Boom!

Eli’s body slammed into the mountainside like a fallen star biting into slate.

Edlyn’s mouth hung open; she lay half-sprawled on the floor, far from the clash, eyes wide as moons at the scene.

He’d strutted into the sky all swagger; after a few traded blows, he got punched and stapled into the rock like a nail.

Edlyn pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed, breath fluttering like a wilted leaf.

She’d hoped he’d actually grown, maybe hiding a killer move like thunder behind a blue sky.

Even if he couldn’t beat Birand, he should at least hold fifty-fifty, like two tides colliding.

Otherwise how did he have the face to brag he’d leash the guy like a dog right to his face?

At this rate, he’d just get his face ground into the dirt until the end.

Up in the distance, Birand panted hard, breath like bellows; he looked at his fists, then at Eli embedded in stone, and flicked his hands with a wry shake.

That punch to Eli’s chest—why did it feel like striking the earth itself? And the guy was heavy as an anvil sunk in mud. What was going on?

Still, fine. Weak stays weak. I didn’t even go all-out. Eli, tell me—how did you survive, and with a new body?

Son of a— you hit hard. Eli wrenched himself free of the rock, dusting himself off in a pale cloud.

Edlyn’s eyes lit like lamps in fog.

Aside from dirt and tatters, he looked fine; that punch from Birand had been almost a freebie, a wave that broke on a cliff.

Birand noticed too. He tilted his head, sizing Eli up and down like a butcher eyeing fresh cut. Your new body looks… different.

Heh. Jealous? Eli struck a bodybuilder pose, flashing teeth white as snow.

Edlyn snatched up a stone and hurled it; the rock pinged off Eli’s head and ricocheted away like a skipped pebble.

Wife, you teaming up to hit me now? Eli rubbed his head, grumbling.

Screw you, you shameless mutt! You’re not even that musclebound—what are you showing off? Have some shame! Put your clothes on, bastard! Edlyn snarled, words like thorns.

Eli hunched, sheepish, and threw the mountain-slashed rags back over his shoulders. Emmm… got a little excited, okay? Geez.

Birand’s mouth twitched; were these two just ignoring him like he was wind through grass?

He flickered and appeared before Edlyn, his foot scything for her head like a falling guillotine.

Eli flickered too, sliding in front of Edlyn; he caught Birand’s kick with a hand and shrugged like shaking off rain. Hey. Me from my past life—hitting a woman? Not cool. Especially my woman.

Who’s your woman? Edlyn arched a brow, voice cool as steel.

Eli rolled his eyes. His Demonic Lord was still shy—like a peony hiding dew at dawn.

Birand’s eyes narrowed to slits.

That kick had more weight than before, and he caught it like plucking a leaf from air. So he’s not at his limit yet?

Birand drew back his foot and smiled thinly. Tell me—how did you come back?

Surprised? Eli’s grin was needling, like a thorn in silk. You revived too. Why sweat the small stuff?

I’m not like you. I devoured your soul from the marrow out. How did you revive? Birand’s tone went cold, frost over a blade.

Guess. If you guess right, I’ll tell you. Eli’s smile stayed bright as a blade’s edge.

Then I’ll beat it out of you. Birand’s laugh was a cracking ember.

Eli smiled back, then scooped Edlyn up and shot backward like a wave pulling from shore.

Space around Birand twisted like heat haze; his body flushed red-hot, temperature climbing like a forge at full bellows.

He clenched both fists, sneering at the retreat. Run? You think you can outrun a wildfire?

Eli flung Edlyn away; midair, pale-blue energy swirled from his hands, shaping an oval shell around her like a cocoon of ice. He met Birand’s fist with his right hand and got blown back like a leaf in a gale.

Birand didn’t chase Eli; he lunged for Edlyn instead, his punch thundering into the blue shell and rocketing her away like a comet.

Birand frowned, a dark crease like a cut in granite.

One thought rang in his skull. Too damn hard—like striking iron with bare knuckles.

No time to bleed off force though—Eli’s fist came howling in like a hawk.

Birand traced a circle; a red barrier blossomed over him like a firelit shield. Eli’s hand slipped through it at a wrong angle, ghostlike, and hammered Birand’s face with a crack.

What?!

Hey—good hit! Eli laughed through clenched teeth, pain like needles, and punted Birand away like a goal kick.

Birand tumbled back through the air, mind racing like stormwater through gullies, but no answer came.

Eli closed in; Birand spat a mouthful of blood that blossomed into countless sigils in the air, then mountains of lava tore open space like a ripped seam and surged at Eli.

Tch. Eli clicked his tongue and shot skyward, skimming past the molten flood like a swallow.

Birand reset his stance, palms pressed, hand-blades formed at his sides; his gaze on Eli was steady as a drawn bow.

Eli wore a mocking smile, raking Birand up and down like a cat before a mouse.

Truth was, he knew few tricks: thick hide, brute strength, fast feet—no extras, just stone and sinew.

But Birand didn’t know; he’d keep guarding against hidden divine arts like ghosts at the threshold.

Eli grinned wider, teeth the curve of a crescent.

Birand saw that look and grew wary; he sharpened focus on Eli and the space around him, hunting for hidden ripples like a fisherman watching glassy water.

In a fight, eyes on six roads, ears on eight winds. Learn it.

What—!

A black longsword punched through Birand’s heart, point blooming from his chest like a night thorn.

Birand coughed scarlet, eyes wide at the small figure behind him.

Edlyn smiled. Mr. Hero, did you think I was just a pretty vase?

Damn it! Birand spun, hand clawing for her like a hawk’s talon.

Edlyn pivoted, drew the blade from him in a black arc, then slashed at his waist like cutting water.

His claw came down toward her head like a falling mountain.

Just as both sides would trade blood, Eli appeared at Edlyn’s side; Birand’s palm slapped onto Eli’s shoulder like a hammer.

Eli swayed, then set his stance like a rooted tree.

Edlyn’s blade carved a canyon across Birand’s chest, a gash dark as midnight.

Birand shot backward, face cold as winter, eyes nailed to the two supporting each other.

These two—my biggest stumbling stones on the path. The thought lodged in him like a barb.

He glared, and both hands turned to blades, edges gleaming like fresh ice.

He charged again, a red streak in a field of storm-gray.

Back and forth they crashed; every clash threw off waves that made the air buckle, space shivering like a drumhead.

Eli caught a slip and kicked for Birand’s spine like a battering ram.

Bait. Birand liquefied into lava; Eli’s leg plunged through, and the molten body clamped his right leg like a vise. Birand’s twin blades scythed at Edlyn.

Edlyn flicked aside a short sword like swatting a sparrow, then leveled her Demonic Sword, point fixed on his brow like a star.

Eli rolled his hips and drove a left-knee strike, batting one of Birand’s arms skyward like a tossed spear.

As the demonic blade was about to pierce his brow-star, Birand grit his teeth and detonated his energy inside his body, a blast that hurled them both away like leaves in a squall.

It all happened in a blink, lightning between clouds.

Eli’s right pant leg had been eaten clean by lava, ragged as burnt parchment; his body, though, barely marked.

Edlyn had braced with the Demonic Sword; the impact on her was light, a ripple on a lake.

Birand stood, a little ragged, face sheened with cold like frost on iron.

This ends here for now. He still needed his true body to seek the Holy Sword, and to dissect Eli’s strange strength.

That pale-blue uncanny force had cost him in the dark like hidden reefs.

He wasn’t his true body—only a clone—no match for the pair, not today.

A pity. He’d caught neither the Demonic Lord nor even a common warrior of the Demon Race.

All he could bring back was the news of Eli’s absurd return, a pebble in his shoe.

He roared, burning every stray ripple on him into pure power, and poured it at them like a bursting dam.

Edlyn saw it and raised the Demonic Sword high; power howled off her like a midnight gale. She shouted again, Sever Light!

Countless demonic miasma flooded out too, a black tide.

The two vast forces collided; the shockwave kicked them both away like a giant’s palm.

Birand took the blast head-on and streaked back the way he’d come, a red spark in retreat.

Eli wrapped Edlyn tight, caging her in his arms like a shield; he turned his back and ate the spillover like stone against surf.

At last, the storm ran out of breath.

Birand’s silhouette was gone, swallowed by distance like a sinking ember.

Eli had buffered Edlyn; what reached her was barely a breeze through reeds.

She lifted her head, staring at the man she’d missed day and night like a lantern in the dark.

He lowered his head, meeting the woman he’d missed day and night like the first star at dusk.

He smiled. Long time no see.

Edlyn spoke first, voice soft as rain. You okay?

Eli blinked, then chuckled. I’m fine. This time back, I didn’t get many perks—just skin like armor and meat like stone.

Edlyn nestled into his chest, a soft smile blooming like a flower at dawn. That’s good…