When I regained consciousness, I found myself hanging upside down next to Aya, both of us tied by the legs to the ceiling of a large, dark room.

— — — — —

I was terrified and tried calling out to her, “Hey! Aya! Are you okay? What’s happening?”

She was coughing weakly, and looked like she lost all of her power, “Aya! Aya!” I continued to call her.

Then, footsteps echoed through the darkness, and a deep male voice spoke from below, “I see you woke up…”

In the darkness of the room, I could barely see a tall figure with enormous wings. He stepped forward and said, “My name is Semyaza…a fallen angel who kills demons in order to be welcomed back into Heaven.”

Trembling, I asked him, “Are you sure that’s the way? Killing demons? How could you even kill an immortal being like Aya?”

“You clearly don’t understand the power of an angel.” He told me, smiling.

In despair, I yelled, “An angel? You are not an angel! You just said you are a fallen angel so why are you still hoping to get back in Heaven?”

“I will get back to Heaven, I already left Hell.” He calmly told me, and started walking in another room while saying, “I will be back in a few seconds, wait for me.”

After he left the room, shaking from how terrified I was, I looked at Aya and said, “Aya, wake up, please!”

Aya slowly started opening her eyes and told me, “Ryuu, he drained all my energy, I can barely move.”

“Aya, listen to me, can you still give me some of your demonic power? You are just exhausted, but still have demonic power inside you. I’ll fight him!” I told her.

Even without any strength left, she still managed to smile and told me, “Ryuu, you are crazy. You can’t defeat him. But since it's our last chance, I will give you some power! Come towards me!”

I started swinging my body side to side, trying to reach her, and fortunately, I could touch her hand with mine.

I quickly felt an enormous power getting inside me and my vision sharpened, the darkness itself seemed to fade, as if the room was lit up. Aya closed her eyes and told me “Good luck, Ryuu…”

The ropes around my legs tore apart as I fell to the ground. Just then, Semyaza returned and froze when he saw me.

My body moved on its own, fast, powerful, unstoppable. I dashed toward him with an enormous speed, dodging his strikes and counterattacking with all my power. Punch after punch landed until he stopped moving, lying on the ground with me on top of him.

I stood over him, breathing heavily, until his laughter echoed through the room. “Hahahaha…You really thought you could defeat me?”

A strange feeling hit me, and I couldn’t move at all. He started flying around the large room with his wings and started to come towards me and hit me with a punch from time to time.

My body hurt so badly, I was immobilized lying on the ground and I tried to pray for my life, but I couldn’t speak at all. I just stood there seeing my death coming towards me.

He stopped in front of me, grabbed his sword that was lying on a nearby table, and said, “Any last words, little demon?”

He raised the blade to strike. I could only see Aya hanging there, powerless, and Semyaza’s sword raised.

Then, the heavy metallic door burst open and Semyaza lowered his sword.

I heard a calmly female voice echoing through the room, “What is going on here?”

Aya’s weak voice trembled as she looked toward the door, “Miho…?”