Faced with the Diagvelia's attack, Cloud extended his axe in preparation to cut the spikes that separated him from his cousin.

“No, don't use the blade!” Jake shouted hurriedly.

“What? Why?”

Taking advantage of the confusion, the Diagvelia extended itself straight towards the teenager's face, who was barely able to dodge it thanks to his refined reflexes.

Cloud dropped his axe, stopping it dead in its tracks just a few centimeters from touching the ground, causing it to release purple flames from its tips. Before the next attack, Cloud jumped on his axe, using it to move more quickly between the sharp spikes as if it were a skateboard.

As they both dodged the attacks coming from all around them, with the world slowly folding in on itself, they continued their discussion.

“Because you'd hurt the others, use only your fire to purify.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I already told you, here are all their victims. You could hit someone and damage their souls, like you almost hit me earlier.”

They had both managed to remain unscathed among the peaks that almost filled that reality, leaving them less and less space to dodge. However, the exhaustion of using his wings without taking off his gloves, which limited his power through his alchemical seals engraved in silver, began to slow down Jake.

“What do you mean hit them? But you said this was a fake world!”

“Illusory…” the young man’s breathing became heavy and irregular “I said it was…"

For a couple of seconds Jake lost all his strength, his body fell towards the peaks, struggling to recover.

“JAKE!”

Cloud lunged straight at him, eagerly maneuvering through the tight, labyrinthine space he managed to catch his cousin before he got hurt.

“I got you,” he exclaimed in relief.

“Sorry, I’m not used to using so much power with my gloves on.”

“Why don’t you take them off?”

An awkward silence filled the space as Jake thought about how to explain the issue to his cousin, who was already confused by everything going on around them.

Being used to people who kept up with him or even surpassed him in these situations; like his beloved Klaus or the man who had taken him in as his son, General Yang; his young cousin's lack of experience and knowledge irritated him quite a bit. He spoke harshly.

“Cause they are physical seals and they would remain on my physical body even if I take off my gloves here!”

Jake tried to calm down, he understood that his anger was unjustified, that it was understandable that Cloud knew nothing about creatures whose existence was not even recognized by the inter-universal authorities, as well as that he did not easily understand new information in such a stressful situation.

He took a deep breath before continuing.

“That's why I need Klaus-”

“Why does it have to be him?! And your wings are here too!” Cloud interrupted, making his cousin angry again.

“They are connected to my soul…” he tried to soften his tone of voice without success “Klaus is the only one who can help me control-”

“BUT WHY HIM?!”

The Diagvelia's eyes showed irritation at the argument of the cousins ​​who now completely ignored them, dodging it's attacks as if they were nothing.

“It's not a good idea to explain it here, but…” his breathing continued agitated “to modulate my powers I need something to keep parts of them busy, like self-healing and purification, for example, to discharge energy.”

Cloud raised an eyebrow as he listened to Jake's words, already suspecting what it could be about.

“That something must have great power in itself. Something like the vampire curse, which Klaus can give me with a simple bite.”

The teenager turned his gaze and twisted his mouth, resigned. There was no way to contradict him, they didn't know anyone else they could trust who could help them with something so delicate.

Despite his bad relationship with Klaus, he knew that he would never hurt Jake and would even be capable of sacrificing himself for him, that knowledge is what caused him the most conflict when forming his opinion of the vampire. Although in the past he had insulted him and treated him in a terrible way, something for which he still did not apologize, he was also someone he could trust with his own life and that of his family.

He also did not feel he had the right to judge his cousin's relationships since he himself kept questionable entities close to him, secret from everyone around, with the exception of Cloe who was the only one capable of detecting their presence.

The flames of his axe were not a natural manifestation of his own power as he had led Jake to believe, but that of the entity that had offered him help in one of his worst moments, when his mother's life was at risk.

Now, once again, he needed help to save her, it was better to bite his tongue and keep his mouth shut to appeal to the good will of the only people he knew would help him, so, even though it bothered him, he was also happy for Klaus' presence.

“While we're here, the only thing we can do is purify parts of this world…” Jake exhaled with difficulty “or rather, you, you can purify it, I…”

Jake held his chest, his vision getting blurry and his eyes getting painfully uncomfortable from the light of Cloud's flames, as the little power he had access to with the gloves on was running out, he could no longer use it to compensate for some of his birth issues.

Frustrating him as time went by, the only way to defend his cousin if Klaus didn't arrive in time would be to put himself at death's door to break the barrier of the seals placed on him.

These seals were both a problem and a great help to him, and the last memory he had of his father, who had painstakingly engraved them by hand behind his mother's back when she forced Jake to absorb her own divine power, for an unknown reason, almost overflowing and breaking the soul of the then small boy.

Over the years he had been able to use more of that power, being now out of mortal danger, but he was still unable to control it in its entirety, running the risk of losing his sanity and destroying his physical form if he let it manifest freely.

Much to the Diagvelia's annoyance, despite being deep in thought and weakened by the effort of the confrontation, the two young men were still perfectly capable of dodging its attacks.

However, this, more than an inconvenience, was actually useful to him. Being able to closely observe the abilities that the soldiers of the fifth universe had developed while his existence was hidden from them was a rare opportunity.

Paying attention to every movement, every gesture and every word to communicate to his peers and allies, it continued to attack them looking for more weaknesses.

At the same time that the cousins ​​were battling the demon in the illusory world, Klaus arrived at the train terminal.

After intimidating a security guard, he managed to gain access to the trains parking area and, following the sweet scent of his blood, he located Jake, unconscious, sitting on the seats next to one of the doors, with the Diagvelia on top of him about to bite his head.

Klaus silently entered the car, taking the creature by surprise, he launched a burst of blue crystals from his right hand surrounding the Diagvelia, damaging it and creating a dense wall between them.

He frowned at the sight of the scratches on Jake. He crouched in front of him and carefully removed his shirt, holding it in his hands he again expressed disgust at discovering the two huge stains of dried blood on his back.

Thinking that in his absence the man he loved so much had been harassed, beaten and damaged to the point of bleeding, two days in a row, infuriated him greatly.

If he followed his impulses the police station would already be completely destroyed, with all its officers dead, just like that train station with the demon inside; but he had to be patient to have the peaceful life with Jake that he so desired, not to spill blood unnecessarily again on a whim and, above all, not to be like his father.

«Wow, it's completely ruined already…».

He stifled his annoyance, focusing on helping his beloved.

«Well, it's not my fault».

He threw the shirt aside without taking his eyes off the unconscious officer's neck. With his right thumb he opened his lower lip, lovingly caressed Jake's bleeding cheek and tilted his head to uncover the left side of his smooth neck.

Gently sliding his left hand to the back of Jake's neck, Klaus opened his mouth with his sharp fangs lengthening even more as he stared at his external jugular vein.

He gulped, preparing himself for what was coming.