“Is that so.” Dawn Sugar Snow laughed softly, like dawn warming frost, then let the matter drift away like mist.

“Then after tonight’s class, let’s prep a bit,” she said, eyes bright as a hearth. “I’m actually into learning grilled fish.”

“Yay!” Qianya’s shout cracked like a firecracker, drawing a flock of curious looks.

“Ahem.” The cough cut the air like a pebble breaking a pond’s skin.

“Xuewei? You coming with us?” She asked it lightly, like a breeze through bamboo.

“Mm.” Xuewei’s reply was a nod, quiet as falling snow.

Heat rose first, then the thought surfaced in Qianya’s chest like a blush under lantern light: “Didn’t I say four people...”

She lowered her head and chewed in silence, like a sparrow pecking grain, afraid to chirp as loud as before.

“It’s almost six. Let’s head over.” The words fell like evening bells.

“Mm...?” Qianya glanced at the dozen plates on the table, stacked like a little hill, and at Yueyu, still nibbling like a content kitten. Had they eaten this much while she wasn’t watching?

Looks like we’ll need more fish tonight, she thought, the plan settling like a net in water.

By dusk, the classroom felt cold and hollow, like a pond under a thin moon; only the four of them came at this hour, candles in a quiet field.

The corridor was black as a well, and only one room glowed like a lighthouse, so there was no worry about getting lost.

“Huh? No one’s here.” The words fluttered like a moth at the door.

“We’re probably the only ones who pick night classes,” someone sighed, like wind through reeds. “Teacher’s not here yet. Let’s just sit.”

With only four, they landed in the front, like four leaves on the same branch; when the bell chimed, a second-year senior wandered in, yawning like a sleepy cat.

“So sleepy... why are there four of you showing up at night,” she grumbled, voice flat as a stone path.

“No choice, Senior. We missed the morning,” Qianya said, helpless as rain on a closed window.

“Hmph. Couldn’t you make it up tomorrow?” The emerald-haired girl sprawled over the lectern like a cat on a sun-warmed sill. “You had to come at night... if you hadn’t signed up, I could’ve coasted. Now I actually have to teach. What a pain.”

Her uniform marked her as a second-year, her half-turned face bright as a snow peak; her small nose was tinged red like a berry, and her long hair lay on the lectern like fine silk threads.

“Senior...?” The word drifted, tentative as a leaf.

“My name’s Xi Yi,” she said, words dropping like stones into a still pool. “Ask what you want. If I know it, I’ll try to answer. Lecturing’s exhausting; if not for required credits—tsk.”

After her introduction, Xi Yi sank back down like a tide receding, and the four sat there, awkward as cranes on thin ice.

Xuewei had nothing to ask; she yawned, drifting like a cloud beside a mountain, and decided to slack off with the senior.

Dawn Sugar Snow did the same; she glanced at Xuewei with a smile like sunshine through frost, then ruffled her sister’s hair.

Yueyu melted into her sister’s arms, eyes half-closed like a cat in a patch of light.

A small loneliness pricked first, then the thought in Qianya’s chest turned like a slow reed: I don’t fit with them...

Awkward, she lifted her hand, a single stem in wind. “I have some questions, Senior Xi Yi.”

“Speak.” Xi Yi let the word fall, heavy as a gate.

“Today in the library,” Qianya said, voice steady like a drawn line, “I read about Elder Gods. The sealed Demon God Vecna and many evil gods were imprisoned in a plane called Hell. The record stopped there. Senior, what crime sent that great Demon God to Hell? And if it broke out, would it destroy our way of life?”

“Impossible.” Xi Yi’s answer was a blade, clean as ice. “Even if Vecna dragged all its followers and every evil god out, they couldn’t threaten this world.”

“Then why... is there no record of that Demon God?”

“Because that one is an Archgod.” Xi Yi clicked her tongue, a spark in the dark. “Info on Archgods is veiled by Mystery. It can’t be written on the matter of this world, only kept in memory. Demon God Vecna, one of the Creator’s ten Archgods, top three in strength. Suppressing it needs at least three Archgods working together. Back then it united other evil gods and launched the War of the Gods, trying to overturn the order of this world and become the new Creator. The gods joined forces, defeated it, and exiled it to Hell. There, they can’t reincarnate; they’re bound forever and can’t escape. The seal is guaranteed by divine power. No one can undo it.”

“The gods beat and sealed them once,” she added, voice like iron. “Even if they got out, we’d just rerun the old script.”

“The War of the Gods...” Qianya breathed the words like smoke, mind painting a battlefield red as sunset. Then she steadied and asked, “Senior, if—just if—only one Archgod fought, could they defeat Demon God Vecna and its evil followers?”

“The strongest Archgod might,” she said after a pause, the answer slow as a drumbeat. “Perhaps.”

“The strongest Archgod?” The title hung like a mountain.

“That’s, that’s... uh, sorry, can’t say,” Xi Yi muttered, lips quirking like a secret. “You’ll only know Their True Name when you see Them. Anyway, that elder would obliterate that demon god.”

“Alright... then what about the other Archgods? Senior, how much do you know?”

“You really ask everything,” Xi Yi said, a glance sharp as a pin. Still, she answered with patience like a steady lamp. “The others. Let’s start with the top three. Besides that most mysterious, strongest Archgod, second is a red-haired one. Their relationship with our Academy isn’t great, but not hostile. Third is Demon God Vecna. Fourth is our Student Council President. Meet her and you’ll learn the name. Fifth, hmm...” Xi Yi glanced at Dawn Sugar Snow, the look a passing breeze. Qianya nodded at once, understanding like a light flicking on.

“As for sixth, you should know. Heng Zi, the older sister of the one who attacked you last time,” she said, tone flat as slate. “After her, I don’t know. The power gap among Archgods is small. Aside from the strongest, the others aren’t far apart. The Black-Flame Serpent God you met sits mid to high among the gods. Nowhere near her sister, but stronger than most second-years by a lot. Only, her luck was rotten.”

“Maybe my luck was too good,” Qianya said, tapping herself with a grin like spring sun.

“Fair.” Xi Yi yawned, sleep washing over her like a tide.

“Anything else you want to ask?” Her voice drifted, a lantern guttering.

“Senior, if a seal gets undone by accident, is there any special way to forcefully reinforce it?” Qianya’s question dropped like a needle.

“Oh? Which one? The Abyss of Hell?” Her gaze sharpened like a drawn blade.

“Yes.” Qianya nodded, serious as stone.

“If it’s undone...” Xi Yi’s face turned solemn, like a sky before storm. “There’s no way. You re-seal it. From scratch.”

Darkness rushed up in Qianya’s vision like a wave; she almost fainted.

“Haha. Can’t be helped,” Xi Yi said, a shrug like falling dust. “That seal was set by all the gods together. Breaking it is almost impossible, but once it breaks, you can’t restore it. The divinity scatters fast.”

“...” The silence sat between them like snow.

“Anything else?” Xi Yi asked, voice thin as dusk.

“No.” Qianya shook her head, despair heavy as rain-soaked clothes.

“If not, I’m sleeping.” Xi Yi folded her arms like a nesting bird. “Self-study as you like. Ask me if you get stuck.”

“Mm...” The response trailed off like mist in the dark.