Edlyn stepped deeper into the Abyssal gorge, each footfall a hush on cold stone. The world hadn’t changed since she’d left. Jagged rocks reared like broken fangs. Demon miasma braided through the air like black vines. Not a breath of life stirred.

Her heart cooled, like water left in winter shade. Yeah. After her failure, her old troops had died or drifted. What was she still hoping for?

She’d crossed land after land like a windborne leaf, and sent out scout after scout. Most died to champions of other races on the road. The rest brought news that froze the blood.

Ugillian’s comfort was a warm hand on ice. It couldn’t change the chill. Reality was reality. Nothing would bend. In her former life, she’d been a failure, through and through.

Edlyn wiped her tears. She walked on, a lone shadow sliding down gray slopes.

Ugillian, done with Eli’s business, lounged at the Abyss’s gate like a cat in the sun. A crystal orb glowed in his palm. He smiled at Edlyn’s figure within.

He chuckled. Don’t be afraid. His voice slipped through the orb like a whispering breeze and brushed her ear.

She glanced around, wary as a fox tasting the air. So, the guy did have chops. Impressive.

The Gate of Abyssal Law wasn’t something you pierced on a whim. If she knew he could chat with Eli across tens of thousands of stars, she’d probably snap.

Edlyn kept moving. She looked at her “hometown,” and wistfulness colored her eyes like dusk.

Once, she’d blazed with pride. Gifted by birth. Regal in bearing. She unified the fractious Demon Race like iron smoothing wrinkled silk. She quenched postwar turmoil like rain dousing a wildfire. She raised a vast Demon King Expeditionary Army. Every legion meshed like well-oiled gears.

No one could halt her marching drums. Her sword pointed at the world like a comet’s tail.

Wherever she stood, Demon folk burned with Battle Aura like torches in a gale. With her talent and racial boons, fronts toppled like dominoes.

She threw the world into chaos as easily as a pebble ripples a pond. For decades, every race but the Demon Race ate poorly and slept badly.

Where the Demon Race passed, “unbreakable” armies crumbled like clay in a storm. She was unstoppable. With endless demon legions at her back, she made humans flee in panic at first sight.

She bled the fearless orcs till they brushed extinction. She made elves tremble at the word “Demon.”

She scared the Seafolk so badly they didn’t dare send scouts across the open sea. She pushed goblin civilization to the brink like a house with rotten beams.

Even angelic envoys had to ally with humans just to breathe. Back then, only the sleeping Abyss and the Celestial God rose like mountains in her path.

To rule better, she accepted those willing to kneel. The Demon Race had eight outer vassals: Bloodkin, Dark Elves, Giants, Dragons, Fallen Angels, Sirens, Yetis, and Treefolk.

Compared to the great races, these were smaller, more uniform peoples. Under her shadow, they shivered like leaves. Surrendering to the Demon Race was the only road to live.

Edlyn thought of it and smiled, pride bright as sun on steel.

A pity…

This king can’t lose. Impossible! Hero, this king… refuses! The handsome man knelt, coughing blood like rust. Scars mapped him like old rivers.

Birand, the Hero, smiled. Demon King, war loves deceit. Whatever you say, this time, I win.

He whistled at the Demon King’s horn, half hacked off. Don’t think head-on, I can’t touch you. These traps were just to keep our losses low.

Shameless cur. The young Demon King lifted his chin and mocked, eyes like knives.

Birand looked up, thoughtful as a monk by a bell. From where I stand, your Demon Race wasn’t that wrong. We all fight to live. Our stances differ. I’m human, and I was summoned as a Hero. Drawing my sword was… forced by fate.

He looked back, still smiling. Personally, I admire you. Your Demon governance looked solid.

…

Ugh, this is agony! It’s killing me! Edlyn stamped her foot, anger sparking like flint.

I used to be so— A sudden gust whooshed like a prankster’s slap.

She clamped her mouth shut. Both hands and her tail grabbed her skirt, fighting the wind so she wouldn’t flash the world.

She blinked. Embarrassment brushed her cheeks like pink clouds. Damn it! Where’d that wind come from? Here to ruin my vibe? Won’t you let me have a badass moment?! (flips table)

Judge Mode, engage! Eli’s eyes flew open. Pale-blue energy seeped out like mist from a spring.

His left eye was no longer pure black. Endless stars replaced the void like a sea of galaxies.

His right eye wasn’t a single color anymore. White cloaked the whole eye. Black motes speckled it like sunspots.

Behind him, the Judge Mode disk didn’t appear. Space around him turned to a starfield. He stood at the center like a lighthouse.

Energy surged from Eli like a geyser. He clenched his fist. Joy flickered across his face like dawn.

Let soul force turn to mana, and he was about Archmage level. He chuckled, remembering Edlyn’s look—like she’d eat him alive—when he’d explained this.

After level one to ten comes Archmage. There aren’t many. I’m about to break past. Battle Aura’s the same. Pass ten, you’re a Grandmaster. Dumb names, real tiers.

If he kept rambling, he’d talk till sunrise. Edlyn cut in. Stop yapping. I know all that, okay?

Oh, good then. Good, good. Eli hugged his head, utterly unbothered.

Damn you. You think knowing things makes you hot stuff? Edlyn’s tone prickled like nettles.

Think being a Hero makes you special? I’m the Demon King, got it? Hero? So what? I’ll bite you!

Eli pinched his brow. Mmm… not “like” she’d eat me. She really would.

He centered himself and breathed out stale air, like dust leaving a room. He looked up at the sky that had caged him. He stretched, bones clicking like bamboo.

About time… to get out. Eli smiled.

The sand at his feet swelled, grains gathering like ants until it became a block two by two meters. It stopped.

He stepped onto the risen sand—no, a boulder now. The boulder bore Eli’s soul upward like a slow lift, arrowing for the sky.

Could he really leave? He wasn’t sure. He only knew the planet’s gravity felt like a spiderweb he could brush aside.

The Abyss tugged him to try. Eli swallowed. The sky’s film lay above like thin ice.

I’ve worked this hard… don’t you dare slap me now. The boulder carried him through the sky’s shell, slow and steady.

Eli sprang up, joy popping like firecrackers. Ha! Knew it! I’m freaking awesome!

A colossal hand of energy came down like a stormcloud and palmed his head. It slammed him back into the planet.

The blow forced him out of Judge Mode. He sprawled on a big rock, eyes rolling white like a stunned fish.

What the hell was that?! Ugillian, lounging at the Abyss’s mouth, stretched like a cat. Act tough again. Go on. I dare you.

No matter how Eli ran, an energy tendril snaked out. It yanked him back like a hooked fish. Then it pounded him into the ground without mercy. Slam. Slam.

He lost count of the tries. Eli lay spent, face ashen like cold ash. He’d learned two things.

First, someone was absolutely messing with him. Second, even a soul gets tired. Figures.

He sighed and replayed every breakout in his head. He mapped where each tendril appeared, like plotting reefs on a chart.

A face surfaced. Chiliad, one of the Sirens’ chiefs.

No one escapes my hunt. Birand, you included. The giant hefted a massive iron trident, snarling like a storm.

He wasn’t normal. His beard was all octopus tentacles. His eyes were two uneven circles. No nose. No ears. No hair. Just slick skin.

He looked absurd, but his killing aura and blood-stink rolled out like a red tide. The Heroic Alliance didn’t dare take him lightly.

You’re a real pain, Chiliad. Birand slipped past a giant crab claw. One cut severed it. He eyed Chiliad standing on seawater, annoyed as a man in rain.

For a month, while the vanguard retreated at speed, that octopus-man giant kept ambushing them like surf on rocks.

Eli smiled. That idiot’s attack pattern at sea is exactly this.