CHAPTER 20: Mimic

A lone raven perched high on the wooden beam, its keen eyes locked onto the man below.

Inside the dimly lit office, the informant—once an ally of the Warden—moved with urgency. He was the one who had exposed Maika’s existence… the one who had uncovered the truth about Etsuko’s ancestors and their ties to the Greeds.

Now, he was stuffing documents into a leather satchel, his hands quick but unsteady.

He knew he was running out of time.

Anna watched through the raven’s eyes, seeing everything from above. Her fingers twitched slightly in the real world, maintaining her link to her familiar.

The informant suddenly froze, shoulders stiffening. He slowly turned his head toward the small window at the top of the office, his gaze locking onto the bird.

Without hesitation, he yanked open his desk drawer, taking the sapphire heart as he was tossing a flashbang potion into the air. A cloud of bright dust erupted, filling the room with a blinding light.

The raven flinched, wings beating furiously.

Anna gasped, her vision snapping back to her own as the sudden shock severed her connection. She staggered slightly, blinking fast.

Where was he?

The chair in the office was empty.

"The informant is escaping!" Anna cursed, snapping her gaze to Helion.

But Helion didn’t even flinch. He idly flipped a golden coin between his fingers, his expression maddeningly calm.

Anna’s jaw tightened. "Did you hear me?"

A quiet snicker. "He won’t make it."

The coin danced effortlessly across his knuckles, glinting under the dim light.

Anna narrowed her eyes. "You sound awfully sure for someone who hasn’t moved."

Helion's tail flicked, the ghost of a smirk playing on his lips. "You know me so well, Anna."

Anna hesitated. There was something in his voice—too casual, too certain. A knowing.

It unsettled her.

What did he already know?

Meanwhile…

The informant slipped through the back door, moving quickly but deliberately. His grip on the satchel was firm—secure. No wasted motion. No hesitation.

He knew the streets.

A few quick strides brought him into the alley. He stuck close to the walls, avoiding the pools of light cast by flickering streetlamps. He had planned for this. Escape routes. Backup plans. But something was off.

His instincts screamed at him: Run faster. Find the horse.

But as his eyes scanned the area, something felt off—wrong. Where was his horse?

A cold chill crawled down his spine, his breath catching.

Two figures stood before him, waiting.

Anna's dagger was already pointed at him, her stance unwavering. And beside her—Helion.

His heart hardened. He hadn’t heard them approach. No footsteps. No shadows shifting. Had they been planning this all along?

His fingers tightened around the satchel. He could still run.

In one fluid motion, he grabbed his Sapphire Heart—but for a split second, he froze, his eyes widening in shock. The Sapphire Heart... was broken.

It was useless.

His breath caught. "What the…?"

That wasn’t right. He had taken the right sapphire heart. He was sure of it. Had he broken it? No—he never made mistakes like that.

Something was wrong.

"You should give up now."

The voice was calm. Almost bored.

Helion.

The dim light caught his eyes—a predatory golden gaze, gleaming with quiet amusement.

"It won’t end well."

The informant swallowed hard. His entire body felt wrong. Like unseen strings had wrapped around his throat, tightening, pulling—binding him to a fate already written.

Helion flipped the coin into the air. The golden surface spun, catching the light in slow, lazy arcs.

"Don’t make me repeat myself," he murmured. "Surrender."

The informant’s breath quickened. No. He had to act. Now.

His hand darted toward the dagger at his belt—a final, desperate attempt—

Snap.

A sharp crack echoed through the night.

His fingers barely grazed the grip before his entire body locked up.

His breath hitched. What—?

He couldn’t move. His arm hung mid-motion, frozen in place, every nerve in his body betraying him.

His vision blurred. It felt like—like something had been severed.

Like his own fate had turned against him.

Helion caught the coin effortlessly, tucking it back into his pocket as he stepped forward, slow and deliberate.

A quiet smirk touched his lips.

"I already cut your thread."

The informant’s breath hitched. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t fight.

His knees buckled, hitting the pavement with a dull thud.

Helion crouched beside him, effortlessly pulling the satchel from his trembling grip. His fingers skimmed the leather, his expression unreadable.

“Not a bad haul.” His tone remained light, almost mocking, as if he didn’t fully appreciate the importance of what he was handling.

Anna stood nearby, arms crossed. “You could’ve stopped him earlier, you know.”

Helion’s smirk barely flickered. “Where’s the fun in that?”

The informant, broken and speechless, could only watch as Helion walked away—taking everything with him.

Anna’s gaze lingered on Helion’s back. She knew. This was his ability.

To twist the odds, to bend the outcome.

To turn people’s luck against them with nothing more than a prediction.

He was never wrong.

His gift—Fateweaver.

He is very dangerous.

But tonight, that knowledge felt more suffocating than ever.

The night stretched endlessly before her. The dark sky seemed hollow, vast, as if the stars had vanished entirely.

In the chamber, shadows coiled around Maika, their presence cold against her skin.

Her breath hitched.

“…Etsuko?”

Kaziel's body tensed. He slowly reached his sword, and his expression darkened.

That wasn’t her.

Memories from earlier flashed in his mind. The documents he had hurriedly hidden from Maika at the Observation Chamber.

The failed experiment.

E-01.

A former subject—someone once tasked with feeding the Greeds in the underground. They had tried to turn her into one of them. But she had failed. The transformation had left her unstable, an incomplete monster, doomed to collapse under her own cursed existence.

And now, standing before them—

This wasn’t Etsuko.

This was a Mimic Greed.

A High Greed-class monster that shouldn’t exist here. Mimic Greeds rarely appeared unless negative energy had saturated the environment—manifesting in places of deep corruption, grief, or curses.

Kaziel’s eyes flickered toward Maika, realization striking like a blade.

Her emotions… her pain… it’s calling them.

Her fragmented memories. Her buried regrets. The weight of loss she couldn’t remember.

If she believed in the illusion, if she succumbed to its voice—

Then the Mimic would devour her.

Kaziel took a step forward, his voice low but firm. “Maika. That’s not her.”

A sharp grip tightened around Maika’s shoulder, sending a cold shiver down her spine. She flinched at the unexpected touch, her breath caught in her throat. Slowly, she turned her head, and there she was—Etsuko.

She was smaller than Maika remembered, her frame still as delicate as before, yet there was something off about her presence. Something distant. Maika hadn’t seen her in years, but the feeling of loss, of longing, still lingered.

Etsuko’s eyes weren’t on Maika. Instead, they were locked onto Kaziel, wide with something between fear and recognition.

“Maika… he—” Etsuko’s voice trembled. “He was one of them.”

Maika stiffened. "Them?"

Kaziel’s expression darkened, his brows furrowing at the accusation. His grip on his weapon remained steady, yet his stance tensed as if preparing for the inevitable.

Etsuko’s fingers curled against Maika’s sleeve. “The Warden… the one who took us for experiments. Who tortured us to get the results they wanted… no wonder their underlings came back.” Her hands trembled, her breath uneven.

Maika’s world slowed. She turned to Kaziel, disbelief clouding her expression. “What… do you mean?”

Kaziel said nothing, but he was ready.

He knew.

She was plotting something—a deception meant to twist Maika against him.

“You don’t remember him, do you?” Etsuko whispered. Her gaze flickered with an unsettling familiarity. “He was one of them, Maika. You may have forgotten—but I haven’t.”

Maika’s breath hitched.

In front of her, Kaziel’s fingers twitched over the hilt of his sword. His instincts screamed at him—something was wrong.

Then he saw it.

A smile. Faint. Creeping just above Maika’s shoulder.

In an instant, Kaziel surged forward, his blade cutting through the air.

A wet slice.

Etsuko’s scream shattered the moment as her arm hit the floor with a sickening thud.

Maika’s eyes widened in shock, the world spinning around her. “WHAT DID YOU—”

She turned, her Divine Rapture Blade materializing in a blur, its radiant glow slicing through the darkened chamber. She raised it, aiming directly at Kaziel.

Yet he didn’t turn to face her.

He already knew what was coming.

Helion’s warning echoed in his mind before he had left the city:

“Some things stay buried for a reason—but if digging saves you, then dig.”

Kaziel clenched his jaw. He had read the documents. E-02 lost her arm after E-01 took a bite out of her. That was what awakened her fears. That was what made her overpowering.

His grip tightened, hoping Maika would regain her memories sooner. Her gaze wavered, confusion clouding her eyes—until suddenly, something clicked. The flashbacks surged back, as if scattered pieces of a puzzle were finally falling into place. She remembered it now—Etsuko biting off her arm.

“No… This isn’t Etsuko—” She spun around.

A low, guttural laugh escaped Etsuko’s lips.

Maika flinched.

In the blink of an eye, Kaziel’s blade clashed against Etsuko’s claw. Maika barely registered what had happened—it was too sudden, too fast.

“What… is this creature?” Her eyes widened, stumbled slightly to the back as she took in the sheer intensity of their battle. They moved with terrifying speed, their strikes colliding in a blur of force. The Mimic Greed grinned wildly, delighting in the fight, its movements relentless as it lunged at Kaziel over and over. Each strike was faster than the last, its claws slicing through the air with deadly precision. Kaziel met every blow with effortless grace, his sword flashing in the dim light, parrying with a sharp metallic ring that echoed through the battlefield.

The Greed twisted mid-air, its monstrous form shifting unnaturally as it lunged again. Kaziel didn’t just block—he countered with lethal speed. In a single swift movement, he propelled himself upward, his blade clashing against the Greed’s claws as they fought mid-air. Sparks danced between them as metal met hardened claws. The creature snarled, attempting to overpower him, but Kaziel remained unfazed.

Then, in an instant—he vanished.

A crackle of lightning erupted from where he once stood. The air sizzled, and before the Greed could react, Kaziel reappeared behind it, his blade arcing in a deadly slash. The Greed barely twisted away, its grin widening in thrill rather than fear. It spun, striking back just as fast, forcing Kaziel to warp again, dodging in a blur of electricity.

Kaziel flickered from one point to another, appearing and disappearing in flashes of blue light, always one step ahead. He emerged at the Greed’s side, twisting his sword in a downward strike, but the creature retaliated, its claw meeting steel in an explosion of force that sent shockwaves rippling through the ground below.

Maika could barely breathe as she moved back.

The sheer speed, the unstoppable force of Kaziel’s skill, and the raw ferocity of the Greed’s power—it was terrifying.

She had never seen anything like this before.

Was this… the true Kaziel?

With a controlled landing, Kaziel barely touched the ground before lunging again, his movements like a dance of death. The Greed, despite its monstrous nature, wasn’t outmatched—it adapted, leaping toward him at unnatural angles, each slash precise, each movement honed by primal instinct. It forced Kaziel to turn sharply, flipping mid-air as he parried another attack.

Their battle spanned every inch of the battlefield—one moment in the air, the next on the ground, then back into the sky. Kaziel twisted, teleporting again, his blade a streak of lightning as he clashed with the Greed from all angles. The creature howled, grinning as it mirrored his intensity, its strength monstrous.

And yet—Kaziel remained unshaken.

Every movement was calculated, every strike refined. He fought with a precision beyond human, a deadly calm in his eyes. He wielded only one sword, yet his flow was effortless. As if he didn’t even need the second. His battle was not just about brute force—it was a display of control, mastery, and unwavering dominance.

The creature twisted in mid-air, its eerie grin widening before vanishing into thin air. It was not retreating—it was shifting realms. Kaziel’s blade sliced through empty space where it once stood, his senses immediately on high alert. A trap.

He didn’t hesitate. His lightning surged, crackling around him as he turned, scanning his surroundings. The air felt wrong—warped, as if reality itself had been split apart. The creature was toying with him, shifting between dimensions, striking unseen from the void.

A sudden gust—something unseen twisted the space around it.

Kaziel’s instinct flared. He twisted, bringing his sword up just in time to parry an unseen force, the impact sending a shrill metallic ring through the emptiness. Sparks erupted from the collision, yet the enemy remained invisible, phasing in and out of existence like a shadow flickering in candlelight.

A clawed swipe tore through the air, just missing his face. Another strike from behind—he barely managed to dodge, warping away in a crackle of lightning.

This fight was unlike any he had faced before. It was no longer about strength or speed—it was a battle of perception and instinct.

The creature vanished again, but Kaziel could feel it pulling him—guiding him somewhere.

Then, a presence.

Kaziel lunged forward, his blade striking toward the force that had been taunting him—but the moment his sword pierced through flesh, the world slowed to a halt.

Everything went silent.

Maika’s eyes widened.

Kaziel’s sword was buried deep in her chest. His own heartbeat pounded in his ears.

His gaze snapped to her face—shock, disbelief, and an unbearable weight crashing into his mind.

His grip trembled. He had been deceived. Led astray.

But before the horror could sink deeper, his expression sharpened. His fingers clenched the hilt, resolute.

“…Sorry, Maika.”

He pressed in deeper.

Maika choked, blood spilling from her lips as her trembling hands reached out, gripping his blade. Her mind was blank—shattered by the sudden betrayal.

Yet deep within, something stirred.

The awakening.

Pain. Fear. Survival.

Kaziel had read the documents before—he knew. Her body could regenerate. Her immortality was tied to strong emotions—pain, desperation, rage.

And right now, she was drowning in all of them.

Maika gasped, her fingers tightening around the steel piercing her heart. A slow realization crept into her fractured thoughts.

"He knew... I was immortal?"

Her bloodied lips curled slightly—whether in sorrow, understanding, or something else entirely, even she didn’t know.

Lightning crackled around them. The battle wasn’t over yet.

Suddenly, the shadows ruptured, tendrils of darkness unraveling violently as the ground quaked beneath them. Kaziel barely had time to react before the tremors intensified. The moment he pulled his sword from Maika’s chest, the world itself seemed to shatter.

She fell to her knees, breath ragged, but the atmosphere had already changed. A heavy, suffocating force weighed down upon the space, swallowing all light. The High Greed—now fully visible—twitched in distress, its energy flickering erratically. It could no longer withstand her presence.

It was as if they were now inside her domain.

Without hesitation, Maika lifted a hand, her levitation force surging through the air. The Greed was yanked off its feet, slammed into the ground with crushing force.

Kaziel, still recovering from the sheer abruptness of her unleashed power, remained on the ground, his breath uneven as he tried to steady himself. The weight of the atmosphere pressed against him, thick with an energy he could barely comprehend.

He staggered slightly, his sharp gaze locking onto Maika—not with wariness, but with disbelief.

Everything around them—the crumbling earth, the suffocating darkness, the very fabric of the land twisted and scarred beyond recognition—finally clicked in his mind.

This wasn’t just chaos. This wasn’t just a battle.

This was her.

The realization struck him like a blade to the chest.

She wasn’t the same Maika.

If she was the cause of this farmland’s destruction—

Then what was she now?

For a brief second, he saw it—the way her gaze alone immobilized the creature, locking it in place. The air vibrated with her overwhelming energy, and the earth continued to tremble under the sheer force of her presence. Kaziel braced himself, gripping his sword tightly, forced to keep his footing as the ground threatened to buckle beneath him.

Then, something shifted.

The Greed convulsed, its monstrous form flickering—until suddenly, it was no longer a monster.

Etsuko lay on the ground, trembling violently, as if an unseen force gripped her throat, pinning her down. She gasped, clawing at her own neck, her eyes wide with terror. Her voice broke through the chaos.

“Maika… no… I’m begging you… I’m scared…”

Maika’s breath hitched.

For a moment, her fingers trembled.

The fear in Etsuko’s voice—was it real? Or just another deception?

But before hesitation could take hold, Kaziel moved.

In a swift, decisive motion, he drove his blade into the Greed’s core, piercing through whatever deception it wore. The instant his sword broke its essence, a deafening scream erupted from the shadows—a shriek so unnatural, so filled with agony and rage, that the very air trembled.

The darkness around them collapsed inward.

A violent gust engulfed them, pulling everything into an abyss of silence. The pressure crushed inward, howling like a thousand voices being devoured—then, just as suddenly as it had begun—

It stopped.

The earthquake ceased.

The shadows vanished.

And in the eerie stillness, only Kaziel and Maika remained, standing in the dark chamber—alone.

Maika was too stunned to speak. She knew, deep down, that Kaziel understood her better than she even remembered herself.

As she watched him stand before her, he turned, and for a brief moment, she felt a surge of fear—fear of what he might think of her now.

But then, he smiled. A warm, genuine smile.

"You did well. I'm so proud of you."

The sudden, unwavering sincerity in his words—his eyes glinting with something deep—caught her off guard.

She had never been praised like that before. It was a feeling she couldn’t quite place, something fluttering inside her chest.

But it wasn’t regret. It was something completely different—something warm.

She felt... relieved.