“Weslin,” the demon says.

“Yes, Morwag?”

“Why aren’t you an S rank yet?”

“Why did your mom drop you on your head as a child?”

Holy fuck.

I keep glancing between the most demonic demon to ever demon and Weslin. Luan sits there, completely unbothered. Sophie makes a face that is somewhere between pity and finally understanding what the Primordial Lunatics are really like. The triplets and their S rank velnar don’t really seem to mind the situation either.

Morwag laughs out loud, not showing the slightest sign that he ever took it as an insult. He pulls Weslin closer and hugs him with a strong, shaking movement. I’m pretty sure if he did that to me and I didn’t strengthen my body, it would’ve killed me.

“Ah, this reminds me of the good old times when we used to be a duo. It was so fun back then, when I was showing you the ropes. I hear you’re doing the same for our human boy over there.” His red eyes turn to me. There’s hardly any gradient to them, just a single vibrant blood-red color with a vertical slit pupil in the center.

“You probably know more about him than I do,” Weslin says with a shrug.

Morwag shakes his head and says brightly, “Not a thing. Other than Nyssa wanting him on the fifth floor. But I never bothered asking, so that might be part of it.”

“And that’s why the Primordial Knights are going to drop out of the top five,” the velnar says from the side. She easily towers over everyone here.

“Hela. I swear, every time I hear you talk, I want to punch you. But more than that, I want to punch my blue friend over there. Hey Luan, why don’t you group up with this lumbering oaf of a woman and fight me two versus one?” Morwag’s eyes are wide open now, and his heartbeat feels oppressive, yet it still hasn’t pushed too far.

“I’m not interested,” the thylarin next to Sophie says simply, without even looking up from his food. The glowing lines on his arms don’t even light up as he maintains his calm demeanor.

Disappointed, Morwag leans back and glances at Sophie. “I thought you were being dragged around by that feylith bitch. Is she finally dead?”

“Yes, Faora has passed away,” Luan says.

Morwag’s smile widens. “So you got a replacement. Another mind mage for Frontier’s silly attempts at reaching the sixth floor. I wonder, if I killed her, would you be more willing to fight me?”

"Yes," Luan says, taking a slow bite of a pink dessert shaped like a small animal, chewing without concern, and only then does he lift his eyes to meet Morwag’s.

They lock eyes as they stare each other down until Morwag suddenly shifts his focus to me, like a wild animal. He studies me for a moment, then bursts into loud laughter. "I knew I felt something. You’re angry, just like that mind mage over there, aren’t you? Do you want to fight? Is she your bud, rookie?"

Not seeing a reason to hide it, I nod, further drawing his attention to me.

While Luan and Hela remain calm and controlled, Morwag continues to feel like the most dangerous person here, if only because of how unpredictable he is. He seems like he’s being completely led by his emotions. Out of the three S ranks gathered, he’s the one who’s most likely to snap and cause chaos, and everyone here seems to realize it, while being sure not to antagonize him too much.

“You could say that,” I confirm.

“What a fucked up situation. What would you do if I killed her?”

“Well, first, I don’t think it would be that easy for you. She is a pretty nasty mind mage.”

“Ahhh.”

“Then that douchebag, stick-in-the-ass thylarin called Luan, said he would try to protect her.”

“Yes, he said that.”

“And I would use the opportunity to sneak up on you.”

“Your own guild mate?” Morwag asked, feigning horror.

“Without a speck of hesitation.”

Hela starts laughing, and the triplets seem amused too. Out of them, the sister says, “Maybe we should just wait it out and let them clear themselves out.”

Morwag laughs too, for a couple of seconds, before suddenly stopping as if someone pressed pause, and turns to the triplet, “Lumoran, I will paint the walls with your insides.”

The silence that follows makes me realize the other people sitting around were listening, and at hearing that, all of them stopped. It almost seems like most of them want to leave, but they are scared of what their reactions might cause in the demon.

Seeing that none of the triplets even dares to breathe too loudly, Morwag turns back to me. “Your name was Nathaniel, right?”

“I thought you knew nothing about me.”

“I lied. Don’t you think anyone foolish enough to believe anything they’re told, or blind enough not to see through a lie, is beyond hope?”

At that moment, Luan breaks the silence to order another portion of whatever he’s been eating. I see it annoys Morwag, but he says nothing and keeps his attention on me.

The server, hands shaking, confirms Luan’s order and quickly rushes into the kitchen.

“Anyone who feels tired should probably leave this place. Don’t forget to leave a massive tip,” Morwag says to the restaurant at large, though his eyes never leave mine.

For a moment, silence holds. Then someone moves, dragging a chair across the floor. When nothing happens to that brave soul, the rest burst into motion, scattering and clearing the place within seconds.

Morwag drags his chair closer, far too close, and locks his eyes on me. I do the same, looking back almost without blinking. I know for a fact that he’s listening to my heartbeat as well, but I return the favor.

I observe the rhythmic, calm beats. Even when he seems annoyed, happy, or outright angry, they don’t change in the slightest. His control over his powers is absolute, and I realize that any aggression he shows is a deliberate choice, him allowing his emotions to break through.

“Do you think I could kill you?” he asks.

“Probably, but you won’t do it.”

“Why not?”

“I haven’t given you a reason.”

“Not because we are in the same guild, or because Nyssa told me not to?”

“I don’t think any of that would stop you.”

His smile widens at my answer. “Do you want to fight?”

“Not really. I’d rather fight you when I’m stronger.”

“Oh.” Morwag seems disappointed. “So you’re scared of losing, of getting wounded?”

“No.” I shake my head, pulling his attention back to my face. “You just seem like the kind of person I would learn nothing from, and it would annoy me to no end to lose against you. I don’t know why, but I want to stomp you into the ground the moment I think I have the slightest chance.”

As I say that, I notice how hard it is to control my hearts. I still do it, it is my power after all, but there is a constant push to release everything I hold against this guy sitting so close to me. I haven’t felt anything like this in a long time.

Glancing at Weslin, Morwag asks, “Why aren’t you more like him, dear Weslin?”

The bald man ignores him completely, which only seems to amuse Morwag even more. He scrapes his chair across the floor with a loud screech as he shifts away from me, aiming to bother Weslin instead.

Deep in thought, I stare at the demon’s back when I notice Hela watching me. The huge velnar woman lifts an eyebrow as I meet her gaze. “I heard you messed up the triplets pretty good.”

I glance at the lumoran trio. Even though they try to hide it, I can see it bothers them.

Looking back at Hela, I shrug. “Not like it was anything difficult.”

To my answer, she just nods, as if confirming something, and I look away. This time, I meet Sophie’s eyes.

The moment we do, she creates a connection between us, and I accept it. It’s a much improved link, and completely unlike the twins’ [Connection]. More relying on her mindbender abilities, subtle and much harder to detect. I have no illusions that the S ranks here could’ve missed it, but at least it will not be easy for them to listen without us noticing.

(Up until this morning, I didn’t even know I would be here.) She explains her presence.

(It’s okay. Did Luan come here to pick a fight?) I ask.

(I think he just wants something from the master of the Black Tower before we leave. What’s happening?

)

(The Primordial Knights are at war with Clown’s Emerald, or whatever they’re called. The triplets are from the other guild, and our big girl here is an S rank who seems to have joined them. You know Weslin from my descriptions, and this creepy demon is the most demonic demon to ever demon, apparently. He’s an S rank too.)

(I know you probably can’t help it, and it wasn't your fault, but why do I feel like this mess all started because of you?)

(Malicious rumors deliberately spread to tarnish my unblemished reputation.)

(Surely.) I can almost hear a sigh in her voice. (Need a hand? I could try to trick Luan into helping out.)

(I think it is better if you don’t. Morwag and Hela are already big enough problems without Luan complicating things even further.)

(I’ve heard things about Morwag, and I’d expected him to be different. So far, he seems a bit… restrained. But yeah, it is not as if he’d go around breaking the rules in a guild war.)

For a moment, I think about saying something, but I decide against it. I figure it’ll be a good reminder for Sophie of how demons can truly be. She already has something of a grasp on it after dealing with the Dusk Horizon tribe on the 9th floor, but Morwag is a more... raw version of what a demon can be.

Luan and Weslin both seem to know what’s about to happen. Hela probably knows too, even though she doesn’t seem to care enough to try to stop it.

And so the bomb continues to tick down towards detonation, though no one knows when it’ll blow. The restaurant feels eerily quiet without the other guests, but the servers and other employees still move about, serving us while everyone picks at their food. The conversation keeps going as well.

Hela leans toward Weslin, trading words as she does. Morwag turns his attention back and forth between Luan and Sophie, poking and provoking. Sophie, to her credit, keeps her reactions measured. She answers politely, but with enough firmness in her tone that it doesn’t sound like submission.

The longer we sit, the more the rhythm falters. Food cools on plates, drinks go half-finished, and the steady murmur of voices disperses into scattered fragments. Nothing happens, yet the atmosphere settles into something hard to define, not hostile, just drawn out.

When it finally looks like it is about to end, Luan stands to leave, and then Hela and the triplets follow, I feel myself tense up even more.

The triplets are just passing by when, as if remembering something, Morwag stops them. "Just a moment," he says as he rises.

Weslin doesn’t even try to intervene, knowing it would be pointless, while Hela watches on, uncaring.

For the first time, the lumoran triplets begin to realize what most of us already knew.

As Morwag turns to them, one of the brothers stammers, "The rules, you..."

Before he can even finish, Morwag swings his arm and the lumoran sister explodes, as if her body were no more solid than a pile of feathers. She vanishes in a burst of pink mist, her flesh and blood splattering over her brothers and spraying across the wall behind her.

With a nod, Morwag picks up a napkin from the table and calmly wipes the blood from his hand.

As I watch the shocked, horrified lumoran men touch the pieces of flesh clinging to their faces, I realize that Morwag never tried to drag it out. He didn’t insult them, he didn’t explain why, and he didn’t care about the rules at all. He simply did what he promised when the lumoran woman interrupted him, a woman he already considered an enemy, yet not killed instantly, in what he saw as a show of politeness.

At the time, the triplets had taken his words lightly, but now they see he meant every word.

Morwag dabs at the lumoran’s cheek with a napkin, wiping away some blood as the man stares back in horrified disbelief, too stunned to move. “Messy, isn’t it? So much for your rules.”