“Master, the setup’s done. What do we do next?” Iven Osborne bowed to the mature woman, smoke curling from her lips like lazy serpents.

Era, the Fallen Angel, smiled, a crescent moon smile against the window’s pale light. “Next? Doll yourself up. We’re visiting your big brother’s house, like strolling a garden at dusk.”

“As you command, my Master.” Iven’s voice was crisp, like frost on stone.

She waved him aside to stand watch, then turned to the glass where winter sprawled like white silk. “Ahh, soon this view—this vast snowfield—will belong to the Demon Race, like a banner unfurled.”

Her fingers traced her cheek, moth-light gentle on porcelain skin. A rhombus amethyst at her brow shimmered faintly, like twilight on a lake; Era stilled, closed her eyes to commune, and chuckled. “Hello, little Reni.”

Reni, watching Edlyn step into the black mist in simple clothes like a shadow slipping into ink, shivered. “Era, cut it out.”

Era’s laughter spilled, bright as bells, then dimmed as she layered a hush over the room like velvet. “Alright, alright. Why the sudden call?”

Reni glanced at the rolling fog, solemn as a temple bell. “Era, keep your movements small in the Imperial Capital. Step lightly, like crossing thin ice.”

Era’s eyes narrowed, cold as a cat’s before the pounce; she heard the subtext like wind under a door—support would thin. “Mm? Why the change?”

“The Demonic Lord is trying to break through to the Sacred Rank,” Reni said, voice tight as bowstring.

“Oh? Our adorable Demonic Lord finally taking that step?” Era’s smile curved, a blade under silk.

“Era… don’t talk about the Demonic Lord that way. I’ve noticed—he laughs less and less.” Reni’s worry hung like mist before rain.

“That’s good. Very good.” Era’s laugh rippled. If the Demon King crossed into the Sacred Rank, perhaps all her demonic souls would awaken in an instant, power surging like a tide.

Then the Demon Race would rise like a storm front, and the Fallen Angels might reclaim their Divinity, like a name carved back onto stone.

“So be careful in the capital. Don’t trip in shallow water and drown in a puddle. We won’t be able to help you at all then,” Reni warned, voice a compass needle.

“Relax, little one. Big sis saw the Demonic Lord with her own eyes; I didn’t live this long just to waste it,” Era teased, laughter like tinkling glass.

Reni arched a brow, sharp as a falcon’s wing. “Enough bragging. What’s so great about being an old hag?”

Era hid a grin behind her hand, sweet as honey but spiked. “Giggle, giggle. You’re cute. And you’re not the Supreme Demon Ruler—careful, or big sis will eat you when I return~”

Reni’s hairs stood like a frightened cat’s, and she shrieked. “Pervert! Old hag! Bisexual! Watch your capital! Goodbye!”

“...” Era blinked, then listened to the call cut cruelly, and shook her head with a soft laugh. “Still the same brat, tossing away every mask I taught her like fallen leaves.”

“Ah~ the true Demonic Lord is returning. This little loli works for now, but—yes, yes—the domineering, cruel, breathtaking Demon King is the one fit for me!” Her eyes shone brighter, like stars at midnight, and she wiped her mouth, hiding the tremor of joy.

Iven Osborne stepped forward like a shadow. “Honored Master, do we follow the plan as scheduled?”

Era squinted, thoughts flicking like sparrows. “As scheduled. Later we’ll visit your elder brother. Let’s see what kind of dumbass Reagan Osborne really is.”

“Yes, my Master.” Iven bowed, smooth as water over stone.

Edlyn sat at the heart of the black mist, a moon in an inksea, feeling demonic power thicken like dark wine around her. She drew it in, calm as breathing, cycled it through, and let it flow out like a tide.

Time blurred like fog. Edlyn seemed asleep, a statue in moonlight—only the rise and fall of breath marked life.

She returned to the place where the three of her argued, air still as before a storm. She took in a slow breath. “Let’s begin, everyone.”

From her body stepped the white-haired, amber-eyed loli, slipping free like a swan from water, and she took her corner at the triangular stone table. The other two came out of the darkness like lanterns lit, sitting around the stone.

The green-eyed girl laughed, crisp as wind chimes. “Ah, Demonic Lord, you didn’t do that great. Angela had you dizzy.”

The white-haired loli ignored the barb, scanning herself with bafflement, eyes thorned with doubt. She looked up at Edlyn. “Main body—why can’t I shift back into the Demon King’s state?”

The green-eyed girl lit up, delight flaring like a spark. “Ah-ha! I knew it. The main body’s a girl now. How could you still be that male-leaning Demon King? You’re absolutely a loli!”

“Aaaah!” The amber-eyed loli clawed her hair, a storm of fingers through snow.

The green-eyed girl walked to the table’s center, steps quiet as falling petals, and patted the heterochromatic-eyed girl who hadn’t spoken. “Alright. It’s simple, right?”

“...”

“Including us three—and the main body—we all know.” She stroked the frantic white-haired loli’s head, soothing like rain on dust. “This breakthrough to the Sacred Rank is absolutely, absolutely fated.”

The white-haired loli glared at the smiling silver-haired, heterochromatic-eyed girl, a blade sheathed in eyes. “Hey. Don’t disgrace the name of the Demon Race.”

The girl nodded, steady as a stele. “Rest easy.”

All three lifted their gazes to Edlyn; Edlyn breathed out, like a reed bow unbending. “Man… this is too smooth. I barely feel anything.”

“Someone who’s entered the Sacred Rank once already—shut it.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Edlyn: “...”

A white beam fell on the heterochromatic-eyed girl like dawn on frost. The other two set their hands on her shoulders, gentle as blessings.

“The Demon King, formally returns!”

...

Eli led Li Gongxuan into the Ninth Prince’s manor, into his room; and all four froze, shock spiking like shards of ice.

There was anger, fury, timidity, and sheer awkwardness—a mess like tangled threads in rain.

Eli saw Li Gongxuan’s sister—food-loving Liqianyu—force a kiss on his avatar, bold as a cat stealing fish.

Li Gongxuan saw his sister—also food-loving Liqianyu—plant one on a little loli, shameless as spring sparrows.

The foodie Liqianyu saw the loli’s main body walk in with her brother, and saw herself having forced a kiss—like catching your own reflection mid-theft.

Eli’s avatar, little Yiyi, watched that same foodie Liqianyu kiss her right in front of the main body and a strange man, mortified like a rabbit under torchlight.

“Ahem… so, Eli, I’m not into girls, okay? Ask Yiyi. Also, bro, you’re getting more handsome.” Liqianyu scratched her head, trying to puncture the silence like tapping a drum.

Li Gongxuan stared at his absurd sister, torn between tears and laughter like rain and sun fighting. “You little brat, stop quipping. Do you know how long I searched for you? I wondered why you opposed Old Li’s betrothal—turns out you were into girls.”

“Bro, I said I’m not!” Liqianyu panicked, pointing at Yiyi like tossing a lifeline. “Yiyi, tell them! If you don’t, the main body will kill me! Aah!” She saw Eli approach, light glinting in his hand like a blade, and dived behind Yiyi.

Yiyi stared blankly at Eli, eyes fogged like a winter pond. “Hey, main body… am I never getting married now?”

Eli spat a mouthful of old blood, outrage sparking. “Hell no, sis! How is your brain wired so differently from mine? Can’t get married? What even? You want to marry someone?”

Yiyi kept staring, dazed as if her soul had wandered. Eli’s face twitched, a cracked mask. “Looks like this girl’s going to snap.”

Li Gongxuan spoke earnestly to Eli, like a man offering his cloak. “Mr. Ostol, I really didn’t know about my sister’s… special tastes. Since you look half-dead—emmm—how about I help you beat her?”

“Bro! You’re my real brother!” Liqianyu’s eyes went wide, flaring like lamps. “You won’t help me, fine—but team up to beat me?”

Eli scooped Yiyi up, soft as gathering a sleeping cat, laid her on the other bed, and tucked the blanket like snow over grass.

Li Gongxuan ignored Liqianyu’s protest, cracking his knuckles like thunder stones. “Eli, how do we hit?”

“Are you even my brother?” Liqianyu flung a pillow like a flying fish and ran.

“Run why? I’m your real brother!” Li Gongxuan grinned and dashed after her, as Eli followed, a hawk on a trail.

No matter how fierce Liqianyu’s Battle Aura, no matter her strange physique, she couldn’t escape two Sacred Rank hunters, a deer cornered by wolves.

Soon they had her pinned in a narrow alley, walls damp like old bones.

Liqianyu begged, hands up like flags. “Bro, I wronged you. I shouldn’t have sent Miss Sun to your room. Then she wouldn’t have forced a kiss and told Dad. It’s all my fault.”

Li Gongxuan’s smug smile vanished like a candle in wind. He wiped his lips, suddenly horrified. “What did you say? Miss Sun—that Ru Hua—kissed me?”

“Eh? Bro, you didn’t know?”

“I didn’t!”

They both froze, dumbfounded, like statues in a courtyard.

Then Li Gongxuan’s smile turned lifeless, grey as ash. “Alright. How do you want to die?”

“Ah! If you didn’t know, why chase me?” Liqianyu’s face crumpled like paper; seeing them close in, she abandoned struggle and screamed. “Don’t hit the face!”

...

“So, Eli, that vented your anger, right?” Li Gongxuan lounged on a chair, legs crossed, watching dancers sway on stage like willows, and he wet his lips like tasting wine.

Eli nodded faintly, calm as a pond, and extended his hand with the cup. “Tea.”

Liqianyu, in a high-slit qipao like a red river cut by moonlight, minced forward with a teapot and poured with stiff grace. “Y-your tea.”

Li Gongxuan didn’t turn, voice smooth as a blade. “Sis, that the attitude for an apology?”

“...”

“Never heard? An apology needs a bare belly.” He smirked, still not looking her way, words wicked as fox-fire.

Eli sipped and set the cup down. “It’s cold. Boil it again.”

Liqianyu bit her lip, showed them her fist like a kitten raising claws, then retreated step by step like waves pulling back.

Li Gongxuan stopped her with a lazy flick, like catching a leaf. “Hey, hey. Where are your manners?”

“Yes… I… I shall withdraw,” she stammered, words tripping like pebbles.

“Good girl.” Li Gongxuan preened, his grin a crescent moon.