Van and Luna jumped out of the hole through the wall and landed in the courtyard where Karmila lay broken and beaten. Somehow her body was mostly still in one piece, though her arms and legs were crippled. He wasted no time in barraging her with small dark nova bombs one after the other.

“Gwawah!” Karmila was blasted over and over again, at the end of the onslaught she coughed up blood and rolled over.

“Holy shit, she’s like a fucking cockroach…” Van thought as he watched Karmila try to keep herself together through the only few tendrils of flesh she still had. To his surprise she addressed him, somehow getting the words out of a half-broken mouth.

“You can’t kill me…” She croaked. “I’m the only thing that’s keeping the underworld in check. If I die, so many criminal enterprises will run rampant and gang warfare will be the norm. So many will die…” She slowly began to cackle a broken heaving laugh.

This made Van pause, he had learned plenty of times from his past lives that to chop off the head of a crime organization will only replace it with two or more competing ones, doing more damage than good. But then again… To allow someone like Karmila to live would be like presenting your back to a very venomous snake, one that you know is going to strike sooner or later.

Luna took a step forward, raising a hand carrying a spear of black and white draconic fire. She was going to finish this, one way or another. But she was stopped by Van who raised a hand, preventing her from moving forward. She turned to him in surprise as Karmila began to laugh even more, thinking she had won.

“Azra, see to it that Luna’s grandparents are safely escorted out of the castle grounds.” Van said to his familiar, and after a second of thought added. “Also Karen if she’s alive and her sister Karmina. As well as whatever valuables you can get while you are at it.”

Karmila chuckled. “Sure, take what you want.” Hacking a bloody loogie. “I’ll just get it back one way or another.

Soon Van heard the clatter of soldiers rushing to the courtyard where they were quickly surrounded. Two of the guards rushed over to Karmila, who promptly decapitated them and drained them of their blood to help heal her body.

“Luna…” Van didn’t need to say anything more. Luna promptly created a barrier of light surrounding Karmila to prevent anyone from helping her or from her getting out.

“Don’t think this is the end, you have a lot to answer for.” He said, his eyes pitiless.

Karmila cackled, but her eyes turned red with anger as some of her body healed allowing her to lean up a little from where she was sprawled on the ground. “Do you really think you can take on all of my guards alone? I might not know where you got that sudden power from…” Her eyes narrowed. “But I do know you will require more than that to defeat me. And even if you manage to restrain me. I have friends in high… And low places that will exonerate me… You’ll just be delaying the inevitable…”

Van remained silent as he felt Azra do her work in bringing Karen and the others into his soul realm, as well as whatever little valuables that were lying around. He began to argue with Karmila to help buy some time while his familiar did her task.

“Do you really think you can simply get away with this?” Van asked incredulously. “You literally coerced your own daughter to kidnapped me, forced me in a marriage against my will and even planned to rape me. Not only that, but from what little I know of your actions, not only have you betrayed house Taldor, but made it so that house Umbra will want to wash their hands of you. You literally have no house or backing powerful enough to help you out of this hole you dug yourself.” Glaring angrily at Karmila.

Karmila smiled. “That is what you think, there are many powers high and low that owe me. And I have dirt on countless more… Besides… Everyone knows you are an incubus. My daughter simply wasn’t in her right mind when she kidnapped you, not to mention everyone who attended the wedding will confirm that you wanted to go along with the marriage, and once you have married my daughter you showed your true colors and attacked me.” Her eyes sparkled with evil glee. “You. Don’t. Have. Proof. That. I. Orchestrated. This.”

Van’s hands turned into fists, gripping himself until he drew blood as his veins boiled with anger. Luna seemed now more than ever like she wanted to rip Karmila a new one. But as suddenly as his anger came it went when Azra gave the mental thumbs up telling him she got everything.

He let out a small breath and gave Karmila a relaxed look. “You know what… Your right Karmila… I can’t beat you when it comes to strong-arming houses big and small into doing your bidding. Or finding loopholes in the laws of our realm and twisting them till they squeal like a pig. So long as you're alive, I will never know a moment of peace…”

Karmila’s smile slowly began to fade at the sudden change in Van’s attitude.

“In the end it will boil down to who said what and my story versus yours… And you will have the best story tellers and spinners on your side no doubt about it… But…” His eyes turned red with malice giving her a pitiless look. “That’s only if you're alive…”

Karmila’s eyes widened. “STOP THEM!” She roared as her instincts kicked in.

Van didn’t even need to say anything. Luna reinforced her barrier on Karmila to prevent her escape and any aid. The two then flew high in the sky as far away as possible.

“Mew.” Azra said, appearing on his back and providing some shadowy wings for his use.

“Thank you Azra, you got everything you could?”

“Mrew!” Azra happily replied.

Van smiled. “Then there's no reason to delay any further…”

Soon his body began to blacken as he forced power through it. He began to consume his soul realm once more. One mile’s worth, then two, then ten, and then more. His body started to convulse and his veins ruptured as time went on, but he forced his hands together creating a small black star. It slowly grew bigger and bigger, climbing to the size of his fist, then through sheer force of will to the size of his head and bigger.

With a roaring snarl of unbridled rage he raised his hands up high and flung the ball down towards the castle and specifically at the courtyard where countless soldiers of house moonshadow were trying to break the barrier that kept Karmila constrained.

“HYPER DARK NOVA BOOOOMB!”

Karmila saw the black ball of death headed her way and screamed. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The castle went up as if a nuke had struck it. At the very center of where the nova bomb had gone off was nothing but vaporized particles. Van and Luna had flown far away, but they were still knocked out of the sky alongside some of the tall surrounding buildings near the center of the explosion. The castle itself looked like a portion of it had been ripped out of reality. Half of its insides were laid bare.

Van panted, some of his bones broken and his muscles shredded almost beyond repair due to the sheer amount of power he channeled in order to make his attack. He felt miserable and like his heart was tight and constantly out of breath. Even his soul realm wasn’t fairing much better, he had somehow consumed an entire forty eight miles of his soul in order to fire that attack. And he had a feeling that was mostly because his body simply couldn’t handle the power and so much of it had slushed out and became useless. If he was a bit stronger, it probably would have taken less of his soul to consume to fire.

But what’s done is done…

They had won, and now all Van wanted to do was sit down and relax… And with that in mind he passed out and hung in the air as Azra worked her body to keep him afloat and Luna panicked trying to see what she could do to help, her awe at the destruction gone out of the window from fear for Van’s safety.

—

Van waited patiently in his jail cell.

It had been two weeks since Karmila’s death. When news spread of her demise, her city erupted into a massive riot. Forcing Van and Luna to lay low until the proper authorities could extract them.

Afterword for another week he was interrogated about what happened, with Van keeping largely quiet. Not that his interrogators were actually trying to force a confession out of him, it was all just a formality. No one wanted to press charges against him, not with the backing of Arch Duchess Rosalyn and both house Umbra and house Taldor who were more than happy about Karmila’s death. So it wasn’t long before he was simply let go.

“Van!” Luna rushed and hugged him as he exited the hall of blood and justice. She buried her face into his chest, just happy to be with him again.

As for Van he felt the same and hugged her in return, taking note on how she hadn’t changed since her transformation when she combined with Agnes. Looking up he noticed with surprise his parents waiting for him.

Ending his hug with Luna, he walked over and awkwardly stood in front of his father. But after a while Alvaroz hugged his son, just glad that Van was alright. “I missed you son.”

Van slowly hugged his father back. “I missed you too dad.” He then noticed both Thea and Alecto standing by alongside his mother Lillia. He wasn’t sure how to talk to them, considering what he did to both their daughters.

“It’s alright Van, I already told them,” Luna said.

Van felt both apprehensive and relieved by that, but Thea and Alecto seemed to have already come to terms with what happened and didn’t blame him. They were just happy that their daughter, even if she had changed a bit, was still alive and happy and even said as much.

“Still, I’m sorry…” He replied, hanging his head. “I wish this didn’t have to happen.”

“What's in the past is in the past.” Thea said with a sigh, not in her usual cheery mode. “I’m just glad Luna and Agnes are alive… In a manner of speaking…”

Alecto nodded. “Indeed, all my daughter's memories are still there, just… Being shared with someone else. I would rather have her alive than…” She didn’t finish her sentence, knowing that she didn’t have the words to properly convey what she was feeling.

Van also wasn’t so blind to see the baby In Thea’s arm or the swollen belly in Alecto. It seemed his father became a bit busier then he realized once he had left. “Congratulations.” He said a little awkwardly.

Alecto smiled and nodded and the silence stretched until Rosalyn came running, mercifully ending the strand atmosphere. She hugged him as much as her small body could.

“I’m so glad you are okay!” She said with her eyes welling up, her emotions laid bare. “I’m not sure what I would have done if something happened to you.”

Van smiled and picked her up, giving her a loving kiss on the lips before parting, still carrying her. “I’m glad to be back. We have a lot of catching up to do.

After talking with everyone for a few more minutes, they decided to head to Rosalyn’s castle for dinner. Where they had a lavish feast and talked about a lot of things. Thomas was there and so was Luna’s grandparents who had been allowed out of Van’s soul realm upon his capture. Things finally seemed to be going in a positive direction.

—

“Is this really the only way to save her?” Van asked Lynaria who was tapping a few things on her blue screen.

“Yes, unfortunately her mind was already a little gone when I received her, this won’t really bring her back, but I believe it is for the best.”

Van turned to Karen. “And are you sure you want to do this?”

Karen gave a labored sigh. “I’m broken Van… Even if you can heal me, which I think you can give with enough time, I don’t want to come back. At least not as I am now…” She turned to her sister Karmina and then to Azra. “This must be some sort of joke of the gods, but I rather live on as someone more deserving of living, even if it's not by much…”

Van and Lynaria shared a look. It turned out that Azra and Karmina were soul pairs. Meaning they could be fused together. Van wasn’t even aware that Azra developed a soul, and was even more surprised that it synced perfectly with Karmina. As for Karen, she was dying and didn't want to continue living anymore, and so decided to do the ultimate blood fusion with her sister in the hopes of repairing Karmina’s body and mind somewhat before the soul fusion with Azra.

“I’m surprised something like this even exists…” Van said.

“It’s taboo for a reason though.” Lynaria added. “We wouldn’t even know it was even possible if it weren't for your new girlfriend Zariel and her ancestor. It really could go either way…” She tapped a few more things and a magical circle appeared tying both Karen and Karmina together. “Are you ready?” She asked, looking at Karen.

Karen nodded.

“Alright then, here we go!” She gave a nod to Van who didn’t like the part he had to play in this, but did it anyway. He pulled out a ceremonial dagger and sliced Karen's throat wide open. Her blood then spilled out and almost like it was drawn by a powerful magnet flowed towards Karmina’s body, healing her and fusing with her body.

Soon it was over and Karmina’s body looked healthier than ever. This was followed by the fusion process with Azra, which was surprisingly easier, as the shadowy cat simply seemed to dissolve into Karmina’s body.

“Is it over?” Karina asked worriedly, looking on with a mix of expectation and trepidation at everything happening in front of her.

Slowly Karmina’s eyes opened and she sat up. “Mew?” She said out loud as a shadowy tail and ears popped out of her. Weirdness aside, Azra, or Karmina, it was hard to tell right now, was clearly powerful, shadowy energy flowed from her like waves from the ocean. Slowly she looked over to Karina and blinked. “Sister?”

Karina rushed over and hugged Azra/Karmina? With joy.

Azra/Karmina blinked but then hugged Karina back. “I’m so glad to see you too… But…” She looked around a little confused. “I… Feel like something is off… Like my memories are a jumble…”

Karina leaned back and smiled. “I’ll explain it all to you. But first, let's show you to Althea, I'm sure she would love to see you again.”

Van and Lynaria watched as Karina took her sister away, who still had a lost and foggy look in her eyes as if she wasn’t sure what was happening.

“You know what you have to do now right?” Lynaria said after a while, still watching as Karina and her sister slowly disappeared. “You promised…”

Van sighed. “Yeah… I did…” He said, unhappy about it. He looked up, wondering what else the future held in store for him and how he was going to overcome all the trials and tribulations ahead.