"Seth, get a grip!"
Bell's voice was no longer giggling. It was sharp, brittle with a fear she was trying to mask as authority.
She twisted her staff, and the verdant veins binding Seth's legs didn't just hold him—they sprouted thick, jagged thorns that pressed against his shins through his trousers.
The sting of the thorns was a wake-up call, but his eyes remained locked on the woman by the throne.
"You don't understand, Bell! Look at her!"
Seth strained against the bindings, his muscles bulging.
"She's… she's trapped. That face, it's not—"
Slap!
A vine, whipped by Bell's essence, cracked against the stone floor inches from Seth's boot. The sound echoed like a gunshot through the symphony of battle.
"Look at the floor, Seth!"
Bell hissed. She stepped into his line of sight, her single green wing fluttering erratically, casting emerald shadows over the carpet.
"Look at what she's doing to them!"
Seth's gaze finally shifted, forced by the sheer desperation in Bell's voice.
At the base of the throne, the "dance" had turned into a slaughter.
Xel, the Angel of Space, had stopped laughing. He was currently caught between infatuation and the desire to fight the Immortal with what remained of his sanity. If not for Bren timely casting Cleanse, Xel would have stopped fighting—or worse, he might have started attacking his own team.
Bren wasn't in good condition either. As the only Angel of Light on the team, he bore the brunt of tanking, even before they had entered the Rift against thousands of enemies. Though he didn't show it, his reserved essence was nearing its end.
"She's… lonely…"
"And that's why we are still alive!"
Seth closed his wavering eyes.
He tried to erase the familiar face of the woman from his mind, replacing it with the faces of his friends who had sacrificed their lives just to get them here.
After taking a deep breath, Seth's nerves calmed, replaced by the focus of the Master he was… the cold Blade Dancer who could massacre a hundred soldiers with his unpredictable steel.
He opened his eyes once more, replaced by a calculating gaze that analyzed every possible movement the enemy might take—a glimpse into the hundreds of probabilities that even an Ascendant with power over time couldn't see.
His innate gift: Prediction.
"Don't look at her face… is she more beautiful than Camille?"
Seth's focus shattered as he coughed involuntarily at the sudden remark.
'I didn't see that coming…'
Bell tapped the floor once more, releasing the veins latched to Seth's limbs. Everything seemed stable for the moment, as Bren hadn't issued a new command yet.
Seth watched the ongoing battle, ready to act the second the order came.
Smashing with an overhead arc, Bren's golden hammer shone as brightly as a sun. The Immortal Lily didn't even try to evade. Still holding her skull-cup, its contents rippling, she simply caught the handle of the hammer and waved it to the side—flinging Bren along with it.
Then, space rippled inches from the back of the Ruler's head. She didn't flinch. With a smile as captivating as she was, she moved with grace, evading Xel's dagger. She pulled his face out of the ripple and kissed his lips.
"Cleanse!"
Xel's eyes snapped back into focus. He flickered away from the woman and stood near Bren, rubbing his lips, which still carried the alluring scent of the Immortal.
"Boss, I think we got the wrong intel from the Arcane Dominion. I've fought a Demon Lord of Lust before… but no one was as strong as her."
Bren shook his head tiredly, standing side-by-side with Xel and shaking the debris from his golden armor.
"She's immune to Light. Most demons burn just from touching my hammer, but she didn't even flinch. We need to play with her and hope Camille finds the Chest so we can leave."
With a soft giggle, the Immortal continued to dance beneath the throne.
Her black gown fluttered with every delicate movement. She raised the skull-cup and poured the blood-red substance over herself, drenching her face and flowing down her chest in a never-ending stream.
"You know, this cup came from my sister's skull? After I beheaded her for sitting on that throne?"
Seth watched the dancing woman with dread. How could someone claim their cup came from a family member without showing a shred of remorse?
"She was powerful… more powerful than me at the time. She was even willing to sacrifice my dear, lovable youngest brother just to ascend as a Greater Demon of Envy."
With a hollow, empty laugh, she stared at Bren and Xel. They watched from the periphery, not daring to interrupt her story since their goal was to buy time.
"Our family wasn't perfect. We bantered and fought… we used politics as a game. But then my mother, the previous ruler of the Black Rose Clan, saw her death at the hands of the youngest, reflected in those shattered mirrors."
Blood flowed from her eyes as she embraced the loneliness of the time she had spent inside the Rift, living as a curse.
"My dear brother only had one goal in mind when I died."
With a hand that hardened like a dagger, she stabbed her own chest. She giggled, not even jolting from the pain.
"To revive me. To make me live as long as I wanted…"
She pulled her hand from her chest as blood spurted out.
The gaping hole held nothing—not even a beating heart.
And the only thing Seth saw through her hollowed chest was the throne beyond, as if it were being drenched by her own blood.
"My own family, who promised to protect each other in those warring days, became the executioners of the youngest… who only cared about bringing me back."
The Ascendants were forced to listen, unsure if it was all a lie to gain sympathy or lower their guard.
But not Seth.
He could feel her pain.
Behind that vulnerable smile and those bleeding eyes, he was certain it was all true.
He was certain without a doubt, and without proof.
With a manic laugh, the woman began to tremble. A rose-golden light erupted from within her. Three goat-like horns protruded from the left side of her head, and three golden-light wings unfurled from the right side of her back.
A being so rare it was believed impossible… a hybrid of Celestial purity and corrupted Noble.
The Fallen… Lily, the Immortal.
With a deep sigh, Lily smiled at the only mortal in the room, staring at Seth's oni mask with a smirk.
"They thought the youngest died… but he didn't. He crawled back from hell to get his revenge. He became the fall of the strongest clan in the Savage Expanse…"
With a soft giggle mixed with chaotic emotions, she added:
"Yet, here I am… still standing, carrying the curse of this broken family of mine."