Jewel staggered.
Her eyes widened in disbelief as she lowered her gaze to her trembling hands, hands slick with her own blood.
Cracks spread across her skin like veins of shattered glass, glowing faintly, crawling, deepening.
At first, he sneered at the disbelief written across her face. She had always been too adept at deception.
Yet as the fissures upon her skin grew ever more apparent, spreading like fine fractures in porcelain, and as a fragment near her collarbone peeled away like a petal caught in a wandering wind, a chill crept into his bones.
Something was wrong.
Jewel was immortal.
She could bleed, yet no blade had ever truly cut her. No beast had ever devoured her.
No flame had ever burned her. No power so divine or profane, had ever undone her existence.
He withdrew his sword at once and rushed forward, gathering her into his arms as guilt and remorse surged through him like a breaking tide.
Once again, he had allowed madness to reign over reason.
Prince Xati shrieked in fury and hurled himself toward him, striking without restraint.
But Emperor Hexion had no patience for a little demon's feeble wrath.
"Hexi~ you truly love me!" Jewel laughed, exhilaration ringing through her voice as though she were not the one pierced through, her gaze fixed upon her own hands as they slowly fractured, as if her unraveling were a masterpiece to be admired.
"What do you mean?!" he roared, terror finally eclipsing his rage. Never, never had he witnessed such a sight.
Even the wound left by his sword refused to close. Each drop of blood that fell transformed into crimson petals, scattered and stolen away by unseen winds.
The Forbidden Forest wailed without cease, as though its most ancient secret had been violently torn from its roots.
Jewel's laughter only grew brighter.
This realm, this imperial palace, believed it possessed every truth about her. Yet there was one secret none had ever known, one truth she alone had concealed:
The only being who could end her… was the one who truly loved her.
The banished imperial dark mage, her maker, had called her his perfect creation. Whether it had been affection or merely a final, cruel mercy for her, Jewel had always known: the one who could grant her what she desired most, what she sought beyond all things, was the demon who held her truly in his heart.
From the first Demon Emperor who gave her a name and crowned her his empress… to the second… to the third…
Their vows and actions proclaimed devotion, yet none reflected genuine love. What they felt was not love, but obsession, ensnared by whatever power her maker had woven into her existence.
Time and again, Demon Emperors grovelled at her feet, swearing they would surrender the entire realm for her affection, yet in that same breath, they inflicted upon her immeasurable pain for the love they could never possess.
She could never understand.
Why did they hunger so desperately for her love?
Why did they seek from her something she herself did not have?
What was love?
Why did it drive them into madness?
And why was she always the culprit of their ruin?
These demons feared the abyss. But Jewel had endured every agony, every physical torment this realm could impose.
Her very existence was an abyss.
For thousands of years, her schemes, her malice, her provocations, her relentless testing of each Emperor's patience, had all served a single purpose:
To be slain by their own hands.
Yet every weapon wielded by past Demon Emperors had failed her.
Until now.
At last… the end she had long conspired for was within reach.
The impossible was unfolding.
Her body was breaking.
Emperor Hexion lifted her into his arms, his voice trembling as he barked orders for Paris to summon the Imperial Healer at once.
"Jewel, what am I supposed to do?" Emperor Hexion whispered hoarsely beside her ear. His words tumbled over one another, stripped of command and dignity. "Enough of this. Enough playing, all right? If this is another of your tricks then fine. I won't blame you."
Jewel gazed up at the vast, resplendent sky, its brilliance strewn like scattered treasure across the heavens. She smiled faintly.
"Hexi… Jewel owes you." Her voice was gentle, almost reverent. "I do not know what it means to be sincere but… thank you."
He opened his mouth to scold her.
Instead, horror seized him.
The cracks veining her body peeled away like living things, lifting into the air, larger, faster, until, before his eyes, her left arm dissolved entirely into drifting fragments of light.
What… is happening?
The Head Healer arrived at that moment, and froze, blood draining from his face at the sight of the Empress.
The Emperor's fury erupted.
Healing arts were unleashed, sigils flared, incantations poured forth, but all were futile.
One healer became two. Two became ten. Then all the palace healers were summoned, followed by mages, scholars, anyone who possessed even a scrap of knowledge regarding such a phenomenon.
Jewel lay at the center of it all, surrounded by countless seals, orbs, and runes yet her body continued to fracture, piece by piece.
Only then did Emperor Hexion remember.
His restoring ability. How could he have forgotten? It had never once failed him.
Forcing everyone back, he invoked it upon her himself. Power surged, glorious, absolute but only for a fleeting moment.
Prince Xati's terror was naked and unmasked, his small form trembled as he stared at her, words failing him. "E-Empress… Mother…"
Jewel smiled, her expression gentle as she looked upon the little demon who had always followed her without question, who had believed in her without doubt.
"My precious little Xati," she said softly. "You must take care of yourself. The Forbidden Forest… I leave it to you."
Emperor Hexion collapsed beside her, teetering on the edge of madness. He wrapped his arms around her as though sheer will could hold her together.
"Jewel, you promised me!" he cried. "You swore an eternal oath, you said you would never leave my side! This cannot be happening. You are immortal! What have you done?!"
Jewel met his gaze without fear, her eyes soft.
"Jewel apologizes for breaking her promises," she said quietly. "But Hexi… from the very beginning, you knew of the lies, the torment Jewel inflicted upon you."
A faint smile curved her lips.
"Soon, you will be free. Forget Jewel- "
"Enough! How dare you leave without my permission?! Tell me now how to stop this!" Power thundered from him as he screamed,
"I am Emperor Hexion Richt Svade! No one in this realm stands above me! Nothing within this realm can escape me! Jewel, whether you become the wind, the sky, or the ground beneath my feet, I will find you!"
His words reverberated across the heavens.
And then the last remnants of Jewel lifted into the air.
He madly lunged for them, invoked his power again and again, but they slipped through his grasp, dissolving into nothingness within his palm.
As she faded, Jewel's voice drifted back upon the wind, soft, teasing, unbearably tender.
"Hexi~ if Jewel walks the path of reincarnation… can Jewel fall in love with you?"
Soft laughter, like a breath.
"I want to try it... love."
The demons who bore witness stood shaken, each lost to their own thoughts, their own dread.
Is this… truly the end?
Emperor Hexion remained standing where she had disappeared.
The warlord who had never lost a battle, who had crushed kings and ruled from the highest throne, was for the first time utterly defeated.
A howl tore from his chest, laden with despair, madness, and grief so profound it split the sky itself.
Jewel was dead.
The living curse, both hated and desired, was gone.
From that moment onward, the Demon Realm teetered on the brink of annihilation.
Emperor Hexion descended into madness, consumed by a single obsession: to bring Jewel back to life, no matter the cost.
Prince Xati was no better. He trespassed into forbidden domains, waged relentless wars, hurled himself into battles that nearly claimed his life, and turned his blade upon his own father whenever opportunity allowed, until the elders and council were forced to imprison him within a sealing formation.
Yet even that failed to stem the collapse.
The Demon Realm fell into chaos, pandemonium, carnage, endless war.
Noble houses rebelled. Demon Kings of the east, west, south, and north clashed with one another and with the capital, each hungry to usurp the throne before the coming Festival of Daeisthai.
Avernus, the once-flourishing, indomitable capital burned beneath unquenchable flames, driving weaker demons into exile.
Barriers shattered. Domains crumbled. The sky itself seemed to fall. As though the realm were manifesting the Emperor's grief.
The existence of a demon capable of destroying an entire realm could no longer be ignored.
Fearing that the Demon Realm's continued collapse would one day spill into their own domain, separated only by ancient barriers, the divine beings of the Light Realm intervened at last.
For the first time since Jewel's death, a fragile clarity returned to Emperor Hexion.
The divine beings came bearing a promise, however uncertain, that they might have a way to bring Jewel back.
Their powers, unlike those of demons, were able to gather what little remained of her existence.
"Emperor Hexion," one of the divine beings said gravely, opening his palm.
From it drifted a cluster of radiant fragments, gleaming like countless crimson petals bound together by light.
"Regrettably, the late Empress, as your subjects have informed us, was not a naturally born demon. What remains of her now is but a single strand of essence. Reincarnation, as it stands, is impossible."
Emperor Hexion, wavering between lucidity and madness, fixed the divine being with a murderous glare.
"What are you implying?" he demanded coldly. "That you cannot return her to life after all?"
The divine being shook his head. "It is not entirely impossible. However, a lone strand of essence cannot endure within this realm."
Emperor Hexion's aura surged violently, his lips curling into a sinister smile.
Do they intend to steal her? To raise his Jewel within the Light Realm?
"Is this the Light Realm's intent?" he asked, his voice steeped in menace. "To wage war against me?"
The divine being frowned. Reasoning with a mad emperor was an exercise in futility.
Before the tension could erupt into bloodshed, another divine stepped forward.
"There is… another option," he said. "The Human Realm."