2026-01-27 23:59:01
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Ethan held Rowan’s gaze for a long moment.“But it works,” he repeated.Rowan nodded slowly. “Yes. If done correctly.”Silence stretched between them, heavy with implication.Then Rowan drew a shaky breath and said, “There’s something else you need to know. Something only the Storm family ever possessed.”Ethan’s eyes sharpened. “Go on.”Rowan’s voice lowered, reverent now. “Decades ago—long before the family fell—your ancestors created an artifact.”Ethan felt it before Rowan even named it. A faint pull in his chest. A pressure behind his ribs.“They called it,” Rowan continued, “the Demon Mask.”Ethan didn’t blink.Rowan went on, his words slow, careful, as if reciting something sacred. “It wasn’t just a disguise. It was a tool of balance. A way for humans to walk the demon realm without being torn apart.”Ethan crossed his arms. “How did it work?”Rowan’s eyes lit with memory. “The principle was simple. Terrifying, but simple. Any ordinary mask could become one—wood, bone, metal. T
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Rowan nodded slowly, as if the weight of what he was about to say pressed on his chest.“The demon realm isn’t one endless wasteland,” he went on. “It’s divided. Ruled. Controlled.”Ethan listened without interrupting, his face unreadable.“There are cities,” Rowan said. “Many of them. Built deep into the realm, carved from black stone and cursed metal. Each one belongs to a demon lord or a council. And at the heart of every city—always in the central plaza—there is a Demon Gate.”Ethan’s eyes narrowed just slightly. “Every city.”“Yes,” Rowan confirmed. “No exceptions.”He clenched his fingers together. “The Gates are ancient. Older than the current demon kings. They’re heavily guarded—elite demons, bound creatures, living weapons. Nothing approaches a Gate unnoticed.”“And through them,” Ethan said quietly, already knowing the answer.Rowan nodded. “Through them, a passage to the human world can be opened.”The words settled like lead.“That,” Rowan continued, “is how demons cross o
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“Nothing,” Rowan said immediately. “Not a word. I swore I’d die first.”A long silence followed.Then Ethan nodded once.“I know,” he said simply.Rowan looked back at him, really looking this time—at the man Ethan had become. The strength. The control. The quiet danger in his stillness.“…You’re not a child anymore,” Rowan said softly.“No,” Ethan replied. “I’m not.”Rowan’s hand was still gripping Ethan’s sleeve when the meaning of everything finally sank in.He looked at Ethan again—really looked this time.Not the boy he remembered.Not the quiet child who used to follow him through the gardens with too-big boots and endless questions.This was different.The light around Ethan wasn’t just power.It was awake.Rowan’s breath caught. His lips trembled.“…You’ve awakened,” he whispered.Ethan blinked slightly. “You felt it.”Rowan let out a shaky laugh that turned into something dangerously close to a sob. “Felt it? Young master, I nearly cried out when you touched those chains. Tha
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Ethan steadied the man’s collapsing body and gently lowered him to the cold stone floor.Then he really looked at him.At the face beneath the dirt and blood.At the familiar line of the jaw.At the scar near the left brow—small, old, something a younger Ethan remembered asking about again and again as a child.Time seemed to stop.Ethan’s pupils constricted.And then—Red.Not rage.Not madness.Recognition.His eyes burned crimson as a surge of emotion tore through the discipline he had built for years.“…No,” he whispered.His hand trembled as he reached up and brushed the man’s tangled hair away from his face.“Uncle Rowan…”The name left his lips like a wound reopening.This was not just anyone.Rowan Bourgue had been a servant in name only. He had carried Ethan on his shoulders when he was small. He had bandaged his scraped knees, taught him how to hold a blade properly, how to breathe when fear tried to crush his chest.When the Storm family had fallen into chaos, Rowan had van
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The Watson family wasn’t just playing in the shadows.They were working with demons.He has known this since but now, It was clear.Supplying resources. Providing cover. In exchange—power, protection, assassins that didn’t exist on any human record.One document caught his eye.PROJECT BLACK VEIL.He read more slowly now.It detailed experiments—humans infused with demon energy. Failures listed coldly. Survivors marked as “assets.”One line stood out.“Low-level possession approved for field operatives. Results exceed werewolf-class entities by factor of three.”Ethan’s jaw tightened.“So that man who fought me and Kasher Watson…” he murmured. “Not unique. Just two of many.”Interesting.Very interesting.He stored everything mentally. Every detail. Every name. Every location.Galaxy would enjoy this.But first—He wasn’t done here.***He moved on.The next corridors led deeper, narrower, the walls closing in. He passed cells—empty cages, rusted restraints bolted into stone. Some sti
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The demon froze.Its eyes widened.Ethan stepped out of nothingness.For the first time since the fight began, surprise—real surprise—flickered across the creature’s face.“You—!” it shrieked, spinning around. “Impossible! I escaped you!”Ethan rolled his shoulders once, relaxed, as if preparing for a morning exercise. “I let you go.”Rage twisted the demon’s features. “Arrogant human—!”Ethan moved.There was no wasted motion. No flourish.In a single step, he crossed the distance between them. His hand drove forward, palm open, glowing with condensed holy light so intense it warped the air.“Judgment,” he said softly.His hand pierced straight through the demon’s chest.The creature screamed—not in pain, but in terror.“NO—WAIT—!”Light erupted from inside it, bursting through its back, its eyes, its mouth. Cracks of gold raced across its body like lightning through glass.Ethan leaned in slightly, voice quiet enough that only the demon could hear.“You should’ve stayed afraid.”He
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