It was a quarry. Now inhuman battles had scrubbed it bare, like wind scouring bones. On one slab that still held together, a man lay.

A foxtail stem hung from his lips. Hands pillowing his head, he sprawled on the cold ground and stared at a sky of endless stars.

His eyes drifted through the night, mind afloat like a leaf in black water. A mood rose first, then the hum of a hometown song.

Across the ruined quarry, several girls huddled by a fire, listless as wilted reeds, watching the flames gnaw the dark.

The blaze danced like sprites in the hush, casting quicksilver shadows across broken stone.

No one spoke. Silence pooled so deep even the bugs kept their chorus.

Only the man’s humming carried, and the wind knifed through the quarry, howling like a hungry wolf.

Time stretched, thin as frost on glass. Then a soft sob rippled the stillness.

They turned toward the weeping girl, but words froze in their throats like ice.

Angela wiped her tears, hugged her knees, and hid her face, a small bird tucking its head under wing.

The pressure felt like a sealed well, the air damp and heavy. She was cracking under it.

Janus and Zero had put a sleep spell on her who-knew-how-long ago. She’d only woken not long before.

She’d been just a kid. She still was. The sudden weight smashed delicate places in her heart like porcelain.

After waking, odd memories surfaced like fog on a mirror. Their pull stayed faint, so faint no one noticed any change in her.

Edlyn’s frosty face shifted a fraction. She opened her arms.

Angela wiped her eyes and hurried into Edlyn’s embrace, curling small as a cub in winter grass.

Liqianyu watched the two and smiled lightly, a thin crescent of calm. “Hey, Edlyn, keeping on like this won’t help.”

Edlyn lowered her head and stroked Angela’s hair, touch gentle as snow. She didn’t answer.

Yiyi rose and looked into the distance, toward Eli’s body—where Birand now lodged, a shadow in the night.

The air eased a shade. Liqianyu fed Battle Aura into the fire. Sparks jumped like fireflies, and her eyes burned bright.

“We can’t just sit here and wait. We have to move. Edlyn, Yiyi said you’ve got a way.”

“What do we do now?” she asked, sighing at the cold-faced girl like wind over stone. Reasons could wait; smoke didn’t carry steel.

Edlyn stared into the far dark, a hint of Pandora’s usual chill in her gaze. “Release the Abyss.”

“Release the Abyss?” Liqianyu’s brows pinched, the words heavy as iron.

Yiyi turned, startled. “Edlyn-chan, you sure? Will that even help?”

“I’m sure. For this plan, besides the Celestial God Yulia, only the Abyss can join.” Edlyn’s eyes stayed ice. She swept the circle with a slow look.

“It’s time to return to the Demon Race. Everything starts now.” A thin killing intent welled in her eyes, frost tracing steel.

“Even so, let me step away for a bit,” Yiyi said, hand raised, voice a held breath.

Edlyn tilted her head. “You’re only Eli’s avatar.”

Yiyi nodded. “I know. But it’s what my true self asked after he was lost.”

Edlyn frowned. “What?”

Did Eli leave something behind in that last heartbeat?

“He told me to go back to the orphanage. Find the director,” Yiyi said, brows knit, fishing a shard of memory from a dark stream.

“Find the director? For what?” Liqianyu’s confusion rustled like dry leaves.

Did Eli miss the place he grew up, right before he died?

Yiyi shook her head. “No clue. A fragment etched into my soul before his image faded.”

Edlyn thought for a beat, then nodded. “Fine. We’ll swing by the Draco Empire first. I have business too.”

She patted Angela’s small head. “Little sister. We should go home and see our parents.”

Angela jolted, then went stiff, like a deer caught in cold moonlight. Edlyn sighed and patted her back.

Only then did Angela soften. Low sobs seeped out, her slight body trembling like a leaf.

The purple-haired girl watched, neck tucked in like a wary sparrow. She barely knew the others.

Li Gongxuan had seized her and taken her away. She might not have even met Edlyn.

She bit her lip, at a loss, hands fluttering for purchase like moths. She wanted to comfort the sisters, but what was she to them?

Li Gongxuan spat out the weed, sprang from the rock, and landed beside them like a falling hawk.

He held Jade North Star close. The roguish air was gone; for once, his face was grave as stone.

“You need to know what we’re about to do.” He flicked the longsword. Steel whispered like rain.

“The Azure Dragon Sigil is one of the toughest trackers I’ve forged. Yet in under two days, he erased it and devoured it. That shouldn’t be possible.”

His brows knotted like storm clouds over a black sea.

“That guy’s strength is climbing in a warped, breakneck way. If you want to avenge Eli, be ready for anything.”

Liqianyu frowned. “Bro, why’re you in everyone’s business?”

Li Gongxuan shot her a look sharp as a spear. “If I don’t clean this up, will you go back to the Far East with me?”

“Oh.” Liqianyu shrugged, as careless as wind over grass.

“Eli’s not here for now. I’ll play babysitter. Every move goes through me first,” Li Gongxuan said, tone iron on stone.

Edlyn narrowed her eyes at him. They stared, flint to steel, sparks ticking in the dark.

The air thickened with gunpowder. The fire snapped like a warning twig.

Liqianyu swallowed, ready to smooth the water. Edlyn looked away. “Suit yourself.”

Draco Empire, Imperial Capital.

Eli’s former residence.

The old servant who had tended him now lived there. No heirs, no magic, no blade—just a simple old man.

Once, he’d been roughed up on a grocery run. Eli lifted him like a hand saving a fallen leaf.

After that, the old man tended Eli’s days with quiet care, season after season.

When Eli left to travel, he handed him the deed, told him to sell if needed. The old man never did.

He kept the yard and house in trim, pruning time like hedges.

Edlyn stopped at the gate and eyed the villa, still fresh as morning stone.

She glanced at the nameplate by the mailbox: Ostol Manor.

Edlyn smiled. The guy was shamelessly in love with himself.

In the yard, the old man trimmed flowers Eli had planted, petals breathing like tiny lanterns.

He saw them, gripped his shovel, and rasped, voice dry as rope, “Who are you?!”

Yiyi’s nose stung. Words tangled like vines. She looked at Edlyn, then stepped forward. “Hello, Grandpa.” She bowed deep.

The old man stared, puzzled, eyes cloudy as rainwater.

Yiyi tapped her face. “Grandpa, who do I look like?”

He peered, then lit up, circling her like a wind-up toy. “You’re Eli’s daughter, aren’t you?!”

Yiyi flushed with awkwardness. She was born of Eli; explaining that was a storm. She just nodded.

“So Eli left for personal business back then. Didn’t expect his daughter to be this big.” He smiled, warmth like winter sun.

Yiyi gave a small, embarrassed smile, words fluttering away like birds.

“And they are?” He pointed past her, hand shaking like a leaf.

“Oh, they’re my dad’s friends,” Yiyi said, eyes bright.

“Ah? Forgive me then. Please, come in and rest,” the old man said, kindness pouring like warm tea.

Edlyn nodded gently. He blinked at her. This girl felt like a block of ice.

They entered Eli’s house and sat on the living room couches. Light pooled like honey on polished wood.

Liqianyu grinned at Yiyi. “Didn’t know you liked the good life. This couch isn’t cheap.”

Yiyi shrugged. Back then, Eli did fine here. These things were small waves on a big sea.

The old man brought bowls of tea. He saw a few little girls, so he brewed cocoa too, steam spiraling like ghosts.

He set the cups down and smiled. “Sirs and ladies, where is my master now? Why didn’t he come back with you?”

They traded looks for a few heartbeats, silence taut as a string. Yiyi spoke fast.

“Grandpa, Dad’s out handling something important. He’ll be back in a while.”

“Oh… I see.” His face dimmed, a lamp turned low.

Edlyn took in the space Eli had lived in. Interest stirred like a breeze in reeds.

She paused at a cup, then picked up a cocoa. “Thank you.”

“No need. It’s my duty,” the old man said, smile soft as wool.

After a few polite words, Yiyi tugged Edlyn upstairs. Footsteps echoed like raindrops.

Edlyn looked at her. “What is it?”

Yiyi shook her head. “My true self told me to bring you to the room I… uh… used to live in. You’ll find something.”

“Huh?” Edlyn frowned, puzzled, thoughts like smoke.

“I don’t know either. Just go look,” Yiyi said, shooed her, and clattered back downstairs.

Edlyn faced a vermilion wooden door and fell into a brief, quiet hush.