The door swung open. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Damian and Brian stepped into detention room seven, their footsteps echoing on the blood-stained concrete.

Officer Davies stood on the far side of the room, his sword already drawn. The blade trembled in his grip, Aura flickering around the steel in unstable waves.

Then Brian saw Ming.

He stopped moving entirely, his massive frame going completely still.

Ming hung from chains bolted into the ceiling, his wrists were bleeding where the Aura suppression cuffs bit into flesh. His face was swollen beyond recognition, one eye completely shut, the other barely open through the bruising.

Blood dripped steadily from his mouth, forming a dark pool on the concrete beneath him.

Brian’s hands clenched into fists so tight his knuckles cracked.

’They did this! While we were busy planning... They were doing THIS!’

He crossed the room, each step deliberate and controlled in a way that made the air feel heavier.

His hands moved with surprising gentleness as he reached for the Aura cuffs, fingers that could crush bone handling the mechanisms with the care of someone touching something precious and broken.

The cuffs clicked open.

Ming’s arms dropped, his body sagging.

Brian caught him before he could fall, cradling him against his chest.

"I’ve got you."

His voice came out rough and barely controlled, like he was holding back something that wanted to tear free.

"I’ve got you now... You’re safe."

He pulled a healing potion from his spatial storage with one hand, keeping Ming supported with the other. He pressed it to Ming’s lips, tilting it carefully so the liquid wouldn’t choke him.

Ming swallowed weakly, the potion’s warmth spreading through his battered body.

Brian’s jaw was clenched so hard his teeth ached.

’We should have–’

Davies watched them, his mind racing even as his body remained frozen.

’A rank.’

The realization hit him as he observed Brian’s movements, the way power radiated from him even with Aura suppressed by the device.

’Even with the anti-Aura device active, I wouldn’t last five seconds against someone that strong.’

Then his eyes shifted to the other figure.

Blood covered the man’s expensive suit, dripping from his hands, splattered across his face and neck.

Davies’s sword lowered slightly as recognition crashed over him.

’No... it can’t be...’

The crimson eyes were distinctive, even when covered in other people’s blood. And the facial features... he’d seen them on every news broadcast for days

"Damian... Valcor."

The name came out as a laugh that carried no humor, just the sound of a man who’d finally understood how completely fucked he was.

Damian tilted his head slightly, acknowledging the identification without speaking.

Davies’s shoulders sagged, the sword point dropping toward the floor.

’There is no escape...’

He took a breath, then another, trying to find something like composure in the wreckage of his situation.

"So... the one going after the Shadow Council is... you?"

Damian walked further into the room, unhurried, blood dripped from his suit jacket onto the floor, leaving a trail of crimson dots that marked his path.

"I’m curious about something."

His voice was conversational.

"Why would a B rank police officer get involved with the Shadow Council? Doesn’t make sense to me."

He stopped a few feet away, studying Davies like he was examining an interesting insect.

"Actually, the whole Shadow Council doesn’t make sense. They target civilians randomly, their ideology is supposedly about equal rights and freedom and they’re meant to be a weak organization with barely any high-rank awakeners..."

His head tilted the other way.

"So what’s the real story?"

Davies said nothing for a long moment, his grip tightening and loosening on the sword handle.

Then he laughed, the sound bitter and broken.

"When I got married..."

His voice carried weight, the kind that comes from carrying something heavy for too long.

"I was the happiest person alive."

His eyes went distant, seeing something that existed only in memory.

"Mirah and I, we’ve known each other since we were kids. The whole stupid romantic story, childhood sweethearts growing up together. We built a life, worked hard and made plans for the future."

His hands clenched tighter around the sword.

"Then one of my superiors took a liking to her, started making comments, finding excuses to be around her. And when I made it clear she wasn’t interested..."

Red crept into his eyes, veins standing out on his forehead.

"He put my career on hold, blocked every promotion and made my life hell."

His voice dropped.

"Then he came to me with an offer... Send her to him for one night, he said. Just one night, and everything would go back to normal. My career would resume and I’d get the promotions I deserved."

The sword trembled in his grip.

"I refused!"

The word came out sharp and hard.

"That same night, he broke into my house and tried to force himself on her while I was on duty. But I came home early, found him there and saw what he was trying to do to my wife."

Davies’s smile was helpless, broken.

"So I killed him... Snapped his neck with my bare hands. Made it look like revenge from a criminal he was investigating. I had enough experience to twist the facts, plant the evidence, make it clean."

He met Damian’s eyes directly.

"No one found out, the case went cold and life went on. I thought we were safe and thought it was over."

His voice became quieter.

"Then one day, I found an envelope on my desk at the station and inside was everything... Photos of the crime scene from angles the investigation never captured, timeline of my movements that night and analysis proving the scene was staged. All the evidence of what I’d done."

His laugh was hollow.

"Signed by the SC."

Damian’s expression shifted to something like boredom, the kind that comes from hearing the same story too many times.

"So you joined them because they blackmailed you, forced you to work for them, you had no choice, blah blah blah..."

He waved his hand dismissively.

"I don’t have time for sob stories about how you were the real victim here."

Davies flinched like he’d been slapped.

Damian’s eyes locked onto him.

"Let me ask you something that actually matters."

His voice went quieter.

"You love your wife, right?"

Davies’s expression shifted to confusion.

"Huh? What does that have to do with–"

Damian moved.

One moment he was standing several feet away. The next, he was in front of Davies, his hand already in motion.

CRACK

The palm strike hit Davies’s core with surgical precision.

The Aura center shattered like glass, fragments of broken energy scattering through Davies’s body. The sensation was indescribable, like having your soul ripped in half while still conscious.

Davies’s mouth opened in a scream that had no sound.

Before his mind could even process what had happened, Damian’s hands moved again.

SNAP

CRACK

SNAP

CRACK

Both arms broke at the elbows, bones splintering through skin with wet sounds. Both legs shattered at the knees, joints collapsing inward.

The entire sequence took less than a second.

THUD

Davies hit the ground, his broken limbs folding at angles that shouldn’t exist. His eyes rolled back as shock and pain overwhelmed his nervous system.

He was unconscious before his body finished falling.

Damian looked down at the crumpled form with the same expression someone might use when stepping over garbage on the sidewalk.

"Brian."

He didn’t turn around.

"Carry Ming... Your domain was broken when they activated their device. The headquarters might have been notified already."

Brian gently lifted Ming, cradling the injured man against his chest like he weighed nothing.

Damian bent down and grabbed Davies by the collar, dragging his unconscious body across the floor like a sack of garbage.

They moved through the building, passing corpses and blood-painted walls.