Chapter 213:

Spirit Realm

The Spirit Realm hummed with silence.

Not dead silence—alive. Breathing. You could hear it if you listened long enough. Trees didn’t just rustle, they sang. Mountains didn’t just stand—they watched. The sky was deep green, streaked with long drifting clouds that bent and twisted in impossible arcs.

In a wide glade near the heart of the realm, two figures moved like ghosts through a sea of floating lanterns.

Ruka spun first, barefoot across the moss-covered ground. A burst of silver fire followed him, trailing behind his blade like a comet. Temmy weaved in behind him, her staff spinning through the air. Every flick created a shimmer—ripples of spirit energy that warped the space between them.

They weren’t playing.

Ruka ducked low, slid beneath her strike, then snapped his fingers. The fire along his sword bent unnaturally, forming a wolf’s snarl before launching forward.

Temmy spun, slapped the air, and the wolf exploded into a swirl of feathers.

Ruka grinned. "That’s new."

She panted lightly, shoulders rising and falling. "Learned it from the feathered ones last week. You were busy flirting with flame spirits, so I figured I’d evolve without you."

Ruka rolled his eyes. "I wasn’t flirting. They were flirting. I just didn’t stop them."

She scoffed.



The elders nearby—old, tall, glowing with faded blue light—watched in silence. They never spoke during training. Just nodded when things were done right and turned away when they weren’t.

Today, they had nodded a lot.

Ruka slumped onto a flat stone near the edge of the clearing, resting his sword beside him. His chest rose and fell slowly. His aura was stronger now—more stable. The cambion blood in him didn’t feel wild anymore. It felt... anchored.

Temmy sat beside him, clutching a gourd of spirit water. She offered it without a word.

He took it. Sipped. Stared out into the dancing glade.

"I’ve been thinking," he said after a beat.

"That’s new."

He chuckled. "Funny. But seriously... I’m thinking of heading back."

She turned slightly. "To the mortal realm?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"I left things hanging." His tone dipped lower. "Lucifer’s out there. Daniel too. And mom..."

Temmy didn’t reply. Not right away.

She could feel it. The tension in him. He smiled a lot, cracked jokes—but deep down, he was restless. Half his heart had always been somewhere else.

"Think you’re ready?" she asked.

Ruka didn’t answer immediately. He just stared upward, letting the light from the floating trees cast fractured shadows over his face.

Then, suddenly, the air shifted.

It was soft at first. Like a deep breath. The light dimmed slightly. The glade quieted. Even the elders turned.

Then, with a single blink of the world—she appeared.

Not walking. Not floating.

She was simply there.

The Progenitor of the Spirit Race.

She looked like no one and everyone. Skin like moonlit marble. Hair long and silver, but weightless like it wasn’t hair at all. Her eyes were closed, yet both Ruka and Temmy felt them watching.

She wore no crown. No armor. Just a robe that shimmered between white, blue, and every color that didn’t exist.

Temmy stood instantly. Bowed low. "Mother of Breath..."

Ruka followed her lead, dipping his head—but not fully. She noticed.

The Progenitor smiled.

Then—she opened her eyes.

And in that moment, every leaf in the glade froze mid-air.

She stepped forward, her feet not touching the ground, but still making ripples. She stopped before Temmy first, gently placing a hand on her cheek.

"You’ve grown."

Temmy trembled. "I only wish to serve."



The Progenitor nodded, then turned to Ruka.

He stood straighter.

"You are a strange one," she said softly. Her voice wasn’t a whisper—but it moved like one. "Demon blood. Human fire. Spirit will."

"I’m trying," Ruka said, scratching his neck.

She tilted her head. "You have your mother’s defiance."

That shut him up.

The Progenitor looked toward the sky. For a second, her expression darkened.

"The mortal realm is gone."

The words landed like a punch.

Ruka blinked. "What?"

She didn’t repeat it. Just let the silence hold it.

Temmy gasped softly. "Gone...? How?"

The Progenitor closed her eyes again. "One of the Progenitors fell to madness. Adam. He aligned with the Adversaries... and broke the realm."

Ruka stepped forward. "Wait—what do you mean broke it?"

"I mean it no longer exists. Not as you knew it."

His mouth opened. Then closed.

She looked at him gently. "Lilith is injured. The Vampire Progenitor has returned. And you... are being called."

His eyes sharpened. "Called by who?"

She turned slightly.

From behind one of the trees, a figure emerged. Tall. Lean. Clad in black cloth and had a demon crest across his chest.

Ruka recognized it immediately.

The crest of House Lilith, she showed it to him when she followed him back to the spirit realm in hopes of one day returning to his rightful realm which is the demon realm but she knew at the time that it was wishful thinking, how can a child who was abandoned willingly return home, that’s if he even considered it home in the first place.

The figure bowed. "My name is Sairon. I serve your mother. She sent me to retrieve you."

Ruka’s jaw tightened.

"She’s alive?"

"She is."

Temmy looked between them. "You’re leaving?"

Ruka didn’t answer.

Not yet.

The Progenitor stepped between them again. "You have a choice, child. You are not bound to her war. But... if you go, know that it will change you."

He looked up at her. "I’m already changed."

She smiled faintly. "Not yet."



There was a pause.

Then he turned to Temmy.

She didn’t look sad. Just firm.

"I’ll keep growing," she said. "So don’t come back weaker than me."

Ruka grinned. "No promises."

Then, slowly, he stepped away from the glade. Toward Sairon. Toward the path back into shadow.

The Progenitor placed a hand on Temmy’s shoulder.

"Watch the sky," she whispered. "The world may burn again."

And then...

They vanished.

A/N

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