Raven's Requiem

Resolution. Belphegor gone, Dominick gone. Niccolo called, Frieda rebuilding networks, research continuing. Haatim and Abigail on the rooftop — hope fragile but real. The cure path mapped. The quest begins.

Arthur names the source — Mal'akheth, the Devourer Beyond the Gate. The corruption is a tether; sever it by destroying the source. He presents the discovery to the full team. The quest begins.

Haatim and Arthur cross-reference decades of journals and discover the corruption has a source beyond Belphegor — an entity beyond the Gate. The tether is bidirectional. The cure path crystallizes.

Hours after the battle, Haatim organizes the aftermath of 312 refugees using his analytical mind as defense against grief. Handles Dominick's body, makes painful logistics decisions.

Arthur reaches Dominick after the explosion. Gathers the hollow body against his chest in raw, animal grief. Finds the blood-smeared letter to Marvin. The team converges in silence. Arthur forces himself to stand, to function, to begin the evacuation. Petrillo carries the body.

Told from Dominick's POV as he makes the final approach to Belphegor, weaving precise combat through the battlefield's remaining demons with his internal reflections on Marvin, Arthur, Haatim, and Petrillo.

Arthur, clearing the east corridor, moves instinctively toward Belphegor after hearing Emma's analysis. Dominick intercepts him physically, arguing the math: Arthur's body, broken by Hell, needs eight seconds to close; Dominick needs four.

Emma, watching the battlefield from the evacuation loading dock, identifies the pattern in Belphegor's behavior: he maintains a minimum thirty-yard distance because close-range combat endangers his vessel.

Haatim watches Abigail's golden surge reach its peak and drives his Gift to burnout trying to reach her, bleeding from the nose as his spiritual channel is swallowed by the corruption. When his Gift collapses entirely, he uses only his voice — raw and human — to call her back.