Eui eyed the demon in front of her warily while Jia kept an eye on the one behind her. Both of them knew how fragile the situation was. Zheng Long’s word wasn’t worth shit, and there was clearly something going on between him and Bai Lin. They didn’t know Long Ruiling, but she’d been too easy to convince. And then there was Xiao Chong.

In many ways, Xiao Chong reminded Eui of herself—or at least, the person she’d once been. The girl who’d been a bully alongside Sun Jaehwa while studying to be a mage. The girl who’d been a bandit on the roads of Goryeo, killing to survive. The girl who would cause problems on purpose, just to prove that the rest of the world was as fucked up as she was.

Eui had been that girl—still was, really. Jia would argue that she’d changed, but Eui fundamentally didn’t believe that people could change. Oh, she could change how she acted, sure—but who she was? No. Eui had always been this way, and she saw a lot of herself in Xiao Chong.

The only question was why? Why did Xiao Chong kill her own ally? Why, after she’d just said she didn’t want conflict with Yoshika, did she immediately turn around and create that exact conflict?

The easy answer was that she was unstable. Eui had been too, for a while. Throwing knives at Jia trying to introduce herself, stabbing Rika during a friendly spar, and insisting on learning a martial art whose main claim to fame was killing off all of its practitioners. Xiao Chong was the same—her acts of self-sabotage were born of an impotent rage against herself and the world that had created her.

But that was naive thinking. Eui could see her own past in that light now, but at the time it had made perfect sense to her. There was a reason behind everything, even if it wasn't always rational.

So the question wasn’t what Xiao Chong was doing—but what she thought she was doing. And on that, Eui could only take her at her word. She was trying to demonstrate the way of the world—that strength ruled, and weakness would always be exploited.

That put Eui in an awkward position. It was easy to put herself in Xiao Chong’s place. Maybe if Eui had fallen to her own demonic core she would be in Xiao Chong’s place. But that only reinforced just how immovable she was.

Xiao Chong wasn’t acting out of self-interest. She didn’t care what happened to her or her allies, or about the Sovereign’s Tear. She just wanted to tear down Yoshika’s worldview—to spread her own pain to others.

“Jia, I don’t think we’re going to be able to reason her out of this.”

“I know, but fighting her will just prove her point!”

“So will not fighting her. In her world, we either prove that we’re strong enough to lead, or we prove that we aren’t.”

Jia gave Eui the mental equivalent of a frustrated sigh.

“So what, then? We either kill her or let her kill that innocent demon?”

“He’s not innocent, Jia. He’s definitely killed people.”

“So have we. Ugh, I wish I could ask for Yue’s help.”

Eui chuckled to herself. They were relying on Absolute Awareness to communicate before acting, and even if their domain weren’t being suppressed by the environment it would be too much for Yue.

“Let me try dealing with her.”

“What are you going to say?”

“Whatever I would have hated the most if I were her.”

Time resumed as Eui’s perception returned to normal. The heavy tension cast a pall over the group. The tenuous cohesion that Yoshika had established was already threatening to fall apart, and they hadn’t even taken the first step towards exploring Chou’s realm.

Eui crossed her arms and matched Xiao Chong’s defiant glare.

“Xiao Chong, right? How did you get a name like that?”

The demoness blinked, furrowing her brows.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I can’t imagine your parents gave you a name like that, ‘little bug,’ so why do you call yourself that?”

Xiao Chong’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s the name I was given by my masters. The name they decided I deserve until I can prove myself worthy of a better one.”

“Huh, pretty shitty taste. You like your masters, then?”

“Of course not. I hate them more than anything else in the world.”

Eui was slightly taken aback by that, but she kept herself from showing it.

“Why obey them, then?”

Xiao Chong grinned like Eui had just walked into a trap.

“Because they’re stronger than me, of course. Stronger than you, too. And stronger than your masters, and the idiot who opened the door for us. They’re the strongest beings in the world, because they’re the only ones who understand what strength is.”

Ah, there it was. It had been a long time since Eui had done this, and she didn’t relish the memories it dredged up, but now she had something to attack. She rolled her eyes performatively.

“I don’t see them here, so who cares? What’s your real name?”

Xiao Chong sneered at her.

“I don’t have a real name. I am as my masters made me—Xiao Chong.”

“Nah, I know better than most how demons are born. You used to be somebody. Who are you?”

“Nobody. That girl died the day I was born, and her name has no meaning to me.”

Eui could sense that she’d struck a nerve. She focused on that point as she went on.

“Then you should have no problem telling me. What was her name?”

“None of your business!”

Xiao Chong fists were clenched so tightly that her nails were digging into the flesh of her palms—she just needed a little push.

“I guess you’re right—it’s not important. At the end of the day, she’s just another one of your victims—maybe even the first. Why bother remembering?”

“You bitch! I’ll fucking kill you!”

Eui quickly stepped to the side as Xiao Chong lunged forward, grabbing her wrist and twisting to redirect her momentum into the ground. The demoness was fast, and if Eui hadn’t been expecting it, she might not have been able to react in time. But for all her speed and power, Xiao Chong’s attacks were clumsy and poorly executed.

She dislocated her own shoulder to lash out backwards at Eui, forcing her to step back. By then, Jia had joined, glancing uneasily at Eui.

“I thought we were trying to avoid a fight!”

Eui smiled. When had she ever given Jia that idea?

They let Xiao Chong get back on her feet, and the demoness snarled at them as she launched into another charge. Her attack patterns were pathetically predictable—lashing out wildly with her claws in fast, deceptively powerful strikes, aimed at simply making any kind of contact rather than going after vital areas.

Given how much power she wielded, and how fast she was, Yoshika could see how the style had worked for her so far. With her potent Miasma essence, even a glancing blow could spread her toxins throughout an opponent's meridians. Furthermore, the shroud of black ooze served as a sort of defensive measure—it stuck to Eui’s hand where she’d touched Xiao Chong, burning her skin.

With a flash of Destruction essence, the ooze was purged from her skin and a quick cycle of Wood essence patched up the remaining superficial damage. She’d been worried about how strong Xiao Chong was, and though she wasn’t going to let her guard down, Yoshika was beginning to realize that it was an exceptionally favorable matchup for her.

Before Xiao Chong’s next charge, Jia blanketed her body in a multicolored aura of Plasma, just to be safe. She continued to fight defensively, not bothering to try counter-attacking. With any luck, she wouldn’t need to.

“Alright, enough already!”

Zheng Long’s voice cut through the battle, and Xiao Chong stopped her next charge short as Ruiling joined him.

“Yeah, this is just embarrassing...”

Xiao Chong frowned, turning to look at the two leaders with confusion written across her face.

“What?”

Yue stepped up between them and looked down her nose at Xiao Chong with expert condescension.

“None of us want to waste any more time on this. We’ve already agreed to work together, and if you’re the only odd one out, then it’s easy enough to just crush you and move on. Yoshika’s mercy is the only thing keeping you alive right now—have you not realized that?”

“What are you talking about? She’s not even fighting back! This is the leader you’d rally behind?!”

Zheng Long scoffed.

“Not my first choice, no, but I can’t stand to watch this anymore—it’s just sad.”

Jia furrowed her brows.

“Eui, what’s going on?”

“There’s more than one way to establish dominance, Jia. Xiao Chong is just a damaged girl lashing out at whoever happens to be closest. All I had to do is strip away the veneer of strength she was hiding behind, and suddenly instead of challenging our leadership, she’s just a brat throwing a tantrum.”

“Uh, that doesn’t sound like a great way to make friends.”

Eui smiled—she loved that Jia was still considering the idea of friendship.

“Nope! She said she hated her masters more than anything, but I’m guessing we just jumped a few rungs up that ladder. Good luck with that!”

Jia grimaced. By then, Xiao Chong had realized that she had no legs to stand on and grunted irritably.

“Fine! I’ll play your stupid little game. You’d better watch your backs, though.”

Zheng Long laughed incredulously.

“You think we’re still going to cooperate with you after all that?”

Ruiling shook her head.

“I say we kick her out and let her fend for herself.”

Bai Lin grimaced.

“I was going to suggest just killing her.”

Jia groaned.

“No. We’re not exiling her, and we’re not killing her either. It will be better to keep her where we can see her.”

Zheng Long raised an eyebrow.

“Why not?”

“Because she’s strong, and we might need that strength. This place was made by a guy who killed more people than our world has ever produced. I'm not going to underestimate its dangers—are you?”

He sighed and shook his head.

“If you insist. However, I think you’re making a mistake. As of this moment, Xiao Chong is the danger.”

Xiao Chong grinned, apparently having already gotten over her embarrassment.

“You’re damn right I am.”

Jia just shook her head and sighed.

“Let’s just get going already.”

Ruiling cocked her head.

“Go where? There’s nothing here but grass.”

“Maybe not...I have an idea, hold on...”

Yoshika had been pondering the odd emptiness of the place since they arrived. An endless expanse of flat ground and tall grass, an empty cloudless sky, and no sign of how they could enter or leave. Yet the realm was full of mana—too full. Where was it coming from?

Channeling essence into her gloves, Yoshika activated the formations woven into them and cast a spell that she’d developed with the help of Hyeong Daesung when she’d met him again in Goryeo. Within her Soul Sight, the world around her transformed completely.

The empty fields were empty no more—full of ghostly spirits who went through the motions of tending to the wheat. Their ethereal hands failed to influence the physical world, but they didn’t let that stop them from toiling away. It was nonsensical—one ghost swung a scythe mere meters away from another attempting to plow the unyielding ground. Neither made any progress.

Aside from the ghosts, however, what stood out to Yoshika were pale blue flames hovering in the air, in pairs. The flames formed a trail, stretching off into the distance towards an unmistakable goal.

Taking up the entire horizon was an enormous golden gate, every inch of its surface covered in intricate formations.

Yoshika put her hands on her hips as she stared at the impossible structure on the horizon. That had been much easier than anticipated.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we need to go that way.”