Part I — War Room (Malerion POV)
The holographic map of Envy glowed cold green over the table.
Tunnels. Districts. Smuggling corridors. Whisper markets.
Places where truth was currency and lies were infrastructure.
Malerion stood at the head of the table.
Everyone watched him.
Not because he demanded it
But after the Fifth Ring breakthrough, after claiming Wrath and infiltrating Envy,
his presence commanded attention without trying.
Quill tapped the crescent symbol on the display.
"No traceable trail. No metadata. No digital parasites. Whoever this is they wrote the message like someone who wanted to be noticed and impossible to follow."
Rafe leaned back, hands folded.
"Meaning they're confident. Or arrogant. Same difference in Envy."
Dreg cracked his knuckles.
"Give me a location and I'll make them talk."
"We don't have one," Quill replied calmly. "Only Ring level triangulation."
Doona adjusted her glasses.
"If they infiltrated our systems once, they could do it again. Maybe already have."
Liz spoke last quiet but cutting:
"No. They didn't want information. They wanted to measure him."
Her gaze slid to Malerion.
A collective silence followed.
Everyone felt it:
This wasn't about Ouroboros.
It was about him.
Malerion stepped forward.
"Then we don't hide."
He tapped the crescent seal.
"We respond."
The room shifted anticipation sharpening into purpose.
"We begin searching quietly. No broadcasts. No visible force. We gather intel. We observe. And when the Watcher slips"
Dreg grinned.
"we take his head."
No one laughed… but no one disagreed.
Malerion closed the display.
"Prepare for movement. Ouroboros moves at dawn."
Everyone split to different hallways efficient, practiced, silent.
All except one.
Part II — Quiet Corridor (Verosika POV)
Verosika didn't walk out with the others.
She lingered.
Watching him.
Not the way the others did not with calculation or expectation but with... conflict.
She used to think Malerion was interesting.
Then dangerous.
Then unexplainable.
But now
after seeing him command an entire organization, strategize against a threat most demons wouldn't dare acknowledge, and speak with absolute calm?
Now she understood the problem:
He was becoming someone Hell would write stories about.
And she wasn't sure if she was supposed to run from that
or stay close enough to be written into them.
He finally noticed she hadn't left.
"You're quiet," he said.
She smirked, trying to mask the heat in her chest.
"Someone has to balance out how terrifyingly focused you look."
"I'm not terrifying."
"Oh?" She stepped closer close enough to see the faint glow in his eyes. "Half your people look at you like a coming storm."
His voice softened.
"And you?"
Her tail betrayed her again curling upward.
She looked away.
"…I haven't decided yet."
Silence not cold, not empty stretched between them.
Then she sighed.
"You really think someone in Envy is watching you?"
"I fell it."
"And you're still walking toward it."
"Yes."
She shook her head slowly.
"You're insane."
Malerion didn't deny it.
Instead:
"You don't have to be involved."
She scoffed sharp and incredulous.
"Oh please. You don't get to drag me into a helicopter, into Pride, into your war room, and THEN say I can walk away."
She stepped even closer braver now.
"You invited me into your world, Malerion. You don't get to shut the door when it gets messy."
He looked at her like weighing truth against instinct.
Finally:
"…Then stay close."
Her pulse spiked.
"Always."
She didn't mean to say it out loud
but the word slipped through her defenses.
And neither of them corrected it.
Part III Clockwork Shadows (Envy POV)
Deep in the Sixth Ring, the Watcher stood overlooking the shifting glow of his territory.
His scouts approached cautiously.
"My lord… movement detected. They're preparing."
The Watcher smiled slow and patient.
"Good."
He traced the crescent blade at his hip.
"The serpent wants to find the one who watches."
His eyes glowed like two perfect cuts of emerald glass.
"Then let him come."
He turned, cloak dissolving into the smoke.
"But understand"
his voice echoed across rooftops, markets, and secrets
"in Envy, we do not chase power."
"We dissect it."