“Huh???” Edlyn stared at the human-shaped figure standing before her, curiosity prowling like a cat in tall grass as she stepped closer.
Could this be fate tossing her a lifeline?
She chuckled, shook her head, then snapped, voice like a drawn blade: “Who are you? How dare you posture in front of me!”
“...That voice.” Eli yanked his head from the soil like a sprout breaking ground, then glanced back, calm as dusk.
“Yo, Ai-chan. Well, well—long time no see.”
“Huh?! The Hero?!”
“Yeah. That your welcome for me?” Eli spat out black dirt, folded his arms like a closed gate, and eyed Edlyn.
What is this? A red string bridging a thousand miles.
Even ten thousand meters apart, if we want to meet, the road finds us.
Wahaha—doesn’t that look like fate’s arrangement?
But Edlyn, eyes on Eli, wore a stormy, complicated look. She thought of Zero-from-the-future, thought of Janus—the thoughts came like a flock of crows.
Hate was there. Irritation was there. Sadness was there.
So tangled you couldn’t untie it.
She sighed and walked toward Eli, who sat on the ground all careless, like a rock in a river.
Eli brushed the dirt from his mouth, looked up, and saw Edlyn coming, her gaze a whirlpool.
He grinned, spread his arms wide like wings. “Come on, Ai-chan. I knew it—come give me a long-lost, tearful hug!”
Edlyn stopped before her lifelong nemesis and measured him like a judge at a tournament.
“Hero. Why. Why are you standing before us again?”
Her voice was soft, but laced with impatience like a thin, sharp thorn.
Eli snickered. “What are you waiting for? Don’t be shy, kid. Uncle still loves you.”
The Demonic Lord ignored him, eyes tracing his form like frost mapping glass.
She seemed to find what she wanted and eased, a calm nod like a falling leaf.
“Not bad, Hero. You’ve broken into Sacred Rank.”
“Hm? Sounds like you’ve—”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“...”
Her amber eyes flared again, twin lanterns in night. “Hey, Hero. Submit to me.”
A wave of invasive will crashed into Eli’s mind like a winter tide.
He frowned, shored up his spirit like a fortress, and let a torrent of killing intent erupt, a volcano blasting the intrusion back toward Edlyn.
Eli smiled. “Hey, Demon King—”
“Be ready,” Edlyn smiled, moonlight on steel.
“Uh, Ai-chan, what are you trying to do?”
“Guess.”
“Heh... I’d rather not.”
“Fine, don’t.” She gathered a vast demonic aura in her hand; black and gold surged like an eclipse, and Eli swallowed hard.
“So, Ai-chan, what tier are you now?”
“Hm, about to attain a Divinity. Why?”
“Oh, hahaha—I just remembered I left my blankets out to dry. I’ll go first!” He popped up and bolted like a startled deer.
Edlyn’s lip curled; she shook her head, mockery cold as frost. “Run? Where can you run?”
“Demon King’s Original Canon.”
“Damn it! You’ll kill your husband!”
“Oblivion of Light!” Edlyn lunged in pursuit, black and gold raging on her right hand like twin storms, then, at an impossible angle, slammed her fist into Eli’s waist.
“Aaaah!”
...
“People of the Elf Race, do you remember our names and our power? Has centuries of peace lulled you recluses to sleep?”
Yor glared at the letter, face red as embers. “Damn Demon Race. Even this weak, they dare blare their horns!”
Her Majesty the Elven Queen lounged like a cat in a sunbeam, voice cool water. “Yor, if you really want to be king, learn calm.”
“...Yes.” Yor’s brow knotted like twisted vines; he was still seething.
The Elven Queen only sighed and shook her head. “Read on. Let me see what this newborn Demon Race thinks they have, to challenge the children of nature.”
“Yes,” said Yor.
“Hm. We know you’re nothing but parasites. Damn it! This—”
“Read.”
“...In the battle a century ago, your role was negligible, yet we of the Demon Race still warn you: we, who easily uprooted a human empire, can do the same to you.”
“Prepare yourselves. Soon, the strength of the Demon Race will descend upon your lands.”
Yor finished, voice a hiss, then crushed the paper into a ball like quenched coal.
The Elven Queen smiled. “Yor, what do you make of their letter?”
“What do I make of it? A pack of trash, outpaced by the age. All bluster, no bite.”
He spat, a blade of scorn. “Ants! If the Elf Race army marches, their remnants will shatter in an instant. We’ll root the Demon Race out to the last sprout!”
“You,” the Queen chuckled, “that temper never changes. Our Elf Race survives longest because we don’t start fights. If you want the crown, curb that stink of fire. As I said—learn calm.”
“But it’s the Demon Race causing trouble this time!” Yor roared. “Are we to pretend blind?”
“Heh. Don’t underestimate them.”
“Your Majesty! Our scouts already reported it’s bluff. Their strongest is that Fallen Angel, Era, who holds a complete Divinity. Their so-called Demon King isn’t Pandora of old, but a... a little girl!”
Yor sneered, a knife of disdain. “Such a crippled race dares mock us? Trash, the lot. On what grounds?”
The Queen shook her head with a smile. “You can’t see it that way.”
“...Please instruct me, Your Majesty.”
“Whatever else, they still drove everyone out of the Miter Empire. On that point—”
“But—”
“Forget the old human geezers and how they lost. Just look at the result,” said the Elven Queen.
“The result is, the Demon Race holds the upper hand.”
“...I understand.”
“Good. We have a measure of them now. Arrogant as before, which means they’re headed toward a second fall.”
Her tone was cool as a mountain spring. “At the very least, we won’t let them win outright.”
“Wise words, Your Majesty,” Yor laughed, sparks kicking up.
“Strengthen management of the seal. If they dare provoke the Elf Race now, their true goal is likely the imprisoned Fallen Angels.”
“Is that possible?”
“Be cautious in all things. The prison for the Fallen Angels lies not far from our Elven City’s core power. Be careful.”
“Then why seal them there back then?”
“Fool! Without that vast energy, how were we to seal a whole race?”
“...Yes.”
“Enough. Yor, have you brought the Hero in?” The Queen smiled.
Yor frowned, then sighed. “Your Majesty... the Hero seems—seems to have vanished. We turned the Elven City upside down and still can’t find him.”
“Hehe. So be it. If he ran, he ran. Some things can’t be forced.”
“Your Majesty, why seek the Hero? He’s weak as a fledgling right now. It doesn’t add up.”
“He’s likely reincarnated,” the Elven Queen said, shaking her head. “What we can’t control, we won’t. It’s enough that I’m sure—he is the Hero.”
“As for why we seek him, Yor—who dealt with the Demon Race head-on back then?” The Queen smiled.
“...The... Hero. But the current Demon Race—”
“Haha. It’s fate. You still know too little.”
“...”
“We’ll wait. After nearly three centuries of calm, the world stirs again.”
“Wait?”
“The Demon Race awakens, and with the Demon King, the Hero wakes too. Isn’t that a sign?” She looked up at the sky and smiled.
“What are you playing at again, my god?”
...
“Ow...”
“Stop whining.”
“It hurts~”
“Shut it!”
“You have to take responsibility for me.”
“Get lost!”
“Oh? Then I’m leaving.”
“Mm. Scram.”
“I’m really going.”
“Mm. You—you better go!”
“I’m really, really going.” Eli waggled a skewer of grilled fish. “Bye, Ai-chan. May fate let us meet again.”
“You—You—leave... leave the food!”
“Huh? Can’t hear you. See ya.” Eli turned, struck a takeoff pose, and, where Edlyn couldn’t see, wore a crooked grin.
“You—You! Hmph. Go, then. I don’t need it.” Edlyn sat down where she was and shut her eyes like closing a gate.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Gururu~
Smiling, Eli drifted back to her side, pulled out the grilled fish, and waved it before her face like a pendulum.
At once, Edlyn caught the scent and snapped her eyes open.
Her pretty heterochrome eyes fixated like a cat spotting prey.
As Eli swayed the fish, her gaze rocked left and right like a kitten tracking a string.
“Demonic Lord. Want a bite?”
“I do.”
“Then—give me a meow.”
“...Meow~”
“Good girl.”
Edlyn: “...Do you take me for a clown?”
“No, no! Your Majesty, please—eat, eat.” Eli hurried to flatter, hands dogleg-quick as he offered the fish.
Edlyn shot him a glare, then took it with a calm air and bit in, trust open as a clear sky.
Sure enough... a single year, and I’ve gotten used to this guy’s cooking.
Her gaze on Eli was a tangle of warmth and thorns.
“What?” Eli smiled back at her, easy as sunlight.
“Nothing.” Edlyn pouted. “Stupid Hero, what are you doing in a place like this?”
Eli shrugged, as casual as a breeze. “Getting stronger.”
“Huh?”
Getting stronger in a place like this? The Demonic Lord clearly couldn’t make sense of that.
