Chapter 413 — I had to survive

Jonathan’s jaw tightened at the shock rippling through the crowd, but he kept his golden eyes locked on Damian.

"You’re probably wondering how someone who fought beside you ended up here." His voice came out hollow, empty of the warmth Damian remembered from the portal. "How someone you saved became the person leading an attack on your headquarters."

His golden eyes had gone distant, looking at something only he could see.

"After we came back from that portal, I thought everything would change." His jaw clenched. "I was young enough to believe that proving myself would earn respect from the main lineage... That becoming a hero of humanity would matter to them."

He laughed, the sound broken and bitter.

"But the main lineage didn’t see a hero when they looked at me. They saw a threat." His hand trembled on his blade, knuckles going white. "A branch family member who possessed Divine Aegis while some of their direct descendants didn’t... Do you understand what that meant to them?"

His voice grew harder, rage bleeding through the emptiness.

"It wasn’t pride they felt. It was shame. Embarrassment that someone from the branch family could awaken the Imperial Skill when most of their own children couldn’t."

"When I returned and broke through to A- rank after graduating from the Academy..." His voice dropped to something quieter, more dangerous. "When my talent became undeniable, when people started comparing me to the main lineage heirs and finding them lacking... They couldn’t ignore me anymore."

His free hand pressed against his chest, fingers digging into flesh.

"So they forcefully raised my rank to A+."

The words landed like bombs.

"They called their scientists, their researchers, everyone who could force my body to expand past safe limits." His voice cracked slightly. "They pushed me through the barrier before my foundation could stabilize, before my core could adapt, before my body could handle the strain."

Jonathan’s golden eyes blazed with something approaching madness.

"Do you know what that does to a person? What it feels like to have your talent ripped apart from the inside?" He took a step forward, his entire body shaking now. "My SS rank talent became S rank overnight... Then A rank as the damage spread... Then B rank as my potential rotted from forced advancement..."

’My talent was destroyed as well... even my bloodline...’

The thought crossed Damian’s mind.

His mother had burned her life away to strip the Bloodworth markers from his blood so the hunters couldn’t track him.

But the difference was absolute.

One was a sacrifice born from love and desperation.

The other was cruel political maneuvering.

Jonathan’s voice pulled him back.

"And they were still not satisfied! Still saw me as a threat!" His voice rose to a shout. "A crippled branch member with a ruined talent and the Imperial Skill they couldn’t take away without admitting what they’d done!"

His hands were shaking now, the blade trembling in his grip.

"So they sent me to a portal of demons... A portal where my entire squad got torn apart and eaten alive in front of me..." His voice broke completely. "I watched them die screaming, watched the demons play with their bodies, watched everything I’d built turn to ash because the main lineage wanted me gone!"

Jonathan’s golden eyes locked onto Damian’s crimson ones, and for the first time, genuine anguish bled through the rage.

"I had to survive that portal... Had to do things I can’t take back... Had to become something I never wanted to–"

"You didn’t have a choice about those things."

Damian’s voice cut through Jonathan’s breakdown like a blade, still burning with fury.

"You didn’t choose to be born into a branch family." Damian’s voice stayed hard, rage simmering beneath every word. "You didn’t choose to have your talent destroyed. You didn’t choose to be sent to that demon portal." He took a step forward. "Those things? They were done to you."

Jonathan’s hands loosened slightly on his blade, something flickering in his golden eyes like he’d finally been heard.

Then Damian’s voice became something colder and sharper.

"But you did choose to come here tonight and kill my people."

The words hit like a physical blow.

"So don’t stand there telling me your story like you’re some victim seeking validation."

His Aura exploded outward, crimson energy crackling with barely restrained fury.

’Kuro!’

’FINALLY!’

The bond flared like touching lightning.

Black wings erupted from Damian’s back, his fingernails cracked and extended into obsidian claws, feathers like tempered metal grew along his arms and his shoulders and the whites of his eyes bled crimson, pupilless and glowing with otherworldly power.

Jonathan’s eyes went wide.

"What–"

Damian launched.

BOOM

He closed the distance in a blink, claws already extended, going for Jonathan’s throat with pure killing intent.

Jonathan’s hands came together mid-dodge.

"DIVINE AEGIS!"

Golden light exploded around his body, solidified into armor just as Damian’s claws raked across his chest.

SCREECH

Obsidian met divine light, sparks flying in every direction, the sound like metal on metal.

The armor held but cracked, spiderweb patterns spreading across Jonathan’s chest.

Wings of pure radiant energy burst from Jonathan’s back as he twisted away from the follow-up strike.

His blade came around wreathed in divine fire, aimed for Damian’s exposed side.

SLASH

The blade cut deep, opened flesh from ribs to hip, divine fire burning the wound.

Blood sprayed across the pavement.

Damian’s wings beat once, carried him backward to create distance.

His axe materialized in his hand, already glowing with crimson Slaughter Intent.

"Abyssal Slaughter!"

The conviction flooded through him, absolute certainty that this strike would kill.

SLASH

Jonathan brought his blade up, divine fire meeting Slaughter Intent.

BOOM

The impact threw them both backward, shockwave rippling outward, shattering everything around them.

Damian’s claws found purchase on a wall, stopped his momentum, launched him forward again.

Jonathan recovered mid-air, his golden armor blazing brighter.

"DIVINE SEVERANCE!"

His blade became pure cutting light, each swing leaving afterimages that hung in the air like razor wire.

SLASH SLASH SLASH

The first cut carved through Damian’s chest, opened flesh in a burning line.

The second caught his arm, parted feathers and flesh both.

The third aimed for his throat but Damian twisted, took it across the shoulder instead.

Blood poured from a dozen wounds, his transformed body the only thing keeping him alive.

His axe came around in a vicious arc, caught Jonathan’s leg.

CRACK

The blade bit through golden armor, cut down to bone.

Jonathan’s stance wavered, his left leg barely holding his weight.

But his blade reversed trajectory, drove toward Damian’s chest with desperate speed.

Damian’s claws caught the blade mid-thrust, obsidian grinding against divine light.

They grappled in mid-air, wings beating furiously, both trying to overpower the other.

’What the hell is this guy?! First that Domain, now this transformation?!’

Jonathan’s thoughts raced as Damian’s claws dug into his wrists, drew blood that ran down both their arms.

’Why does he always have something insane?!’

Damian’s knee drove into Jonathan’s cracked ribs.

CRACK

Jonathan’s breath exploded out, his grip on his blade loosening.

Damian’s axe came around for the killing blow–

Jonathan’s wings flared, divine light blazing so bright it burned to look at.

He twisted and broke the grapple, his blade coming around in a desperate counter.

SLASH

It caught Damian across the back, opened wounds from shoulder to hip.

They separated, both falling toward the street.

BOOM BOOM

They hit pavement simultaneously, the impacts cratering the ground, cracks spreading outward like spiderwebs.

Damian rolled to his feet first, blood streaming from his wounds but his crimson eyes still burning with absolute fury.

Jonathan stood slower, his golden armor cracked and fading in places, more blood visible than armor, his left leg barely supporting his weight.

They charged again.

CLANG

Weapons met, divine fire against Slaughter Intent, the impact creating sparks that lit up the night.

CLANG CLANG CLANG

Each strike faster than the last, neither willing to give ground, both bleeding from dozens of wounds.

****

The Mafia members on the ground stared upward, their weapons hanging forgotten in their hands.

"What... what am I even watching..."

Someone’s voice came out shaken, barely audible over the sounds of combat.

"It looks like there’s four or five of them fighting at the same time... I can’t even track their movements..."

Old Man Mike pressed a hand against his wounded side, blood seeping between his fingers, his weathered eyes locked on Damian’s transformed form.

’You’ve become something beyond what I can understand, Damian...’

The thought carried weight he couldn’t put into words.

The surviving Shadow Council operatives stood frozen, their confidence shattered completely.

"He is matching the leader..."

One whispered, disbelief in every word.

"Jonathan Thorne is using Divine Aegis and that thing is still matching him blow for blow..."

Their hands trembled on their weapons, the dawning realization settling in.

They’d attacked something they couldn’t kill.

****

Damian and Jonathan crashed together again, weapons locked, both refusing to fall, both bleeding and both of them exhausted.

The battle raged on.