned low across his skin. He almost hadn’t survived the extraction.
Kaito, a lower-level demon, was almost as ancient as Lucifer himself, even if he couldn’t remember all of his eons tormenting lost souls in Hell.
He’d been prepared for this day, even if he hadn’t realized this was what the prophecy had meant.
Lilith’s chosen will rise and claim the ultimate power.
Kaito had once been a lower-level demon intent on obtaining that power, just as mad with hunger for it as Lucifer.
Except, after using dark magic to walk the world in mortal form, he’d changed.
He’d found me and learned what it meant to love, to believe in sacrifice and something greater than himself.
That was my skill as a Champion of Calamity. I gave demons and monsters hearts—because nobody knew them better than me.
I was once a monster, too.
Kaito threaded his fingers through my hair and pulled me to his chest. I wrapped my arms around his middle and buried my face against his neck, hating myself, hating my failure to save those I cared about.
I could barely even save myself, and I’d already failed once in that regard.
“The unicorns will help separate Calamity from their bodies, but it’ll take time, Koneko-chan.”
“You’re just trying to make me feel better,” I said with a sniffle. “Raze said they might not survive.” I was more concerned about what Raze hadn’t said. There was a possibility that they would survive, but they wouldn’t remain the Virtues that I loved and adored.
Calamity could corrupt them, if it was allowed to stay in their veins for too long.
That’s exactly what Lucifer hoped would happen, and then I would be at his mercy, a wallowing ball of grief willing to do anything to be with my mates again.
Even if it meant joining him on the wrong side of this war.
“We’re not at that point,” Kaito assured me, tugging me away to press a kiss to my mouth. He slid his hands down my arms, then slowly turned me to face the expanse of the Underworld.
“There’s still one hope left.”
Purgatory gleamed like a beacon, calling to me to find my lost Virtues trapped inside.
“I don’t know if I can,” I admitted, my entire body feeling battered and weakened. My crown had vanished the moment I stopped believing in myself, stopped trusting that I belonged in a place of leadership and strength.
Without my mates, without Orion, Hendrik, Dante, and Logan, I was nothing.
Kaito hugged me from behind, squeezing my wings between us. “They’re counting on you.”
I knew he was right, so I did the only thing I could.
I took one step at a time, and I didn’t look back.