"Or what? I could just wipe out this avatar of yours and every Demon out there." Birand shrugged, like shaking off rain.

"You can try." Eli kept his hands in his pockets, fingers worrying some hidden trinket like a bead string.

"Alright, alright. Oh, by the way, I traded blows with that friend from the Far East." Birand smiled, light like a knife.

Eli's eyes narrowed. Killing intent rose off him like frost in a night wind.

"You. What did you do?"

"Heh. Don't get so tense. Relax. Your friend was stronger than you think. And stronger than I thought. In my previous state, I couldn't take him. Now... hard to say." He shrugged, casual as drifting ash.

"Where are they?" Eli asked.

"Them? You mean the others. Relax. They're staying at your old home." Birand smiled with a crescent eye.

"Old home?" Eli frowned, lost in the fog.

"The orphanage," Birand said, slow as a bell toll.

He drew out the mask again and set it on his face, veiling both eyes like a cloud over twin moons.

"Enough chatter. Work with me or not—one word settles it. I don't like dragging my feet," Birand said, voice like a low drum.

Eli's brows knotted tight. "Then I'll ask once more. Answer me straight. You said you swallowed the Netherworld. Are you the Netherworld, or Birand?"

Birand gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "I told you at the start. I'm like your wife. Edlyn and Pandora need to fuse. So do I. I can't answer you cleanly. If you force it, right now, I'm Birand."

"As for the rest, I can't say more. Some things hurt you if spoken. If I dump the secrets now, the next time you face the Only, he might scrub your mind clean. Then the future won't budge."

"Hm? You mean the future can change? So what you said before was hot air?" Eli lifted a brow like a drawn bow.

This guy's words braided themselves into knots.

"I mean, we have to try. Otherwise you and I walk into the worst ending." Birand grimaced. "You wouldn't fight for it? Even with a one-in-ten-thousand chance?"

"...I hear you." Eli sighed, melancholy pooling like dusk.

"By the way, I do have a way to change the future a hundred percent. Want to try it?" Birand said suddenly, like a pebble tossed into still water.

"Huh? Let's hear it." Eli blinked, then leaned in.

"In the future, you're with your wife. If I kill the Demon King here and now, isn't that, in a way, a changed future?" Birand winked, mischief flickering like foxfire.

Eli's face iced over, as if he could swallow him whole.

Birand shrugged. "Don't mind me. Just a joke. If we're to work in earnest, I won't touch her."

"Heh." Eli squinted at him, eyes like slits of steel.

That's easy to say, hard to swallow.

Who knew what junk rattled in this man's skull.

One wrong wire, and he'd pop out hurting people.

The thought pricked like a thorn under skin.

No help for it. He was simply too weak.

"If we're teaming up, you should tell me what you need. Hm?" Eli rubbed his brow and sighed, like pressing down storm clouds.

"Mm. First, I need the lives of the Celestial God and the Abyss... tch. Don't look at me like that. I know the Abyss is your father-in-law. Tch... If not, get their help. But I'm not one to hang hope on others. Taking back their power is best."

"Not afraid the moment you take it back, the Only feels it and kills you on the spot?" Eli sneered, blade-cold.

Birand paused. His mouth opened, as if reaching for an argument.

A moment later, nothing came. He shrugged and nodded. "You're right."

"The Celestial God and the Abyss like you more than me. And in some ways, you are me. So I can only choose you."

"That simple?"

"You think it's hard?"

"...It's actually pretty hard," Eli said, earnest as stone.

"...Hard for others. For you?" Birand looked Eli over, then shook his head. "Not hard."

"...Another thing. If you want this, give me all the intel. What did you see? What's the Netherworld's true body? Why can't you tell me? If you can dodge the Only's probing, pass it to me. Only then can I trust you. You don't get that?" Eli sighed, a long wind through pines.

"No. If you really want to know, get the help of those two Extremes first." Birand shrugged. "Some things can't be explained with words. Can't be explained at all. You might not believe me. I won't stir useless trouble at a crucial knot."

"You and I both want this simple, don't we?" Birand smiled, like light on still water.

"...Fine." Eli flicked his hand, irritability snapping like a reed.

"By the way, if you really want something, I can tell you a few unimportant bits," Birand said with a sudden smile.

"...Go on." After the previous rounds, Eli hardly believed he would speak straight.

"That is... the Netherworld's name is Ghoulia Akaso Anchester Valria Medora Meris Hilda." Birand frowned and rattled off a string of mouthfuls.

Eli blinked and frowned. "Ghoulia... and then I forgot."

"Uh..."

"Stop! How about we call him Dalabumba Bandebedib Dobiruon?"

"...Wrong franchise."

"Tch. You're the one being dense. What's a name good for?" Eli snapped, temper sparking like flint.

"Hahaha. In that case, I'll gift you a fragment. A memory from the future. I sifted endless oblivion to dig it out for you," Birand said with a smile.

"You know it. No one but you can see it. Not even me." Birand shrugged. "Take it as my upfront gift for this partnership. Look well."

Eli hesitated, then took the ball of soft white light, like catching a moth.

After all, this was only an avatar. If it went wrong, no big loss.

"You're pretty complete now. Not a soul with missing pieces anymore. Even cracking jokes?" Eli muttered, words like pebbles.

At that, Birand only shook his head, slight as falling ash.

The answer is already in your mouth. Pity you still can't see what the Netherworld really is.

Eli stopped talking and ignored Birand. He eased the soft light into his body, like melting snow into a stream.

Shards of memory slid into his mind like falling glass.

...

It was a room like the world from his former life. A TV and a computer sat around like silent sentries of modern tech.

Eli stood like a ghost in the room. He stared, spellbound. What was this place?

He saw future Edlyn lying on the couch, face bright with joy like morning sun.

"I'm back." The future Eli keyed open the door, stepped in, kicked off shoes, and stretched. He handed Edlyn his briefcase. She smiled and tossed it onto the couch.

"Welcome home. I've been waiting," Edlyn said, smile warm as tea.

"What's up?" Eli was surprised. She seemed unusually bright today.

They wore modern clothes. Eli had a suit and tie. Edlyn wore pink pajamas, soft as dawn clouds.

"Hey, guess how my checkup went yesterday?" Edlyn asked, voice playful as a cat's paw.

"Hm? What's up?" Eli slid off his jacket, sank onto the couch, and drew an arm around her shoulders.

Edlyn melted into his arms like water into a cup.

"Guess how long it's been since my monthly came," she said, biting her lip, eyes soft and pleading.

"Let me think... Huh? You mean—?" Eli caught on. He stared at her, joy bursting like spring.

Edlyn smiled. "Mm-hmm. I... I finally... finally. I'm pregnant."

Eli froze with a radiant grin. Then he swept her up, stood, and spun her in circles like a whirlwind.

"Finally... finally!"

"Hey! Easy. If you drop me, you'll be the one crying," Edlyn laughed, flustered.

Eli stopped at once. He lifted her and set her on his lap. One hand rubbed her waist. The other rested on her belly, gentle as wind.

"Ha... we really did it," Eli smiled, body loosening like a bow unstrung.

"Mm." Edlyn leaned on his chest, idly tracing circles like ripples.

But it meant one thing. If Eli could have a child—

—then the Authority in his body had truly dissipated.

He would no longer be part of the World's Extreme. Not a divinity. Maybe not even Sacred Rank.

But then. Eli lowered his head and looked at Edlyn's bliss, soft as lantern light.

This was good too. To spend millennia with her was enough. Eli smiled at the thought, like embers glowing.

The present Eli paused, watching them with a shade of envy like a passing cloud.

The future looked so bright. Why had Birand spoken of the bleakest end?

Then the picture snapped.

Everything vanished. He stood amid ruins, stones like bones.

A few corpses lay around, faces drained to ash-gray.

Anna was there. Alice was there.

He saw his future self cradle Edlyn's cooling body. Blood-soaked, he knelt in the rubble and howled. The sound was hoarse and hopeless, like a torn storm.

Eli felt it like his own. His fists tightened, knuckles pale as chalk.

The sky was swamped by eerie orange clouds, like a bruise.

The Only appeared, face blank as stone. He reached toward Eli. "Your task is over. Time to return what's mine."

From his palm surged orange, tangible flame. It wrapped Eli and Edlyn like a hungry cloak.

Eli clutched Edlyn and glared at the Only's spirit. "I curse you, you damned bastard. I won't go quiet. One day, I'll kill you right here. To the blue vault above or the Yellow Springs below—this hate won't share the sky!"

Then Eli snapped back to the present, like a diver breaking water.

Birand stood still, watching Eli with hatred surging like a flood. He smiled. "Welcome, my later self. Now—have you decided?"

"...I'll kill him. Absolutely," Eli said, a cold smile like a drawn knife.