Chapter Two: Birand’s End

“Ai-chan, don’t forget why we walked so long a road—your father’s hope hangs over us like a lantern.” Eli watched Edlyn, eyes gone crimson with fury, and sighed.

Edlyn didn’t hear, or refused to. The Demon Sword Ashill in her hands became a ribbon of black light, clashing again and again with Celestial God Yulia.

Eli breathed out, a wind across cold stone, and kept quiet. He set his gaze on Birand before him, murder clinging to him like frost. “You can’t beat me.”

Birand’s face was slate, wordless. In a blink he was at Eli’s cheek, an energy blade sweeping down like a guillotine.

Eli sighed, lids falling like dusk. He didn’t even look. His palm flashed, and Birand was slapped away like a leaf in a gale.

“I thought swallowing the Netherworld would lift you,” Eli said, turning with winter eyes on Birand. “You’re weaker than when you crawled out of the Inferno.”

“Birand. Your mission’s over.” His voice was a calm knife.

“I… won’t accept it.” Birand lay prone, silent for a beat. His teeth ground. Both fists tightened and punched twin pits into the earth, rage boiling like a spring.

Eli watched him like a wounded beast, a stag with arrows in its flank. A sigh tugged at his chest.

“Birand. Let vengeance go. I can help you bring Icarina back.” Eli’s breath came soft, like mist over water.

“On what ground?” Birand’s eyes went ashen. “I chased a thousand methods, spent years like sand, and found only deeper despair. Why can you do it?”

“Because I can rag-doll you right now. Is that enough?” Eli’s smile cut like moonlight on ice.

Birand lifted his head and looked at Eli, then pushed himself up, swaying like a reed. “Why should I trust you?”

Eli set the smile aside, and his godly pressure rose like a storm tide. “Birand, understand. I’m not bargaining anymore. You don’t have the right to bargain. We spring from the same source, but we’re two bodies now, no longer alike save soul and face. Our roads diverged. Our trials differ. We’re two.”

Eli stepped in, lowered his head, and looked down on Birand like a cliff over surf. “I’m hunting perfection of the soul. I can erase your temperament and divine mind, make my will the core, throw away every echo of you. Your past is useless to me.”

“You!” Birand glared up, his gaze clashing with Eli’s cold eyes like iron on iron. Three heartbeats later he lost to that crushing aura and slumped back, a boat flipped by wind.

“Think it through. Kill more, and what changes? Better to trust me. At least I can bring her back.” Eli’s voice fell like rain. “Vengeance isn’t a blessing.”

Birand fell silent. That sliver of luck, a seed in ash, swelled under Eli’s words. What if—Icarina still had a chance?

Long after, Birand spoke again. “What do I do?”

“Agreed?” Eli’s smile warmed like a lamp.

Birand ignored that painted grin. He rolled over and lay on his back, eyes on the sky, gaze unfocused like drifting clouds. “Do I even have a choice?” His voice was tired straw.

Eli came over and sat beside him, hands on his knees, his posture a collapsed pavilion. “Of course not. Who does?”

Birand seemed to smile, something easing like knots untying. “You’ll do what you said?”

“Naturally.” Eli nodded. “I kept no feeling for Icarina. That was your treasure. When you shattered Thias and split yourself, the conscious part would take it all. I didn’t carry a trace.”

“Then why help me?”

“We share a root.” Eli’s tone was flat, ancient as bedrock.

Birand laughed lightly, acceptance like snow settling. If he refused, Eli could end him with a thought. There was no need for tricks where absolute strength stands like a mountain.

And what of him was worth deceiving?

He’d schemed so long, killed so many. That hatred had soured in silence. Perhaps in the Celestial Realm, when he broke Thias with that single sword, every debt was paid. The rest was obsession, a shadow that wouldn’t leave.

Birand closed his eyes and let go, like a hand releasing a blade.

Inside him, the swallowed Netherworld lunged to seize the body, a flood breaking a dam. Blue light flared from Birand like glacier fire.

Eli chuckled low, set his hand on Birand’s head, and with a sudden grip pulled the Netherworld out like a hooked fish.

The Netherworld stared, stunned, like a thunderbird struck mid-flight. “Impossible! You—you—!”

“Pity,” Eli said, voice older than ruins. “I’ve gleaned so little. Netherworld, sealed so long, and you’re still stuck in that rut.”

The Netherworld’s eyes bulged, almost falling like loose stones.

“That tone… are you… One?”

Eli nodded. “You guessed right.”

“Hahaha! I knew you lied. You said my father made you to aid us? Ridiculous!” The Netherworld’s teeth showed, words spitting like sparks. “A mere post-born creature dared trick me!”

“No matter how far a post-born life evolves, it can’t match us, pure ancients. Eli! Cross a span of time with a mortal frame? Impossible. You—you’re about to—”

“Enough drivel.” Eli cut him short like a blade to rope.

The Netherworld burst into laughter, a mad drum. “Hahaha! Of course! You’re pitiful too. Remember your old temperament? Would you act like this? I’ve read Birand’s mind—angry or not, you always wore a grinning mask. Eli, your persona is shattered! You’re done for! Hahaha!”

Birand heard and looked back at Eli, gaze like a wary wolf.

Eli’s face and eyes stayed unchanged, frost on steel. “A beaten cur barking.”

Birand frowned, and chose to let the storm pass.

“Eli, I’ll watch you in the underworld,” the Netherworld hissed, fading like smoke. “You’re finished!”

Birand could feel it—the moment the Netherworld was ripped out, Eli’s strange energy gnawed the Netherworld’s soul like acid. By now, it was almost done.

Eli watched the Netherworld break into motes and drift like fireflies. He let out a heavy breath, a bell toll. “Your tale is tragic, Netherworld. But I’ve no time for mercy. Be my road sign, and point me to Zero.”

Birand stared quietly, thoughts emptied like a drained cup. Without the Netherworld’s backing, without vengeance fueling him, and with his body aged through centuries, he was at the end of the road.

A human’s limit sits around this span, even if a human climbs to a god-seat.

Eli reached out. Birand looked up and reached too. Their hands met, light blooming pale as dawn.

Birand’s eyes closed upon the ground. He was gone.

Eli stood where he was, winter-faced, emotion hidden like a blade in a sheath.

Where the Netherworld’s soul scattered, a mark hung like a star. That was the final destination.

Maybe he didn’t need to seek.

With the Netherworld’s soul and authority claimed, that one would likely come here, break the Celestial God, and answer.

Eli folded his legs and sat, watching Edlyn battle above like storm and thunder.

He wasn’t worried for her.

From start to finish, he believed Edlyn would win.

…

“Ugh!” After another clash of energy, Edlyn finally tore distance open like a cracked ridge.

Her small hands trembled from the brutal exchange, tiger’s mouth split and bleeding like red rain.

Edlyn drew a long breath, a river filling her lungs, and stared at the Celestial God not far off. The Celestial God wiped blood from her lips and lifted her gaze like a drawn bow.

“Demon King. Is that it?” The Celestial God sneered, power tuning inside her like strings tightening.

“How about it? You and I were born enemies. Now I end it. Celestial God.” Edlyn’s words struck like flint.

“Hmph. Arrogant and blind.” The Celestial God’s laugh was cold as iron. If she hadn’t burned so much power against the Abyss, she’d crush this Demon King into dust.

That was her thought, hard as a blade.

“For countless years, you never changed.” The Demon Sword Ashill in Edlyn’s grip swelled into a giant sword, twice her height like a black monolith.

“My father was truly blind!” Edlyn swept the giant blade, smashing it into the Celestial God like a falling mountain.

The Celestial God spit blood and flew back like a torn banner.

Edlyn dropped from the sky, feet slamming the ground like thunder. Endless demonic aura burst from her core, coiling around the giant sword like smoke. She gritted her teeth and rushed toward the spot where the Celestial God fell.

“Ha—ahhhh!” The giant sword lifted, the force vast, intent to cleave the Celestial God in a single stroke.

Falling, the Celestial God was gathering power all along, pressure condensing like a star. As Edlyn charged, she spun midair, both jade hands sheathed in holy light, and slapped down on the blade.

Boom!

The blast rippled across the whole space like a drumbeat shaking the heavens.