Catherine staggered backward, clutching her swollen belly. Her face was pale as death, eyes wide and frantic.
"No… please… Asher, please… not my baby… my child has done nothing wrong…"
Tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with blood that was starting to drip from the corners of her mouth. Her hands shook as she pressed them protectively over her stomach.
"My children are at home. They can't be orphans… they're just kids…" she sobbed, her voice breaking apart into a wail.
But Asher did not blink. His eyes blazed with an unyielding golden light, and his wings fanned out behind him like swords of silver flame.
"Demon blood must be eradicated," he said, voice cold as ice.
Suddenly Catherine bent over, gasping. Her body spasmed as if invisible hooks were tearing into her from the inside. She screamed as blood poured from her mouth, splattering the stone floor. Her hands clawed at her throat.
Jeremy rushed forward, reaching out, his face soaked with tears.
"Asher, stop! STOP! She's innocent—she's pregnant!"
But Catherine was already vomiting blood in thick gushes. A violent tremor wracked her slender body, and then she let out a final, inhuman scream as her mouth tore wider, splitting her lips and cheeks open. A gush of dark red and twisted coils of flesh spilled out of her throat—her intestines pouring onto the ground in a slick, wet heap.
Her stomach split open next, bursting in an explosion of blood and tissue. The force knocked Jeremy back, covering his face and chest in crimson_ Cathy blood
Catherine's body fell lifeless, eyes rolled back, her hands still clutching protectively around a belly that no longer held life.
Jeremy stood shaking, breath heaving. He couldn't even scream. All he could do was stare at the lifeless heap that moments ago was Catherine—a mother, a woman full of life and love, now butchered like an animal.
A silence fell over the space, heavy as iron. The scent of blood was suffocating.
Jeremy fell to his knees beside Catherine, sobbing.
"A mother and an unborn baby… you killed them…" he whispered through chattering teeth. "Is this… is this really justice, Asher?"
But Asher didn't answer. Instead, his body began to blaze. Silver flames burst out of his skin, swirling around him like a storm. His golden eyes glowed brighter until they were like burning suns.
Jeremy stared in horror.
"No… Asher, don't… please…"
The heat grew fierce. The flames roared higher. Asher's body started to vanish piece by piece, dissolving into sparks of silver and gold. His hair, his wings, his hands—all turned to light and floated away like dust in the wind.
Jeremy's legs finally came free of whatever power had pinned him. He lunged forward in slow motion, as if moving through water, arms outstretched.
He screamed.
"Asher! Please! Don't leave me—!"
But before his fingers could touch him, Asher was gone. Nothing remained but drifting motes of light, sinking into the earth.
Jeremy collapsed on the floor, screaming. His chest heaved with sobs so deep it seemed his soul would tear in half.
"It's over…" he choked. "It's all… over…"
Above them, the black clouds that had long shrouded Valemont City began to part. Golden sunlight spilled through the gaps, striking the pools of blood on the ground and making them gleam like rubies.
Birds began to sing as if dawn was arriving after centuries of night. The world seemed brighter, cleaner—but emptier.
Jimmy stumbled to his feet, staring blankly at the destruction. The bodies, the blood, the echoing silence. His scream tore through the clearing, ragged and wild.
"NOOOOOOO!"
He staggered backward, tripped over a rock, and fell. His head slammed into a huge stone, splitting his skull open. Blood gushed out, and his eyes rolled back as he fell, so before he went still and unconscious;
Jeremy crawled toward the place where Asher had vanished, reaching out trembling fingers as though hoping to gather up the dust and bring him back.
He pressed his face into the dirt, sobbing so hard he couldn't breathe.
All around him, the light grew brighter. But Jeremy felt only darkness inside.
And in the process he passed out, and fell unconscious.