“Ha... ha. Why are there still so many?” Edlyn leaned on Ashir, breath misting like winter glass, weariness sinking into her bones.

She glanced at the blasted pulp by the statue, a mound of ruined flesh like wilted petals, and let a small, relieved smile bloom.

At least she’d learned this much: once these things touched the statue, they stayed down, like waves broken on cold stone.

“Do you really want me to clear them all?” Her brow knotted, a storm gathering behind her eyes.

The ring of skulls surged in, a pale tide rattling like dry seeds in a gourd.

Edlyn raised her right hand and closed her fingers on empty air; purple energy unfurled from her palm, rippling out like frost spreading across a pond.

Skeletons caught in the wave shuddered, their blood-water spraying like iron rain.

At a sharp threshold, like glass under a hammer, each frame blew apart into a carpet of dead bone.

Sweat beaded on her forehead; fatigue dragged her down. She sank to the ground and leaned against Ashir, frustration clinging like damp fog.

She had no wide-area spell that bit on monsters numb to magic. Only the burst of demonic aura could shock them apart, a wildfire wave that burned her dry.

The Abyss had given back mostly presence and primal power, like a mountain’s weight and a river’s source.

Those don’t settle in a heartbeat. They move slow, like roots swallowing stone. So the Demonic Lord was in a bind.

The shattered bones writhed, then knit again, rising into another hulking thing, a crooked tower of hate.

Edlyn sighed like a tired bell, stood, hefted Ashir, and ran for the six statues, feet tapping the ground like rain.

Someone stepped in front of her, a lone figure barring the road like a white crane on a narrow bridge.

Edlyn blinked and halted, gaze fixed.

The woman wore a white mask; her long hair spilled down her back like a night river. She sighed, shook her head, then pointed lightly past Edlyn.

The skull-beast fell apart on the spot, bones clattering like hail across stone.

She lifted a finger toward the sky. Behind her, a vast magic circle opened like a moonlit wheel, and chains flew from it, iron serpents that latched onto a point in the heavens.

The blood-red sky drained away, a dyed veil wrung clear.

Countless corpse-mountains faded with it, like mirages dissolving at dawn.

The skeletons on the far ridge roared, a wind full of hate, but it meant nothing.

As the red receded, every madness here thinned out, like smoke after rain.

Only the six statues still stood, and the blood on them clung like rust.

Edlyn stared at the woman, baffled, a sparrow lost in fog. What in the world was this?

Had she actually cleared a trial? And... she looked familiar, like a face glimpsed in a dream’s mirror.

Angela dropped from the sky like a fallen star. Edlyn rushed in and caught her, stopping the hard kiss of stone.

To her surprise, even the stains on the ground had vanished, the earth rinsed clean like river-washed slate. Edlyn hesitated, then traced a sigil; a mirror shimmered up.

Her reflection showed no triangle mark on her brow, the spot smooth as untouched snow.

She frowned, mind ticking like a slow clock. Not that thing’s effect? So the skeletons and all that—did they really disappear?

The woman breathed out, a reed whisper. “Demonic Lord, look away one moment and you end up here. Honestly. You kill fast—almost enough to match all I’ve culled before.”

“Eh? Who are you? And what is going on? Didn’t I pass a test?” Edlyn’s confusion fluttered like startled wings; the woman’s tone made it sound like she’d kicked a beehive.

The woman shook her head. “There aren’t that many trials for you. This place seals a monstrously terrifying being.”

“Uh... ah?” Curiosity lit Edlyn’s eyes like foxfire. She lifted Angela on a thread of wind, letting her float, and gave the woman a once-over.

“‘Monstrously terrifying being’? Who taught you to talk like that?” Edlyn tilted her head, a cat eyeing string.

The woman tilted hers too. “Why are you even interested?”

“...Uh... no idea. Don’t ask me. I’m just a cutie.” She blinked, lashes fluttering like moth wings.

The woman paused, then smiled. “Fine. Whatever you say.”

“You’re not even going to roast me?” Edlyn muttered.

“...Too lazy.” The woman’s shrug fell like a loose cloak.

Edlyn thought for a moment, hesitation threading her voice. “Do you... know Eli?”

“Eh? Who’s Eli? Never heard of him.” Her tone was calm, still water.

Edlyn waved both hands. “Okay, okay, forget it. Just tell me what that so-called terrifying being is.”

“Er. I don’t really understand either. The one who sealed him said... don’t let the monsters’ blood cover all the statues, and he won’t break free.” She scratched her head, sheepish as a child caught snacking.

Edlyn looked at the six towering statues and rubbed her chin, thought gathering like clouds.

“The monsters come from the sealed one’s power. Slam them into the statues that bind them, and they break, like waves against a cliff. But too many crashes will crack the stone, and the seal weakens. That’s just how it goes,” the woman said, voice slow as falling ash.

“Can’t you clean the blood off the statues?” Edlyn asked, brow creasing like folded paper.

The woman didn’t look weak. Why not scrub it all clean?

“Tsk... you still don’t get it. Those stains aren’t blood. They’re the torn structure of the seal showing through, like veins in marble. It means the seal’s damaged. I don’t know how to repair it.” Another shrug, palms open to empty air.

“So troublesome...” Edlyn sighed, a wind over dry grass.

“I come whenever my strength recovers and clear wave after wave, keep them from the statues,” the woman said, a tired lantern glow in her words.

Edlyn lifted a shoulder. “Sounds fine. So why is there still so much on the stone?”

“You think I’m a perpetual motion machine?” Her stare was flat as slate.

“I need rest too. All these years, it’s been just me, sweeping monsters like leaves. I’m tired, okay? I rest one day each week. Sometimes the numbers spike and I miss a few. Over time... I can’t help it.” The sigh emptied her chest like bellows.

“I see.” Edlyn sighed in answer, two reeds bending to the same wind.

“By the way, you don’t know who’s inside. Do you know why he was sealed? The Abyss wouldn’t seal someone in her own home for nothing, right?” Edlyn asked, curiosity peeking like a fox from brush.

The woman tilted her head. “Huh? Abyss? Which one? No idea.”

“Uh? It’s... it’s... oh, come on.” Edlyn raked her hair, words knotting like thread.

“Then tell me what you do know,” she said, resignation clinging like damp cloth.

“Huh? Why? Who are you? I saved you, you didn’t even thank me, and now you throw a fit? Spoiled, aren’t you.” The woman shot her a disdainful look, sharp as a needle.

“I... I’m the Demon King!” Edlyn thumped her small chest, pride flaring like a spark.

“I know. You’re the Demon King.” The shrug was a falling leaf.

“I...” Edlyn paused, eyes brightening like lanterns. “Hey, you don’t know Abyss. You don’t know Eli. So how do you know I’m the Demon King?!” She raised a fist, a tiny drumbeat.

The woman’s eyes flicked, then slid away, awkward as a cat caught stealing fish. “Why do you care? I just know.”

Edlyn frowned and studied her, replaying the woman’s moves like beads through fingers. “You...”

“What? You’re a fountain of questions. Please. Enough. It’s safe now—leave the Inferno. Staying too long hurts your sister.” She rushed the words, then swept a hand; a doorway blossomed in the air like a paper screen.

Edlyn nodded. “Oh, you’re right.” She guided the floating, newly fainted Angela toward the door, steps quick as sparrows.

Just as her foot crossed the threshold, a memory struck like a bell. She turned, puzzled. “Yiyi?!”

“What now? Aren’t you going?” the woman snapped, impatience crackling like dry kindling.

Both froze, two deer in a clearing.

“So. It’s you!” Edlyn’s eyes flared wide, anger sparking like flint.

“Damn it, you baited me. Off you go!” Yiyi grit her teeth, lunged, and planted a sharp kick on Edlyn’s little backside.

...