“In short. My power needs time to turn into mana, then your environment here refines it. Edlyn’s emergence will be delayed by a few months,” Eli said, hands on his hips, explaining to Angelo.

“Tsk. This is on you. Without you, none of this mess happens.” Angelo frowned, a storm-line between her brows.

“I had no say in it. Who knew that thing would fling me half a world away?” Eli shrugged, helpless, a wry smile like a bent reed.

Angelo sneered and shook her head. Arms crossed, she leaned against a rock and raked him with a measuring gaze.

Eli’s brow creased; he chuckled. “What? See anything worth staring at?”

“I’m curious. For real.” A faint, eerie crimson lit Angelo’s pupils, like embers under ash.

“How did you resurrect? From what His Majesty the Demon King told me, you were dead beyond dead.” She paused, eyes tracing him again.

“But now you’re standing right here. And I can feel it—you’re not the same as when you were Birand.”

“How’d you pull that off?”

Eli tugged a corner of his mouth, a helpless tilt. “So what exactly are you trying to ask?”

“Birand seized the reins of your soul and your body. Your consciousness should’ve been chewed to the bone. How could anything be left?” Angelo’s laugh was cold. “I’ve crossed him a thousand times. I know his force better than he does.”

“And he isn’t an idiot. So how are you alive? And what is that weird power in you?”

Eli raised a hand to shade his eyes, amused. “So you think Birand let me out on purpose, hoping to catch you all in one net?”

“No. You helped His Majesty re-enter the Butterfly Metamorphosis, and you really tried. You didn’t plant any tricks. That’s what baffles me most,” Angelo said, frowning deeper.

“Then say it. What do you want?” Eli smiled, voice easy as drifting smoke.

“Simple. You’re Eli Aestor now, right?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, eyes deep as a well at midnight.

“Do you fight differently from Birand, or...?” Angelo rubbed her chin, studying him with a hunter’s patience.

“Not really. In the end, he and I share one root. The basics are the same. Oh—except my new power. He doesn’t have that,” Eli said with a loose shrug.

“Oh? Then what about technique?” Angelo’s eyes narrowed to blade-thin slits.

Eli dusted off his clothes and grinned. “Close enough. You won’t tell us apart by move-sets.”

“How sure are you without a test?” Her gaze burned like noon sun on snow.

Eli blinked.

So she just wants a fight. What a waste of ceremony. If your fists itch, just say so. What a lousy excuse.

He gave her a playful look; when gooseflesh prickled her arms, he chuckled and shook his head. “Just say it. What do you want.”

“Hero. Last time we traded blows was five centuries ago. After so long, let me see if you’ve grown.” Angelo grinned, teeth bright as a drawn knife.

“I refuse,” Eli said with a shrug, breezy as a leaf.

“Uh—what? You refuse?” Angelo stared, blank as a white page. Did she mishear?

“You’re a Fiend now. The Demon Race is stronger than before. March in to get beaten? Am I insane?” Eli rolled his eyes, dry as sand.

“You broke the Abyss’s seal with your body and drifted through the stars. Afraid of my little strength?” Angelo laughed and shook her head.

“Seems… I’ve got no reason to refuse, huh?” Eli laced his hands behind his head and stared at her, brazen as a street rogue.

Angelo frowned. That rascal’s gaze made her itch to gouge out his eyes.

Eli smiled, then gently nudged Anna aside. “Then—please.” He copied Li Gongxuan, offering a Far East pre-duel bow.

Angelo’s eyes narrowed.

In the next heartbeat, she vanished, a chain of afterimages streaming behind like torn silk.

Eli smiled, lifted both hands, caught her twin blades, and flung them wide with a snap like a catapult.

Her figure stayed unseen in the air. Anna scrubbed her eyes; all she saw was her dad rooted in place, sometimes trading a punch with a sudden phantom, then emptiness again.

“Pretty fast,” Eli said, a sigh like wind through reeds.

He brought his palms together. Pale-blue power flooded out of him like a moonlit tide.

His eyes went blue; then the glow thinned and sank, returning to pure black.

“Let me show you a power none of your races own,” Eli said, smiling. “Astral Soul-Lock Array!”

Blue energy settled from the sky like sifted snow. Eli folded his arms and floated upward, body steady as a lantern in still air.

Angelo’s pupils contracted. No known force held him, yet he stood in the sky.

She murmured a spell under her breath. Fiend wings unfurled behind her like stormclouds. Three clones bloomed at her sides, a mirror of her breath. She raised a light-blade and stormed him.

Seeing that, Anna snatched up her crystal ball and aimed it. “Is this the secret move Auntie said Dad begged Sister Angelo to teach him? Record it, record it!”

They both held back hard; otherwise the grounds and the people nearby would be ruined. So the fight’s range stayed tight, like a ring drawn on sand.

Anna crept closer to see clearer, steps light as a cat.

Lock the time-stamp. Sell it to Dad at a premium and let him stew. There’s nothing in the timestream he can’t learn. When he jumps back to seek the original, I might slip out to play.

Nice! Perfect! Classic me. Genius-level scheme.

She snickered to herself, then paused as if pricked. She blinked at the crystal ball.

Right—Dad put this there as a toy to trick me. It didn’t even react when I filmed Mom before.

Her mouth twitched. She hurled it down in a sulk. The ball bounced twice, then rolled back to her foot like a guilty pet.

She looked up, bored, ready to keep watching them trade blows.

The crystal flared. Anna vanished.

Inside the clear sphere on the ground, Anna blinked and tapped the inner wall. She rolled her eyes.

Great. Not a toy after all? I grabbed the god-sphere by mistake!

“Hey! You two! Stop fighting and help me!” Anna howled, voice ringing like a trapped bird.

Of course, neither of them heard.

Around Eli, Angelo had shed afterimages like falling leaves. Eli hadn’t moved an inch.

He just stood there, bare and unshaken as a cliff.

“Garrote Blade.” The real Angelo halted and drove her light-blade into the floor.

The three clones plunged into Eli’s eerie field.

The instant they crossed the edge, blue light coated them like frost.

Angelo startled. “Is this… a domain? Or an aura?”

It felt like a thousand mountains landed on their backs. Their flight slowed to a crawl. Their altitude kept sagging toward the earth.

Eli lifted his hands.

Pale-blue chains as thick as thighs burst from the ground and bound the three clones.

He smiled, ready to quip.

A red streak fell from the sky.

A straight blade chopped down at his crown.

Eli paused and didn’t resist.

The light-blade cleaved down, demonic miasma writhing along it like a fuse about to blow. Eli tilted his head up.

Clang!

The shock kicked up the blade into Angelo’s hands. Her face went stiff as ice.

The demonic light-knife hit Eli’s forehead and wouldn’t sink a hair.

He smiled at her, tapped his neck. “Here. Try this spot.”

She whirled, drew back, and chopped his nape.

Clang!

Another jolt. She almost dropped the blade.

Eli grinned and rubbed his brow and neck. A pale scratch showed there—nothing more.

Angelo stood silent, then sighed. “I lost.”

“Oh?” Eli smiled, eyes bright as stars.

“At this range, I can’t touch you. If you cast any divine art, I’ll die without a grave. I was reckless. Never meet a power you don’t know head-on.”

“Haha. Good, good.” Eli shrugged, then wagged a finger before her nose. “But you got one thing wrong.”

“Hm?” Angelo frowned, puzzled.

“I’ve only been back a few months. I spent them rebuilding my body.” He paused, a secretive smile like a crescent moon, then said, “No time to learn divine arts. I’m no genius.”

“What? You—” Angelo stared, stunned.

Eli shrugged. “Yep. Haha. Meaning, right now, besides thick skin, I’ve got nothing.”

“…I’m gonna f—ing kill you!”