“Notify Era. It’s time to move,” Edlyn said, black armor clinging to her like a night shell, her voice cold as a blade.

“Ah… ah. O-okay,” Reni stammered, her words fluttering like moth wings around a lamp.

The masked man shook his head and drew the black-clad man aside, his smile thin as frost, pressing a bundle into his hands like a passed lantern. “Here. Take it. Leave the Miter Empire fast, then start over anywhere. This place isn’t for you.”

The black-clad man stared, his brows knotting like tangled rope. “Who are you? Where am I?”

The masked man’s voice slid out eerie, like a snake through reeds. “Obey my command. Leave. Don’t come back.”

His eyes went glassy again, like a still pond under winter sky. “...Yes,” he said, blank as fog.

He turned and walked away slowly, feet drifting like a sleepwalker into mist.

Edlyn came down the stairs, her mood a storm before rain, and frowned at the masked man. “Why keep him? One clean cut and it’s done, like the winter moon on a neck.”

The masked man smiled, hands easy as a player over a chessboard. “As I said, I’m steering things toward what I need. I can’t weaken humanity’s side for nothing.” He glanced back at Edlyn. “Edlyn, kiddo, sometimes it’s not that simple—like roots knotted under stone.”

“None of your damn business,” Edlyn snapped, her words tossed like stones. “You came to lecture me?”

He shrugged, shoulders light as drifting reeds. “I know you just stepped into the Sacred Rank; moods crash and surge like tides on reefs. I’ll forgive the tone.”

Edlyn arched a brow and moved away, disgust rising like bile; his shameless hide felt like rhino leather, thick and nauseating.

The masked man waved after the black-robed figure, his hand cutting the air like a fan. “Goodbye! Don’t come back!”

Edlyn stayed silent, a crease like a blade between her brows. Reluctance pricked like thorns; Demon Race lacked fighters, and turning him demon looked like patching a breach in a wall.

The masked man shook his head with a smile, voice soft as velvet bait. “Edlyn, if this chafes, how about a little compensation?”

She turned her face away, indifference settling like a closed door, ignoring him like a cat refusing a leash.

His brow quirked, amusement flickering like fireflies. He chuckled. “Alright, Edlyn. You’ve just entered the Sacred Rank; you’re hunting for your signature power, like searching a comet in your night, yeah?”

Edlyn frowned, her words hammered like iron nails. “What’s there to hunt? It’s the Demon King’s Dominion. I knew that last life. What else?”

He wagged a finger, swaying like a reed in wind. “Oh no, no, my little cutie, you probably don’t know yet.”

Annoyance hissed like steam in her chest. “Huh? Will you die if you finish your point in one go?”

“You aren’t only the Demon King. You carry a girl’s soul too,” he said, humor folded away, his tone still as a lake with two moons in one sky.

“Back then, your soul was a single strand, smoke-thin, and Edlyn—the girl’s body was already cold as snow. Your soul saved her, and saved yourself.”

His gaze dimmed like dusk over stone. “Years passed. You stepped into the Sacred Rank again. That split won’t surface, like a forked river finally joining one current. Now, you are truly ‘Edlyn.’”

He sighed, watching her silence ripple like shadowed water. “You two fused, like twin rivers finding one sea. No pure little girl, no pure Demon King—only you, a single flame without twin shadows.”

He shook his head gently. “So now, you don’t only bear the Demon King’s Dominion, that Sacred Rank power. There’s another power, a hidden vein under stone, born of your other half.”

Edlyn looked down, her palms pale as petals, breath falling like leaves. She sighed.

“So… that’s how it is,” she murmured, realization settling like dew on grass.

“So, for your own sake, find that half too,” he said, smiling soft as moonlight on water.

A woman came down from the roof, steps light as a cat on a beam, brow lifting. “What are you going on about?”

He chuckled, words rolling like warm wine. “Wife, oh wife, you’re starting again.”

“Courting death!” Her voice cracked like a whip in cold air.

We can’t wait, he thought; urgency pounded like drums. “We can’t wait. Execute now,” Kate said, sprawled on the bed like a raft in a storm, green at his lips like venom he wiped away. “I won’t live long. You hear me, Perry!”

Perry’s tears slid like rain, but he held them back, hands moving over paper like white leaves, writing orders for Kate.

“Tonight, every prince’s manor faces a trial by fire,” Perry said, jaw tight as iron. “Our Miter Empire can’t be handed to mediocrity, like a snow crown pawned for coppers.”

Pain gnawed him like wolves on bone, but he endured, shoulders locked like gates.

He helped Kate sit up; after signatures carved like river tracks in ink, Kate gave a bitter smile. “I may not live to see it. If there’s a fit choice, tell Father straight.”

“As you command,” Perry said, tears caged like birds behind his lashes. “We bid my lord farewell.”

Kate smiled, then coughed hard, his chest rattling like a broken bell in winter.

“Your Highness!” The cry cut the air like a hawk’s streak.

First Prince’s manor.

Era and Reni finished their comms, and Era looked at two human princes and a host of Black Demons, a smile sharp as a crescent blade. “Subordinates, tonight the Demon Race army strikes the Third Prince’s manor, an iron bastion. If we succeed, our hand closes on this empire.”

Era paused, excitement rising like a red sun. “We lay bedrock for the Demon Race’s counteroffensive.”

First Prince Rigen stood, his voice a horn on the ridge. “For the great Demon Race, seize the entire Empire of Snow!”

The Fourth Prince raised his gaze, his plea pooling like kneeling shadows. “My Lord! Send down your gospel, and command us humble humans!”

Era smiled, teeth bright as ice. “Then, little fiends, all forces—move out, like wolves pouring from black pines.”

They cried, “Oh!” and the shout cracked like ice, sparks scattering into the night.