The coffin of flowers, carrying Vivian's God, slid silently into the crimson breath of the Devil.

  At the edge of her vision, the Red Mist rolled like a congested soul, swallowing everything in a bloody haze.

  "Go, my Guardian." Vivian watched the shadow of the Flower Barge dissolve. "Show your majesty to that lost fawn. I will wait here for your triumphant return."

  But not long after the barge vanished, a psychic scream tore through her mind.

  She saw a beach. She heard Lord Leo’s voice. And she heard Isabella’s words, dripping like viper venom.

  She froze. How could you?

  How dare you feel happiness in that woman's arms?

  A jealousy more corrosive than the acid mist filled her chest, instantly sublimating into rage.

  This is not betrayal. This is murder.

  Isabella, that bitch... she is using that boatload of psychedelic pollen to extract God's spine! She wants to pickle the Savior who came to us because he feels pain, turning him into a soft, weeping worm!

  The floodgates of her memory were smashed open.

  She was back in the pale "Sanctuary." She saw her sister lying in the crystal coffin—the Third Seraph.

  Her Holy Fire had been the brightest. Yet she had wept, begging Father God to extinguish it.

  Father God had to give her "Rest."

  She stopped burning. She stopped hurting. She became nothing but dead silence.

  Lord Leo... are you craving this dead silence too?

  "No... I will never allow it. Happiness is for mortals. Pain is the Crown of Godhood!"

  The Holy Fire inside Vivian began to sing—a high, keening note.

  Sensations flooded her. It was as if an invisible Umbilical Cord had manifested, connecting her womb to Lord Leo’s soul.

  "Do you see, Lord Leo?" She smiled through her tears. "Only by sharing the same agony can souls connect. This is true resonance!"

  Through the umbilical cord, she locked onto the Flower Barge. She raised her hand and yanked fiercely at the void.

  Come back! My God. Don't be seduced by mortal tenderness. Look at me! Look at this fire boiling for you!

  But the next second, the cord snapped taut. It was fraying.

  "Isabella..." Vivian shrieked. It was a war of wills. "Stop right there! Even your sweetest flowers cannot mask the stench of your rotting soul!"

  Disregarding the lethal Red Mist, she charged. The "Fortress Chanel" on her back crackled. The Heart of the Flame activated instantly, spewing a trail of exploding Holy Oil foam mixed with blue plasma—a gorgeous, eerie wake behind a mad comet.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  She had to stop that boat. She had to drag her God from that mediocre grave back to this heart-wrenchingly bright, painful human world.

  She became a bolt of lightning, intercepting the Flower Barge.

  She stood before the Ghost Ship.

  But the Holy Fire in her chest flickered at the critical moment.

  "Lord Leo... your love is too heavy."

  Vivian looked down at her Holy Robe.

  Those soft mithril layers, the densely woven crystals... they were a gentle cocoon. They refused to burn. They obstructed the Holy Fire, disqualifying her as a "Vessel" to embrace the Divine.

  And ahead, the Ghost Ship sailed on, carrying her God slowly, steadily toward the abyss of "Normalcy."

  Vivian reached up and undid the first clasp.

  "Saints peel the skin from their bodies to be closer to God."

  She murmured the scripture, eyes burning with shrill fanaticism.

  Then the second clasp. The third. She even cast off the "Fortress Chanel" that Lord Leo had warned her never to abandon.

  When the last piece of the Holy Robe hit the dust, the crimson Purgatory Breath splashed onto her body like ten thousand red-hot needles.

  Pain.

  It really hurts!

  But this pain... is so sacred!

  In that moment, she was no longer the girl protected by Lord Leo. She was a living stake burning with Divine Punishment.

  Ahhhhh—

  Her scream tore through the red hell.

  Ghost-blue Holy Fire erupted from her core, uncontrolled and absolute.

  The Mandala slammed head-on into her wall of blue plasma.

  The hull emitted a sorrowful cry like a dying whale.

  Those swaying datura flowers were reduced to ash in an instant, gray flakes dancing in the red fog.

  "Madwoman! What are you doing?!"

  On the deck, Isabella hugged Lord Leo, glaring at Vivian, trembling with rage.

  Countless thick, thorny vines shot from the hull like angry vipers, lashing at Vivian.

  Isabella actually dares to cry?

  "I am giving him redemption! I am sparing him from pain!" Isabella screamed.

  "No! You are killing him!" Vivian let the vines lash her bare skin; the Holy Fire instantly burned them to cinder. "How can a maggot who drowns in honey understand the gift of Fire? You are killing a God with comfort! Pull your dirty tentacles out of him!"

  Vivian took a step forward. The Flower Barge wailed.

  But the double agony of Holy Fire and Red Mist brought her to her knees.

  Finally, the fraying umbilical cord reconnected. Stronger than ever.

  She saw into Lord Leo’s mind. She saw the blue sea and blue sky of his inner world.

  Happiness? That is a synonym for mediocrity! I absolutely forbid it!

  She poured her fire into his mind. She boiled the seawater dry. She burned the sand red-hot. She turned those coconut trees into pillars of smoke.

  Look at me. I am your Seraph. I am fighting for "Why You Are You."

  Lord Leo saw her.

  His illusory sea dissolved into the Inner Sanctum. He stood there, shocked, holding the extinguished Seraph. He suddenly looked behind him.

  Vivian stopped, confused by his gaze.

  She saw the Supreme One. And the woman behind the Supreme One. And Father God.

  Mother Mora? Why are you here?

  But before she could process it, Isabella's voice invaded the vision.

  "Vivian, life needs connection. Let him go. Let yourself go." Isabella's mental tentacles invaded Lord Leo shamelessly. A tidal wave surged from the horizon, trying to drown Vivian's fire.

  "No! Don't listen to her! Lord Leo, come to me! It hurts, but it is Real..."

  "Shut up!" Isabella roared.

  But a stubborn, unbreakable force returned.

  The illusion shattered.

  Vivian burned hotter. Her vision blurred. Her heart was about to burst. Her body was melting.

  Even if I die, I will die fighting for you!

  Vivian stumbled. She fell backward into the fire.

  Fine. Just like the Saint. I peeled off my skin. I showed my heart. If my ashes can scald you awake... then let me melt...

  Just as she was about to fall into the magma of her own making.

  Hands caught her.

  Not gentle. Rough. Desperate.

  He quickly snatched the "Holy Robe" from the ground and wrapped it around her scalding body without explanation.

  Pain.

  But this pain is real. It is reassuring.

  Vivian opened her eyes with difficulty.

  The mist dispersed. The hallucinations receded.

  She looked up into a pair of black, bloodshot eyes.

  "Lord Leo! You are back!"

  But Lord Leo didn't smile. He kept fastening the clasps of the Holy Robe, locking her into his arms with a force that nearly strangled her.

  "How many times have I said..."

  He gritted his teeth. His voice was hoarse, trembling with the aftershocks of terror.

  He lowered his head. It was no longer a blessing from God to a believer. It was the fury of a man protecting his woman.

  "...Without my permission, you are not allowed to take off the protective suit! And you are forbidden to take off the backpack! Do you hear me?"