CHAPTER 178: ADAM BRAT

"That’s why you have to come with me."

Lucifer’s voice trembled quietly as he held Luna against his chest. The world around them roared with dying storms, the sky flickering with dark lightning that illuminated their broken silhouettes against the crumbling cityscape. Ash drifted down like snow, landing in silent layers across their hair and shoulders.

Luna pressed her face into his coat, sobbing softly. Her fingers curled tighter around the torn fabric, refusing to let go.

"But... but what about them...?" she whispered, her voice breaking with quiet grief. "What about these people... these children... these mothers... what about them...?"

Lucifer closed his eyes. His wings trembled faintly as he tightened his grip around her shoulders. The weight in his chest burned deeper with every passing second, pulsing with grief and silent rage he couldn’t release.

"There is nothing we can do," he whispered back. "The world is dying, Luna. Their fate is sealed. Even if we try to save them... there is nowhere left to run."

She shook her head against his chest, silent tears dripping down onto the cracked asphalt. Her breath came in quiet, broken gasps as the wind whipped around them, lifting dust and debris in screaming spirals.

"I... I can’t... I can’t just leave them to die..."

He said nothing. His fingers curled into her hair, trembling softly as he pressed his forehead against hers. His crimson eyes burned with grief, flickering with silent rage at a fate neither of them could defy.

Then—

A pulse.

It rippled through the dying city like a quiet quake, shaking fallen street lamps and sending faint cracks snaking across the asphalt under their feet. The air grew heavier. Thicker. The storm clouds above flickered with deeper lightning, shadows writhing within their depths like silent serpents.

Lucifer felt it instantly.

His breath caught in his throat as his wings flared outward in quiet instinct. The aura that pressed into the city wasn’t just powerful. It was absolute. Heavy as eternity. Silent as death itself.

Luna felt his body go rigid against hers. She pulled back slightly, her wide, tearful eyes searching his frozen face.

"Lucifer...?" she whispered. "What... what is it...?"

He didn’t answer.

Because he couldn’t.

The air in front of them rippled once, folding inward like trembling water.

And Adam stepped through.

He emerged from the silent distortion with no sound. His bare feet touched the cracked asphalt without a whisper. His black robe drifted softly around his ankles, its hem brushing through the dust and ash that curled away from his silent aura. Golden eyes burned under his long black hair, flickering faintly with endless, silent light.

He didn’t look at Luna.

He didn’t look at the dying humans scrambling into the collapsed storm tunnel.

His gaze locked onto Lucifer.

And he smiled.

It was faint. Almost gentle. But there was nothing human in it. Nothing kind. Only quiet certainty. Quiet finality. The silent knowledge of someone who owned everything their gaze touched.

Lucifer’s breath trembled as his wings folded inward, feathers curling tight against his back. His claws dug faintly into Luna’s trembling shoulders as he forced himself to stay standing.

Inside his mind, Damaris screamed.

[Run. Run, you fool. Get out of there. You can’t fight him. You can’t even stand before him. Run—]

But Lucifer couldn’t move.

His legs refused to obey. His body felt heavy, like his bones had turned to lead under Adam’s silent gaze. His heart hammered against his ribs, but not in fear.

In grief.

Because he knew what he was seeing.

Adam was still absorbing the world’s Core. Lucifer could feel it. The aura radiating from him pulsed with the same trembling cadence as the dying earth under their feet. The Core’s power flowed through his veins like quiet rivers of golden light, flickering across his pale skin in thin, trembling lines.

But he was stronger now. Much stronger. Stronger than anything Lucifer had ever felt. Stronger than gods. Stronger than any demon king or vampire progenitor.

Stronger than death itself.

Adam tilted his head slightly, his golden eyes flickering as they drifted down to Luna, who clung to Lucifer’s coat with wide, terrified eyes.

"A touching scene," he said softly. His voice was quiet, carrying through the roaring wind like a silent bell. Calm. Detached. Absolute. "It’s almost beautiful. The last king of this world... holding onto its final illusions."

Lucifer’s jaw clenched. His red eyes burned brighter, flickering with silent rage that pressed outward in faint pulses of crimson light.

"Why...?" he whispered, his voice trembling with quiet grief. "Why are you doing this...? This world... it’s done nothing to you..."

Adam’s smile widened faintly. His golden eyes narrowed as he stepped closer, his bare feet silent against the cracked asphalt.

"This world is mine," he said simply. "It was created from me. Its magic. Its life. Its gods. All of it. Pieces of my power, scattered into illusions to keep the silence away. Now... I’m taking it back."

The words slipped from his lips like quiet truths. Final. Heavy. Unbreakable.

Luna sobbed softly against Lucifer’s chest, her fingers curling tighter into his coat. Adam’s eyes drifted to her again, flickering faintly with distant amusement.

"And you," he said softly. "The little human who believes she can defy inevitability. You are interesting. Fragile. Pointless. Yet you still cling to hope."

His gaze returned to Lucifer.

"Tell me, King of Vampires. Will you defy me for her sake?"

Lucifer’s breath trembled. His wings flickered faintly as his aura burned deeper, pressing cracks into the asphalt under his feet. His fangs bared behind clenched lips, a quiet snarl vibrating in his chest.

"Take her," Damaris whispered in his mind, the old god’s voice trembling with rare fear. [Take her and run. Run before he decides you’re worth killing—]

But Lucifer didn’t move.

Adam stepped closer. The golden glyphs flickering across his robe burned brighter, illuminating the swirling ash and dust around them in trembling arcs of pale light. His golden eyes locked onto Lucifer’s crimson ones, holding him there like a hand wrapped around his throat.

"You can’t save her," Adam said softly. "You can’t save anyone. You couldn’t save your father. You couldn’t save your people. You couldn’t save Francisca. And you can’t save her."

The words sliced deeper than any blade. Lucifer’s breath caught in his throat as silent tears welled in his burning red eyes.

Adam tilted his head, his smile fading into quiet, empty calm.

"But you can come with me," he whispered. "I can make you... something more. Something true. Something that does not die."

Lucifer shook his head slowly, tears slipping down his cheeks as his claws curled deeper into Luna’s trembling shoulders.

"I would rather die... than be your puppet," he whispered.

Adam’s golden eyes flickered faintly. For a moment, silence fell between them. The world trembled under their feet, deep quakes rumbling through collapsed skyscrapers and split streets.

Then Adam smiled again.

"Then you will die."

His aura pulsed outward once. Quiet. Heavy. Final.

Lucifer felt his knees buckle under the silent gravity pressing into his bones. His wings folded tighter against his back as the world darkened around Adam’s flickering golden glow.

But Luna didn’t let go.

She pressed her forehead against his chest, sobbing softly as the storm roared overhead and Adam’s quiet, endless power wrapped around them like silent chains.

And in that moment, Lucifer felt something break inside him.

Not fear.

Not rage.

Only grief.

Because he knew—

This was the end.

Or so he thought.

"Adam brat."