“Then, Ascaraun, where can I still gorge myself?” Birand smiled at his loyal servant, rolling his shoulders like wringing stiffness from rope.

“With respect, Hero, you look a bit… wicked.” Ascaraun rubbed his head, helpless as a man under cold rain.

“You don’t look like a Hero at all.”

Birand laughed lightly, hands clasped behind his back. “What good is a Hero? The title won’t bring back what I lost.” His voice was smooth as dark water. “It only strips what I still hold. Why do you think I turned into this?” He paused, eyes narrow as blades. “Precisely for the title you keep calling me.”

“Haha. If that’s the case, I won’t pry.” Ascaraun smiled, eyes slitted like a fox at dusk.

Birand shot him a playful look. “You’ve got a bit of brain.”

“Not much. I just know people who learn too much truth rarely live.” Ascaraun’s smile was thin as rice paper.

“Good, good. A proper old fox.” Birand shrugged, like wind flicking a coat. Ascaraun finally let out a relaxed breath, white as mist.

“Hm? That—” As Ascaraun exhaled, Birand’s gaze cut over him like a knife, making him flinch. He realized Birand was looking past him, not at him.

Ascaraun turned. Nothing. He frowned. “Hero? What happened?”

Birand smiled. “Nothing. I’m about to meet my old rival. It stirs the blood.”

“Your old rival?” Ascaraun thought, then nodded. “Oh. The Demonic Lord.”

“Yeah. I wonder how she’ll feel seeing me now.” Birand’s grin hooked like a fishhook.

“Ah? Hero, you mean…”

“Mm-hm. Hide for now. Come out later. I want her thoughts fresh.” Birand’s smile was glinting iron.

“You do have nasty tastes. It’s a little nauseating.” Ascaraun’s brow pinched like a knot.

“I want to play. Any objections?”

“…None.”

“Then stand down.”

“Yes.”

Space tore under Edlyn’s brute force, and her small body trembled like a leaf in a storm.

What she’d done moments ago was too much for her now; sweat beaded like rain.

Yiyi, Angela, and Liqianyu couldn’t keep up. As the fold closed, they were swallowed by distance and left behind.

Edlyn frowned slightly, calm as stone. Better they didn’t come. They’d only drag her down.

She looked around, and her soul-sense spread like cold ripples across a pond.

She caught faint threads of Eli’s life, thin as silk in the wind.

She chased the thread, slicing through air in swift arcs like a sparrow’s shadow.

“Found you!” Edlyn’s joy chimed like a bell.

Under a huge rock, Eli’s bones were shattered; his body lay like broken porcelain in dust.

Edlyn’s heart twisted like a rope yanked tight. She dropped from the air to his side, light as falling petals.

He was half-dead, unmoving, silence heavy as snow.

She lifted him gently, and warmth poured into him like spring water breaking ice.

Eli’s eyes snapped open. He stared at her, dazed. “Ed… Edlyn?”

Edlyn went still. The flow in her hands halted like a dam.

Eli stayed half-reclined, motionless as a toppled statue.

She held her breath, then asked, the feeling first, the words after. “Who did this to you?”

“I… don’t know. He was too strong. I… it hurts.” Eli clutched his forehead, fingers crooked like claws.

“It’s fine. I’ll take you back.” Edlyn’s voice darkened, quiet as thunder under clouds.

“Back? Back where?” Eli blinked, confusion fogging like breath on glass.

Edlyn’s gaze went black. Demonic sigils unfurled up her arm like coiling vines.

“Back to the Inferno.”

Boom.

Power erupted, swallowing ground like a hungry tide and rolling dust like waves.

In the next breath, they stood tens of meters away, the world shuddering like a shaken canvas.

“Edlyn! What are you doing?” Eli stared, voice sharp as flint.

Fire raged in Edlyn’s eyes. “Heh. Have you ever called me that?”

Eli paused, rubbed his head with a rueful breath, like a man waking from a bad dream.

His wounds vanished in a blink, and his aura rose like a storm building over the sea.

“I meant to let you die without pain. Tch. You wasted my mercy.” He shrugged, helpless and cold as steel.

“Who are you? What did you do to that stinking Hero?” Edlyn’s voice cracked like ice.

Birand smiled. “Me? I am the Hero.”

Edlyn scoffed. “Your face is as thick as a city wall.”

Birand shrugged. “Believe it or not, I am. This body’s blueprint was made on me. A Hero’s shape belongs to me.”

Edlyn’s eyes widened. “No. Impossible! You… you’re—”

“Ah. So my old rival remembers at last.” Birand sounded almost bored, echoing off rock like a slow drum. “I made you what you are. You forget me? I’m heartbroken.”

“How could it be!” Edlyn stared, lost, her breath a tangled thread.

“Nothing impossible.”

“Where is he? Where is Eli?” She snarled like a cornered wolf.

“Who knows? Guess. Get it right, I’ll tell you.” Birand’s grin was wicked, his gaze crawling over her like ants.

“Our Demonic Lord looks absurdly cute right now. I like it.”

Edlyn’s skin prickled; goosebumps scattered like hail. “Shut up.”

“Tsk. We’re sworn enemies. I see you and I get happy. I want to chat. Why so joyless, hm?” His smile stayed crooked, like a crescent knife.

“Bastard! I’ll kill you!” Her teeth creaked like ice under boots.

“Oh? You hate me that much? Kill me, then. I’m right here. I won’t fight back.” He opened his arms, inviting like a trap.

“You think looking like him will stop me? Die!” Murder flooded her like a black tide. In a blink she was before Birand; Ashir flashed into her hand. She brought the blade down toward his face like a falling moon.

Birand smiled calmly. “This really is his body.”

Whoosh.

Edlyn halted hard, blade trembling like a trapped hawk. She bit down and pressed. “I don’t believe it.”

Birand smiled. “How else do you think I revived?”

The words froze her. That life aura wasn’t a trick. It was truly Eli’s, warm as a pulse.

Birand’s grin turned feral. He lashed a kick into her gut, sending her rocketing away like a stone from a sling.

Thud.

“Ugh!” Blood sprayed like crushed berries. She smashed into the cliff and sank into the mountain’s maw.

Agony flooded her limbs; stone swallowed her whole. She couldn’t move, pinned like a moth.

“Ah, Demonic Lord, why so fragile? In the last life, you weren’t this weak.” Birand whistled, strolling toward the crater like a man kicking driftwood.

Edlyn watched him with torn breath. So strong. Why is he this strong? Didn’t he just revive? Her thoughts fluttered like burned paper.

Birand chuckled, grabbed her throat, and ripped her free of the stone like a weed.

“Ah…” Edlyn clawed at his wrist, struggling like a drowning swimmer.

Birand’s smile turned cruel. “What a beautiful flower. A touch of blood would make it perfect.”

His fingers tightened, pale knuckles like ivory.

Pain exploded in her neck; a fragile bone cracked like a dry twig.

Birand frowned, annoyed, and drove a fist into her chest like a hammer.

“Hah—!”

Blood flooded her mouth; her eyes dimmed; her fight thinned like smoke in rain.

He let go. She collapsed, boneless, onto the dirt.

Birand pressed his fingers to his brow, veins twitching like angry worms. “Damn. I absorbed too much junk. It’s making me irritable.”

Far off, Ascaraun smiled coldly and folded the map, paper whispering like leaves.

In that instant, Birand’s chaotic mind faltered. Eli’s soul snapped its eyes open and smothered Birand’s will like a heavy wave.

He knelt and gathered Edlyn into his arms, holding her as if cradling fire. His lips shook. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Strength came from nowhere; Edlyn managed a small smile, soft as dawn. “You’re back.”

Eli went still, then leaned his forehead to hers like two lanterns touching. “I won’t let you be hurt again. Never.”

Edlyn gave a sweet, faint smile. “You’ll come back, right?”

Eli hesitated, a bitter curve at his mouth, then nodded. At once he felt Birand surge inside, a great tide rushing to drown him.

Eli held on. He laid Edlyn down and stepped aside, his voice steady with anger. “Let her go. I’ll give you the body.”

His body stopped trembling. Birand took the reins again, cold settling like frost.

Birand looked at Edlyn in silence. He spoke to Eli, calm as steel. “You and I are the same. What we do, so alike.”

He sighed, turned away, and walked off. Not far, Ascaraun shrugged and fell in step, two shadows sliding over stone.

Edlyn lay on the ground, staring after him, and cried, slow as rain on old tiles.

“Give him back to me.”