The room shook.
Stone cracked beneath their feet. Silver fire scorched the ritual floor, and the air pulsed with raw hatred.
Sunghoon's blade slashed through smoke, aiming clean at Niki's chest.
But Niki—faster, colder—caught it with his bare hand.
Sparks flew.
"You're not strong enough to stop me," Niki hissed, eyes glowing bloodred. "You never were."
"I don't need to be stronger," Sunghoon snapped. "I just need to remind her who you really are."
He twisted the blade, drawing blood.
Niki didn't flinch.
But behind the fury… his hands shook.
He wasn't fully Hollow.
Not yet.
Across the room, Mona collapsed against the stone altar.
Her vision blurred—Sunghoon a streak of silver, Niki a blotch of flame and smoke.
But she could feel it.
Something wasn't right inside her anymore.
Not just because of the broken ritual…
But because her blood was moving on its own. Slithering under her skin.
And then—
Her body went limp.
The last thing she heard was her name being screamed by both voices at once:
"Mona!"
Inside the Mind Realm
She woke in darkness.
Not pain. Not cold. Not silence.
But memory.
The ground beneath her feet was made of mirrors, all cracked. In each, a scene replayed—flashes of love, betrayal, war, and…
Him.
Veylor.
Not the monster she feared now—but the man he used to be.
Standing in a starlit garden. Holding a woman.
Her mother.
"Why are you showing me this?" Mona whispered.
"I'm not," said a voice behind her.
She turned.
And there he stood. Tall, timeless, golden eyes calm.
"You're here," Mona said, her fists clenched. "You used me. You cursed Niki. You left me no choice."
Veylor stepped forward. "Wrong. You gave the kiss. You awoke the bond. I only laid the trap."
"Why? Why him?"
"Because he's like I was—young, wounded, loyal to the point of self-destruction."
He walked to her slowly, speaking like someone telling a bedtime story turned nightmare.
"You were born not just from a prophecy… but from love that broke the world. Your mother gave her light to save me. But it was too late. I lost myself."
Mona's eyes filled with tears. "And now I'm repeating it…"
"Yes," he said. "But this time, you get to choose."
"Choose what?"
Veylor lifted a single cracked mirror.
Inside: a vision of Sunghoon—standing guard over her limp body, blood dripping from his side as he faced Niki.
Another mirror appeared.
Niki—on his knees outside, fingers clawing at the dirt, shaking violently.
Tears running down his face. His fangs vanishing. His body fighting itself.
"He still loves you," Veylor whispered. "But every minute that bond lives… he dies."
Mona fell to her knees.
"I love them both," she whispered. "But I can't save both."
"Then ask yourself," Veylor said, kneeling beside her, "are you the Lightborn who will sacrifice her heart for the world…"
"…or the Queen who lets it burn for love?"
Back in the Real World
"Mona!" Sunghoon crouched over her, panting hard, blood soaking through his shirt.
"She's not waking up!" Jake shouted.
Niki stood at the edge of the broken circle, fists clenched, breathing like a dying fire.
He looked at her.
At what he'd done.
And whispered—
"Please wake up, angel."