“We’ll be there soon. Got anything you want to ask?” Birand smiled, easy as sunlight on a calm bay.

The Giant Squid rolled his shoulders like a slow swell, face blank. “I just need to see that thing works. Everything else—don’t care.”

Birand chuckled, then lifted an image from memory, panes of light showing what Manstein had once displayed to him.

The Giant Squid frowned, a crease like a storm-line. “This? This?”

“Don’t underestimate it. These are creations left by the Abyss, outside the Celestial God’s domain,” Birand said, voice steady as deep tide.

“You can’t prove they’re real,” the Giant Squid sneered, cold as brine.

“You won’t come ashore. Go up, and I’ll show you true or false.” Birand’s smile had a hook. “What’s wrong, scared, my dear Mr. Giant Squid?”

“...” The Giant Squid studied Birand up and down, a hunter sizing distance. His gaze settled on those so-called Godslayer Weapons. He stared long, then let his brow smooth like a slackened rope.

“Then I suppose our Seafolk leader has made his decision?” Birand slowly shrugged off his outer robe, smiling like a practiced dealer.

He traced a glowing rune in the air, a sigil like a jellyfish lantern, and placed it in the Seafolk chief’s hand. “If you come around, find me in the Human capital. Trigger this, and I’ll know where you are.”

“If I come, you’ll bring those weapons out for me to see?” The Giant Squid’s smile was knife-thin.

“Relax. I, Birand, don’t break my word. Your forebears trusted me—deeply.” He gave the Giant Squid a courteous bow, light as drifting kelp.

“Heh. And now they’re all dead. My dear Hero, you’re a maggot chewing the continent raw. If we don’t cut you out, this world never knows peace.” The Giant Squid’s eyes pressed down like deep water.

Birand only smiled, then dissolved into dust, scattering like sand on the current.

“Then, Mr. Giant Squid, I’ll await you in my lands. Rest easy. Everything will go as I expect, as I desire. Join hands, and the Celestial God stops being a problem.”

“Let’s hope,” the Giant Squid said, a quiet curl at his lip.

He waited until Birand’s power thinned from the world like smoke. Then he waved, and the barrier fell away.

Sea water rushed back under his guidance, filling the chamber like a river reclaiming its bed.

A subordinate strode up, scowling at the place Birand had vanished. “Ugh… what a sickening man. Teacher, he makes my skin crawl. That’s the Hero from the chronicles? Feels nothing like it.”

The Giant Squid nodded slightly, a pebble of agreement.

Hands clasped behind his back, he turned to leave. “Either way, I did believe him. Yet there’s a fog in my chest, a nameless unease. I can’t tell its source.”

“Your Majesty thinks Birand lied? Should we still work with him? If we stake everything and lose, that’s ruin.”

The Giant Squid shook his head, gaze nailed to where Birand had faded. “Not necessarily a lie. Maybe I just fear his power. A mere avatar withstood my racial aura. Hard to imagine his true body now.”

“That strong?”

“Yeah… but other factors might be at play. Better prepare. Our Seafolk are countless, and low-tier Seafolk are like grains of sand. With a Great Calamity coming, we get ready.”

“My lord… you’ll really go to land? There, our strength wanes like tide at ebb. What if—”

“No what-ifs. I’ve got a hunch. With Birand’s power now, other races won’t refuse him.” The Seafolk leader’s brow tightened, a knot in rope.

“I thought he had no backers. But she told me three races support him in secret. Humans and Beastkin are obvious. Beastkin broke free by his hand and stand equal to us; helping Birand fits.”

“Humans are the Holy Sanctuary’s main ground. With Holy Paris fallen, Humans naturally fall into Birand’s hand. But the Elf Race… why?”

“They’ve always claimed absolute fairness, no leanings. Even the Anti-Demon Alliance only formed after the Demon Race annihilated half the elves, forcing them to fight. So… why support the Hero so early now?” His frown deepened, thoughts circling like eddies.

“Maybe they were involved from the start,” the general said, shrugging like a gull.

“Good point.” The Giant Squid’s brow unknotted; he smiled. “Before I set foot on land, I’ll search our history for answers.”

“Your Majesty…”

“These days, keep the waters calm. No leaks. If I confirm a deal with Birand, we move. Whether the Celestial God has truly revived, whether he’ll strike all races—that’s still unknown.”

“Understood!”

Demon Race.

Edlyn held her longsword, face cool as frost, eyes fixed on the visitor.

“What? One beating wasn’t enough? You came back to get thrashed again?”

Birand spread his hands, helpless as a man in rain. “Demonic Lord, it’s urgent. You know the news: the Celestial God revives, and your Demon Race is in for grief.”

“Besides, the Abyss won’t save you. Might not save itself. Why won’t you work with me?”

“You won’t tell me what becomes of my people; no concrete plan. How do we cooperate? You targeted him ages ago. You even took his life. You think I’m stupid enough to trust you?” Edlyn kept a cold smile, like iron under velvet, same as every other leader facing Birand.

In short, this Hero was unwelcome everywhere he went.

“Heh. Misunderstandings. And no friendship without a fight. We’ve been foes for centuries, right?”

“You know we’re foes. Why would I help you?” Edlyn’s voice was a blade.

“Don’t corner me. I only need ten high-tier demons. Simple ask—aren’t you listening?” Birand sounded tired, like a man dragging chains.

“Not ten. Not even a single hair.” Edlyn raised her sword, face darkening like a storm-front.

“Tch… can’t talk with you. It’s always blood and blades.” Birand scratched his head, temper flaring. “Everyone with my face has agreed to work with me. You? If you love him, you should support his choice, right?”

“Oh? Nice excuse.” Edlyn’s eyes widened, bright and dangerous. “You think I’ll buy it? Who do you think you are? A pig with a clove stuck in its snout, thinking it’s an elephant? You speak and I obey?”

“Sigh… figured as much. I have to beat you. Once you’re properly thrashed, you’ll remember manners.” Birand sighed, then flickered forward like a lightning fish.

Edlyn watched him rush in, eyes cool as moonlight.

She lifted her blade.

Clang!

Metal rang through the valley like a struck bell.

Edlyn eyed the jagged fragments in Birand’s hand, a glint like broken ice.

She glanced back at her Demon Sword Ashill, and saw it hadn’t cut the shards clean. Those fragments carried none of Birand’s power. The material itself resisted Ashill, forged from the World Tree’s heartwood.

Which meant—

“You actually found shards of Thias?” Edlyn’s voice held honest surprise.

“Scared?”

“I’m scared you’ll die here before Eli kills you himself.”

Clang!

The broken sword and Ashill met again, sparks fanning like fireflies. Their faces hardened. They traded blows in midair, probing with steel and intent.

Space around them kept detonating, blooms of ruin spreading wider.

Both were slowly drawing deeper power, like wells being drained.

Suddenly, Birand felt his body slip from his grip and yank backward, a hook in his spine.

Edlyn seized the chance and thrust for his heart, straight as a stabbing ray.

Birand spat blue blood, dragged by a pull he couldn’t fight, his body skidding backward like a net hauled fast.

Eli, one arm around Liqianyu, lifted his free hand toward Birand. He closed his fingers, and Birand was yanked to him like iron to a magnet.

Birand frowned and rubbed his aching brow, a man with a headache under thunder. “I swear… your timing’s perfect. Every time I attack here, you show up. You’re a damned haunting shadow, Eli!”

Eli smiled, then his figure thinned, fading like mist.

He left Birand coughing blood in the air, alone under a bruised sky.

Birand chuckled and shook his head. “Protecting your wife, huh? Your body’s not even here and you swing at me? Your power’s getting wild too, you bastard…”

Edlyn watched him with a cold look, but doubt flickered like a fish.

Just now… when Eli appeared… was there a girl in his arms? Did she see wrong?

She pressed the thought down, saving the question for later.

Elsewhere, Eli was racing toward the Abyss’s entrance, a streak through steel-gray air.

His body stuttered mid-flight. He coughed a mouthful of blood, red as a seal on snow.

Liqianyu frowned, slipped an arm around his waist, and poured energy into him like warm tea into chilled hands. “You’re something else. Without me, you’d probably evaporate again.”

Eli grinned at her, then scratched his head, embarrassed as a boy caught out. “Heh… thanks~”