The Demon Queen picked up a glass of wine and turned to everyone with a smile.
"Welcome to my castle. Please, enjoy this small feast. If you wish to rest afterward, the servants will guide you to rooms."
With those words, she took a graceful sip of her wine, set the glass back on the table, and seated herself at the head of the table, pulling Skyler into the seat beside her. The mermaid looked around before settling into the seat on Skyler’s other side. The snake on Skyler’s shoulder let out a soft snort at the Demon Queen before closing her eyes.
The dining table was so enormous that Charles, Zack, and the others standing at the opposite end could barely hear what Skyler and the Demon Queen were saying.
They exchanged uncertain glances before ultimately settling into seats of their own.
Yuris shifted closer to Zack and whispered softly, a hint of apprehension in his voice.
"What is going on? I thought we’d directly find some divine treasures and then look for a safe place to break through to the Divine Rank. What do we do now?"
Zack picked up a fork from the table and gave him a flat, expressionless stare.
"Why are you asking me?"
"I don’t know either!"
Hearing their whispers, the Demon Queen narrowed her eyes at Skyler.
"You want to reach the Divine Rank? Is your realm prepared to bear the consequences?"
Skyler paused.
He set the utensils he had just picked up back on the table before looking at her.
"If you’re worried that we’re pursuing the Divine Rank without realizing our realm will become part of the Divine War the instant someone reaches that rank, then don’t be."
He let out a sigh.
"An idiot from Eldoria already beat us to it. We’re just trying to grow stronger so that we’ll have the strength to fight back when the chaos comes to enslave everything."
The Demon Queen raised an eyebrow.
"I see."
Her crimson eyes swept over him.
"But... I don’t think you need anything to reach the Divine Rank. You’re already standing at its threshold. It won’t be easy, but all you have to do is take that final step, and you will be there."
Skyler’s gaze shifted toward Zack and the others, who had started eating.
"It’s not about me. I want all of us to reach that rank. No matter how strong a single person is, they can’t protect everything."
The Demon Queen paused, her slender fingers lightly tapping the rim of her wine glass as a faint smile played on her lips.
"You want to save everything? That is indeed a beautiful dream. But... when you try to protect everything, you will discover that you can’t protect anything."
Skyler stared at her in silence.
She didn’t tell him what she knew, yet she wanted him to remain in the Battle Royal—here, in this castle—for as long as she lived.
The Demon Queen suddenly turned her gaze toward the distant void, a thoughtful hum escaping her lips.
"I can help you. But when you leave here, leave the fragments with you with me. It’s far safer for them to stay with me than to be discovered by the God of Extinction."
Skyler frowned, his hand tightening into a fist.
"Why? What’s the reason?"
She touched his cheek and hummed.
"You really don’t know? Right now, every being in Heaven is searching for my soul fragments. The so-called Divine War can be decided by whoever gathers them all."
Skyler’s pupils trembled. There wasn’t the slightest trace of emotion, let alone fear, in her smile, as though she had accepted the ending awaiting her long ago and had never once thought of resisting or changing it.
At that moment, a name surfaced in his mind, and he spoke it without thinking.
"...Aether?"
She froze.
In that instant, every glass object on the dining table cracked before shattering into tiny pieces. Her dark gaze slowly lowered, and the warmth in her expression faded.
"I don’t like that title."
Her voice was quiet, yet it carried an unmistakable chill.
"Never say it again."
On the other side of the dining table, Zack, Charles, and the others were startled when the glasses and wine bottles around them cracked and shattered. Isaac nearly toppled out of his chair as his heart leaped into his throat in shock, but Yuris caught the chair just in time, preventing him from falling.
Yuris looked at Zack.
"What did Skyler do now??"
Zack’s expression turned deadpan.
"Why are you always asking me??"
Yuris replied matter-of-factly.
"Because you know more than us!"
At that moment, a familiar voice echoed through the hall. It was the Demon Queen.
"Let me tell you all a story. Consider it a bit of entertainment. You must all be bored."
Her voice was laced with laughter, yet to Isaac, Zack, Charles, Yuris, and Austin, it sounded as though it had come from hell.
Beneath that playful tone lingered a coldness so profound that chills crept down their spines.
They had become so powerful, yet this woman—whose strength they couldn’t sense—could still fill them with fear and apprehension. Just how strong was she?
Isaac swallowed hard.
"What story?"
The Demon Queen rose from her seat and walked behind Skyler, her voice dropping to a near whisper.
"A love story."
She raised a finger toward the grand chandelier suspended above the dining table. Its crimson light shimmered, and within it, two pitch-black shadowy figures slowly took shape, moving in silence as though they were acting out her tale.
"A long time ago, a spirit who sat upon the highest seat in her realm saved an angel who had accidentally fallen into her world... and fell in love with him. The feeling was mutual. No one dared oppose their union, for they stood at the top of their respective realms. Anyone foolish enough to stand in their way would simply be swept aside."
Her smile deepened as her fingers played with Skyler’s hair. She watched his tightly clenched fists, noticing they had begun to tremble.
"Their love was the envy of all in both the Spirit Realm and Heaven. It was hard for spirits to conceive due to their powerful race, but to everyone’s delight, the spirit became pregnant with the angel’s child."
"Everything was beautiful, like a dream."
"She was so happy that she even planned to give up her throne to spend the rest of her life with the person she loved. Yet, the angel’s love turned cold the day their child was born. It was as though his so-called love had never existed in the first place."
Her gaze lowered.
"He grabbed the newborn child and turned to leave without a word under the gaze of the pale woman, who was still lying in bed, waiting to see their child’s face. It was at that moment that the spirit finally realized something was wrong. She staggered after him despite the worried calls urging her to rest, only to find her castle surrounded by countless angels wielding weapons."