There were four barracks to the four sides of Throne’s City. Each held thousands of men. A day ago, an unexpected guest entered the barracks to the north of the city. Since then, anyone that went into the barracks never came out again.

Jean and Blink came here straight from the royal palace.

They had a Voyager to kill.

The barracks were oddly quiet. There wasn’t a single guard or soldier in sight. In fact, even the crickets and bugs that would make up the background noise in normal settlements were completely silenced. It was as if the military camp has been turned into a life-consuming pit.

Jean and Blink closed their helmets as they proceeded past the open wooden gates and into the camp. They sensed a trap, but then again they didn't expect Demon to just throw his hands up, stick his neck out, and let them kill him. He was a veteran Voyager. He would never give up easily.

In one hand was their Voyager blades and in the other was their Voyager rifles.

They quickly found their target. Sitting in the middle of the camp was a figure in black Voyager suit. Demon.

Seeing the two assassins, Demon opened his eyes and stood up to face them.

“I have terminated the Voyager who got into your head. It’s all over. You should be back to normal.” Jean reassured. If there was any chance she could trick Demon into laying down his guard, she’d take it.

Demon smirked, and he made sure his face mask was open so the two other Voyagers could see it.

“We both know that’s not happening. I have been with you for a while. You’re not the type to let a potential threat go.” He suddenly paused, as if remembering something. “To think I tried to remind you not to go easy on the locals when we first descended...”

All of a sudden, just as Jean and Blink waited for him to continue, Demon suddenly raised his right hand. A Voyager rifle solidified in his grip, and he quickly pumped three yellow energy beams at Jean.

Jean was immediately knocked over. Her Voyager armor, powered by an orange crystal, failed to take the entirety of the blasts. Red energy was weaker than orange, which was weaker than yellow. The three shots from Demon were deadly. Thankfully, Jean was ready for Demon’s surprise. She was, after all, the master of backstabbing. Only the first shot hit her. The next two missed her as they landed on the wooden wall behind her, ripping it apart without a single pause.

The strikes to kill only managed to knock Jean over. Demon was a little disappointed, but he wasn’t intimidated. He quietly returned his rifle back to his watch.

Blink ignited her blade. Just before she was about to blink forward and slit Demon’s throat open, Jean struggled up and stopped her.

“Look around.”

Blink looked around. As Demon struck Jean, figures have started to emerge from the tents. Men in blue Moon armor walked out of every corner of the settlement. They were obviously dead, given that half of them were missing either a head or a significant part of their body.

Demon’s army of the dead.

Blink turned back to Demon again. Three lines of undead have placed themselves between him and the two Voyagers.

“Is that what you are relying on?” The female assassin wasn’t taken back. It would take a lot more than hundreds of undead soldiers to stop her. But once again, before she could move forward, Jean stopped her.

Blink looked at Jean in wonder.

“He knows what you’re capable of, but he’s still here, facing us, even after he lost the element of surprise.” He must have another trick up his sleeves, and Jean didn't want to find out what that surprise is by risking Blink, not when she had alternatives. Blink might not be as loyal to her as her Wardens and Purifiers, but she was both a good warrior and a Voyager. They didn't have any direct conflict in interest, and Blink has proven to be loyal enough when Demon was corrupted.

Jean tapped her watch. Four Swordguards appeared out of nowhere and charged forward. If Demon’s undead were still the ones she saw from before, then four Swordguards could mow through them easily.

Things went as she expected. The four Swordguards charged forward with their rune blades extended. Four undead soldiers were beheaded in an instant. Several strikes from the undead came down at the Swordguards, but several rune shields came out of nowhere and slid the blades to the side.

Everything was going just like planned.

Until the four beheaded undead suddenly drew their swords and struck down on the Swordguards.

Jean frowned. There was something wrong with these undead. The fact that beheading didn't kill them could be justified by some sort of black magic from Demon. What really made her intrigued was the cloud of crimson that have slowly covered the battlefield. Some of them crept into the undead soldiers. The four beheaded undead took in the most of those crimson.

The crimson must’ve greatly enhanced the strength of these undead. Two of the four Swordguards were immediately overwhelmed. Half a dozen undead tackled them onto the ground before stabbing them repeatedly.

The two other Swordguards, realizing their blades were ineffective, switched to something else. They raised their arms. Four rune beams shot out and punched four holes through the head of the four undead.

A second passed before more crimson flowed into the four undead. These energies quickly flowed to where the wounds were and covered the openings.

The last two Swordguards fell.

Jean frowned as she unloaded another six Swordguards and formed a defensive circle. Blink drew her rifle as well and started blasting, but it was a temporary solution. Whatever wound inflicted onto the undead immediately healed.

“It’s no use.”

As his forces closed in one Jean, outside the crowd of undead, Demon spoke victoriously.

“You have been building up your forces since you descended, but so have I. Of course, I’m not as foolish as you are. While you wasted your resources upgrading cannon fodder machines, I worked on something else. Something much more deadly.”

“Is this the part where I ask what it is?” Jean asked, letting Demon talk. “Fine. What is it?”

“Well, since you asked so nicely…” Demon was being strangely talkative. “it’s something I call the Sea of the Dead. You see. even before I came down into this world, I have been working on a side project. Every human I kill, and trust me I have killed a lot, I extract and keep their souls. And then, I store all the souls together into...just imagine a pressure cooker.”

Blink shot another undead in the head. A Swordguard beside her was swarmed over. She fired three more shots, filling up the gap.

“Eventually, after a few decades, all these souls are broken down into a sea of purest soul energy. Unfortunately, before I could use it on myself, I discovered something truly disappointing. This energy is violent and unstable. If I try to ingest it, I will be able to kill both of you with just my mind. I don’t even have to raise a finger. But at the same time, I will lose my true self. My mind will be blown to bits by the millions of thoughts that reside in the Sea of the Dead.”

Another Swordguard fell in the midst of Demon’s announcement. Since their attacks were useless, the rest focused their rune energy on defending. Every second, dozens of undead strikes were blocked by rune shields that came out of nowhere.

“I didn't know how to use this energy...until you, Jean, gave me an idea. You used energy to empower your machines, so why can’t I do the same to the dead under my command? It’s not like they had a conscious to be destroyed. Of course, it took me a few tries, but eventually, I got it.”

“There were 3,000 Moon soldiers in this camp. The best of what’s left of the empire. I not only killed them. I sealed their souls inside their bodies and armors. Whenever you gun down one of them, it doesn’t matter, because more soul energy are coming in from the Sea of the Dead to repair the injuries.”

“I know what you’re thinking: If I unload my army of machines and use all my trump cards, I might be able to deplete the Sea of the Dead. Well, good luck on that.” Demon suddenly grinned. “My last world had thousands of planets. I acted as the commander of a fleet, and I brought it across the sector, destroying everything and everyone in its path. It took me thirty years to do it, but in the end, I slaughtered trillions.”

“All of them are a part of my Sea of the Dead.”

“I don’t know why you haven’t unloaded your army yet, unless...unless you no longer have it.” Demon suddenly realized a possibility. “The Shieldbearers...they proved to be more than you could handle...didn't they? What happened in the mountains? Did you lose your whole army? Most of your army?”

Blink glanced at Jean, only to find her dead silent. The assassin’s heart sank.

Demon gave one last blow.

“Whatever you have up your sleeves, Jean, use it, or else you will never have the chance to.” The Voyager pressured as if victory was already in his grasp. He looked down on Jean like a trapped animal. “As for you, Blink…surrender your arms and give me your watch, and I will let you live.”

Blink glanced at Jean again and saw her glancing back. Suddenly, Blink realized it.

Jean was waiting for her to make the decision.

Betray her and surrender to Demon, or fight with her until the end.

She chose the latter.

One reason.

Even in this situation, Jean’s moves were calm and coordinated. As her last guards fell, she wasn’t intimidated. This wasn’t the actions of a trapped beast, but rather those of a skilled hunter.

Plus, if she surrendered to Demon, even if he kept his words, she would be nothing without her watch. As a Voyager, she couldn’t possibly say yes to that.

She turned back and mowed down a handful more undead.

Demon cursed inside. He didn't go through all this trouble to explain his plans just to boast, well, at least not completely. He wanted to divide the two Voyagers by scaring Blink into giving up. As dominant as he seemed, he knew very well that underestimating a Voyager would be the first step to defeat. Just like he had the Sea of the Dead, Jean and Blink might have some killing blow as well.

That plan obviously didn't work.

Well then, maybe he just had to kill the two with force.

That was his last thought before four runed arrows came down from the sky and impaled him.

Demon froze. One of the crossbow rounds pierced his skull. The other three went through his chest. Distinctly, he could see something big, something dark, in the air. With his last dying breath, he glanced at Jean. The final victor of this exchange had no hint of excitement on her face. She just stood there with her mask closed, quietly.

Finally, the Voyager closed his eyes.

The next second, his entire army of undead collapsed into nothing more than armors and bodies.

The Sea of the Dead, the product of trillions of casualties, the crown jewel of Voyager Demon, was suddenly a rootless plant. Without Demon to channel it or control it, it started to evaporate into thin air. Millions of souls disappeared every second. If there was another individual in the field who dealt with souls, he could still save the sea and potentially get himself a world-destroying weapon, but neither Jean nor Blink were emphasized on this category. They could only watch as the Sea of the Dead faded away.

Jean slowly walked to Demon and knelt down. She was never at risk during this battle. Demon thought she didn't unleash the horde because she no longer had a horde, but he was wrong. Her fleet wasn’t demolished. It was amplified. She only used a handful of Swordguards because she didn't want the world to know what she was capable of, but in the end, she had no choice.

As soon as she decided to abandon her cover and strike with her full might, she summoned a B-2 into the air. Four crossbows, modified from Shieldbearer ballistas, sent four arrows into the unsuspecting Demon.

Demon didn't even have time to react before his armor gave out.

Sometimes, all it took to go from heaven to hell was one second.

Jean picked up Demon’s watch. Instead of reaching inside or keeping it, she tossed it to Blink.

Blink was slightly surprised, but she kept the watch nonetheless. She knew what it was: a reward. A reward for her loyalty toward Jean in the face of what she saw as life-threatening danger.

It was a good reward. Even though Blink and Demon were in two very different fields, things like crystals could still be used. Blink could also sell the other gadgets for crystals or trade them for things she could actually use. At the same time, the assassin knew what accepting the watch meant.

It meant she was transitioning from Jean’s partner to her underling.

But the assassin was fine with it. Voyagers like Demon were used to being the leaders and the commanders, but there were Voyagers like her who didn't want to give orders. She preferred to follow them instead. That was how she got through her first two missions, and she was totally fine with following someone like Jean to get through her third one.

She turned back to Jean.

“Now what?”