“Eh. Too slow. Again. Aim here. See?” Zero slipped past Eli’s flurry of thrusts like a shadow sliding along water, then stood aside, grinning at the panting Hero.

“Man. With that swing? You call yourself a Hero? I could find a farm grandpa who swings better.” Zero shrugged, casual as a breeze over reeds.

Eli grit his teeth and lifted his sword with one arm. Zero raised a single finger, meeting the tip like a raindrop touching glass.

The blade looked sharp, yet it didn’t pierce his skin; it stuck as if glued, resting against his long finger like a moth on a lantern.

Eli huffed, tossed the sword down. “Hell, how am I supposed to train like this?”

Zero crouched, looking at Eli sprawled on the grass. “So little grit? Tsk, tsk.”

Eli scowled. “You dragged me in here and made me hack at you with this junk blade. You teach me nothing. You don’t even throw a move—just dodge, dodge, dodge—then you mock me. What game is this?”

Zero’s eyes curved with a cat’s smile. “That’s why you should learn my footwork first. Look at you—running like a turtle tucked in its shell. You won’t land a hit even in a dream.”

“...” Eli went quiet, anger cooling like embers under ash.

“Still training or not?” Zero flopped down beside him, mirroring Eli’s pose, both staring at the sky like two stones in a stream.

Eli steadied his breath. The sky was a deep, glazed blue, wide as a lake in summer. “Stayed too long in the Snow Empire. I almost forgot how the heavens look.”

Zero chuckled. “What? Feeling nostalgic?”

Eli turned his head, peering at the slit beneath Zero’s mask, trying to catch a face hidden like a moon behind fog.

Zero suddenly met his gaze. “Why’d you go quiet?”

Eli snapped his eyes back to the sky, feigning calm. “No reason.”

So the two men lay there in the grass, watching clouds drift like slow ships.

Eli smiled. “Why’s the sky in your secret realm so real? Does your outside world have an actual cosmos too?”

Zero shook his head, half amused. “Nope. All this is simulated. Don’t overthink it.”

“Pretty scenery,” Eli said, a grin like sunlight through leaves.

“Right? It’s good.” Zero pulled a jade flask from his pocket space, poured a sip, swished it like river water, then smacked his lips. “Sigh. This view’s not something you see every day.”

Eli laughed. “Meaning what? Do people from your New Era Sect get special access?”

“Heh. Not that. This place—this is home.” Zero turned, meeting Eli’s eyes like stars catching a pond’s reflection.

Eli squinted. “You mean this is scenery from that other world?”

Zero nodded. “Yeah. And you’re from that world too.”

“Maybe,” Eli said, smile thin as a blade.

He reached a hand out. “Hey, Zero, is that stuff really that good? Give me a taste.”

Zero stuffed the flask away like a squirrel hiding nuts. “Nice try. This is… very important to me. You don’t have the luck to share it yet.”

Eli rolled his eyes. “Stingy. Some Master you are. You teach me nothing.”

Zero scratched his head. “You mind that much?”

“Of course I mind. It’s been almost a week in this realm. I’ve learned nothing. Why the hell did you drag me in?” Eli surged up, jabbing a finger at Zero’s nose. “Get up and do your damn job!”

Zero sighed and shrugged. “Alright. Since you’re this relentless, I’ll teach you something nasty.”

He snapped off a branch, light as a reed in hand. “Stand back. If you can’t react, you’ll eat dirt.”

Eli sauntered away, annoyed as a cat in rain. “Does it have to be this troublesome?”

He stopped about thirty meters out. “Enough yet, you creep?”

Zero shrugged. Distance meant advantage; he was the shoreline, Eli the wave far from breaking.

He waved and shouted, voice bright like a bell. “Ready, little buddy?”

Eli frowned. “If you’re gonna do it, do it.”

“Don’t blink,” Zero said, smiling like wind before a storm.

He held the branch level. No magic, no Battle Aura, just stillness like a pond at dawn. He breathed out, a thin cloud, and said, “Ride the Wave.”

A pressure surge roared from Zero’s spot toward Eli, like a tidal wind battering cliffs. Then Zero’s form vanished, the gust trailing behind him like dust behind a comet.

In a blink, Eli saw Zero before him, branch raised, grin easy as sunlight on water. A prickling touch at Eli’s neck whispered that, if Zero wanted him dead, he’d already be a fallen leaf.

That thought loosened his mind like a knot undone. The killing intent he’d caged spilled out, iron-scented and cold, like night fog.

But a fresh wind slammed him. The pressure tossed him high, then he hit earth and tumbled, rolling over and over like driftwood in surf.

His killing intent recoiled, folding back into his chest like a frightened bird.

Zero flipped the intact branch away and strolled over, hands behind his head, lazy as a summer breeze.

Eli spat out grass and dirt, clothes messy, spirit stubborn, standing back up like a reed after rain.

Zero grinned. “Kiddo, wanna learn that?”

Eli was silent, jaw tight as stone. Then: “Teach me.”

Zero’s smirk turned wicked. “Come on then, say ‘Master.’”

Eli bit down, voice carved word by word. “Mas. Ter.”

Zero burst into laughter, full as a river in flood. “Ah, that’s the stuff. Too good. Hahaha!”

Eli rolled his eyes. One day, he’d pay this back with interest.

“Don’t just lie there. Up. Training time,” Zero said, voice crisp like a bamboo clack.

“Yes,” Eli answered, breath steadying like wind finding its path.

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

Era watched Edlyn press down her skirt with a quick, shy touch, then covered her mouth and laughed, eyes turning like a fox’s. She glanced at Reni. “Deputy Reni, the Demonic Lord isn’t satisfied with our results. Time to show off and bag those humans.”

Edlyn’s gaze brightened like the glint on a blade. She coughed lightly and addressed those below, voice cool as winter rain. “You disappoint me. Such ants, and you still haven’t crushed them.”

Reni knelt at once. The Demonic Lord’s aura flooded the hall like a sea tide. Her Demon Race blood boiled, power surging like volcano fire. “Forgive me, Your Majesty! I was incompetent. I’ll seize them right away!”

Edlyn nodded, pleased, then left the rooftop with steps soft as falling petals.

She needed a door. She’d enter by the front, like a queen through gates.

Damn. She should’ve skipped the skirt. Edlyn bit her lip, annoyed, thoughts buzzing like wasps.

The girl below measured Edlyn head to toe. Only when Edlyn vanished did she withdraw her stare, brows furrowed like storm clouds.

So young on the outside? Is she like me—reversed age? But no. The Demon Race doesn’t use magic.

The longer she thought, the thicker the fog. Yet the Black Demons called her “Demon King”? That memory struck like thunder.

Impossible.

She remembered the true Demon King’s power and face—terrifying as a mountain in a gale.

Someone who could fight the Hero to a draw. How could she look so frail now?

But the moment Edlyn appeared, that demon girl’s aura surged, and the Black Demons’ strength jumped a tier like flames fed oil. That didn’t feel like a lie.

She dimly recalled: when the Demon King showed up, the Demon Race always spiked in power like wild fire.

The girl frowned, mind racing like knives in a box.

Then her eyes lit, a blade catching sun. If that one is the Demon King, it means she escaped the Hero’s kill blow with some unknown trick back then.

And she paid for it. Heavily.

If so, this is the best time to cut down the Demon King.

She tensed to leap, but glanced back at her coughing junior. Her brows pinched, tight as strings. If she left, he’d be meat for wolves. When she returned, that Fallen Angel might be dangling his head like a trophy.

She grit her teeth. Duty weighed like iron. She decided to chase the Demon King anyway. He isn’t my child. The fate of humanity matters more than a single junior.

She pushed off—only to be slapped back by a gust of white feathers, soft as snow, hard as steel.

Era smiled at her, smoke curling from her lips like silk. “Old monster, did you think I wouldn’t guess your plan?”

The girl’s face froze, gaze cold as frost. “Try me. If I want out, you won’t stop me.”

Era took a calm drag, voice light as wind. “True, I can’t stop you outright. But I can strike your back as you fly. Don’t forget, a Fallen Angel’s speed isn’t slow. Can you beat me and the Demonic Lord together?”

“You old hag. Looks like I have to kill you first.” The girl’s anger blazed like dry grass catching fire.

Era laughed, a knife wrapped in velvet. “Mutual feelings.”

They clashed in a single palm strike, thunder without rain, then vanished in a blink like lightning skipping across clouds.

Inside the room, apart from Black Demons brawling with Shadow Servants, only Reni, Perry, and the Third Prince Kate remained.

Kate’s eyes were cold as ice on a blade. “Demon Race, prepare to die.”

Reni leveled her spear across her chest like a barred gate. “Come, ants. Blame your mangy lives for displeasing the Demonic Lord!”

Kate flicked his hand, breath rough as gravel. “Kill her, Perry. Cough.”

Perry shot him a worried glance, then drew his sword and rushed Reni, feet pounding like drumbeats.

Not far away, Edlyn looked over an empty back courtyard and smacked her lips, confused as a traveler at a fork. “Hmmmm. Can someone tell me… where am I?”

Zero, watching from the Demon Race base, burst into laughter, spilling joy like rice from a torn sack. “Oh man, this one—she’s too damn funny.”

Janus thumped Zero’s shoulder, a fist like a pebble tossed. “Quit laughing, idiot. Do your job.”

Zero waved his hands like willow branches. “Don’t, wife. I sent a clone to teach Eli. I’m enjoying the show. This little punk is adorable.”

Janus rolled her eyes, skyward and back, then took off at a run, swift as a falcon.