"Well. This time really feels like the last." As Edlyn leveled the Godslayer Weapon at the Celestial God, Janus spoke, her voice like mist sliding over stone.

"You mean...?" Edlyn’s heart stuttered; she looked at Janus in disbelief, like staring into a moonless lake.

Janus only nodded. "Father will lose. He’ll fall fast, like a felled pine in a storm."

Edlyn’s hand froze mid‑aim, a sparrow caught in winter frost.

Outside, Birand fought a ring of High Angels. His worried gaze kept flicking to Edlyn in the shadows, like a hunter checking a hidden snare.

What’s the Demon King playing at?

He grimaced, slipped past a rain of energy bolts, and pulled back like a tide receding.

Elsewhere, the leaders held back the four‑winged Angels who wanted to rush Galiel. The battlefield pressure eased, like loosening a noose.

Divine might fell like cold rain. Edlyn watched helpless, a reed in gale.

Janus smiled. "Father will lose because he found and set up a way to defeat the Celestial God. It cost him blood and years. And this is the second time we woke him, so his repairs lag behind the God’s. That’s why he falls so fast. Otherwise, he could stall them for months."

"Of the ancient three, Father was the strongest. He presided over Judgment and Punishment, thunder and lash. He shouldn’t lose to the other two. But..." Janus paused, words clipped like a cut thread. Too much might ruin the Abyss’s design.

Edlyn sighed, ready to order every Godslayer Weapon to strike the Celestial God like a storm of arrows.

Janus caught her small hand and gently shook her head, a bell stilled with one touch.

Birand roared, battering Angels back like leaves in a gust. "Demon King! What are you waiting for!"

High above, the Celestial God hovered like a pale moon. Boundless mind‑force covered the field, a silk canopy over the war. She heard him and stayed serene. "So the latter is only a Demon King? Then prepare to leave your bones here. It’s time for Us to craft a world anew."

"Birand, earlier Our true body was healing. That gave you a wild hour. Now We end future rot. Any last words?"

Birand set the broken sword across his front, a bar of cold iron. He glared at the God like a wolf at firelight.

The Celestial God sighed and shook her head. "You still don’t understand. It’s only a broken Holy Sword. If it were whole, by its completeness We couldn’t ride it, and it would even curb Us. But you ruined it. What should We fear?"

Birand barked a laugh like a snapped twig. "Try me, my Celestial Lord. What, haven’t had your period in ages?"

Faces of the Angels darkened like thunderheads. Blades fell toward him. "How dare you insult the Celestial God!"

In the God’s gaze, a new aura flared from the far side of the field—akin to Birand’s, like kin smoke on the wind. A figure stood in the air, tens of thousands of li away, smiling faintly at her, a lantern at dusk.

For once, the God’s ancient heart rippled with nameless fear, like a still pond struck by a stone.

She frowned and banished the feeling like dust from a sleeve.

The masked figure with a butterfly faceplate glanced at her, then toward Janus’s place, and nodded, a raven’s dip in the air.

Behind him, vast blue energy exploded like a sea broken loose, pinning every Angel to the ground as if mountains pressed their backs.

Before shock could breathe, pure black spread from behind him, a night‑tide devouring all life present, like a primeval beast swallowing a forest whole.

The God could no longer drive out the fear; it clung like hoarfrost.

She covered half her face with one hand and spoke coldly. "I thought that other one threatened me. It wasn’t him. It was you. Why not show your true body, Milan Edward?"

The Abyss floated out of the unknown black, arms folded like closed wings. Power poured off him, a glacier’s weight. His feelings drowned again in the deep; he knew he must be the Abyss, not Edward. He tried to smile, but his face stayed taut, a mockery tugging at his lips. "Long time no see."

"A long time indeed." The God’s voice was winter rain. "You slip out and pull every thread from the dark. You turned my Hero into your dog to fight me?"

The Abyss shrugged, calm as stone. "Celestial God, you forget your noble We when outsiders are present?"

She ignored the barb. Her face settled, smooth as worked jade.

"Fate has tangled for ages. It ends today?"

"Maybe." The Abyss’s tone was a low tide.

"We will become the new Only One, ruling space and time again, a sun over all horizons."

The Abyss shook his head. "Even the Only couldn’t do that. He’s already lost himself, a lantern with no flame. Don’t dream. Letting you walk away with the Netherworld’s authority billions of years ago was my life’s greatest mistake. I’ll mend it."

"Then you know—with the Netherworld’s authority, you’ll never match Us again."

"Enough talk."

"Let life and death decide."

They fell silent. Power surged and collided above, two oceans smashing, mountains groaning under the strain.

Zero flashed to Edlyn’s side, a spark crossing shadow. He frowned. "Where’s Janus?"

"Where’s Eli?"

They asked at once, voices like crossed blades.

Zero looked up. "It’s fine. I’m here. You don’t need to push that barrier so hard." Blue light flickered in the sky like a fish’s scale; Eli dropped from above, frowning at Zero.

Janus stepped out of Edlyn’s shadow, a rose slipping from dusk.

They both looked to Eli and Edlyn, eyes like lanterns meeting.

Edlyn said to Eli, "You wanted to know who they are, right?"

"You mean these two?" Eli’s brows knit like tied cord.

"Yeah."

"You’re the psycho who taught me swordplay, right?" Eli squinted at Zero, a hawk testing distance. "How do you know Edlyn?"

Zero froze, then nodded, a pebble sinking. "Yeah. I did say that."

"Huh?" Eli stared, fog in his eyes.

Zero took off his mask, tugged down his hood, and smiled, a sunrise breaking gray.

Eli stared back, disbelief clutching him like ice. "You’re Birand?"

"Bro. I’m you."

"Bro—me? You’re me?"

Edlyn and Janus traded a look and burst out laughing, like bells in a courtyard. "Alright, punctuation genius. Quit being stubborn. We know you get it."

Janus pulled off her hood and mask, moonlight on a blade.

Zero stood a hair taller than Eli, a coin’s breadth of height. Eli frowned. "Hey, you’re almost one‑ninety, right? Didn’t know you could still grow at thirty."

"Eh. You don’t get it. A Star‑Body keeps growing till fifty."

"??? Hell, how big am I gonna get?"

Zero grinned. "Which part?"

"You tell me."

They traded a look and shared a wicked smile, foxes at the henhouse.

"Cut it out! Flirting in a war!" Janus drove a punch into Zero’s face, thunder in her knuckles.

Edlyn twisted hard at Eli’s waist, a sharp grape‑vine pinch.

Zero wiped his nosebleed, crimson on his fingers. "See? That’s the difference between a girlfriend and a wife."

Then a lot more bruises bloomed on him, purple flowers after rain.

After Zero explained the whole thread, Eli stayed dazed, a boat caught in fog.

Wasn’t I supposed to change the future? Why—

Zero smiled. "Relax. It’s fated. We won’t step in. Soon, Birand will sell you out."

"That sounds infuriating." Eli’s brow creased like storm lines.

"So I’m here to teach him. He ships one off, another comes back. His face will be priceless." He chuckled, a cat’s purr.

Outside, the Celestial God and the Abyss tore at each other, storm against cliff.

The God’s voice fell from the clouds. "Edward, you’re weak, like an ant under heel. This strike erases you on the spot."

The Abyss panted. His dark field lay in ragged shreds, a banner torn by wind. Feeling surged through the cracks; he couldn’t hold them back. He laughed. "The setup stands! Everything moves by plan. Yulia, we leave the stage!"

All remaining black poured into him like a river into a whirlpool.

His face flushed; he ground his teeth. "Only this can pierce the veil and reach the fixed time!"

Black torrent burst from him like a flood, charging the God with roaring water.

The God started, then hurled her holy aura—only eighty percent gathered—into the torrent, a sun against night.

Boom.

Their clash shook the space, a drumbeat that split hills.

At the contact, a light beyond words burned. Anyone who stared would have their eyes explode like bursting seeds.

Birand appeared at Eli’s side, a knife step through brush.

Zero and Janus kept hidden, shadows folded tight.

Birand smiled. "Only if you die will I be whole."

He kicked at Eli, who had no guard, like a hawk diving.

Edlyn grabbed Eli’s ankle mid‑flight, a fisher’s hand on a line.

Far off, Liqianyu appeared and lashed a kick at Birand. "I’ve waited so long! I knew you had bad intentions!"

Birand jolted. His body shifted into Netherworld form, a mist slipping past a blade, dodging Liqianyu’s strike. "How are you moving at a time like this?! Are you a monster?!"

Under the Abyss’s hidden hand, Eli and Edlyn were drawn into the sphere’s center, a pearl pulling them in.

Liqianyu bit down, rushed up, and wrapped Eli’s waist, a clamp like iron. "Get down here!"

"Eliqianyu?! What are you doing?" Eli’s voice pitched, a startled bell.

"Saving you, idiot!" Liqianyu snarled, unleashing all his strength in one breath, like a dam breaking.

All three were swept into the white point at the center, a moth into the lantern’s heart.