The winding corridors spiraled downward, deep into the earth. Figures dressed in complete black, wearing ghostly masks, were gathered in a single room.
Humans and human-like Demons alike stood on both sides of the corridor, bowing in unison as if welcoming someone of great importance.
Even after the failed attack on the Brave, they still maintained such a massive amount of power.
Clearly, the humans and Demons Vyea had seen before were not the entirety of that mysterious organization.
Those who had died on the battlefield were merely the tip of the iceberg; the true core members were hidden near the various important hubs of this land.
At the end of the corridor was a black iron door tens of meters high, and behind it lay a grand, magnificent hall.
A man wearing an ancient military uniform stood before the palace gates with his hands behind his back. A dark gold mask hung at his waist, lending him an air of natural authority.
Ao Difei, who had previously fought Vyea beneath the ice, also appeared there. She walked past the man and stepped onto the red carpet leading into the palace.
“Just you?” the man asked without turning his head.
“The operation failed so embarrassingly, I had no choice.” Ao Difei sighed, looking completely listless. “By the way, have you cleared up Vyea’s identity yet?”
“She is the daughter of a long-standing noble family in the Capital. She went missing during an accident more than ten years ago. At the time, everyone suspected she had been abducted and killed by a Demon, which caused quite a stir. They spent a fortune posting Bounty Orders throughout the various Human cities. But she was never found. Eventually, as the noble family’s fortune declined and they were forced to leave the Capital, the matter was forgotten.”
“The identity Vyea is using is that of that noble daughter who has been missing for over ten years. She hadn’t appeared once during that time, but she suddenly surfaced in Fengxiang Town half a month ago,” the man answered.
Ao Difei asked, “She was once taken to the Companion Institute. Didn’t anyone suspect her then?”
“According to our insider at the institute, a major disturbance occurred there that day. Afterward, everyone involved signed a Confidentiality Agreement—one reinforced with the power of soul shackles.”
After a pause, the man continued, “You fought her. Couldn’t you deduce her school of power from her fighting style and techniques?”
“Sorry, I didn’t have the ability to force her to use her full strength.” Ao Difei’s voice grew heavy. Throughout that entire encounter, she had been toyed with.
She even suspected that her eventual escape was only possible because the opponent had intentionally let her go.
‘Why did she let me go?’
‘Was what Vyea said back then true? Was it all for the sake of my sister?’
But in the days following the incident, she had re-examined her sister’s social circle and found no clues related to Vyea.
“She didn’t use her full strength?”
The man pondered for a moment before speaking solemnly. “Perhaps Demon King Jiele Xiyin knows something. The phenomena caused by their battle back then even alerted the Capital… Unfortunately, she was killed to silence her.”
“To silence her… That might not be the case,” Ao Difei said. “In the inheritance of the Demon King’s throne, there is a succession of memory and knowledge. Every time a Demon King dies, a new one is born at that same moment.”
“How enviable, such a method of inheritance,” the man remarked casually.
“What’s there to envy?” Ao Difei mocked. “Wait until you die, and some guy of unknown origin immediately sprouts from the ground to inherit your legacy, will, and life experiences? There aren’t two identical leaves in this world, even if they grew under the same sky on the same tree!”
“Haha, I know that, of course.” The man’s voice was as calm as water. “Enough talk, we should go in. Tianyuan Jiu is still in the palace waiting for us to report the details of this operation.”
“Report?” Ao Difei sneered. “Report that we were utterly defeated? That our secrets were completely exposed, yet we still haven’t figured out the opponent’s true identity?”
The man didn’t seem to mind and smiled slightly. “Perhaps she is one of the hidden trump cards of the Human Race. This was just her first appearance.”
“Trump card? Ha, I think you’ve been playing too many card games.”
—
The sky turned dark as a torrential rain poured down.
Vyea felt a bit depressed. To be honest, as a town in the buffer zone between the Demon Race and the Human Race, there weren’t many places for entertainment.
Furthermore, this damn weather seemed to be working against her, as pea-sized raindrops fell *pitter-patter* without end.
‘It’s going to rain… well, let it be.’
In the backstreet, Vyea walked with an umbrella. Jasmine was clutching the corner of her clothes nervously with one hand, her short legs moving as fast as they could for fear of being left behind.
Everything on the Human side was unfamiliar, unknown, new, and interesting to her.
“Mommy, Mommy, what are those people doing crowded together? Why aren’t they using umbrellas or hiding from the rain?” Jasmine asked curiously while keeping up with Vyea’s slowed pace.
Vyea let out a yawn and looked in the direction Jasmine was pointing. A group of people was indeed standing in the rain watching a performance, but if one looked closely, they would see that the splashing raindrops were not landing on their heads. Instead, the water actively diverted to the ground on either side of them.
Rain-Steering.
It was a minor magic trick that could only be used when the elemental density in the air was relatively calm. It was completely useless in a battle where Magic Power and elements were in chaos.
Most of the time, only magic enthusiasts would bother to learn and collect such impractical minor spells… for example, Genzoral, that Archmage who claimed to have mastered 99% of the world’s magic but was actually a Demon King lurking by her side in disguise.
Vyea suddenly regretted why she hadn’t studied more magic back then, instead of going further and further down the path of the sword.
‘If I had been more thick-skinned and diligent back then, maybe I could use magic to show off in front of my daughter now.’
The sudden cheers from the crowd interrupted Vyea’s reminiscence.
A trace of understanding appeared in her emerald eyes, and she explained in a calm, unhurried voice, “That is a Water-Shape Silhouettes performance by a Wandering Troupe.”
“Water shapes? What’s that?” Jasmine was stunned, her clear, lively eyes full of the innocence of someone untainted by knowledge.
Forgive her; she had only been in this world for three years, and more than half of that time had been spent under house arrest in the Demon King City. Her understanding of the outside world was extremely limited.
“It’s a performance used by humans to celebrate,” Vyea tried her best to explain.
“Celebrate…”
Jasmine was seriously considering the meaning of those words when she suddenly felt her perspective rise. She could see the programs being performed on the stage clearly, and her small mouth hung open in surprise.
Cheers erupted from below the stage as the actors, wearing comical masks, performed with all their hearts.
Streams of water in the shape of mermaids were jumping through hoops of fire in mid-air. Every time they passed through the orange flames, they made a *hissing* sound of vaporization. A fat sea lion puppet decorated with peacock feathers suddenly opened its mouth, blowing misty bubbles that turned into fragrant clouds and flew into the sky.
The moment they reached a certain height, the colorful clouds exploded into clusters of scattered mist.
“Achoo—why hasn’t it started yet?”
The black pig, who had been sleeping in the backpack the whole way, poked its head out. A white cloud landed on its nose, making it let out a loud sneeze.