“Cut the chatter. You didn’t track me to the Abyss just to squabble, did you? Say it. You worked hard to crack my wards—what are you after?” Edlyn coughed twice, smoothed her tone like a blade over ice, and smiled cold as a winter moon.

Her voice carried Pandora’s old cadence, like a borrowed mask drifting in fog.

“Nothing dramatic. I came to talk cooperation.” Birand shrugged, shoulders rolling like a lazy wave.

“You? With me? Cooperate?” Edlyn pointed at him, then at herself, a snort sharp as flint sparks.

“Hey. Did I hear that right? You actually want to cooperate with me?” Her disdain hung like frost on a dead branch.

Birand had expected this; he only lifted a shoulder, light as drifting ash. “The Abyss and the Celestial God are enemies, right? You and the Celestial God are enemies, right?”

“Right. So what?” Edlyn arched a brow, contempt steady as a stone cliff. “Why do I need you to cooperate?”

“You think the tattered remnants of your Demon Race can climb back on top alone? That’s drunk-dream talk.” Birand smiled, a knife-edge under a calm lake.

“What did you say!” Edlyn’s anger flared like a torch thrown into oil.

“Demonic Lord, don’t swing yet. I want you dead too, but hear me out first.” Birand stayed easy, like a cat warming itself in sun.

“I came back to life on one obsession—killing the Celestial God. Once that’s done, I’m gone. No more Birand in this world, like smoke after rain. Then you demons get your best shot at unifying your kin. Isn’t that your long-cherished wish?”

“…Sounds nice. But besides you, other races aren’t easy prey. Your offer is air. Why not let the Celestial God kill you, then wait for the tribes to spiral into chaos, and unify the world in the storm’s eye?” Edlyn smiled, dawn-red and dangerous.

“I can tell you the strengths and weaknesses of every major force.” Birand shrugged again, casual as falling leaves.

“Oh? And what’s your guarantee?” Edlyn’s smile stayed cold, a crescent of winter.

“Easy. Don’t forget—I’m a Hero. In my last life I lived by a line: know yourself, know your foe, and win a hundred battles. So I learned myself first. Ever wonder why I, an off-worlder, fought you using every race’s unique magic like water running downhill?”

Birand laughed, warmth like a candle inside iron. “I built quite a trove of research. Tempted yet?”

“…” Edlyn frowned, eyes scanning Birand up and down like a hawk reading the wind.

She wasn’t foolish enough to let two sweet lines steer the fate of her race. She just couldn’t read what card he hid up his sleeve, like a cloud hiding the sun.

She thought a moment. “If I agree, what does the Demon Race pay?”

Birand smiled. “Simple. Give me a few high-ranked demons. I’ll turn them into energy sources.”

“Energy sources? You want to use my people as batteries?”

“Relax. When the war ends, they’ll stand before you whole.” Birand’s smile twisted, like thorns under silk.

“I’ll think it over. You can leave.” Edlyn’s eyes rolled once, light glinting like a blade.

“Too bad. My plan needs to start now. I’m done waiting.” Birand’s smile thinned; cold seeped in like night mist.

“Oh?”

“If you don’t mind, I’ll grab a few demons and head back. How’s that?” Birand’s eyes narrowed, smile like a cat at a birdcage.

“…Hero. You died once and your head’s full of sludge, huh? Put yourself in my place—would you agree?” Edlyn’s laugh rang sharp as breaking ice.

“Ah. Pity.” Birand sighed, head shaking like a tired willow. Regret shadowed his face.

“With that attitude and demand, who would say yes?” Edlyn’s power rolled out like a storm front, pressure sinking into the earth. Her gaze stayed cold on Birand, winter-dark.

“Yeah. So it’s a pity.” Birand lifted his chin. “Since that’s that, I’ll take you as the energy source. The weapon’s performance will be perfect—perfect.”

“Come try.” Edlyn smiled, head tilted, calm as a tiger on a ridge.

Thud.

A heavy note hit the space between them, like a drum in a cavern.

Their auras collided, devouring each other like two waves smashing rock.

Birand blinked, a flicker of surprise like lightning behind a cloud. He laughed. “So you’ve grown these last years. No longer weak as ants blown by wind.”

“You’re still the same trash.” Edlyn tilted her head, a fox’s smile under moonlight.

They vanished from the spot. Air rang with metal on metal, sparks scattering like fireflies.

Moments later, Edlyn flashed high in the sky. She wiped blood from her lip, wary as a lone wolf, eyes cutting the clouds.

Birand appeared before her in the next heartbeat, knee driving in like a meteor.

Edlyn swung her blade to block.

Birand vanished again. As Edlyn turned, he reappeared like a needle from mist, then kicked her belly hard. She fell from the heavens like a burning star.

Boom.

She hit the ground and cratered it, dirt blooming like a dark flower.

“Ugh.” Edlyn climbed from the fractured earth, ragged as a storm-tossed sail. She swiped blood from her mouth and smeared it along the Demon Sword Ashill. Ashill pulsed with an eerie black glow, like ink boiling.

Edlyn stamped twice, earth cracking like ice on a river, and launched skyward again.

A red streak and a black streak whirled through the air, spiraling like twin comets. They crashed together, again and again, thunder rolling.

Edlyn gripped her hilt with both hands. She slashed behind her, a hawk’s strike at empty sky. Birand flickered into view, barely dodging. He glanced at his arm, life withering along the flesh like frost on grass, and chuckled, head shaking.

That sword was wicked, a serpent coiled in lacquer. But… pity.

He turned his right hand into a blade and chopped off his left. From the stump, a new arm sprouted slow and sure, like branches budding in spring.

“Next time, I’ll be careful.”

He shook his head and slipped past Edlyn’s next strike, body skimming toward the Abyss like a shadowed stream.

Edlyn’s smile cooled. Try snatching demons in front of her? What kind of Demon King would that make her? A crown in the mud?

“Don’t even think about it.”

Clang.

A red longsword sheathed Birand’s right hand like flame plating iron. It caught Ashill’s blow, then twisted. Edlyn slid back. They clashed again, blades threading like storm winds.

Edlyn was slower than Birand by a fair margin. Soon she lagged behind the rhythm, so she stopped in midair, eyes tracking him as he stitched space like a needle. She lifted her sword. Her miasma surged like a rising tide, blooming into runes that drifted around her like black petals.

“Sever Light!” Edlyn’s shout cracked the sky like thunder.

A black beam extended from her sword, carving toward the space ahead like night cleaving dawn.

Birand flew with high spirits, then felt danger brush his skin like a cold hand. He looked up.

The black energy thickened almost to solid, a river of shadow falling with boundless might. A strange pull seized him, dragging him toward the beam like a tide dragging a swimmer.

“Damn it. What is this?” For once, Birand stared wide, a stag in a sudden blaze.

The beam fell. It swallowed him like a gorge swallowing rain.

“Ah!” A scream ripped the sky. In Edlyn’s sight, Birand’s body split clean in two under Sever Light, then drifted into dust, like ash taken by wind.

“Is it over?” Edlyn hovered, head tilted in disbelief, doubt like a pale cloud.

Even she didn’t trust it.

“Yeah. Over.” The next heartbeat, Birand stood behind her, eyes as empty as still water. He raised a hand and struck her back, palm plain as a farmer’s slap.

His hand met her back with a dull sound, like a stone thrown in thick mud.

“Kh—ah!” Edlyn spat blood, red as a poppy.

From the point of impact, power burst forward through her chest, vast as a bursting dam. It grabbed her inner miasma as primer and detonated inside her, a furnace roaring in her bones.

Pain flooded her, nameless and deep, like knives under ice. Blood kept welling into her mouth.

Carelessness. Regret hit first, a cold wave. Her thoughts blurred, eyes dimming like dusk.

Birand shut his eyes for a beat, voice soft as snow. “This is power I built to defeat Angels. How do you stop beings of endless energy? Turn their own power into a fuse, and explode it inside them. So I trained this skill. You get the honor of a trial. Feels good, right?”

“Ah. Thanks for the lecture. Now kindly roll aside.”

A surge of blue energy slammed Birand away, irresistible as a tide under full moon.

Birand’s pupils widened. He stared at the hooded man who appeared, sudden as a gust.

The man pulled Edlyn into his arms. Pale-blue, strange energy fell from the sky like gentle rain, washing the excess force from her body.

“You’re still alive?” Birand sounded shaken, disbelief cracking like thin ice.

The man held her tighter. Energy worked in tandem, stitching Edlyn’s wounds inside her like careful hands. Edlyn lay against him, lifted her head a little, surprise bright as starlight. “You… you?”

“Ed-chan. Missed me?” The man smiled, and under the hood he showed a face almost the same as Birand’s, like mirror water.

“How could you still be alive? I swallowed your soul.” Birand’s voice snapped, a line pulled too tight.

Eli ignored him. He stroked Edlyn’s silver hair, then kissed her forehead, a soft press like warm rain. “I missed you. Missed you so much. Really, so much.”

A blush flickered in Edlyn’s eyes, then shame deepened like dusk. She bit her lip and looked up. “You… why so cheesy?”

“Hey! Answer me!” Birand barked, anger sparking like sparks in hay.

Eli looked at Edlyn’s fine-boned face. She looked back, their smiles twin and quiet, like two lanterns. Eli said, “Doesn’t this sound like that elf we tortured before, what he said to us?”

“You mean Raphael?”

“Bingo.”

“Then…”

“Heh. Let’s shove our lovey-dovey in his face till he snaps.” Eli’s excitement fizzed, bright as soda under sun.