Opening
A glittering party becomes a kill box as Dianna and Liam (Samkiel) walk into Camilla’s trap, testing their trust, power, and the feelings they can no longer deny. By the time the mansion burns, Dianna’s monster is loose, Liam’s World Ender returns, and a single revelation resets the quest: Azrael’s daughter lives.
What Happens
Chapter 36: Welcome, Vampire King
Dianna arrives at Camilla’s opulent soirée disguised as the Vampire King Ethan, brittle from Liam’s earlier rejection and struggling to hold her regal mask in place. Liam quietly coaches her performance while she battles a gnawing sense of being watched—the same presence she felt in Tadheil. Camilla sweeps in, dazzling and dangerous, and pointedly offers “fresh” blood. Dianna drinks to preserve her cover, and the Ig’Morruthen inside her stirs, sharpening hunger and senses.
The charade crumples under Camilla’s scrutiny. She cites the power she sensed when their plane crossed her territory, recognizes the goddess Ophelia’s bracelets, and remarks that no mortal looks as “godly” as Liam. She offers a deal: the Book of Azrael’s location in exchange for protection for her coven—an immediate flex of Power and Corruption, bargaining knowledge for safety and status.
When Camilla flirts with Liam, Dianna physically blocks her, jealousy flashing—a raw edge that reframes their mission through Love and Sacrifice. Camilla demands the bargain be sealed with a kiss—from Liam. Dianna swallows the hurt when Liam asks, “Why does it matter?” and watches him kiss the witch. Her hope splinters. Then the trap drops: the meeting is staged, and Santiago, Kaden’s favored witch, steps through the door.
Chapter 37: Kaden’s Pathetic Whore
Santiago gloats over Dianna’s recapture as Camilla turns on her guests, binding Liam and Dianna. The glamour masking Ethan fails; Dianna stands revealed. Camilla’s treachery locks in the axis of Betrayal and Loyalty: in return for aiding Kaden and the book, she’s promised a seat of power.
Dianna refuses to cower. She needles Santiago, dredging up the night he cried when she rejected him. Liam, straining against Camilla’s bindings, warns Santiago he’s a “dead man” if he touches her—protection that Santiago dismisses as weakness. The circle tightens: Irvikuva, demonic winged spawn of Kaden’s power, mass outside.
Santiago leans in, hissing, “Kaden’s pathetic whore,” and Dianna spits in his face. He presses a gun to her head, coolly explaining the shot won’t kill her—only down her long enough to drag her back. He pulls the trigger. The impact topples her chair. He fires twice more.
Chapter 38: Don’t Ever Touch Me
Liam’s control fractures. Only now do we learn Camilla’s kiss wasn’t seduction but a vision: she warned of the setup and told him to play along. Dianna’s limp body breaks his restraint—until a sleek black beast erupts from the floor: Dianna’s full Ig’Morruthen form. It takes Camilla by the throat, baring the brutal truth of Identity and Monstrosity: the monster she hides is also the power that will not let her die.
Liam hauls the beast off—Camilla still holds information—and, honoring the deal, shields and heals the witch. Camilla vanishes as Santiago flees, leaving Irvikuva and a coven to swarm. Explosions ripple through the mansion. Dianna slaughters in beast and human form, blood-soaked and unstoppable. Liam snatches her into the night as the estate collapses into fire.
In the jungle, the emotional dam breaks. Dianna, raw with betrayal and bloodlust, accuses Liam of choosing Camilla and using her as a pawn. He insists the kiss was strategy, that Camilla showed him their next move. Jealousy snaps to feverish tension when he asks if she was jealous; he leans in—almost kisses her. An Irvikuva spears Dianna with its talons and drags her into the dark.
Chapter 39: The Oblivion Blade
Liam’s terror peaks as Irvikuva circle, mimicking Dianna’s voice from every direction, crooning that she is going back to Kaden “in pieces.” Centuries of vows shatter. He summons the Oblivion blade and dons celestial war-armor—the weapon and mantle even old gods feared. He chooses her over his oath and becomes the World Ender again.
He carves through the beasts with obsidian speed, follows a plume of fire, and finds Dianna at the lip of a searing portal to Kaden’s realm, outnumbered and bleeding out. He cuts down the Irvikuva and drags her back from the brink. To seal the rift, he drives Oblivion into the earth; destruction ripples outward in an earthquake felt for miles.
When the ground stills, horror settles: Dianna isn’t healing. Irvikuva, of Kaden’s bloodline, have torn wounds her power can’t mend. Cradling her broken body, Liam rockets into the sky, hunting sanctuary.
Chapter 40: Knight in Shining Armor
Liam senses celestials and drops into snowy Chasin, where an elderly celestial couple recognizes “Samkiel” and ushers them inside. Dianna shakes with shock, blood soaking the kitchen table. They give Liam Secctree leaves to dull her pain. He pours celestial current into her, knitting flesh and bone until the entire town blacks out under the draw. When it’s done, she’s whole—and distant. She accepts clothes from Coretta and withdraws, a silence thick between them.
Liam contacts Logan by altered mirror. He recounts the Irvikuva assault, the mansion’s fall, and that he unsheathed Oblivion. Logan hears something new in him—light returning—and presses for the intel Camilla shared. Liam finally says it: Azrael’s daughter is alive. Logistics resume—phones, transport—but Liam hears only the steady thrum of Dianna’s heartbeat in the next room.
Character Development
Dianna Dianna’s heart and monster both step into the open. The kiss exposes how deeply she cares; the beast proves how far she’ll go to survive—and to protect.
- Admits jealousy through action, not words, when she blocks Camilla from touching Liam
- Unleashes her full Ig’Morruthen form for the first time in open combat
- Reclaims agency after being shot, turning fear of monstrosity into a weapon
- Keeps emotional distance post-healing, signaling trust is damaged but not broken
Liam (Samkiel) Liam moves from disciplined distance to visceral devotion. For Dianna, he breaks an ancient vow and becomes the World Ender again—then spends himself to stitch her back together.
- Uses the Oblivion blade after millennia, redefining his power through purpose
- Prioritizes Dianna’s life over mission, oath, and secrecy
- Heals her at catastrophic personal cost (a regional blackout)
- Centers her heartbeat as his compass, revealing a new, anchoring attachment
Themes & Symbols
Betrayal and Loyalty Camilla’s turn weaponizes hospitality, exposing the brittle edges of alliance and the price of information. Dianna reads Liam’s kiss as betrayal, confirming her fear of being unlovable; Liam counters with absolute loyalty—threats to Santiago, shielding Camilla to keep a promise, and finally unsheathing Oblivion to save Dianna. The section reframes loyalty as action under fire, not words under chandeliers.
Power and Corruption Camilla and Santiago use power to bargain and dominate; their magic buys rank and security. Dianna’s power is feral—terrifying, necessary, and morally ambiguous as she tears the coven apart. Liam’s power is absolute destruction, but he hones it into rescue. The chapters argue that power’s moral valence lies in intent and restraint; corruption blooms where power serves only the self.
Identity and Monstrosity Dianna’s transformation makes literal the duality she fears: the monster is her. Yet the beast saves her, and in wielding it, she begins to own what Kaden forged as a curse. Liam mirrors this acceptance: he reclaims the World Ender and the blade that haunts him, not to raze the world but to save one person. Both redefine monstrosity as capacity rather than destiny.
Symbols
- Oblivion Blade: Once annihilation, now salvation; the instrument of vows broken and love enacted.
- Irvikuva: Kaden’s reach made flesh—wounds that resist healing, a reminder of bondage past and present.
- Blood/Beast: Dianna’s hunger and strength entwined; every sip and transformation blurs savior and monster.
Key Quotes
“Why does it matter?” Liam’s question slices Dianna open; to keep their cover, he feigns indifference, but the line confirms her deepest fear—that she matters less than the mission. It catalyzes her jealousy and the fracture that explodes in the jungle.
“You’re a dead man.” Bound and contained, Liam still promises annihilation if Dianna is harmed. The threat foreshadows his return to the World Ender and marks the moment loyalty eclipses restraint.
“Kaden’s pathetic whore.” Santiago’s slur reduces Dianna to possession and provocation. Her spit—and refusal to submit—precedes the gunshot and her beast’s emergence, flipping his attempt at dehumanization into her reclamation of power.
“In pieces.” The Irvikuva’s taunt weaponizes Liam’s worst fear, pushing him past centuries of control. That refrain ushers in the Oblivion blade, making fear the fuse that lights his transformation.
“Don’t ever touch me.” Dianna’s fury in the jungle knots together betrayal, desire, and survival. The command draws a boundary Liam now understands he must earn his way across—emotionally, not just tactically.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These chapters deliver the book’s first true detonation—emotional and literal. Masks drop: Dianna’s beast, Liam’s World Ender, and Camilla’s duplicity. The fallout burns away pretense, forcing the duo to admit what they’ll risk for each other and what lines they’ll cross to win. Crucially, Camilla’s intel pivots the quest from vague hunt to concrete mission: Azrael’s daughter is alive. With loyalties clarified and powers unleashed, the story turns toward a more dangerous, more honest second act where love, identity, and the blade’s shadow will decide who survives.