“My proposal. How is it?” Zero looked at Charles, smiling, his smile thin as a blade.

“…Do we have any other choice?” Charles wore a bitter smile, like frost on a window.

“No.”

“Heh,” Zero let out a dry chuckle, like a flint spark.

Zero clapped, dust rising like startled moths. “Then it’s settled. You have one month to spin a reason. I’ll take all of you to your former ground, the Temple of Extreme Frost.”

“Lord Zero, do we need anything else?”

Zero tilted his head like a listening sparrow. “Rest up. Until the final battle, you leave the temple only when I say.”

“Yes.”

Charles nodded, chin dipping like a falling leaf.

Zero’s gaze drifted to the distance like a hawk riding stormclouds. Then he looked over everyone present, eyes cold as moonlight.

“Within a month, my true body will descend here in full. If any of you are still here then, you won’t need to leave.”

“Yes, sir, we’ll do it.” Charles sighed, breath thin as thread. “Can you tell us roughly when we can go home?”

Zero pondered, thoughts sinking like a stone in a well. “Earliest, a year.”

…

Charles fell silent, his nation flickering in his mind like sand in wind.

“Can’t accept it?” Zero asked, voice mild as snow.

“Yeah, that’s a bit too long,” Charles said, unease crawling like ants.

“Relax,” he said, like a warm hand over cold water. “The Demon Race tends land better than you do. When you return, you’ll see a whole Miter Empire. I swear by my Divinity.”

Seeing his serious face like stone, Charles could only nod with a bitter twist. “If you say so, and swear by Divinity, what can we say?”

“Heh,” he said, smile curling like smoke. “In that case, go make your arrangements.”

Zero’s figure faded like mist under the sun. “Don’t forget my warning. In a month my true body will check your progress.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The chains on them dissolved with Zero’s passing, like frost melting. The Divine power that felt blocked began trickling back like a thawed stream.

Wever stood, staring dumbly at where Zero vanished, like chasing smoke. Then he walked to Charles’s side, voice complicated as tangled reeds. “I still don’t believe Birand revived.”

Charles frowned, lines etching like knife cuts. “I don’t either, but there’s that slim chance.”

“A scam?” Wever said, unwilling as a trapped wolf. “Aren’t you worried it’s a con?”

“A con? What could he cheat from us?” Charles said, amused like a man in rain.

“I…”

“You saw it. What stood before us was an avatar. One avatar pinned all of us here. Imagine the monster his true body is. Maybe he’s not far from Birand’s tier,” Charles sighed, voice heavy as lead.

Seeing Wever still full of unwilling fire, he worried for the nation like a candle guttering.

“If his successor as Guardian keeps this temper, Miter is not far from ruin.”

Charles shook his head like a woken horse. “Wever, I know the Hero drove you from home. You infiltrated the Demon King’s Guard as a spy. You know the Hero’s terror best. You don’t want to believe Birand will return. Neither do I.”

“But facts sit before us. He showed the Holy Sword Tias. Even the sword has awakened. How far can its master be?”

Wever’s face went blank, like a struck gong. Charles added, “What he said about Yuris’s last words was true. Yuris said exactly that at the end.”

Wever looked at him. “You mean?”

“Right,” he said, the word falling like a pebble. “His true face is likely one of the last eleven who went to Yuris’s funeral.”

…

“Clean up the mess. Wait for news. We might move into the palace tomorrow.” Edlyn sat on the roof like a raven on a ridge, speaking to Era behind her.

“Your Demonic Lordship, aren’t you going to check the spoils?” Era smiled at Edlyn like a crescent moon.

Edlyn shook her head lightly, like a willow in breeze. “No need. Human goods at this level don’t tempt me.”

“Alright then,” Era said, shrugging like a cat stretching.

She didn’t leave. She sat beside Edlyn, smiling like sunlight on ice. “Got something vexing you, my Demonic Lord?”

Edlyn sighed, breath white as mist. “I feel like someone’s tool, moved around my whole life.”

“Why say that?” Era asked, puzzled like a child at a maze.

“Hey, Fallen Angel, why did our Demon Race declare war on every living thing?” Edlyn asked, voice low as a drum.

Era shook her head softly, feathers falling in the dark. “I never really knew your purpose.”

Edlyn tilted her head, eyes distant as stars. “At my birth, a voice gave me everything. Power beyond power, sovereign command, and… hatred.”

“Hatred?” Era echoed, the word hanging like frost.

“Mm,” she hummed, like a muted drum. “Saying more won’t help. Simply put, our equal has always been that thing in the sky, not these beings on land.” Edlyn looked at the black sky, fury glowing like embers.

Era stared at Edlyn’s sudden anger, helpless as a deer in rain.

After a beat, Edlyn returned to herself, gaze cool as ice. “Get ready. After I open the Abyss, I might travel for a while.”

“Travel, my Demonic Lord?” Era asked, curiosity bright as a fox’s eyes.

“Yeah,” she said, cool as a blade. “I need my original body to climb back to my peak fast.”

“And along the way, maybe find other vassal races.”

“So you still care about us,” Era said, shrugging like falling snow.

Edlyn arched a brow like a drawn bow. “More or less.”

She couldn’t exactly say it was to prepare future sacrifices, like laying out candles.

“Zero’s side is done,” Janus said to Edlyn with a smile like a knife’s gleam. “In a month, this place belongs to the Demon Race.”

Edlyn turned her head to Janus, eyes sharp as ice. “Hey. We— Janus, tell me, after I lost, how strong did the Hero get?”

Hearing it, Era saluted and slipped away like a shadow at dusk.

Janus drew back her gaze, brows tightening like strings. She searched her memories, then spoke with some effort. “So strong I can’t describe it now.”

Edlyn looked sullen, then sighed like wind under eaves. “Am I never beating the Hero in this life?”

Janus blinked. “Ahem, don’t put it that way. You can’t beat the revived Hero, sure. But you can beat the current one— in every sense.”

Edlyn frowned. “That reminds me. How did you end up with him? Tell me!”

Janus smiled, knowing it was on her, like a mirror catching light. She set a hand on Edlyn’s shoulder, soft as a veil.

A few seconds later, she sighed like a tired tide. “Yeah, as expected, I can’t fix primal impulse.”

“Hey! Answer me!” Edlyn snapped, anger flaring like sparks.

Janus shrugged, then hopped off the roof like a leaf. “Don’t overthink it. It’s all fate. Me meeting him, you and Eli— it needs an ending. Good or bad, it comes down to yourself.”

Edlyn flipped her the finger, then paused, and spat like a cat. “Mystic babbler.”

…

“Kid, last move.” Zero gripped his sword one‑handed, watching Eli pant like a bellows. He shook his head, like dust falling. “Seriously, we train a bit and you’re already like this.”

Eli gritted his teeth, heat needling like summer rain. “You made me take your whole sword art at once and remember it. Who do you think I am?”

Zero shrugged, loose as wind in grass. “You already spent a month or two merging those memories. Most of Birand’s swordcraft is yours. Your body just isn’t used to it. I’m helping draw it out.”

Eli rolled his eyes like thrown dice. “At this rate, I’ll die. Training like this will kill me.”

“Not my problem,” Zero’s voice was flat as iron. “Time’s almost up. I can only give you a picture, so this is it. And it’s the last cut. Why drag your feet?”

Eli recalled Zero’s last strike, legs turning to jelly. “Then go easy!”

“Blades have no eyes. I can’t control my— inertia!” Zero laughed, then burst forward like a loosed arrow.

“Moon Kill!”

“Fuck!”

…

“Still hurts?” Zero mocked, watching Eli sprawl and howl like a wounded wolf.

“You’ve got some nerve. I said I wasn’t set. You didn’t listen. Then you swung a fist.” Eli’s voice was weak, like smoke.

Zero shrugged. “I held back. See, I sheathed the sword. Otherwise you’d be dead instead of glaring at me.”

“You call that holding back? Who the fuck sheaths the sword and then punches?” Eli snatched a stone and hurled it at Zero’s face like a sling.

Zero dodged in a flicker, then laughed like a spring. “You don’t get it. It’s called inertia. Yep, inertia.”

“Shit.” Eli rolled his eyes.

Then he saw Zero’s body fading like fog. He realized, face turning grave as stone. “You’re leaving?”

Zero nodded. “Yeah, an avatar can’t linger too long, so yeah.” He gave a helpless shrug like a drooping branch.

Eli’s urgency tightened like a drum. “Can you teach me that trick where you used magic to summon Battle Aura? Give me something, at least.”

Zero sneered. “Are you stupid? No way. It was just a magic screen as cover. Hahahahaha.”

“Fuck!”