Lancer—the middle aged man—rubbed his forehead, his brows knitting despite himself.
He had come here with nothing more than the intention to relax. To idle away a quiet night on the residence of his will be successor. Soren Noctis.
If fate was kind, this boy would carry Black Vow forward after him—assuming the poison slowly eating at his body claimed him first.
What he did not expect were two revelations in a single night.
The first—Soren's hidden ocular ability was no mere rare power.
It was the Demon Eye.
Not just any demon's eye.
It was Ruin—the left eye of the Demon Lord himself.
And the second surprise…
The woman standing before them, a dignified councilor of Astralis Academy, was not human at all.
She was of the dragon race.
"So," Lancer said, exhaling slowly, eyes flicking toward the crystalline wings unfurled beneath the moonlight, "why reveal your true form now?"
His gaze sharpened.
"I can think of only two reasons. Either you intend to cooperate with him—" he gestured lazily toward Soren, "—or you're picking a fight."
Ysmera cast him a glance filled with open disapproval.
"What a barbaric conclusion," she replied coolly. "Why would a delicate woman like myself come out in the dead of night simply to start a brawl?"
Her silvery wings shimmered faintly, as if reflecting moonlight through crystal.
"Of course, I intend to cooperate," she continued, eyes shifting to Soren."With you, Soren Noctis."
Soren remained frozen.
His mouth was slightly open, his breath caught somewhere between awe and disbelief.
He had encountered dragons before—rampaging beasts, ancient tyrants clad in scales and fire.
But Ysmera's wings were nothing like those.
They were elegant. Crystalline. Veined with silver light, as though forged from moonstone itself.
Only when the silence stretched too long did Soren stir.
"…So you'll keep my secret, Lady Ysmera?" he asked, his voice cautious.
"Even knowing that this eye truly is the Demon Eye—Ruin?"
Distrust bled into his tone despite his effort to suppress it.
Why would a high-ranking professor—no, a councilor of Astralis Academy—cover for something like this?
Especially when demons were humanity's oldest enemy.
Even if she herself wasn't truly human.
Ysmera regarded him quietly before speaking.
"Your doubt is understandable," she said. "Yes—the eye of the Demon Lord. It is absurd. Unthinkable."
A faint smile crossed her lips.
"His death was announced to the entire Academy not long ago by that old man, Eryndor. Who would suspect that one of our own instructors had been walking these halls with that very eye?"
She paused.
"But since you now know I am of the dragon race… I suppose it is only fair that I share more."
Her gaze hardened, ancient and deep.
"Zeron. The Demon Lord. I knew him personally."
Soren stiffened.
"…You knew him?"
More than shock, it was disbelief that took hold.
"Forgive my bluntness, Lady Ysmera," Soren said after a moment, forcing himself to speak,"but isn't being acquainted with a Demon Lord far worse than me associating with Black Vow?"
Lancer clicked his tongue.
"Brat," he said dryly, "you're insulting us to our faces. Don't act like I'm not standing right here."
"But isn't that what you are?" Soren shot back without hesitation.
"Black Vow kills innocent people without blinking."
The image of the derailed carriage flashed in his mind.
Passengers crushed. Lives erased—mere collateral in their hunt for him.
Lancer opened his mouth, then closed it again.
"Well…" he muttered. "…Can't deny that."
Ysmera sighed, shaking her head faintly.
"I once thought you were not naive," she said to Soren. "But perhaps I should retract that."
Her eyes softened—not in mockery, but something closer to pity.
"To speak as you did… means you are still naive."
Soren frowned."…What do you mean?"
"If you believe the demon race is inherently evil," Ysmera said calmly,"then you are naïve."
"They're not?" Soren protested.
"It's common knowledge. Humanity's aspiration has always been to slay demons and bring peace to the land."
"Aspiration?" Ysmera echoed.
Her lips curved, cold and knowing.
"More like propaganda."
Soren's breath hitched.
Everything he thought he understood—every truth he had accepted—shifted slightly off its axis.
"I'll leave," Lancer suddenly said, pushing himself upright.
"You two can talk. I'm clearly third-wheeling."
He glanced at Ysmera once more.
"And she doesn't seem to have hostile intent."
"A criminal with manners," Ysmera remarked. "How refreshing."
"We at Black Vow are elites," Lancer replied with a lazy grin, hooking a thumb toward himself.
"Our etiquette is top-notch."
"…You're leaving?" Soren asked.
"I'll be back," Lancer said quietly.
"Stay put. Soon enough, I'll need to take you to the base. You'll formally meet the boss."
His voice dropped to a near whisper.
He knew Soren wanted to keep his forced membership secret—for now.
Meet the boss…
Soren's brow furrowed.
He had almost forgotten.
The agreement. The chain he had allowed himself to be bound by.
He is now a one of them, Black Vow.
With a dull thud, Lancer leapt backward—and vanished into the forest's darkness.
He comes and goes whenever he pleases, Soren thought grimly.
He turned back toward Ysmera.
"Then… Lady Ysmera," he said awkwardly,
"would you care to continue this conversation inside my humble home? Standing out here feels rather improper for someone of your stature."
A moment passed.
SRREKK.
Ysmera's wings folded inward, dissolving into her form as if they had never existed.
The moonlight dispersed, no longer converging upon her alone.
"Shall we?" she said lightly.
From afar, Lancer watched the two figures enter the house.
He spoke softly—seemingly to no one.
"So, Stalker. Did you manage to use your unique skill on him? He's one of us now, after all."
Don't worry, came a voice only he could hear.
I already did.
Stalker's ability allowed him to plant surveillance with unlimited range.
Anything that came into contact with the marked object could be observed—seen, heard, analyzed.
On inanimate objects, it was trivial.
On living beings, the difficulty scaled sharply with their power.
For Black Vow members, consent reduced the burden immensely.
It was standard procedure—strategic oversight that their Boss gives order to.
There were exceptions, of course.
Entities protected against unique skills entirely.
I faced resistance, Stalker continued.
And… when I did it, 'something' looked back at me.
Lancer stiffened."…Looked back?"
After everything three of you discussed tonight, I understand now, Stalker said.
It was Ruin.
A pause.
It knew my intent. I felt it evaluate me—then allow the surveillance to take root.
"…You're reporting this to the boss?" Lancer asked quietly.
"About the Demon Lord's eye?"
You know I have to.
Lancer exhaled slowly.
"…Tch. This is getting complicated by the minute."
---
"This is quite a comfortable home you have," Ysmera said, settling herself onto the sofa in the modest living room.
Soren approached, carefully carrying a single cup of tea, and offered it to her.
Ysmera accepted it—then paused.
"What about you?" she asked. "Aren't you having any?"
"Mine's still in the kitchen," Soren replied, taking a seat across from her."If I want it later, I'll get it."
Ysmera's gaze lingered on him for a moment longer than necessary.
"…Ah. Your arm."
Only then did Soren realize what she had noticed.His missing arm explained why he had brought only one cup at a time.
He didn't comment on it.
"Lady Ysmera," Soren said instead, his voice steady but tense,"I want to get straight to the point. Will you truly keep my secret?"
"I already told you I would," Ysmera answered calmly, bringing the tea to her lips."But honestly… I'm curious."
She studied him over the rim of the cup.
"I want to hear how you came to possess that eye."
Soren hesitated.
He didn't know whether laying bare his past before her was the right choice.Instinct warned him to hold back—to guard what little leverage he had left.
But after a moment of reflection, he realized something bitterly clear.
He had no privilege left to refuse a potential ally.
Not when she had come openly.Not when she had revealed her own secret first—her true race, her wings.
And so… Soren spoke.
Not everything.But enough.
He explained the encounter. The dying Demon Lord.The moment the eye was given to him.
He omitted certain details.
He said nothing of the Seven Sins.Nothing of the voices that sometimes whispered within the abyss of Ruin.
Ysmera listened in silence, occasionally sipping her tea, her expression unreadable.
When Soren finished, the room fell quiet.
"So," Ysmera said at last, "no one else knows that your eye is Ruin?"
"Not even Headmaster Eryndor," Soren replied."Even when we faced each other on the battlefield."
"That's why I was confused," he added."I possess an artifact that suppresses demonic presence. It should have hidden everything.Yet… it didn't work on you."
Ysmera nodded slowly.
"That would be my inherent ability," she said."Unlike most dragons who possess fire-based traits, my affinity is moonlight."
She lifted her gaze toward the window, where pale silver light spilled faintly inside.
"One of its properties is unveiling what is concealed.But it is strongest only at night."
Her straightforwardness eased something in Soren's chest.
She wasn't lying.She wasn't posturing.
"…Then," Soren said, gathering his thoughts,"what did you mean earlier—about propaganda?"
Ysmera's expression hardened, just slightly.
"The fact that you are sitting here alive is proof enough," she said."If Zeron—or the demon race—were as purely evil as humanity paints them to be,he would never have let you live."
She continued evenly.
"He won't let you become clue to human of where to his remains after his death.And certainly not bestowed his Demon Eye upon a human."
Her fingers tightened subtly around the teacup.
"Frankly, even I struggle to believe he did such a thing.Zeron should have known that a Demon Eye cannot normally coexist with a human host."
Soren's spine stiffened.
"…What do you mean?" he asked."Then why can I use it? Why did it become mine?"
"I don't know," Ysmera admitted.
The answer unsettled him more than certainty ever could.
"Then… what about his body?" Soren pressed."When I received the eye, his presence vanished completely. As if it never existed."
"That is because Zeron truly died," Ysmera said."And a Demon Lord's corpse does not simply disappear."
She set the cup down.
"Under normal circumstances, a demon of high lineage must claim Ruin and ascend as the next Demon Lord. That is the law of their kind."
Her gaze sharpened.
"But because Zeron chose to give Ruin to you, a human…his existence fully dissipated."
"If he hadn't," she continued,"the demon race would have been able to trace his remains eventually. They have ways."
"…I see," Soren murmured.
Then why?Why entrust something so irreplaceable to him?
The question burned silently in his chest.
His fingers brushed unconsciously against the ring hidden beneath his clothes—the one Zeron had asked him to deliver to a daughter named Lilith.
He chose not to mention it.
"Honestly," Soren said after a moment,"from my own experience… Zeron didn't feel like the monster humans describe."
He searched for the right words.
"He was difficult to approach. Intimidating, yes.But I sensed… wisdom."
Ysmera nodded.
"Demons do possess a tendency toward brutality—that much is true," she said."But that does not make them mindless beasts."
"They are no different from humans, elves, or dwarves.Only their nature leans toward extremes."
Her voice was calm, almost academic.
"For demons, the pursuit of power and conflict is as naturalas an elf's love for untamed forestsor a dwarf's obsession with invention and craftsmanship."
Soren frowned.
"If what you're saying is true," he said slowly,"then this… this hatred of demons—this narrative—"
"…has always been a fabricated doctrine," Ysmera finished.
"But why?" Soren asked, incredulous."Why paint them as evil? What reason could humanity have?"
Ysmera's eyes darkened.
"Elves are peace-loving," she said. "They avoid war. Humans do not view them as threats.Dwarves were enslaved long ago—their kingdoms shattered, their influence broken."
She leaned forward slightly.
"But demons are different."
"They are brutal. Power-seeking.And they do not bow easily."
Her voice dropped, carrying an ancient weight.
"They are the ones humanity believes stand in their way."
She met Soren's gaze directly.
"The obstacle preventing humans from claiming the world entirely for themselves."