“She’s in here?” Abaddon asked and raised an eyebrow. Meffi had led him to a cave in the middle of nowhere. Then again, everywhere in Eljiam was located in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, Meffi could scan his surroundings by sensing the vibrations and impressions in the earth with his powers of diligence. He could only find rough shapes and sizes though.

“Yep. Have I ever been wrong before?” Meffi asked while smirking.

Hundreds of times, but Abaddon wasn’t going to anger the archangel now. Meffi might hurt the brat by accident in a fit of rage. “I’m not going to answer that,” Abaddon said and shook his head. He frowned at the cave. There were traces of a demon’s territory markers, but the stakes had been knocked over and the pitfall traps filled in. At the end of the path, before a bend, a dead demon was lying on the ground with an arrow in his head.

“I sense at least five more presences inside the cave other than the target,” Meffi said and placed his hands on the back of his head, spreading his elbows outwards and relaxing by tilting his neck. “One of them seems to be an archer.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Abaddon said and snorted. “No matter how many demons there are, they’ll bow to the strength of an archangel.”

“Really?” Meffi asked. “What if there’s an archdemon?”

Abaddon snorted again. “Don’t be ridiculous. An archdemon taking care of a child? All the archdemons are located in Haalbeh. Besides, you’re here.”

“It’s great that you have so much confidence in me,” Meffi said as he rounded the bend, stepping over the dead demon’s body. His expression froze as his legs stiffened. His arms lowered to his waist as he took a step back.

“What’s wrong?” Abaddon asked, furrowing his brow at Meffi’s odd expression. He went to the archangel’s side and froze as well. Andrea was there, but her body was held by a demon with four arms and five serpentine tails. Archdemon. Leaning against the wall, another demonic figure with four wings was glaring at him and Meffi, black flames dancing by her feet. Two archdemons?

Meffi whispered to Abaddon, “I’ll get the one on the left, you get the one on the right?”

Abaddon nodded in reply. The tailed archdemon had an amused expression on his face. Somehow, he looked familiar. “Greetings, archdemon,” he said. “You’re holding someone important to me. Hand her over and this can be resolved peacefully. You might know me as the shaman of the east. Engaging in a fight with me won’t be in your best interests.”

The demon snorted and rose to his feet, holding onto the brat with one of his tails.

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“Why is a harpy and a lizardman here? And an angel?” Meffi asked and frowned. Abaddon tore his gaze away from the tailed demon. He hadn’t noticed them because their presence was underwhelming, but there really were three other people—residents of Div’Nya. Abaddon’s chest tightened as unease gripped his heart. This whole situation was abnormal.

“Abaddon,” the tailed demon said. “Do—”

“Now!” Meffi shouted and stomped his foot against the ground. Lava surged from his feet, flooding towards the group in the cave. Abaddon constructed a black dome with his pride, engulfing everyone except for the tailed demon and Andrea. He couldn’t let the brat get hurt even if it meant his battle would be a bit more difficult.

“I’ll finish up my fight and help you as soon as possible,” Abaddon said. “Try to hold on against the four of them.” There was no reply. Abaddon paled and turned his head.

Meffi had disappeared. After encouraging Abaddon to fight, Meffi had fled. Fighting a battle against two archdemons where death was a very real possibility didn’t appeal to him—not when Solra had just killed Sariel. He couldn’t die here before taking control of Div’Nya.

A blur of red wings and black flames rushed past Abaddon, heading towards the cave exit. “Get back here!” a beautiful voice said, stunning Abaddon temporarily. A fist collided with his chest, knocking him off his feet and into the wall of the cave. His ribs creaked as he fell to his knees, panting for breath through labored coughs.

“Get up.”

Abaddon raised his head. The tailed demon was standing over him, holding onto a severed head. The archangel’s eyes widened. “S-Sariel?” he asked and wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. “You … you’re Palan!?”

“Our contract is complete,” Palan said, dropping the severed head in front of Abaddon. “Now die.” Four of his tails lunged towards Abaddon, their bodies flailing like whips. A black dome formed over Abaddon’s body, blocking the snakes. They collided against the barrier and were repelled, but the black surface trembled and cracked. Palan raised an eyebrow. “So you can form a barrier like that. Interesting.”

“I kept my end of the bargain!” Abaddon said, eyeing the snakes hovering around his barrier. “What is the meaning of this!?” But he didn’t get an answer. He screamed as a searing pain ripped at his back. His clothes and skin were torn to shreds as a tiny black sphere formed behind him, sucking in the black barrier along with his flesh. The dome collapsed, and the tails surged forwards, biting chunks off the archangel and silencing him forever.

“Save some for me!” Andrea said, popping out from over Palan’s shoulder. She slipped out of Danger Noodle’s grasp and fell to the ground before lunging towards Abaddon’s shredded corpse.

Palan had his tails spit out the chunks they swallowed before turning his attention towards Cleo. The lizardman was busy scooping the lava Meffi had summoned into metal jars, storing them in her space when they were full. He frowned as a scream rang through the cave, coming from outside.

Raea returned, dragging an armless angel across the ground by his hair. She glanced at Andrea who was in the process of eating Abaddon. “No!” she said and glared at Palan. “I brought this one back alive because I didn’t want my blood to be used! Why did you kill him?”

“Accident. I killed him out of habit,” Palan said and shrugged. He gestured at Meffi and asked Pyre, “Can’t we just use his blood and heal him to take more blood?”

“That could work,” Pyre said.

“Well,” Raea said and dropped Meffi. His head thudded against the floor. “I guess that works too. But I expected us to stay in Eljiam for a lot longer than we did.” She shrugged. “I’m not complaining though. The weather here sucks.”