---
[Fade in: battlefield still trembling from the echo of clashing steel.]
Dust swirled like ghosts through the bloodied air.
The massive demon reeled back, its shattered scythe clattering to the ground in pieces.
In front of it stood the newcomer—Dev—his hood lowered now, revealing windswept black-blue hair, strands sticking to the blood on his cheek. His body trembled slightly from the impact, but his stance remained unshaken.
His left arm bled freely, slashed open from wrist to elbow.
But his eyes never left the demon.
---
Behind him, Anya cradled the trembling child. Her chest rose and fell sharply as pain screamed through her muscles. Her ribs were cracked. Her aura had dimmed.
Yet, she stared at the stranger who'd shielded her.
"Who… are you?" she whispered, barely audible.
Dev glanced back over his shoulder.
And then he smiled—a warm, casual grin, like this wasn't a battlefield at all.
> "Ta-da. The one and only… Dev."
---
[SFX: heartbeat thudding. Anya's pupils dilate.]
She didn't know why, but something about his voice cut through the pain. Like she'd heard it before—somewhere in a dream.
Then suddenly—
WHHHHRRRMMM!
Her battle suit's nanotech activated, responding to the spike in her emotional and survival instinct.
The tiny silver plates began repairing fractured bones and torn skin, fusing her ribcage with small flashes of bio-light.
Her aura surged again—bluer, brighter, clearer than ever before.
Her sword glowed in tandem.
> "Why now?" she thought, confused. "Why this much energy?"
And yet… she stood.
---
Dev, panting, raised his arm weakly to block another attack.
But Anya stepped forward, her hair whipping from the sheer force of her awakened aura.
> "Step back," she whispered.
He blinked. She looked… different.
Calmer. Fiercer. Alive.
---
[Camera pan: wide shot. The demon roared.]
Its body, now cracked and leaking cursed plasma, prepared for a final lunge.
> "Lanya! Rosan! Cover her!" Gary shouted from afar.
But Anya didn't wait.
She burst forward—a blue comet streaking through the ruined battlefield.
In one smooth motion, she conjured a secondary blade of condensed energy, twin-wielding now.
She spun beneath the demon's claw and leapt upward, striking with such force the entire sky flashed white-blue.
> "HRAAAAHHH!"
Her blade pierced straight through its heart.
A beat of silence.
Then—
BOOM.
---
[Slow motion. The demon's body exploded in a flash of light.]
The sheer pressure of the blast knocked back the smoke.
Anya landed in a crouch. Her eyes were sharp, alive.
She stood up slowly… victorious.
The battlefield fell quiet.
Only the wind whispered through broken metal and ash.
---
Minutes later…
Dev sat on a crate as a medic wrapped gauze around his arm.
He winced.
Anya approached him, quiet. Hesitant.
> "You're hurt," she murmured.
Dev looked up, smiling lightly.
> "It's just a scratch."
"Are you okay?"
Their eyes met.
Something passed between them—a warmth, unfamiliar and unspoken.
> "Why… did you save me?" she asked.
He chuckled softly, then looked away, rubbing the back of his neck.
> "I don't know. I just… wanted to."
"You looked like someone who needed it."
Anya blinked. That wasn't the answer she expected.
She looked down, cheeks warming for the first time in… years?
---
"Call the medic," she muttered to Lanya as she walked past. Her voice was unusually soft.
Lanya blinked.
> "Wait… was that a thank you?"
---
[Cut to: Lanya, Gary, and Rosan joining the scene.]
Lanya looked at Anya with wide eyes.
"Is she… smiling?"
Gary raised an eyebrow.
"Yo… did this dude cast a charm on her or something?"
Rosan smirked.
"She's blushing."
Anya spun toward them.
"Shut up."