Rita paces from one side of the room to another, over and over, the night long gone, the day offering no relief—no word from her daughter.
She's unravelling.
Why was Evelyn being targeted?
Within a year, her daughter had been attacked twice—once barely escaping by leaping into a river, the second time captured and only saved by her boyfriend's arrival.
Speaking of him, where is Adam?
Rita turns to her niece, eyes hollow and rimmed with dried tears.
"Cassie, is Adam still not picking up?"
Cassie looks up and nods quickly. "Yes, Aunt."
After a pause, she raises the phone to her ear again.
Rita watches her expression change. "Still out of service?" she asks.
Cassie nods again.
Frustration breaks through Rita's fear. "Where did he go that the phone is still out of service?"
Just then, footsteps echo through the hallway, and her husband, Severin, steps inside.
Rita rushes toward him, voice pleading. "Any news of Evelyn?"
Severin shakes his head. "Nothing."
Rita snaps, "Every street, every car, everyone's hands—they all have cameras. How can there be no trace of her?"
Severin sighs and sinks into a chair, rubbing his temples.
"Around that building," he says quietly, "every CCTV and dashcam stopped working for a few minutes during Evelyn's disappearance. That's why there's nothing."
Rita curses under her breath, mind spinning—how could someone shut down thousands of cameras all at once?
It should be impossible.
But Cassie's eyes flicker with sudden understanding.
She knows there are people with that kind of reach.
She opens her mouth to confirm it with Severin—then hesitates, glancing at her aunt.
"They're responsible," she mutters, voice barely above a whisper. "They haven't sent any word."
Rita's eyes widen, a storm building behind them.
She spins toward Severin, trembling with fury. "You know who did this—you know why my daughter is missing."
Her voice cracks as rage and grief churn together.
She stands in front of him, fists clenched, heart racing, unable to believe they're still keeping secrets from her while Evelyn's gone.
She whirls to Cassie. "Tell me—tell me who is behind Evelyn's disappearance."
Cassie's eyes grow desperate, flicking toward her uncle.
"Uncle?" she whispers.
Rita feels like she might explode—still, they say nothing.
Still, they protect those who are responsible.
She wants to break something, scream, throw a chair—but then the doorbell rings, slicing through the tension.
Severin exhales and says, "Cassie, go check."
Cassie nods and heads toward the door.
Rita drops into the seat opposite Severin, her eyes fierce, breath uneven, demanding answers without speaking.
Cassie returns, followed by two men and two women.
Rita instantly recognises one of them—Captain Mike, the same man she met during Evelyn's first kidnapping.
But the others are strangers, dressed in unfamiliar uniforms with no name tags or insignias.
A cold knot forms in her chest.
She and Severin stand as the group enters.
Rita steps forward, eyes locked on Mike. "Is there any news about my daughter?"
Mike hesitates, then looks at Severin. "Does she know?"
Rita turns, catching Severin's subtle shake of the head.
Her voice drops, taut with restraint. "I'm her mother. Can I not know anything about my own daughter?"
She glares at her husband. "Enough. Today, you tell me everything."
Without waiting, she pulls out a chair and sits.
One of the uniformed women sighs. "She won't leak the secret. Let's stop hiding it from her."
The group quietly takes their seats.
Then Mike speaks, voice low and heavy. "Evelyn isn't the only one missing. Nine others have disappeared—each from the sealed families."
Rita stares, confused.
Sealed families?
What does that even mean?
Why is her family called a sealed family?
What is being sealed?
A treasure?
A giant beast?
She's flooded with questions but remains silent, watching, listening.
Severin leans forward. "Then the ones who attacked Evelyn the first time—they're behind this too?"
Mike nods. "Yes. The disappearances happened the same night Evelyn went missing."
Severin's face tightens. "But there's been no message. No demand for the keys?"
Rita's confusion deepens. Keys? What keys?
More questions—no answers.
Mike turns to the woman who earlier defended Rita's right to know.
"Captain Jaylen has the rest of the details."
Captain Jaylen, light brown hair tied back, chocolate-colored eyes sharp and steady, begins, "We now know why your daughter—and the others—were taken. It's because of Axerus. We still don't know the exact purpose, but they likely intend to unseal him."
Severin's face darkens. "Are they insane? Even the demon gods' temples helped us seal Axerus back then—he was too dangerous. The demon worshippers joined us because they feared his madness."
The Manford family—and the other eleven sealed families—carry blood from twelve ancient demon clans.
Twelve clans, all descended from the Void Demon.
The Manford bloodline carries the power of the sealed Wolf Demon Clan.
Their gift—and their curse—is the ability to turn into a wolf.
Back then, the Federation was powerless against Axerus.
Though his strength had been sealed down to an early Demon Count, he was, in truth, a peak Demon Archduke—his presence alone unmatched.
Even sealed, he overwhelmed armies.
The Federation had to ally with the Giant Beasts just to face him.
At first, they managed to suppress him.
But time was Axerus's greatest weapon.
The longer he remained in the world, the more his strength returned, his sealed power slowly slipping free.
And he could not be killed.
His strength was sealed—but not his essence.
They learned this too late.
No matter how many times he was struck down, he would return.
The only option was to seal him again—but no one knew how.
Then the Temple of Void appeared.
They revealed the path: only twelve demon bloodlines, descendants of the Void Demon, could seal Axerus.
Each of the twelve families, including the Manfords, carried one fragment of the Void's ancient sealing power.
Under the Temple's guidance, they succeeded.
Axerus was sealed.
All forces—Federation, Beast Clans, even the Demon Worshippers—had agreed on that one goal: to stop him.
But now—who wants to unseal him?
It can't be the major forces.
They don't have the keys.
They only know where Axerus is sealed.
And none of them would risk breaking his seal openly.
Yet someone is moving behind the scenes.
Someone who played a role in sealing Axerus long ago—someone with access to the keys and the knowledge of the cycle.
The sealed land is only visited once every hundred years.
That long silence makes it easy for betrayal to grow unnoticed.
Jaylen shakes his head. "I don't know if they have a death wish or not, but the Federation's stance is clear—Axerus must never be unsealed."
Severin frowns. "What does that mean, exactly?"
Jaylen replies, "A retrieval team has been dispatched to each of the ten remaining sealed family homes. Their mission is to secure the keys."
Rita's voice rises, sharp with anger. "So now I understand—my daughter's life means less than some ancient key."
Jaylen meets her fury with unshaken calm. "Yes. No key can be exchanged. No matter the price."
Rita shouts, "WHY? Why can't a key be traded to save a life? Who is Axerus that you would sacrifice our children to keep him sealed?"
Mike steps in, voice steady as he explains the truth: about the Demon World, about Axerus's madness, and why the keys must never fall into enemy hands.
After that, the group discusses possible ways to track Evelyn.
Eventually, they leave.
The house grows quieter.
Rita stays seated, her questions burning behind her eyes.
She turns to Severin and Cassie.
She wants answers—and this time, she gets them.
They speak more of the Demon World.
Of Axerus.
Of the twelve sealed families and the keys tied to their bloodlines.
The Demon-Hunters.
When they finish, Severin's voice drops. "You must never speak of this."
Rita nods, her voice low. "I won't. But tell me why."
Cassie answers gently, "Auntie… demons feed on fear. The more people know, the more they fear… and the more doors open for demons to cross into our world."
Rita nods again.
But her thoughts drift back—always—to Evelyn.
The Demon World has her attention.
But not for long.
-------
Merin hears the sound of cars and steps out of the mine.
Two vehicles stop in front of him, and Sasha climbs out of the second one.
She exhales in relief at the sight of him.
Merin greets her, "Morning, Ms. Dorshe."
Sasha walks toward him. "Mr. Taylor, you don't know how relieved I am to see you safe."
Merin smiles faintly. "What could happen to me?"
She stops a step away from him. "How was the night?"
Merin's mind flashed back to the moment after his practice ended, when he felt the distinct sensation of being watched. Before he could trace it, it vanished.
He decides not to mention it. "Uneventful. Nothing happened."
Sasha asks, "Are you staying tonight as well?"
Merin nods. "I'll stay until I find out why they were here."
"Will you be returning to town?"
Merin shakes his head.
After a few more minutes of small talk, they leave, and Merin returns to the cave.
He searches again for any sign of what the demon worshippers were after—but finds nothing.
So he shifts back to training.
He feels it—he's close to the peak of the Upper Unification Realm, and could soon advance to the King Kong Realm.
But he won't.
Not yet.
Because he fears death.
Merin sits near the generator and begins forging his body again.
It can output 1000 volts, so he starts from there.
His cells reorganise, hardening, growing tougher with each cycle.
His true energy, the grey energy within him, sharpens with each forging.
It darkens—greyer, then darker still.
With every round, it inches closer to black.
The second night passes without incident, and nothing happens.
On the third day, he raises the voltage to 1300.
Half of his grey energy has now turned black.
He feels something shifting in his body, as if unseen locks are opening one by one.
That feeling of liberation began when he completed forging with 1000 volts.
The realisation fills him with elation.
It means the black, mysterious energy—his sign of approaching the King Kong Realm—can be reached if he simply continues forging.
He doesn't know when, but it will happen.
All he has to do is keep going.
He isn't sure if full liberation will guarantee a breakthrough to the King Kong Realm, or what kind of abilities he'll gain if it does, since his method isn't traditional.
He's already at the peak of the Unification Realm.
He can sense the field around his soul.
All that remains is to fuse it with the field around his body to break through.
But he doesn't—because of fear.
So he pauses his training and enters meditation to rest and recover.
After a few hours, Sasha arrives again.
They speak briefly, and then she leaves.
Before she goes, Merin asks her to send more Karst Crystals—he's running low on fuel for the generator.
A couple of hours later, someone arrives with a fresh supply.
------
*Temple of Life and Blood*
The high priestess paces before the statue of the god, her brows tight with turmoil.
She cannot decide her next move—the pure-blood demon families have thrown a wrench into the temple's long-laid plan.
If they succeed, everything the temple worked for will collapse.
So far, only the first step—the birth of the goddess's son—has been completed.
The next phase is to create a new human nation centred around the temple.
Then, with the temple's support, that nation must conquer the world within two to five centuries.
Only then can they hold the final ritual, channelling the will of all living beings—the origin of the world.
That would allow the goddess's son to ascend and become the god of their demon race.
If the plan succeeds, she will rise to chief priestess of the new divine temple.
She might even reach realms no one in her bloodline has touched—perhaps even a demon archduke.
But now, before her very eyes, it all risks unravelling.
The temple has enough power to stop the pure-blood demon clans.
Yet doing so would expose them to the Federation.
Once revealed, the Federation will surely strike, and that too will ruin the plan.
If she acts, the plan might fail.
If she does nothing, it might also fail.
She stands at a crossroads, frozen.
Should she remain still and let events unfold—or interfere and risk everything to stop the unsealing of Axerus?
The world has grown stronger since the ancient times.
Perhaps they can stop Axerus on their own.
Perhaps her help won't be needed.
She then hears, "Priestess, what got your mind into a mess? Tell me if I can help solve your problem."
She turns and sees a teenager with shoulder-length light green hair, milky white skin, and piercing green eyes strolling out from behind the statue of the goddess.
She smiles at him and asks, "Did you choose a name for yourself?"
The teenager nods with a bright smile and says, "I chose the name Salim."
She tilts her head. "Any deeper meaning?"
Salim shakes his head. "No, I like the name, so I took it."
The high priestess nods and falls silent.
Salim steps closer. "Tell me, Priestess, what is worrying you?"
She looks into his eyes, then sighs and explains her dilemma—the threat of the pure-blood families, the risk of exposure, and the fragile future of their plan.
Salim listens and says, "How are they going to unseal Axerus without all the keys? And how will they even find the sealed dimension?"
Before she can answer, he continues, "Are the other two temples helping them?"
The high priestess shakes her head. "They wouldn't reveal the location to enter the sealed dimension. They've taken an oath. And the entry point shifts every hundred years when the dimension contacts the world again."
Salim nods. "Then, without all the keys, they can't find the seal."
The high priestess says, "The keys were created by sacrificing one member from each of the twelve sealed families. With just two keys, they can open the seal dimension."
Salim raises an eyebrow. "So to stop them, we could inform the Federation—let them locate the seal and guard it."
The high priestess shakes her head firmly. "We cannot. If their attention turns to us, even briefly, it may cause our plan to fail. You know, we must remain in the shadows if we want to achieve our goal."
Salim says, "There are demon families of our lineage—inform them and have them tell the Federation."
The high priestess shakes her head. "Their ancestors were not possessed by demons—rather, the reverse happened. They'll never listen to us."
Salim replies, "They don't need to listen. Just give them the information and threaten them—if they expose us to the Federation, we'll destroy their families."
The high priestess remains silent.
Salim adds, "They know what we can do to any of their family members who enter the demon world. And this world will eventually become a lower demon realm."
The high priestess slowly nods. "Let's do this."
Salim continues, "Even if we stop them from taking just one key, their entire plan will fail."
The high priestess nods again. "I'll send some martial artists to stop them."
Salim says, "I want to participate in the mission."
The high priestess immediately shakes her head. "No, you're not going."
Salim insists, "They won't discover any connection between me and demons. My cultivation has reached the King Kong Realm—there's very little that can kill me now."
Still, she shakes her head. "No."
Salim presses, "Our goal is for me to break through the King Kong Realm to the next realm. Then, with my fame, I'll draw followers and establish a country based on martial arts—our temple will support it in secret. But if I suddenly appear then, it will raise suspicion. If I act openly now, if my talent is known early, that suspicion will be much less."
The high priestess considers this, then says, "Fine. But I'll send a team—you must act with them. If you don't, this will be the last time you go out."
Salim nods. "Our base is near Nova Super City, right? Did they capture anyone from there?"
The high priestess replies, "Yes. A girl from the Manford family. They've taken her to a base inside the Dark Forest."
Salim says, "Good. I'll go there."
Without another word, he leaves the room.
----
Merin stops his practice as the familiar sensation of being watched returns.
It's the third night, and this time, the feeling carries malice.
He stands and stretches, calm as five distinct presences enter his field—none of them bother hiding, confirming they're here to attack.
He walks toward the mine's mouth, his field extending in that direction, but finds no others nearby.
The moment he steps out, fireballs from every direction engulf him in flames.
An hour later, the ground is ravaged—four bodies lie scattered, torn apart, limbs missing.
Merin stands at the centre, his clothes singed but intact.
His attackers were Demon Conjurers, the cultivation realm equivalent to his own Unification Realm, but ever since his true energy began turning black, his strength has surpassed that level.
Their spells couldn't even breach the barrier formed by his true energy—defeating them was easy.
He could have killed the fifth one, too, but let him escape, curious to learn who they are and why they attacked a quartz mine.
Keeping a steady distance, Merin follows the fleeing enemy, recalling the terrain map from memory.
He soon notices the enemy heading toward the Dark Forest—perhaps their base is hidden there.
Though unsure at first, his suspicion is confirmed as the man enters the forest.
Merin waits briefly, then steps in after him, confident that, with his strength, he can protect himself inside the Dark Forest.