That inscription was a storage spell.

As Tsukika raised a hand and tapped it with clear interest, the activated spell actually released a silver-white ribbon that drifted out.

The moment Li Wei saw that ribbon, he froze for a second.

Because he realized he actually remembered it.

The reason he remembered it so clearly was... that too many things had happened on the night tied to that ribbon.

That was the first time he had killed a cadre of the Annihilation demon race all by himself.

The Demon Lord of Annihilation was furious, yet wary. They sent out an army to hunt him down, and even declared to humanity that they should hand over the murderer of that demon cadre. If they surrendered the chief culprit, everyone else could be spared.

Humanity's response was calm. Ordinary, even.

Sword and fire.

Li Wei had killed that attacking demon cadre to protect them. How could they possibly cut off their own future and push a genius like him off a cliff with their own hands?

If they wanted Li Wei, fine.

They could step over their corpses first.

With swords, they carved a path through darkness and mud. With fire, they drove back the evil that dared covet them. And what watered that road in the end was blood, spilled in torrents.

That was a night when humanity shone like a sky full of stars. Even those who fell, even those burning wills that dropped from the heavens, still became lamps along the way, lighting the road ahead.

And it was also that night that Li Wei underwent a complete transformation and growth.

From then on, there was no more Li Wei treating life like a game. The life that belonged to Chosen Hero Li Wei truly began to unfold. Through one sacrifice after another, he gradually took on the heaviest mission, fought against that deep darkness, and by sheer force helped humanity survive its hardest era. In the end, he helped them launch their counterattack and bring down Annihilation.

Back then, when he staggered alone out of the Demon King Citadel and looked at that light, when he looked at the distant crowd cheering for the heroes who had cut off Annihilation's head, he honestly couldn't quite remember what he had felt.

He only knew that at the time, one thought still lingered in his heart.

Did I do it?

I didn't let them down... right?

And after that came a tangle of emotions he couldn't pull himself free from.

Bathed in the light of the human world, he had helped humanity save the world... yet not long before that, he himself had been saved by the Demon Lord. And at the very end, just before leaving the Demon King Citadel, he had "repaid kindness with betrayal" and "defeated" the Demon Lord.

The conviction he held back then churned violently through his heart.

He was clearly standing in a light that felt like rebirth, like hope made real. He had clearly opened a road to the heavens for humanity. And yet the relief he should have felt never came, not when it was supposed to. Only these past few days had finally brought him release.

—

Seeing that ribbon, Li Wei thought of many things.

Things far away.

Tsukika was the same. She, too, sank into memory.

On the night Li Wei transformed, on that cruel battlefield, she had also been one of the witnesses.

But unlike the demons who focused on the battle and humanity's potential, all of Tsukika's attention had been on Li Wei alone.

She had watched, clearly, as that green and unpolished boy grew up in a single day.

And now, Li Wei still looked like that same boy. But all the old innocence and naivete had long faded from him. Everything he carried, everything he had gone through, all those losses and that loneliness, had made him fully mature.

Tsukika couldn't say which version of Li Wei was more charming.

But to her, that stretch of the past wasn't worth remembering.

Because on that night, the one standing by his side, the one who felt his pain and struggle and answered it, wasn't her.

That night, she had seemed like nothing more than a dispensable spectator.

She hadn't even had the right to go near him.

The one who stayed by Li Wei's side that day was the Sword Empress, the one she had never really liked either before or after becoming the Demon Lord. Li Wei's "childhood sweetheart."

All Tsukika could do was watch the grieving Li Wei get comforted after the battle. Watch him take this ribbon, once used to tie up the Sword Empress's long hair, from her hand. Then watch the two of them write something on it together and hang it from a high branch, letting it sway there like a vessel for their wish and resolve.

"A tree works that hard to grow so tall and so big. It doesn't exist just to carry humanity's wishes, okay?"

"Dumping something it obviously can't do onto its head like that—don't you think that's way too much for it?!"

Tsukika remembered very clearly how she had felt that night.

She had stomped her feet until they went numb.

Annihilation had returned empty-handed and gone mad with rage. But she, as Undying, hadn't even joined the battle and still got mentally shattered all the same.

She'd wanted nothing more than to erase that tree with a single Domain skill.

After Li Wei and the others left, Tsukika hadn't gone to see what was written on the ribbon.

She was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop herself from acting on the spot.

But now, the answer had fallen into her own hands.

She casually caught the silver-white ribbon, untied it, and a line of words appeared on it, as if branded there in blood.

"We'll walk together to the very end of the subjugation."

The moment she saw those words, a huge weight lifted from Tsukika's heart.

But right after that, a strange discomfort still rose inside her.

"That really does sound like the kind of promise you'd make."

Suppressing that unpleasant feeling, Tsukika turned to Li Wei's pretty little face and deliberately put on a mocking smile.

Holding the ribbon, she showed it to the Li Wei who still seemed to be spacing out.

"Chosen Hero, you were really so green when you were younger. You look completely like you got played."

"That girl deliberately sent over a message like that, and even specially found a keepsake with this much meaning. Looks like she still wants to keep you dancing in the palm of her hand."

"Masterful. Truly masterful. Her skill at toying with hearts is way better than her skill at taking down Demon Lords~"

Tsukika finished her teasing and waited for Li Wei to react.

But to her confusion, aside from looking a little absent-minded, Li Wei seemed like he hadn't heard a word she said.

"?"

'Could you at least say something?!'

All of a sudden, the Demon Lord narrowed her crimson eyes. The hand holding the ribbon tightened a little.

"Chosen Hero, are you that lost in old memories? You can't even hear what I'm saying anymore?"

"You were acting all casual just now, but the second you saw this thing, you couldn't even move your eyes away."

"Don't tell me you still can't let go of the one who betrayed you. I remember humans have a special word for that kind of behavior. I think it's called... simp?"

"Chosen Hero, are you trying to become the strongest simp alive?"

Tsukika was smiling. Her tone was mocking.

But deep in her pupils, something darker seemed to be brewing.

Oh, she was getting heated. Her fists were definitely getting hard.

Only when that inexplicable chill swept over him did Li Wei finally snap back to himself.

Just now, his memories had already drifted back to the time when he first joined Chosen Hero training. He had been reliving the innocence and greenness of those days, remembering the time he spent with companions who later died, and remembering that girl who would probably remain his eternal guilt, his eternal regret—

In the end, he had never managed to let her see a brand-new future.

Then he came back to himself and saw the Demon Lord looking like she'd just swallowed gunpowder. He couldn't help but pause.

What simp? How am I a simp?

Meeting the Demon Lord's gaze, Li Wei thought for a moment and said,

"Just not being able to forget someone doesn't qualify as being a simp."

"A real simp lowers his head the second he sees them and feels inferior. Love's already at his lips, but he still doesn't dare say it. He watches the person he likes go on dates with someone else, gets mad, and still helps clear every obstacle for them just to feel involved. When they get dumped, his heart hurts more than he's bitter. And no matter how many stupid things they do, even wanting to kill them won't last more than a second."

Tsukika: "???"

Tsukika suddenly couldn't hold it together.

Not because she was shocked by how familiar Li Wei was with simps, but because she had the strange feeling that he had seen through something and was using those words to point at her.

Not once did he say her name.

And yet every single line felt like it was about her.

Hadn't she, in the past, only been able to secretly watch Li Wei and Inona grow together, while helping them deal with dangers from the shadows?

And that part about not being able to keep up the urge to kill him for even a second... no, you really need to go get your brain checked!

Looking at Li Wei's serious expression, Tsukika felt both embarrassed and annoyed. The urge to kill him could definitely last more than a second.

No, forget a second.

If she wanted to kill him, she wouldn't even need one.

Li Wei looked at Tsukika's suddenly darkened little face, and at that cold gaze that seemed ready to kill, and couldn't help but feel puzzled.

He had only given a simple explanation of what a simp was. Why did this Demon Lord look like she'd just had her face shoved into an insult and completely lost it?

Still, Tsukika recovered quickly and adjusted her mood at once.

She knew very well that there was no way Li Wei could know about her life after becoming the Demon Lord. What he had just said was probably just something careless he blurted out.

No matter how you looked at it, a word like simp had nothing to do with her.

If anything, she was more like a lone wolf.

"So you know this much, and you're still saying you're not one?"

After adjusting her tone, Tsukika let out a cold laugh.

Once she realized Li Wei wasn't targeting her, she got a little annoyed again. Could it be that this really was all based on his own personal experience?

Li Wei shook his head.

The reason he knew was simply because, before coming to this world, he had lived in an age of information overload. What kind of simp hadn't existed online?

There were even blind legends who got vasectomies for women, then cried about it while still charging through the Rift.

Compared to weirdos like that, the kind of simp he had just described probably wouldn't even earn the title of simp. They'd just get seated at a separate table as "puppy-type boys."

Li Wei looked at Tsukika calmly.

"Weren't you the one pointing at me and calling me a simp? I was just explaining what the word means so I could clear my own name. Who wants to get weirdly insulted for no reason?"

As he said that, Li Wei gave Tsukika another thoughtful look.

Maybe it wasn't his imagination.

The Demon Lord seemed weirdly impatient today.

That explanation did sound reasonable...

Tsukika was thinking that when she suddenly met Li Wei's gaze, which seemed to be sizing her up with suspicion. Her heart tightened. She quickly tucked away some of the emotion leaking out and pulled another smile onto her face.

"Anyway, seeing this ribbon, don't you have anything to say, Chosen Hero?"

"Even if her tone sounds like she's handing out charity, it still seems like she wants to win you back."

"That doesn't count as winning someone back." Li Wei shook his head. He wasn't an idiot. There was no way he'd be moved by something like this.

"And if she sincerely tried to win you back, would you agree?"

Tsukika smiled, but not quite.

"What's in the past is already in the past." Li Wei answered calmly.

Not everything can be mended.

Some trust, once lost, is very hard to get back.

"So Chosen Hero is that resolute, huh." Tsukika's smile turned sweeter and sweeter. "Looks like you've completely become unable to live without me, then~"

Li Wei: "???"

You can make that kind of turn on a road this broken too?

Li Wei was a little speechless. Just how wild were the works circulating in the Demon King Citadel? He was starting to worry about his daughter's preschool education.

"But I really am curious. If one day you met her and said something like 'I can't live without her'—what kind of expression would that Sword Empress make, I wonder?" Tsukika blinked.

"First, words like that would never come out of my mouth." Li Wei thought for a moment, then added, "Second, from what I know about her, even if you went and said it yourself, she might not care at all."

After that incident, he had truly come to understand Inona's personality and convictions.

"What I know about her?"

Tsukika felt a few question marks pop up over her head.

Could this guy maybe know a little more about her instead of everyone else?

Oh?

He really did seem to understand her. Understand her deeply, even. But as an enemy...

Tsukika's feelings were complicated.

"Is there a problem with that? Like you said, after going through something like that, how could I not see what she truly wanted?" Li Wei asked, puzzled.

He'd only casually used the word "understand." He hadn't thought much of it.

At that, Li Wei looked at the suddenly silent Demon Lord. After a moment, he added,

"You've been targeting Inona all day, haven't you? Do you have some grudge against her?"

Then Li Wei suddenly realized something. He paused and said,

"Don't tell me you..."

"Don't tell you what?"

Tsukika's expression suddenly tightened.

"Don't tell me... you want to use her to humiliate me?"

Li Wei felt like he'd figured it out again!

This Demon Lord kept bringing up Inona, and kept asking about his attitude toward Inona. Clearly, she wanted to hear him give an answer that showed he cared, then use that attachment to humiliate him. She probably wanted to enjoy some twisted thrill out of it.

What awful taste.

Still, if he made things clear, maybe he could kill her interest on the spot.

So Li Wei directly exposed what he thought was Tsukika's motive. He frankly told her that Inona's letters or keepsakes meant absolutely nothing to him, and then added,

"If you think doing something to me in front of that letter or keepsake, or stirring up memories of my past before doing anything, would make me feel ashamed or humiliated... then I'm afraid you'll be disappointed."

But after Li Wei said all that, Tsukika froze.

At first, she really had wanted to execute him on the spot, right in front of the contract and promises he had once made with Inona. She wanted to tear apart every trace others had left in his heart, then little by little plant a mark that belonged to her alone.

But now, did Li Wei's words mean there had never been any trace left by that woman in his heart at all? Had she been overthinking it this whole time?

Disappointed?

That word did not exist in Tsukika's heart right now.

Li Wei had imagined all kinds of reactions after saying that. Total disinterest. Furious embarrassment. Humiliation turning into rage...

That way, even if he really couldn't avoid getting screwed, at least this Demon Lord wouldn't enjoy it as much. And maybe he could avoid going through something like this again in the future.

But then he saw it. In Tsukika's crimson eyes, it was as if a pink gleam had suddenly leapt out.

A question mark practically popped over his head.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Why did this Demon Lord... seem even more excited now?