There was a city beneath the Vatican.
A place buried not by time, but by shame.
Tunnels etched in blood. Altars carved from demon bones. Machines powered by hearts that had once beat with angelic grace.
They called it Saint's Rest.
But the saints had never rested here.
They had screamed.
In the heart of this place, beneath seven locks, behind a veil of forgotten prayers, a boy awoke.
He was neither alive nor dead. He remembered no name — only numbers, and the cruel voice of the machine that raised him.
"Designation: Raphael-02," the voice said. "Mission parameters: Annihilate the four anomalies — Codename: The Four."
The boy opened his eyes. They glowed gold. Not warm — but searing, unnatural, like the sun itself had turned its gaze inward.
Then he moved.
And the walls around him cracked just from the weight of his footsteps.
Meanwhile — In the Wreckage of Evalyn's Chapel
Icarus stood alone in the ruin.
The others had gone to scout or rest, but something drew him back — something calling from the blood-stained stones.
"Who are you really?" he whispered to himself.
The wind did not answer.
Instead, a voice older than time crept into his mind.
"Your chains do not bind the world. They bind me."
He flinched.
A mark shimmered on his chest — a brand that hadn't been there before Evalyn died.
It pulsed.
"I slumber within the sealed verse. I bleed beneath the memory of gods. And you… boy… are my vessel."
"No," Icarus whispered. "I'm not your anything."
"You were born when the stars wept. Do you think that was coincidence?"
The First Demon in Years
Kaito and Ren moved through the shattered ruins of the lower city. Everything around them smelled of sulfur and ash.
"Ministry says demons haven't breached this deep since the Wall was built," Ren muttered.
"Then the Ministry lied," Kaito answered grimly.
They turned a corner.
And saw it.
Not a beast, but a man.
A demon who wore flesh like a robe — skin too smooth, smile too sharp, eyes too knowing.
"Ah," the demon said, brushing ash from his shoulder. "Two of the Four. What luck."
Kaito instantly raised his pistols. "Who are you?"
The demon bowed mockingly. "Call me Seras. Former angel, now demon, current admirer of fine chaos."
He vanished.
Ren slashed out instinctively, wind curling like a serpent from his blade — but Seras reappeared behind him.
"Too slow," he whispered — and kicked Ren straight through a wall.
Kaito opened fire — flame-blessed bullets tearing through rubble, carving streaks into the earth.
Seras laughed.
Every step he took twisted reality around him. Walls melted. Air reversed. Time slurred.
"Wanna see the future, boys?" he grinned.
Then a chain slammed into his throat.
Icarus Intervenes
Icarus descended from above, his chains glowing with a silver fire.
"Leave," he said flatly.
Seras cocked his head. "You again. The cursed one. You shouldn't be this strong yet."
"Try me," Icarus whispered.
And the fight began.
The alley erupted in light and shadows, chains vs. entropy, divine screams vs. infernal laughs.
Seras blurred into six forms.
Icarus shattered them all.
He grabbed the real one by the face and slammed him into the pavement.
The mark on his chest glowed again.
Chains spiraled out like a blooming flower.
"Return to Hell."
And for a moment — just a moment — Seras looked afraid.
He hissed, shadow-form shattering.
"Fine. I'll see you boys again. When you're ripe."
And he vanished in black smoke.
Political Games — The Council Splits
Back in the Vatican, within the Gold Room of Twelve Saints, the High Cardinal slammed his staff down.
"We must declare the Four as heretics!"
"They're children!" one of the younger bishops protested. "We swore to protect them!"
"They are walking heresies now," the High Cardinal growled. "Evalyn is dead. The Red Cleaver is broken. And one of the boys now channels the Sealed Voice. If that thing awakens, even God won't stop it."
Whispers filled the chamber.
But one voice rose above them all.
A woman stepped from the shadows — robes black, embroidered with forgotten sigils.
"The Ministry Church no longer answers to you," she said. "They've declared sanctuary for the Four."
"Then they too will burn," the High Cardinal said. "Let the war begin."
The Earth Shakes
That night, Daiki sat on a rooftop, watching the stars. The wind had grown colder since Evalyn's death.
He looked at his hands.
"Earth bends to me," he murmured. "But I couldn't save her."
Haru joined him, silent as always.
But then, Haru spoke.
"I saw the angel. The one they're waking."
Daiki turned, startled. "What?"
"I see pieces," Haru said. "Like glass. Sometimes it cuts me. But I saw his wings. He doesn't fly. He drags them. Like chains."
Daiki frowned. "What does that mean?"
"It means," Haru said quietly, "we need to get stronger. Or we all die."
Ending Note
The war has begun.
Demons walk again. Angels stir in cages. The boys are hunted by the very churches that raised them.
But something far worse sleeps in the spaces between their dreams.
And it is waking.