The stench of sulfur and Serena's burning asphalt wings choked Raine as the Inquisitor's mechanical tail impaled his lung. Blood vaporizing in the heat scalded his retinas white. Her laughter detonated in his eardrums: "Father-son bonding hour? Pathetic."
Her fangs clamped the Inquisitor's mechanical spine, four tattered wings blazing in magma cyclones. Molten light revealed dragon-scale veins squirming beneath her skin: "Hatchling...if you flinch now..."
The Inquisitor's mask cracked under lava tongues, his mechanical right eye emitting holy light. Within that beam, Raine saw his future self—age-spotted face embedded with crown shards, left eye a mosaic of Ellen's starlit scales.
"Vessel reclamation 99%." The Inquisitor's voice glitched through time-static. "Your lesson...erase all variables..."
Serena suddenly released her bite, letting the mechanical tail drag them into magma. Falling, she tore open her collarbone, asphalt blood forming Dracula's dagger: "Planners make me puke—"
As magma swallowed them, six bone wings erupted from Serena's back. New draconic membranes pulsed with lava veins, fangs engraved with Dracula's crest resonating with Raine's scar. The Inquisitor's mask shattered, revealing Raine's aged face half-eaten by void crystals: "You always...break rules..."
Three hundred meters down, hundreds of crystal coffins floated like jellyfish. Each lid bore Serena's name with dates: 1644.Île de la Cité, 1793.Bastille, 1945.Berlin... The nearest marked 2025.03.21—the day Raine awoke under the Citadel.
"Anniversary gifts?" Serena's draconic claws ripped open the Inquisitor's chest, yanking out a glowing chip. "Or your creepy hobby?"
The Blade suddenly turned against Raine's own heart—Inquisitor's mechanical eye hijacking his limbs. As steel touched reversed scales, a coffin labeled "Serena 1991.11.07" surfaced, revealing child Serena curled inside with Slave Brand III.
"Surprise?" The Inquisitor coughed black crystals. "That snowy night you shoved me into the incubator..."
Serena's wings whipped magma tsunamis, Dracula dagger stabbing the mechanical eye: "Shut it! Your sob story's stale—"
The chip's explosion shattered half the coffins. Child Serena clones mermaid-swam toward Raine, singing lullabies in dead languages, offering crown-metal reversed scales: "Father...choose your sacrifice..."
Raine's right eye oozed stardust—Ellen's chip resonating. He saw each clone's memory: 1644 Serena implanted in Notre Dame's crypt, 1945 Serena mechanized in Berlin's ruins... All variables converging.
"So you're..." The Inquisitor's voice melted into slag. "The optimal solution..."
Serena's tail coiled around Raine, wing-cocooning him. Magma crystallized into black walls behind them, muffling clone wails. Her heartbeat thundered with magma's sub-bass: "See now? Your damn hero complex..."
The Inquisitor's remains reformed into the First Dragon's tentacled form, clones merging into his flesh. Child Serenas' eyes became starlit scales, chanting: "Mother...welcome home..."
Submerged Currents
Ellen's surviving chip absorbed clone data in magma, scales assembling Dracula's complete crest. Deep within her mechanical iris flashed Citadel members kneeling before a "Raine 000" coffin...