Fate To Fake: Loved by the Fallen; Fated to Kill the Divine

It was blank... Nothing on the front, nothing on the back.

A low growl rumbled in his chest. He was being tricked. Again and again. His fury twisted his face as he glared at Leo, who stood firm, smirking with that faint confidence.

Just then, movement stirred nearby.

Nergal, who had fallen earlier, finally staggered to his feet, his massive frame swaying as he shook his head. "Arrh… my head hurts… arrh… my head," he groaned, clutching his skull as something inside throbbed violently.

Dracula snarled and, without hesitation, slapped the side of Nergal's head.

Tang!

A metallic sound rang out. A bullet slipped free, falling from a fresh hole at Nergal's temple. He groaned again, but this time his body steadied.

The pain dulled, his head cleared… and then his eyes burned with fury.

He turned sharply toward Raphael's friend.

She flinched and raised the gun, finger trembling on the trigger, but before she could even press it—

A spiked black sphere burst from Nergal's hand, ripping through the air toward her like a ball of death.

"Shi—!"

She barely had time to react. The spikes grazed close, so close she felt the sharp wind kiss her skin.

In the very next heartbeat, Leo appeared.

He moved faster than her eyes could follow, scooping her up in his arms before the black sphere could tear her apart.

The woman had been clenching her body tight, ready for death. But when nothing pierced her, she slowly opened her eyes.

And there he was.

She was in Leo's arms.

His face was close—closer than she ever expected. For a moment, time itself seemed to stop. Her chest tightened as she blinked. Something about him felt strangely familiar… yet undeniably different.

Leo's gaze flicked down at her. "How many bullets do you have?"

She flinched, startled by his sudden words, before whispering back, "T-Two… I think?"

"How good is your aim?"

"…Headshot. Mostly."

Leo nodded as he noticed the manhole above shift slightly open, the faint glow of the streetlight spilling down through the cracks. His lips curled into a smirk. "Just fire when I tell you," he muttered.

Then he inhaled.

A deep, burning draw that almost seared his lungs raw, every breath pulling fire into his chest. His eyes locked on the spiked sphere racing toward him, and in the next heartbeat—he kicked off the ground, propelling himself faster than before.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Leo's body blurred, ricocheting through the tunnel. He launched from wall to wall, leaping off stone, water, and slick pathways alike. The sphere ripped after him, but every strike missed. It scraped walls, shattered stone, tore the ground apart.

"Faster!" Dracula roared.

Nergal snarled, chains rattling as he hurled the weapon forward, his massive arms straining. "It's not easy in here!" he bellowed as each swing of the spiked sphere wrecked the sewer around them, stabbing into walls and smashing everything it touched.

Leo's voice suddenly crackled through the walkie-talkie, "Essa… pull me up."

He had finally stopped directly under the manhole.

And then... two things happened simultaneously!

First: Essa, still fighting the bat monster above, gritted her teeth as its claws ripped against her. Her legs coiled tight with strength before she kicked out with brutal force.

The blow launched the beast backwards like a bullet, its body crashing into the distance. Using that momentum, she flipped back, her body twisting in a smooth somersault over the manhole... Her eyes flicked up just in time to see Raphael, face flushed red, straining as she heaved the manhole open.

"Move," Essa hissed. A rope shot from her hand in a flash to the manhole directly above Leo.

Second: Leo, just as the spiked weapon arced toward him, whispered a single word. "Fire."

At the same instant, his palm yanked free a shard that glowed faintly orange, its light pulsing like a heart. He caught the rope in his other hand.

The woman in his arm, face twisted with rage, raised the gun and screamed, "Take that bastard!!" Her finger squeezed the trigger.

BANG!!

Leo and the woman were wrenched upward, hauled by Essa's rope as the spiked sphere slammed into the wall beneath them, stone exploding into dust and shards.

The last thing Dracula saw before the pull carried Leo away was that smirk... Leo's confident, razor-edged smirk... and the freaking glowing orange stone that slipped from his hand, tumbling through the air past him.

Dracula's eyes widened.... Horror!!

He tried to move, but too late.

Nergal staggered backwards, his body jerking violently as the headshot punched through his skull.

He collapsed against Dracula.

"Fuc-"

And then—

The orange stone cracked.

BOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!

The explosion ripped through the tunnels. Flames roared, devouring the sewage gases in an instant, erupting outward like a hellish breath.

Rows of manholes across the city blew skyward, fire spewing into the night as the underground ignited in a storm of destruction.

Leo and the woman crashed back to the surface, landing hard as his boots skidded across the ground.

He shielded her in his arms as blue flames erupted behind them, blasting up from the manhole like the engines of a rocket.

The roar of the inferno drowned the city, painting the night with fire.

"KYA!!"

Raphael screamed when she saw the flames flare out, the scorching heat licking close enough to make her skin sting as she fell back in horror. If she had stayed there even a few seconds longer, her face would have been burned to a crisp.

Wait… what about her friend?

As she was about to move, her eyes widened—she saw… a man, and her friend landing hard on the ground, saved at the last second as the mysterious cloaked figure swung down and used the rope to drag them out of danger.

Her friend blankly stared at Leo's face, her breathing uneven. Her trembling hand clenched on his shoulder tightly, almost clawing into him as if he was the only anchor in this chaos.

She didn't even glance around, didn't notice the ruined street or the flames... it was all drowned by him.

The smooth way he moved, the confident smile as if saving her had cost him nothing… it struck her heart.

When she was pulled along with him, the air rushing past her ears, she saw his charisma shining brighter than any man she had ever seen in her life.

She just blankly stared at Leo as if… as if…

"My prince," she muttered unconsciously, lips trembling as if the words had been pulled from the deepest part of her heart.

Leo, who had been smirking at the thought of Dracula burning away, froze at the sound.

His gaze snapped down to the woman in his arms, her face so close he could see the desperate awe in her eyes.

He gently put her down, though she clung to him for a second longer, reluctant to let go. Slowly, she lowered her body, forcing herself to stand on her own.

She couldn't act clingy to him.

That would make her weird!

As she turned, her heart lurched when she saw her friend alive and kicking, her face flushed with shock and tears.

"Bitch, you're alive!!" she screamed.

She ran towards Raphael and hugged her tightly, her face pressed against her shoulder, crying as if she had held her breath until this moment.

Raphael hugged her back with trembling arms, eyes wet. "I-I really thought I lost you there."

"Sniff, sniff… hmmm." She just nodded, unable to answer through the lump in her throat as they clung to each other like two drowning souls who had found a raft in the storm.

Meanwhile, Leo blinked in surprise, caught off guard by the scene. 'So Raphael is her friend?'

He had asked her about Raphael before, but she swore she hadn't seen anyone like that.

'Maybe she was scared,' he thought with a shrug... His eyes softened as he watched Raphael hugging her friend so tightly, as if afraid to ever let her go again.

A gentle smile tugged at his lips.

His aunt… alive.

That's all he wanted! That single truth filled him with warmth and ache all at once.

"How are you?" Raphael asked, her hands trembling as she touched her friend's face, her thumb brushing away dirt and sweat.

Her friend's lips curved into a weak smile as she rubbed her eyes, "M-My prince saved me," she whispered, her tone reverent, almost fragile, as though confessing a secret.

"Prince?" Raphael's face darkened with a frown as her friend pointed towards… Leo.

Raphael's face froze in horror.

Her friend immediately added, "If not for him, I would have died and been eaten by those monsters…" Her whole body shook at the mere thought.

Then, she remembered something; she whispered, "Wait… he came looking for a woman with black hair and glasses."

She looked around, searching desperately, but then her eyes settled back on Raphael. She frowned as if seeing her for the very first time.

Glasses? Check…

Black hair… check?

Her friend's eyes widened in shock as she looked at Leo and pointed, her finger trembling.

"This one?"

Leo weakly nodded.