Apocalypse: becoming the hidden Ruler[English]

After transforming, Lilith’s Force had skyrocketed—but what was truly terrifying was her close-combat ability.

The nails on her slender fingers had sharpened into deadly talons. Combined with her erratic spatial techniques, she became almost impossible to track. In a blink, she tore a long, bloody gash across Pheasant’s neck.

“So you’ve been hiding all along…” Lorenzo coughed, crashing into the dirt amid a cloud of dust. “A remnant of that family… You won’t escape.”

Lilith didn’t answer.

She dragged Lorenzo’s body over, then Pheasant’s, then Blacksnake’s headless corpse, piling them together. Without hesitation, she reached for their bleeding arteries.

Blood surged.

Nigel stared at her curvaceous figure wrapped in crimson mist, eyes practically sparkling. If he weren’t half-dead, he’d already be shouting “666!” at the top of his lungs.

The metallic scent of blood spread across the hills. Within several kilometers, the terrain had been almost completely flattened.

When it was over, the pale red aura around Lilith slowly receded.

She turned around. Her full chest rose and fell slightly, her breathtakingly beautiful face now carrying a strange, conflicted expression.

Sergio felt his body tense instantly.

“N–nice!” Nigel laughed weakly. “Sergio, we won!”

Bang!

Nigel’s eyes rolled back as Lilith slammed his head into the ground, burying his face in the dirt.

Sergio’s heart pounded. His nearly exhausted Force began circulating instinctively.

Lilith tilted her head, gaze icy.

“Miss Lilith,” Sergio said carefully, “there should still be room for negotiation. After all, you helped us kill a Saint, so I think—”

Bang!

A pillar of blood smashed him into the ground, pinning him completely.

Kenneth glanced at Lilith, his expression twitching uncontrollably. Behind her, the combat machines that had survived earlier silently rose, surrounding her from multiple angles.

“It’s your fault,” Lilith sighed softly. Blue markings spread once more from her eyebrows. “You’re too useless.”

She didn’t even bother looking at them—or at the machines Kenneth had deployed.

“Should I just kill you all…”

She frowned slightly.

Just as she was about to strike Nigel again, Lilith suddenly paused.

She looked up—staring in the direction Axel had disappeared.

“That’s… the King…”

She stopped herself mid-sentence. The restraints binding the group dissolved as she stared blankly into the distance.

“How could this happen… to a Saint?”

Lilith turned back toward them. Four Space Killing Blades flashed into existence.

Four muffled groans followed. Blood sprayed.

Lilith offered them an apologetic look.

Then she turned—and vanished.

.....

Elsewhere

“…Finally.”

Axel stared at Savannah’s mutilated corpse, then at the decapitated monkey-masked man nearby. His legs gave out, and he collapsed heavily to the ground.

Two green lights shimmered on the earth. Axel quickly collected them.

When he focused on one, fragments of memory surged into his mind.

This ability had evolved.

Compared to when he first examined Vernon’s crystal, it no longer showed just basic information—it now revealed shatte red glimpses of the target’s memories.

Savannah’s memories were chaotic and fragmented.

Scenes flashed by: her seducing gifted Awakened with her body, smiling sweetly as she drained their life essence one after another.

But one image made Axel’s breath hitch.

In it, eleven masked Saints stood solemnly beside a massive pool of blood—large enough to fill a basketball court.

Naked men and women were lowered into the pool one by one.

Their eyes were empty. Their minds blank.

The moment they entered, invisible restraints bound them into grotesque postures beneath the surface.

White, downy tendrils wrapped around their bodies like straws, siphoning nourishment from them.

At the very front of the eleven Saints stood a thin, average-height man.

His back faced everyone.

Silent.

Then—

The memory shattered.

Axel was violently pulled back into reality.

Savannah’s greatest obsession in death was the fact that she’d failed to spread one crucial piece of information—

That Royal Blood flowed through Axel’s sister.

The only thing Axel regretted was that he still had no idea what Royal Blood actually meant.

He was just about to examine the crystal taken from the monkey-masked man when a bone-deep sense of danger exploded in his mind.

He twisted sideways at the last second.

Return to Origin activated instantly. A primal energy shield flared around his body—

—and shattered like glass.

Blood sprayed.

A deep, bone-revealing gash tore across Axel’s shoulder.

Axel staggered, then snapped upright, gripping the Soul Devouring Blade as he turned toward the attacker.

One look was enough to make his heart sink.

“Lilith,” he said coldly, “have you lost your fucking mind?”

Lilith walked toward him slowly, her expression utterly blank.

“Hand over the two corpses.”

After killing the Saints, Axel had already stored both bodies in his Space Capsule. He’d planned to hand them to Riley later. If Sergio asked, Axel would simply say they’d been obliterated beyond recovery.

Lilith clearly believed Axel possessed a spatial artifact—and that the Saint carrying Royal Blood was already hidden away.

“And then what?” Axel asked, eyes narrowing as his Force gathered. “You kill me too?”

Lilith sensed the shift in his aura and squinted slightly.

“If you refuse,” she said flatly, “I’ll kill you right now. This isn’t the arena.”

Her pupils slowly bled red. Blue markings spread from her brow, crawling across her body like living veins.

Axel’s pupils contracted.

“You’re… a Saint?” he said, forcing down the shock and thinking fast. “No. If you were, you wouldn’t have needed to help us earlier.”

“Don’t lump me in with that trash,” Lilith replied, her voice tinged with something dark and weary. “But you’re not wrong either.”

She looked at him steadily.

“Now that you’ve seen me like this, I can’t let you go back to Krythos. Secrets have a price.”

Axel felt a chill crawl up his spine.

Lilith’s current state felt eerily similar to Annabelle’s.

Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!

Space Killing Blades screamed into existence, compressing the space around Axel from every direction.

Only now did he fully feel Lilith’s oppression.

In her Demonic Form, her Force had reached an entirely different level—strong enough to tear through his defenses with ease.

At her peak, Axel would’ve welcomed the fight.

But now—wounded, drained, and with his sister hidden nearby—he wasn’t confident.

“Lilith,” he said sharply, dodging backward, “calm down.”

She didn’t listen.

Blood pillars and spatial blades crushed inward without pause.

“You killed Sergio and the others?” Axel demanded.

No response.

Axel’s heart sank.

If this continued, Annabelle would be forced to intervene. And if the two of them together still couldn’t stop Lilith…

The outcome would be catastrophic.

His thoughts raced.

Then—something surfaced.

Ebonreach. Kensington Hot Spring.

The first time Annabelle had met Lilith.

Back then, Annabelle—normally distant and cold—had said Lilith was kind.

And now Lilith could transform into a state eerily similar to Annabelle’s own.

A terrifying realization struck Axel.

“You’re panicking,” he shouted, dodging another blade, blood spilling as he absorbed Savannah’s life crystal mid-fight. “Just because your secrets were exposed!”

Lilith paused for half a heartbeat.

Axel pressed on desperately. “Everyone has secrets! Sit down and talk this through!”

Lilith’s lips curled faintly.

“You’re still the same,” she said mockingly. “Running your mouth while secretly recovering your Force. Planning to kill me in one strike?”

Axel nearly choked.

…She wasn’t wrong.

“And what secrets could you possibly have?” Lilith sneered. “You’re just a kid.”

She summoned her Original Instrument—a B+ grade relic.

The Ink Soul Brush.

“Annabelle,” Axel said suddenly, bracing himself as two Space Killing Blades tore into him, “don’t ambush her. Come out.”

He took the hits head-on, grunting as blood spilled, staggering back several steps.

From the shadows, Annabelle slowly emerged.

The moment she appeared—

Lilith froze.

The killing intent vanished instantly.

The Ink Soul Brush slipped from Lilith’s fingers and hit the ground.

She stared at Annabelle, stunned.

“Annabelle…” Lilith whispered. “Why didn’t I sense it before?”

Her gaze trembled.

“So the Royal Blood… was on you.”