No One’s Pov

Elias spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor, a manic laugh bubbling in his throat. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes wide

"Hah! Seems like the knight in shining armor is here, huh?" he roared, stumbling to his feet.

"But sadly, you won’t be able to leave just like the way you came!"

Dante’s gaze finally shifted from Vivien. The tenderness vanished, replaced by a violence expression. He took off his heavy coat and draped it over Vivien’s shivering shoulders, the warmth of his body heat still clinging to the fabric.

"Take her away," Dante commanded, his voice loud and clear.

Lily sprinted into the room, her tactical gear rustling. She knelt by Vivien, her eyes flashing with a protective fire. "My lady..." she whispered, her jaw tightening as she saw the bruises. She gently hoisted Vivien up. "Let’s go. Now."

As they moved toward the door, Elias’s eyes remained fixed on Vivien, hungry and obsessed. "She’s my masterpiece! You can’t take her- !"

Dante stepped into his line of sight. He blocked Elias’s view entirely, forcing the madman to look only at his death.

"Now... shall we begin?" Dante said, his voice calm.

"I can’t wait no more!" Elias smirked, his sanity snapping as he bolted forward, swinging his fist.

Dante slipped the punch, his hand catching Elias’s wrist. With a crack, he snapped the bone.

Elias let out a scream but fueled by adrenaline, he threw a high kick that connected with Dante’s stomach. Dante grunted, sliding back an inch, before stepping forward and delivering a punch that sent Elias’s head snapping back, blood spraying from his nose.

Dante lunged again, grabbing Elias by the throat and slamming him into the stone wall. He was about to drive the dagger into Elias’s shoulder when the room was suddenly swamped.

Four of Elias’s guards swarmed the room. Two of them tackled Dante from behind, their combined weight pinning his arms back. Another two grabbed his legs, forcing the titan to his knees.

Dante roared, his muscles bulging as he fought against the restraint, but they held him fast, their boots digging into the floor.

Elias straightened up, nursing his broken wrist with a twisted expression. He walked over, trailing blood, and leaned down until he was eye-level with the pinned Moretti. He reached out and patted Dante’s cheek with a bloody hand.

"Oops," Elias whispered, his smirk returning. "The wild beast is under control now~"

He looked toward the open door where Vivien had disappeared. "Did you really think I’d let you walk into my world without a backup script? Now, Dante... let’s talk about how this Chapter really ends."

Dante looked up at Elias, his face shadowed by the grip of the guards, but he didn’t look like a defeated man. A slow smirk spread across his lips.

"Not for too long~" he said, his voice dripping with mockery.

Just as Elias raised his hand to strike, the hallway erupted in gunfire, Dante’s men burst through the shattered doorway, their weapons raised. In a heartbeat, the power dynamic flipped.

"Drop them," one of Dante’s commander roared.

Elias’s men froze, their hands trembling as they slowly released their grip on the Moretti boss.

Dante stood up slowly, adjusting his shirt cuffse.

He stepped into Elias’s personal space, towering over him.

"Who’s under control now, hm~?" Dante whispered.

Outside, Lily was guiding Vivien toward the car her hand firm on Vivien’s shoulder. "Almost there, my lady. Just a few more steps."

Suddenly, a BOOM tore through the silence.

The ground vibrated beneath their feet. Vivien snapped her head back, her heart jumped into her throat.

The industrial was blooming with fire. A massive explosion had just occur.

"Shit!" Lily hissed, her face pale as she scrambled for her radio. "Backups! I need fire suppression and an immediate evac on the north wing! Now!"

Vivien’s world narrowed down to that burning building. Dante. He was still inside. The logic of a survivor told her to get in the car, but the fire in her chest told her something else.

She didn’t give Lily a second to react. With a fast movement, she reached out and snatched the silver dagger from Lily’s waist holster.

"My lady! No!" Lily screamed, reaching for her, but Vivien was already sprinting back toward the mansion.

She jumped into the mansion. The heat immediately stinging her skin. She covered her mouth with the sleeve of Dante’s coat, her eyes watering as she scanned the chaos.

On the edge of the second floor, Elias was shaking, his face filled with madness. He raised a handgun, pointing it directly at Dante’s back.

"Damn it!" Vivien hissed.

Before Elias could pull the trigger, she pulled her arm back and threw Lily’s dagger. The blade whistled through the smoke and buried itself deep into Elias’s firing hand.

He let out a groan, the gun fell to the floor.

Vivien didn’t wait. She sprinted across the floor, her heart in her throat as she saw Dante collapse. He hit the ground with a thud, groaning in pain.

"Dante! Are you okay?!" she cried, dropping to her knees beside him. Her hands were tearing at his shirt, checking for bullet wounds "Talk to me! Where are you hit?"

Suddenly, she felt his chest vibrate. She paused, looking up, only to see a devilish grin spreading across his face. He wasn’t bleeding out, he was holding back a laugh.

He was acting.

"Aww... is my little bunny worried about me~?" he teased, his voice smooth despite the chaos.

Smack! Vivien hit his shoulder with as much strength as she could gather. "Shut up! I am not! I was just... trying to return the favor for the rescue, okay?" She felt the heat of the fire on her face, but she knew the deep red flush on her cheeks had nothing to do with the flames.

"Shhh, it’s okay. You can say you love me, I won’t make fun of you," he smirked, reaching up to tuck a stray hair behind her ear.

"Seriously, this is NOT the place to joke right now, Dante! We’re in a burning building!"

But the moment was cut short. Across the floor, Elias’s eyes landed on the dagger. During the struggle, the dagger had slid across the floor from Dante’s pocket landing just feet away from him.

Elias kicked his captor away, lunged for the blade, and scrambled to his feet.

"If I can’t have the ending I wrote, no one gets an ending!" he screamed, lunging toward Vivien with the dagger raised.

Dante’s reflexes were faster. He lunged forward, catching Elias’s wrist mid-air. The two men crashed into the floor, grappling for control of the blade.

Taking the chance while they were locked in a death grip, Vivien’s hand found the handgun Elias had dropped earlier. She didn’t hesitate. She scrambled up and leveled the barrel directly at Elias’s chest, her finger tightening on the trigger.

"Back away from him, Elias," she said, her voice cold.

The gunshot echoed through the burning hall. The bullet tore through Elias’s chest, staggering him long enough for Dante to rip the dagger from his failing grip..

"And with that, your Chapter is finished here, Elias," Dante growled. He drove the blade deep inside with a brutal Force.

"Nooo!!!" Elias’s voice was a fading scream. As the dagger pierced his heart, the world he had tried so hard to script began to dissolve into ash. All his words, his "masterpieces," and his delusions of godhood were bleeding out onto the floor. He didn’t want to go back to his boring world.

Dante didn’t wait to watch him die. He scooped Vivien up into his arms, his eyes fixed on the exit as the ceiling began to fall. He sprinted through the haze, but just as they reached the threshold, a massive beam crashed down.

"Look out!" Dante shoved Vivien into a clear place. "Damn it!"

He quickly stripped off his vest, wrapping it around her to shield her from the blistering heat. "Stay here, Vivien. Don’t move!" he commanded, turning his back to heave against a jammed door.

Vivien crouched low, her lungs burning. She squinted, searching for a gap. Smoke was filling her vision, making her head light. Then, she saw it- a small, high window. It was a way out.

She opened her mouth to call Dante, but the sound died in her throat.

Behind her, a shadow rose from the flames. Elias, fueled by a pure madness, had dragged himself upright. his eyes were wide and fixed on her.

"I am not going back... without taking you, Vivien," he hissed.

Before she could even turn, Elias lunged. The dagger sank into her side.

Vivien let out a sharp cry, her knees buckling as the world turned white.

The sound caught Dante’s attention. He spun around, and for a heartbeat, his heart stopped.

Seeing Elias over her, seeing the blood on the dagger, something snapped inside Dante.

"Vivien!"

Dante roared. He launched himself at Elias. He didn’t just hit him, he crushed him. He tackled Elias into the floor and began stabbing- again, and again, and again- until Elias’s manic eyes finally went cold.

Dante scrambled back to Vivien, his hands shaking as he gathered her weak, limp body into his arms.

"No, no, no... Vivien! Open your eyes!" His voice broke. He pressed his hand against her wound, feeling the warm pulse of her blood.

"Damn it, Vivien! Don’t you dare leave me! Look at me!"

The fire started getting more intense around them, but the only heat Dante felt was the terrifying coldness spreading through the woman in his arms. It felt as if his own heart were being shredded into a million pieces, the pain of it far worse than any flame.

Vivien’s breath hitched, a thin trail of blood tracing the corner of her mouth. Even as the light began to fade from her eyes, she looked up at him.

"I didn’t know I would die like this... I didn’t even get to moisturize my skin today," she whispered, a final joke slipping past her lips.

"Shhh! You’re not going anywhere!" Dante’s voice was a raw broken sob. He pressed his forehead against hers, his tears fell on her cheeks. "You’re not leaving me! I won’t let you! I’ll burn the whole world down before I let you leave!"

But Vivien was no longer talking. Her head slumped against his shoulder, her hand falling limp against his chest.

The silence that followed was louder than the chaos around them. Dante’s mind fractured. The empire, the power- it all meant nothing in front of her absence. He looked down at the dagger lying, its blade still coated with her blood..

"If there’s no you, then there’s no me," he whispered into her hair, his voice calm. "No Dante Velerio Moretti without his Celestine Viella."

With a steady hand and a heart that had already stopped beating for anything else, he drove the blade into his own chest. He simply pulled her body closer, hugging her to him as he closed his eyes, welcoming the heat of the flames as they finally surged over them.

The mansion crumbled. Everything had been reduced to ash.

Everything, except for one thing.

In the center of the room, there was a book. Its pages remained white and untouched by the fire. Suddenly, the paper began to turn and the book started glowing. Words started to appear in the final page :

"With that, the villainess and the male lead

reached their final ending.

Their story was written in blood

and sealed in fire,

proving that some obsessions are

too volatile for one world to hold.

Perhaps they were destined to be together

in another life-

one where the ink doesn’t run dry."

The book snapped shut with a thud, the glow fading as the wind blew a layer of ash over the cover, waiting for the next reader to turn the page

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TO BE CONTINUED