CHAPTER 237: CHAPTER 238: NEVER

Atlas reached it... finally, the fragment of Claire’s bubble. The dreaming bubble.

He was shaking. Still trembling with the echoes of what he’d seen... what he’d barely escaped. He looked behind once more. The beast... no longer after him. No sound. No breath. No presence.

But the warning still screamed in his mind, carved into his bones:

"It said it’s going to be released... Fuck. If that’s so—what the fuck will happen to the world?"

He vanished. Entering her fragment.

It was already afternoon in the forest near the border, when Atlas zapped back into existence — into the real world. His knees buckled slightly, the weight of reality slamming into him.

A cold wind whispered through the hills like a mourning ghost. He took a breath — fresh, wet with rain, real — and let it burn through his lungs.

Relief. Brief. Fleeting.

He looked around. Green hills, split and shredded. Trees bent like they’d bowed to something too powerful. The sky above: choked in thick clouds, pulsing with occasional flashes of light. The air smelled of earth torn open, and beneath it... something acrid. Metallic.

He blinked. Then again. His breath caught.

He was still in the air when he looked down.

"Fuck!!"

It was utter destruction.

Like the time she’d used the explosion spell, back in the Valley of Silence. But this... this was different. This was feral. It wasn’t magical precision. It was clawed, ripped, violent — animalistic. Blood had once spilled here. The earth remembered.

Atlas landed. Knees bent. Heart heavy.

He walked slowly, each step crunching over broken leaves and branches shredded like parchment. He passed a tree clawed three times deep, sap bleeding from its wounds. His fingers brushed the bark. Still warm.

"Aurora told me."

His eyes flickered with guilt.

"Told me what I’m doing... it’s hurting them. All of them. Every time I lie. Every time I choose to play safe."

He exhaled. It fogged in the air, even though it wasn’t cold.

"Even if she tears me apart... I need to face her."

Rain began to fall. Soft at first, then insistent. Droplets streaked down his cheeks like a prelude to tears. He didn’t flinch. The world knew. It always did. The rain never came by chance.

Atlas took a slow breath.

He followed the devastation like a trail of sin. Rain-soaked soil squelched under his boots. Bark peeled from trees in long, scorched strips. Lightning flashed, but no thunder came.

Then—

A cavern. A gaping wound on the side of a hill.

Freshly carved.

And from within—

Sobs.

Atlas stopped.

His body tensed.

Not because of fear.

But because the sound hit something raw in him.

Something buried under duty, power, ego.

Her pain.

Undeniable. Pure. Real.

He stepped forward slowly.

Inside, huddled in the dark, was someone—no, something—that looked like Claire.

But her halo was gone.

Two small, jagged purple horns shimmered above her head. Her wings—taut, trembling—wrapped around her like a prison. Her body had changed. Grown. Her usual outfit clung in torn rags over her larger frame. The magic in her blood had warped her.

She was hiding. Ashamed.

"...Claire," he said softly.

The sobbing froze.

{Atlas?...Go away. I’m a monster now. A demon. You shouldn’t see me like this...}

"I’m not here to judge you.....I came to find you." He voiced gently.

{You came for me?}

Hope flickered in her voice.

But it twisted just as quickly.

{Haha... nice try. You don’t care about me. All you care about is yourself. And her. That bitch of yours.}

Atlas flinched. He didn’t defend himself. He stepped in further, crouching low under the slope of the cave.

He knelt beside her. Quiet. Still.

"Claire... look at me."

{...Don’t. Don’t look at me. You’ll—}

"I’ll what?"

{You’ll judge me. Just like that healer did. Like them all....}

Atlas exhaled, slow and steady.

"No," he said, voice low. Gentle. "This isn’t you talking. This fear, this shame—this isn’t the Claire I know. The Claire I love."

He reached out. Touched the edge of her wing. She flinched.

He didn’t pull back.

"I’ve been with you since the beginning. I’m with you still. The world may judge you, but I never will....Never."

Silence stretched. Long. Thick.

Then the wings fell. Dropped away like surrender.

And Claire looked up at him.

Her eyes, rimmed in violet, swam with tears. Horns still glowing. Skin faintly tinted purple. But her beauty—undeniable. Raw. Otherworldly.

She turned her head away, ashamed.

"You look beautiful," he whispered.

{I look hideous...} she voiced.

He moved closer. His fingers slid around her waist, drawing her gently toward him. Her body tense—but not resisting.

{..What was that?}

{...What did you say?} she asked again.

Atlas cupped her chin, lifting it tenderly. And then, he kissed her.

Not rushed. Not hungry. Not lustful.

It was deep. Slow. Like a confession.

Their lips parted, breathless.

"I said... you look gorgeous."

Her aura pulsed, dimmed. She looked at his eyes. As her heartbeat calm down. Her lustful rage, going down with every beat of her slowing heart.

The horns gradually shrank. Her skin returned to a soft human glow, her hair falling over her eyes.

And still, her form—powerful, elegant—remained the same.

She met his gaze.

And for the first time in what felt like eternity... she believed him.

Claire exhaled, relief washing over her like a tide. She slumped into his arms without words. Her cheek on his chest. Letting herself fall.

"...Why didn’t you tell me?" she asked.

".....I should’ve," he admitted. "It was my mistake. I thought I was protecting you...."

"You idiot..."

"I know."

"You always do this." Her voice was fading, eyes fluttering. Exhaustion taking her. "You carry the world on your shoulders... and then lie about it. Idiot."

He smiled faintly. "Haha....You’re not wrong."

A pause.

Then she murmured, eyes closed:

"...How many?"

He stiffened slightly. "...How many what?"

"How many women, you lustful idiot?"

"..."

He had no answer.

Claire sighed heavily—but she didn’t pull away.

She wrapped her arms tighter around him, resting in the rhythm of his breath.

"...You’re a filthy, horny jerk," she muttered.

"But I need you, Atlas."

He froze.

"And now I know more than ever..." she whispered. "I do love you."

A crack bloomed in Atlas’s chest.

Something fragile. Something true.

He kissed her forehead gently, arms tightening around her.

"I love you too, Claire.....I mean it."

Her smile bloomed, faint but bright. The kind of smile that felt like a sunrise in a storm.

And with it, the magic shifted.

The hunger—the demonic aura—melted away completely.

In its place, a radiant halo bloomed above her once again.

But not dark.

Not cursed.

It was light.

Soft and golden. A glow that pulsed with warmth, illuminating the cave around them in a gentle, holy hue.

"...Don’t ever do that to me again," she whispered.

"....Never," he promised.