Not long after, Xili came out of the palace with a storm-cloud face. A white bird of pure mana swept down, perched on his shoulder, then folded into a sheet of paper. He glanced at it, then told his guards to head home, voice like cold rain.

Eli had left a note above, saying he and the others had things to do, and His Highness should head back first.

By now, Yiyi had shaped herself into Eli’s shadow. She used magic to nudge her build and voice, like clay turned by water, then switched her hairstyle.

She gave her face sharper lines, like a blade catching light, and pulled on menswear.

Yiyi spun once before Liqianyu, eyes bright like lanterns. “Well? No difference, right?”

Liqianyu curled his lip, a pebble tossed into a pond. “There wasn’t much difference to begin with. Do you need to ask?”

“Mm. Then it’s set.” Yiyi scanned their surroundings, worry hanging like mist. “We leave the real body here, and we can go. But is it safe?”

Liqianyu studied the deep green around them, listening to root and soil. “It’s fine. Deep mountains, old forest. Inside an ancient tree’s body. No one will find it.”

Yiyi sighed, a leaf spinning down. “Alright. Let’s go back.”

After the two departed, Eli within the tree-world smiled toward their fading shapes, voice like a cough under bark. “Heh. This old man is damn adorable.”

Not far away, Yiyi: “Achoo! Which bastard’s cursing me?”

Eli: “Achoo.”

Yiyi: “Achoo.”

Yiyi: “...Huh?”

Eli: “...I—what the—causality weapon.”

............................................

“Oh? I told you to grab two little girls, and you’ve been busy this long.” The masked figure in black stood hands behind back, voice sealed like a clay jar, facing the man who had kidnapped “Edlyn” and her sister.

There was a thrum of displeasure under the tone, but no gender, no joy or anger, just the stillness of a covered well.

“Boss, I ran into an accident on the road.” He hesitated, then let it fall like a pebble.

“Heh. Then explain.” The black-clad figure made a small gesture. A shadow-servant in the dark melted deeper, like ink into night.

“I kept feeling someone was tailing me. You know my senses. You enhanced them yourself. I shouldn’t be wrong.” He scratched his head, confusion rustling like dry grass.

The figure paused, then looked at the two girls on the floor with hoods over their heads, like seeds tucked in burlap.

Red light swelled in those eyes, embers building into flame, and then, slowly, it faded. He—or she—laughed softly, raised a hand, and waved at a point overhead.

A black thread shot through the man’s skull, fine as spider silk and cruel as a needle. His curious look froze like winter water. Black blood seeped from the wound, thick as ink.

It began to eat him, slow as rot, until he collapsed into a puddle, a rain-slick of darkness.

From that blood rose a faceless warrior in black chitin armor, like a beetle birthed from tar. At the masked one’s signal, the black knight backed into the dark.

The figure removed the mask. A delicate-faced girl shone with excitement, then dropped to one knee, thunder in her motion.

Boom—her knee punched a crater in the floor. Pain didn’t touch her; devotion burned like incense. She shouted, voice ringing like a bronze bell, “Welcome! My supreme Lord! Master of the Demon Race! Demon King! Lady Pandora!”

“Hmm?” Edlyn drifted into the room like a night breeze.

She sensed the pitch and snapped an elbow back, knocking Angela out cold, clean as a hammer on a gong. “You. You know me?”

Uh-oh? That voice didn’t match the myth.

The girl looked up and saw not the tall, handsome Pandora of her heart, but a girl smaller than herself, holding an even smaller girl, like moon cradling a star.

“Eh?”

Edlyn crooked her mouth, a willow bent by wind. “What are you ‘eh’-ing for? I’m the baffled one here.”

The girl froze. “You... Demon King?”

Edlyn patted the nothing of her chest, bold as brass. “Yeah. Me. Demon King.”

“Eh-eh-eh-eh!”

“So stop eh-ing. I should be the most confused one, right?”

“Wasn’t... wasn’t kidnapping those two girls a test from the Demon King?”

“A test for what? I look like this. That’s it.”

“Eh-eh-eh-eh?!”

“How many times do I have to say it? Enough with the eh!”

After a long struggle explaining she had died and been reborn as a girl, the girl still wavered like a reed. “Do you have proof?”

Edlyn sighed, a tide pulling back, then let her demon soul surge. Raw, pure demonic aura swept over like a storm-front. That vast force pressed down, sky-heavy.

The girl trembled. She saw Edlyn’s true succubus form, lips hooked in a wicked smile, night silk and temptation.

She dropped to her knees, voice shaking like a drum on thin ice. “So... so the Demon King is a Succubus.”

“Pfft!” Edlyn had been riding high as a sunbeam, then the words snagged her throat. Her eyes rolled, and a cough almost kicked blood loose.

“Ahem. Since you recognized me the moment I entered the city, why confirm again?” Edlyn sighed, cooling like tea.

“Your Majesty, please... withdraw your demonic might. I... I can speak then.” The girl swallowed, a fishbone caught.

Edlyn flicked her hand. The aura thinned into plain air, mist folded into breeze, then drifted back into her body.

“Whew. Demon King, you sure practice a lot of strange things.” The girl patted her chest, breath evening like a lake at dusk.

Edlyn frowned, a line drawn with charcoal. “No elder taught you to show full respect when meeting a Demon King?”

The girl shook her head, a bell rung soft. “I was born during our final rout. Before I could see you, you were killed. Oh... sorry.”

Edlyn watched the loose tongue and sighed, dust falling from an old banner. She truly lacked the manner of a Demon Race officer.

“Talk. You recognized me, yet planned to kidnap me. It’s not just to see me, is it?”

The girl fixed her kneeling stance, lines neat as calligraphy. “Demon King. Do we still have a chance to rise again?”

Edlyn blinked and fell silent, a hawk folding its wings.

The girl gave a thin smile. “My name is Reni Yaklo. Born to the Demon King’s Seventh Army, Snow Mountain Corps, direct line of the deputy commander. I salute Your Majesty.”

“Demon King, I’ve gathered three Demon Race remnants, including myself. Our state is miserable.” Reni’s voice dimmed like ash.

“Humans already found us outside. For reasons unknown, they spare us. To live, we stay under their control. Every week, we send our kin for their research.” She wiped her tears, salt as sea.

“Enough. Don’t cry. I understand.” Edlyn stepped close and wiped her tears, touch like warm rain.

“The Demon Race once covered the continent like a storm-cloud army. I searched long, yet found almost no trace. That says enough of our end.”

Edlyn sighed, then set her jaw like iron. “Since I’ve been reborn, it’s time to lead the Demon Race and unify the continent again.”

“Your Majesty... we don’t have enough people.” Reni breathed out, a cold wind from a gap.

Edlyn looked at the sky, blue like sharp steel. “There’ll be a way. Once I break into the Sacred Rank, I can do it.”

“Your Majesty, you?”

“I found this—combine demonic aura with mana. Our power spikes like fire on oil.” Edlyn spoke with pride, a lantern lit.

“Mana?” Reni blinked, a sparrow startled.

“Oh, right. In this life, I got spell-cultivation from a Hero. I’m dual-cultivating, the stuff of legends!” Edlyn lifted her chest, empty as a drum yet full of swagger.

“I’m already brushing the Sacred Rank. Once my demonic aura reaches the same tier, I’ll break through. I’ll lead you back to the continent’s peak.”

“Eh-eh-eh-eh? The Demon King hasn’t crossed into the Sacred Rank?” Reni stared, lightning in her surprise.

Edlyn gave her a regretful look, sharp as a thorn. “So you mean—you have?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. Sacred Rank pressure flooded out, a mountain falling. Edlyn wobbled, teeth set, anger flaring like a torch at her stumble.

Edlyn snapped and released the Demon King’s Majesty. Bloodline dominance rolled out, ancestral tide, and Reni’s momentum shrank like a flame pinched.

Only after Reni simmered down did Edlyn nod, satisfied like a cat on a wall.

Little thing. You think Sacred Rank scares me?

Edlyn studied Reni for a while, eyes like measuring rods. “Reni. You’re female?”

“Mm. Yeah. Isn’t it obvious?” The girl thrust the two mounds on her chest, bold as hills.

Somehow, the sight stabbed Edlyn’s eyes like glare. She hurried, cold as a well. “Ahem. Stop showing off your pecs. I’m asking—how does the Demon Race have gender?”

Reni said, “But you are... too.”

“I’m reborn. Different case.” Edlyn raised a brow, an arrow drawn.

“Uh... no idea.” Reni rubbed her head, frustration like bristles.

Edlyn frowned deeper. It seemed the Demon Race changed far beyond her guess after her death, like a river cut new channels.

She bit her lip. “Damn Hero. Whatever I think of, it’s your fault.”

Eli within the tree: “Achoo—ugh? What the—bad feng shui in this tree? Wait, did I catch a cold?”

“Reni, your gang’s doing alright.” Edlyn followed Reni, voice masked like fog, into her high-rise, steel ribs and shadow glass.

Reni smiled, a fox with a ledger. “Well, the human government sent resources like rain. That’s how.”

“Oh?”

“I handle the ones they call scum. I clean their gutters.” Reni shrugged, like a coat tossed.

“Honestly, over all this time, I’ve created a lot of dark knights.” Reni counted on her fingers, years like beads. “Nearly three hundred years.”

Edlyn laughed, a knife-edge softening. “Those aren’t Dark Knights. At our peak, they wouldn’t even be fit for cannon fodder.”

“Eh-heh-heh, Demon King, don’t mock me. For now, this is already pretty badass.” Reni scratched her head, grin crooked as a crescent.