BANG! BANG!
The gunfire rang through the corridor, not meant to kill, but to startle. The guards who had been rushing in froze, startled by the resistance.
Felicia hurled one of the flashbangs. A burst of blinding light and a piercing screech shattered the air, throwing the guards off balance. In an instant, she lunged forward, striking them down one by one using the same chain that had bound her moments ago.
Meanwhile, Raphael pushed forward after Thivi. His breath grew ragged as he ran through the endless shadows. There was only one thought in his mind, to reach Thivi before it was too late.
Under the suffocating darkness of the Malabar Radio station, Raphael stumbled through an open door, his body covered in bruises and blood. His mission was clear: bring Thivi back.
Then, a voice broke through the night,
"Kaivan! Don't leave me again!"
Raphael's heart skipped. He sprinted toward the sound. At the end of the corridor, Thivi was embracing a man. His figure was tall, protective, familiar, but Raphael knew better.
That wasn't Kaivan.
It was Yusra.
Raphael's chest tightened. The man he once respected now stood before him, smiling faintly, his hand resting on Thivi's waist in a gesture both tender and mocking. His expression was calm, too calm. But Raphael could see through the illusion.
This wasn't love. It was manipulation.
The cruel trick of the Tome, Omnidream.
Anger and guilt churned together like a storm. Yusra wasn't just pretending to be Kaivan, he was stealing Thivi's soul, trapping her inside a false dream far deadlier than any bullet.
"Yusraaa!" Raphael's scream split the night, shattering the silence like broken glass. His eyes burned with fury, yet Yusra answered with a thin, mocking smile, calm, as if that rage meant nothing.
"I am Kaivan," he whispered, sly as poison. "From the beginning, I'm the one who understood her the most." His words were thorns driven straight into Raphael's heart.
Thivi trembled, eyes glistening, clinging to the man before her. Her voice cracked.
"Don't… Kaivan… don't let me go… hold me… please…"
Fragile. Lost inside a love that wasn't real.
Raphael couldn't move. His heartbeat thundered, but his body froze. He knew, the one holding Thivi wasn't Kaivan. It was a monster wearing human skin. And all he could do was watch.
Yusra lowered his head, brushing Thivi's cheek with a gentle touch that wasn't real.
"Of course, Thivi."
His lips drew close, and with the arrogance of an owner claiming what was never his, he stole a kiss. It wasn't affection. It was punishment. A forced seal of humiliation, and under Omnidream's control, Thivi could only sob silently.
Her hands pressed weakly against Yusra's chest. Her eyes were empty. Her body no longer belonged to her.
Raphael stood frozen, fury rising like smoke. His heart burned slow and cruel, torn by helplessness. His world seemed to collapse as Thivi's dignity was stripped away, crushed in merciless hands.
"Bastard…!" he roared, voice ripping into the sky. His fingers reached for the knife at his waist, gripping it as though it was the only thing keeping him alive. "You did this to them too, didn't you?! Those women… the ones I couldn't save!"
Shadows surged in his mind. Faces of women he once protected, now only scars in memory. Names erased. And behind all of them stood the same culprit: Yusra.
But the bastard only grinned, eyes calm like a predator certain its prey had nowhere left to run.
"Bastard?" he murmured. "I cleansed their sins, Raphael. A woman's sins… belong to her husband. Tell me, was I wrong?"
The words hit like bullets. They didn't kill the body, but they shredded the heart. Raphael knew, Yusra wasn't just a monster. He was evil that believed itself holy.
Yusra's smile widened, free of remorse. His lips descended again, violating the quiet night as he stole another kiss from Thivi. His hand slid across her body without mercy, ripping away the last remnants of safety she still carried.
Raphael clenched his fists, blood boiling. He wanted to tear Yusra apart until nothing remained.
"You'll pay for everything!" Raphael roared. His voice cracked under the weight of rage, pain, and vengeance. With a single motion, he unsheathed his knife. The blade caught the moonlight, and the night braced itself for blood.
Raphael charged. Every swing of his knife carried the resolve to end this corruption. But Yusra, slippery as a serpent, dodged with ease. He stepped back, still holding Thivi's face as if his grip would never break.
"Forgive me, Thivi… my back hurts because of Raphael," Yusra whispered, twisting truth into poison. He pointed at Raphael, planting venom into the illusion.
His words trembled through Thivi's heart, steering her toward a hatred that wasn't hers.
Thivi looked at Raphael, tears turning into sparks of anger.
"I'll protect Kaivan!" she cried, shoulders shaking in the embrace of lies. Her fragile body moved with sudden aggression, attacking Raphael like he was an enemy to be destroyed.
Raphael froze. He looked at Thivi, who no longer recognized him. The gentle girl had been stolen by a filthy power. But his resolve did not break. Even with his heart torn, he would not let her remain imprisoned.
Knife in hand, Raphael faced the two shadows before him, Thivi, the victim who now fought him, and Yusra, the master of illusions.
Tonight, he thought, this is the stage where everything will be decided.
The night wind crept softly across Raphael's skin, brushing over the half-healed wounds like a cold whisper. The scent of earth and blood mingled in the tense air. Under the pale moonlight, Yusra turned to Thivi. Her smile remained unchanged, manipulative, icy, as if the entire game still rested in her hands.
"Forgive me, Thivi..." Yusra's voice trembled faintly, feigning sorrow. She lifted her hand toward the wound on her back. "This mark... Raphael stabbed me."
Thivi staggered. Her blue eyes widened, torn between confusion and pain. "What...? No..." Her whisper almost vanished into the night. But the poison had already seeped in, doubt blooming wildly through her thoughts, twisted by the Tome of Omnidream.