ZK dragged his palm across a steel pillar, and the entire section of the structure vanished into a spray of red mist and dust. The particles scattered into the air like smoke, flesh and steel turning to nothing in seconds. His power didn’t just destroy—it erased. Whatever he touched dematerialized completely, leaving behind no solid remains. Screams echoed through the wreckage.
Another massive piece of the building groaned and collapsed, falling several floors down. ZK didn’t even flinch. He raised his hand again and swiped it through another support beam. It shattered like it was made of paper.
The building was crumbling. Tilted. Unstable. Most people had evacuated already. Those who hadn’t were either trapped or too afraid to move. But there were still four people stuck on the top floor. Trapped in the section that hadn’t collapsed yet.
Kelly was one of them.
She stumbled across the broken tiles, gasping for air. Smoke filled the room. The floor cracked under her feet as she limped toward the elevator doors.
"Kelly, don’t!" one of her friends scread behind her.
"Let’s stay together! Everything is falling apart!"
Kelly didn’t turn back. She didn’t slow down. Her face was covered in sweat, eyes wide with panic, but her voice was fierce when she answered.
"I’d rather die trying to escape than die sitting down doing nothing!"
She reached the elevator and slamd her hand against the button over and over. It didn’t respond. The lights were dead.
She cursed and turned imdiately toward the stairwell.
But just as she was about to reach the door, a deafening crack echoed through the building.
The center of the skyscraper split in half.
tal scread. Walls tore apart. Half of the entire floor separated and dropped, crashing down with a sickening roar. Dust and debris rushed up from the lower levels. Flas burst through broken walls. The building groaned as it tilted further, barely hanging on.
Kelly, her friend, and two producers were still on the half that remained suspended.
"Kelly, look up!" her friend scread.
Kelly looked—and her heart jumped to her throat. A massive slab of concrete and tal was plumting straight toward her.
She dove to the side just in ti and grabbed hold of one of the large mounted speakers. It was bolted into the steel fra of the wall, the only thing keeping her from falling.
Down below, on the ground, ZK smirked as he raised his hand one last ti.
He touched the final support pillar.
The foundation disintegrated in an instant.
And the entire top half of the building gave out.
Kelly felt the world vanish beneath her. Gravity took hold. Her grip slipped. She scread as she plumted, surrounded by falling glass, tal, and bodies. She spun in freefall, the wind tearing through her ears.
The world blurred around her.
And then, through the chaos, she saw it.
A light.
A man was flying upward toward her, surrounded by a glow like sunlight. His wings were spread wide. They shimred with radiant white feathers, almost too bright to look at.
Kelly’s mouth parted as she stared in disbelief. For a mont, she forgot she was falling.
She whispered to herself.
"...Angel..."
But then she saw his face.
Liam.
Her heart slamd against her chest.
He didn’t speak. His eyes locked on hers as he closed the distance fast. In a split second, he reached her mid-air and wrapped one strong arm around her waist. She gasped at the contact. He wasn’t gentle. He was fast and efficient.
But instead of flying downward to take her to safety, he twisted mid-air and threw her upward with brutal strength. She shot into the sky like a bullet. Kelly scread again, this ti in pure shock.
She rose higher and higher, until gravity finally caught up with her and slowed her ascent.
anwhile, Liam rocketed downward.
He tore through the debris and snatched Kelly’s friend out of mid-air before she could hit the ground. Her body was limp from the fall. He shifted direction mid-flight and caught one of the producers with his other arm. They both scread as he flew past.
He scanned for the fourth person.
His eyes locked on the last producer—but it was already too late.
The man’s face was crushed in. His chest was sunken. Blood sprayed across the air around him. A massive piece of debris had landed on him before Liam could reach.
Dead.
Liam didn’t waste ti.
He flew toward the ground and dropped the survivors on a patch of grass across the street. Paradics and civilians scrambled toward them.
Kelly’s scream snapped his focus again.
He turned.
She was falling now. Fast. She had reached the peak and was coming back down.
Liam didn’t hesitate.
He exploded into the sky with a boom, his wings burning white-hot as he shot up like a missile.
He locked on her position. The buildings, smoke, and crowd all disappeared from his focus.
Liam reached Kelly mid-air and wrapped his arms around her, but this ti it wasn’t fast or rushed. His grip was firm but gentle. Her body tensed at first, still in freefall panic, but the mont she felt his warmth and the steady strength in his hold, her breathing slowed.
They descended slowly, controlled, as if he weighed nothing.
When they landed, Liam lowered her to the ground carefully. Her legs gave out and she sat down, heart pounding in her chest, eyes locked on him.
She looked up at the wings behind him. They glowed white, almost divine. The light danced over her face.
"H-How?" she asked, still breathless.
But Liam didn’t answer. His head suddenly turned sharply to the side.
He had heard sothing.
A scream. Distant, but panicked.
Then another sound. Cracking tal. Moving fast.
Liam’s eyes narrowed.
Across the field, ZK was heading straight for the injured. The paradics were bent over the wounded survivors, completely unaware of what was coming for them.
And ZK wasn’t walking.
He was gliding over the ground like a shadow, hand outstretched, reaching for the cluster of wounded civilians.
Whoosh!
Kelly gasped as Liam vanished right in front of her eyes. A blur of speed and motion, too fast for the eye to follow.
ZK never made it.
Liam slamd into him with a roar, grabbing him by the throat mid-motion and driving him into the ground with full force. The pavent cracked and cratered beneath them.
ZK coughed and twisted, dazed, but still grinning.
He reached up and grabbed Liam’s wrist, expecting it to vanish into red mist like everything else he touched.
But nothing happened.
Liam stared at his own hand, waiting, curious.
Still nothing.
He looked back at ZK, still calm.
"Surprise, motherfucker."
Then—boom.
Liam’s fist ca down on his face like a hamr. The sound of impact echoed through the street.
ZK’s skull didn’t stand a chance. It shattered on impact. His head burst like a lon, the pieces scattering across the cracked pavent. Blood sprayed across the ground in thick clumps.
The entire street went dead silent.
Nobody scread. Nobody moved.
Then, slowly, relief spread across the faces of the survivors. They didn’t care that Liam had just killed soone in the open. They didn’t care about laws, or morality, or justice. All they cared about was that the nightmare had ended. The monster was dead.
So of them clapped.
So cried.
But everyone was alive.
Liam stood over the body, blood on his boot. He didn’t move for a mont. He was thinking.
There were two reasons he didn’t hesitate to kill ZK.
One: He knew Kelly never liked the guy.
Two: Innocent people had died because of him.
People who hadn’t asked for any of this.
That was enough.
He turned around and walked back toward where he left Kelly. But no one saw him move. One mont he was there, the next he was gone.
The blur vanished.
And Kelly vanished with it.
— — —
Far from the chaos on the streets, Lilith’s penthouse was under attack.
The top floors of the skyscraper shook with the sound of destruction. The reinforced glass windows at the terrace had already been blown out, shards littering the floor like glittering shrapnel. Smoke filtered in through the broken balcony doors. Lights flickered above, casting fractured shadows across the sleek black floors.
The private elevator was destroyed. tal doors were twisted open with brute force. Blood sared across the marble walls.
Lilith stood in the center of her open living space, surrounded by destruction.
Alone.
Three enemies had made it to the top floor.
They moved with purpose—fast, precise, unnatural. One of them had jagged claws instead of fingers. His arms were long, stretched unnaturally as if his bones had been broken and reford wrong on purpose. The second was massive, tall enough that his head almost touched the ceiling, with ashen-gray skin cracked like molten rock. The third was a woman, silent, eyes completely black, floating inches above the floor. Four blades spun around her like satellites, moving in tight orbit without any visible control.
Lilith didn’t back away.
Her heels were stained red. One arm of her suit had been torn at the seam. Blood dripped from a shallow cut on her side, but her eyes were calm, her breathing steady.
There were no guards left.
She hadn’t called for backup.
If her n had been here, they’d already be dead. She knew better than to drag them into this.
These weren’t amateurs.
These were Crimson Hand operatives.
And not just any foot soldiers. These were tailored for assassination. Enhanced. Silent. Focused.
Lilith didn’t ask why they were here. She already knew.
She adjusted her grip on the thin silver blade in her hand. The handle was soaked with sweat and blood, but her hand didn’t tremble.
A smirk curved her lips.
"If you wanted a date," she said dryly, "you could’ve just knocked."
The tall one growled.
The clawed one dropped to all fours and lunged.
Lilith moved.
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