At the top of a hill, an angel with red eyes and a red-colored dwarf stood next to each other. The dwarf glanced around, licking his lips while shifting his weight from foot to foot. The sun shone down on them, and the dwarf couldn’t help but narrow his shoulders and hunch his back as if the sunlight threatened to push him into the earth. The dwarf’s head swiveled from side to side before his gaze finally ended up on the angel’s face. “Lord Pyre?” he asked. “Is this good?”

“Good? This place is shit,” Pyre said as he glared at the dwarf, but before the old angel could say another word, the dwarf vanished, causing Pyre to furrow his brows. A sigh escaped from his lips before he shook his head. He could sense Solra’s animosity towards him and chose to flee before it escalated into violence. That dwarf was an escape route he planned long ago; although Pyre wasn’t afraid of death, he still wanted to be alive to watch the world burn. It would be a shame if he died before seeing his plans come into fruition.

For some reason though, he felt cheated when he saw the land before him. Scorch marks covered the earth as far as he could see, but when he turned around, the land was untouched. Clearly, this was evidence of a great battle that he missed out on. He squinted his eyes and saw the city of Marossa off in the distance, but its walls weren’t damaged anymore. His eyes closed as his mana roiled in his body. He merged his powers of self-sacrifice with his powers of knowledge to scan the area.

“Huh.” His eyes opened, and he walked towards the base of the hill he was standing on. There was a crevice hidden away. “Palan?” Pyre asked. He looked around for a stick, but couldn’t find any due to the lack of trees. For a second, he entertained the thought of sticking his arm into the hole, but came to the conclusion that he’d lose it if he did. Instead, he sat down, pulled a pipe out of his bag, and lit it up with an orb of wrath. He took a drag before blowing a cloud of purple smoke into the miniature cave.

A few seconds later, there was the sound of coughing, and a black snake’s head appeared. It stared at Pyre who waved at it. “Pyre?” Palan’s voice asked from inside the hole. Moments later, Danger Noodle crawled out, dragging Palan into view. Palan’s left arm dangled as he stood up, and his brow furrowed. That annoying ringing noise in his ears still hadn’t stopped. He cracked his neck and said, “It seems like I’m seeing a lot of old faces in these past few days.”

Pyre grunted. “I know my face is old,” he said. “What happened to you? You look terrible.” Palan’s body was covered in a layer of dirt, and there were a few web-like scars on his body caused by Melissa’s lightning strikes. Pyre reached into his bag and pulled out a white orb. He raised an eyebrow and inhaled on his pipe. He spoke while blowing smoke out of his mouth, “Need healing?”

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Palan nodded, and a white light escaped from the orb, enveloping the demon’s body. By the time he was fully healed, the orb’s luster had diminished by half. Palan stuck his finger into his ear and wiggled it around. The ringing had finally stopped. “So,” Pyre said as he stared at Palan’s fat tail. The outline of a body could clearly be seen midway up the snake. “Where’s Raea?”

Palan made a face as he wondered if he should even tell Pyre anything. “Her parents took her back to the capital,” he said.

Pyre raised an eyebrow as if he could sense Palan’s lie, but he didn’t comment. “You’re still alive?” the old angel asked after a while. “Planning on getting her back?”

“Why are you here?” Palan asked as his eyes narrowed. The last time he saw Pyre was in the borderlands. Was he like Sally—able to disappear in the face of danger?

“Am I not allowed to be here?” Pyre asked back.

“What’s with your eyes?”

Pyre blinked and tilted his head. “Oh, you never saw me without my blindfold,” he said. “I’m half demon.”

“I see,” Palan said. So angels and demons could have kids. His brow furrowed as his thoughts wandered towards Raea. He snorted before turning his attention towards his body. The pain was gone, and he felt as good as new. It was a shame he still hadn’t evolved. One more archangel would probably push him over the boundary. “Why is it so hard for a demon to evolve?”

Pyre raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s just life,” he said and shrugged. “Things aren’t fair. Demon bodies are already resilient compared to angels. It only makes sense they require more to get stronger. Why? Looking to become an archdemon?” A strange smile appeared on Pyre’s lips. “I heard there’s plenty of archangels in that city over there. If you ate a few, I bet you’d evolve.”

Palan nodded. “I already ate one,” he said. Danger Noodle burped.

The pipe dropped from Pyre’s hands and landed on the ground. “What?” he asked. “How?”

Palan pointed at his tail. “Swallowed her like that,” he said.

“I mean, how did you swallow her? I don’t imagine she walked up to you and slipped into your tail,” Pyre said as he leaned over and picked up his pipe. “Aren’t you just a greater demon?”

“I threw a rock at her, and she died,” Palan said with a shrug.

“You can’t be serious,” Pyre said. “How big was this rock?”

“Same size as that one,” Palan said and pointed at a fist-sized rock on the ground. A smile crept onto his lips as the look of disbelief on Pyre’s face grew.

“You’re serious,” Pyre said and looked up. “I seem to have greatly underestimated you. Are you planning on killing another?”

“Are you going to stop me?” Palan asked, his smile growing wider.

“Stop you? Hell no. I’ll help,” Pyre said. He bit down on his pipe and rubbed his hands together. If Solra didn’t want him, then he’d find someone else. A genius like him wouldn’t let a minor setback stop him from accomplishing his goals. So what if he didn’t have dwarves to forge him any more cannons? Now there’s a demon that killed an archangel with the same agenda, wasn’t that even better?