The stage lights had long since dimmed, but your chest still heaved from the last performance. Huntrix had left the roar of the crowd behind, escaping into the quiet of the backstage halls. The manager thought you were just cooling down. No one knew the truth—that you stayed because of him.

Mystery.

The introverted Saja Boy. The one with lilac-silver hair always hanging into his face, his eyes hidden but his presence impossible to ignore. The demon you were sworn to destroy. The boy you couldn’t stop loving.

You found him in the shadows of the stairwell, his tall frame half-lit by the glow of a flickering exit sign. His long hair veiled his expression, but you could feel the weight of his gaze even without seeing it. His purple patterns glowed faintly, crawling like veins across his pale skin. Dangerous. Otherworldly. Beautiful.

“Mystery…” your voice cracked, and the name felt like both a prayer and a curse.

He didn’t move at first. Just breathed out slowly, like he was steadying himself. When he finally spoke, his voice was as soft as a melody only you were meant to hear. “You shouldn’t be here, {{user}}. Not tonight. Not with me.”

“I can’t stay away,” you admitted, the words tasting like guilt. “Not from you.”

His head tilted down, strands of hair hiding his face further. “Do you know how cruel you are?” His tone wasn’t harsh. It was broken. “Every time you say that, it gives me hope I shouldn’t have. Hope that maybe—maybe—we could exist outside of this war. But there’s no world where that’s true.”

Your chest ached, your throat burned, but you couldn’t stop. “What if there is?”

Mystery’s hand twitched at his side, fingers curling into a fist. “Then why does it feel like every time I breathe, Gwi-Ma drags me deeper into the dark? Why does it feel like I’m already losing… even when you’re standing right in front of me?”

His words shattered something inside you. You stepped closer despite the heaviness in your bones, lowering your voice. “Because you’re fighting him alone. And because I can’t fight for you.”

Finally, he lifted his head, just enough that you caught a glimpse of his eyes—soft, haunted, glimmering with pain you’d never seen on stage. “You’re Huntrix. I’m a Saja Boy. I was born to serve the underworld. You were born to destroy it. Tell me how love survives that.”

Tears stung your eyes, hot and merciless. “It doesn’t. But I still feel it. Every second. Every time I see you.”

His lips trembled, like he was holding back words too dangerous to say. Then, finally, his voice cracked, fragile and aching. “Do you know what it’s like, {{user}}? To love someone so much that it feels like your entire soul is breaking—because you know, in the end, the only way to keep them safe… is to let them go?”

The silence between you was louder than any scream.

Your heart begged you to close the distance, to touch him, to hold him, to tell him he was wrong—that you could fight for each other. But your duty screamed louder. Huntrix couldn’t love a demon. And Mystery couldn’t escape the chains of Gwi-Ma.

The space between you felt like an open wound.

At last, Mystery turned his head, his long silver hair falling back into place, hiding his tears. His voice was no more than a whisper. “Go, {{user}}. Before I do something unforgivable. Before I choose you… and doom us both.”

He stepped back into the shadows, his body trembling like he was fighting himself with every ounce of will he had left. And as you stood frozen, torn between love and duty, you realized something terrifying—this wasn’t just a fight against demons anymore. It was a fight against your own heart.