CHAPTER 260: CHAPTER 261: PREY

Aurora turned, still floating. Her gaze stayed locked forward, the muscles in her jaw taut.

"Yes... it’s been a while..." she said, gripping her staff until her knuckles blanched.

The air thickened immediately. The heat that had been gnawing at their skin now pulsed like a furnace from within the walls themselves.

Each breath came slower, heavier—suffused with a scent that wasn’t just brimstone, but something older, like the dust from bones long crushed into the foundations of Hell.

The demon blam flinched first, his claws retracting, the hiss in his throat catching halfway. Azezal’s own talons curled against the stone as his eyes flicked toward her. Veil edged closer until he was in Atlas’s shadow.

"What did I miss?" he asked, as if sarcasm might mask the way he kept his weight on his heels, ready to run.

"...Nothing much. The party just started," Atlas replied, voice even but edged.

The presence wasn’t confined to the courtyard. Not just the demons pressed against the walls, not just the soldiers in formation—inside the city, in its veins, the netizens stirred.

Conversations faltered mid-syllable. Stalls went quiet. Even the gamblers in smoke-hazed dens turned their heads toward the outer streets, sensing the weight in the air.

They knew it. They all knew who had arrived.

The Demon Queen of Lazarus.

Her true name... lost in almost every record. Except once—etched into a pact so ancient its letters still burned into Aurora’s arm, the scar running like molten iron just under her skin. That brand pulsed now, slow and deliberate, in time with her heart.

{{{...I missed you.}}}

Her voice came without lips moving—inside bone and blood. She moved forward without hesitation, cutting the distance in moments.

Her red hair streamed behind her like a banner of flame, the pale stretch of her face sharpening the amber glare of her catlike eyes. Her fangs caught the glow as she smiled—a smile with an itch finally scratched.

"...But I didn’t," Aurora answered, her tone stripped of warmth. "Sorry—the feeling’s not mutual."

Power condensed in the air, absorbed by her staff, the concentrated mana spilling from the aurora in a wave. It was the kind of force that bent space around it, the kind that clawed at the lungs.

The demon queen met it head-on. With a motion that was almost lazy, her palm struck against the swell of power, knocking most of it aside like swatting away a branch.

{{{Nice greeting... what happened, dear? You got weak?}}}

"...Me? Weak?" Aurora’s laugh was sharp, almost brittle. "Did you forget ....who I am?"

The Demon Queen’s velvet coat billowed, its weight heavy enough to drag sparks from the air. She tilted her head, gaze dissecting Aurora the way a predator sizes a wounded animal.

{{{...No. I didn’t. That’s precisely why...}}}

She vanished from where she stood and appeared before Aurora in the space between two heartbeats.

Her clawed hand closed around Aurora’s throat, cold and strong enough that the pressure hummed in the bones.

{{{...Ah. Now I see it.}}} Her voice softened, almost curious. {{{Half your mind... it’s still in the mortal realm. I wonder why.}}}

Atlas caught every word, and his brows knit as he turned to look at her.

’Come on... don’t tell me she’s still using herself as the beacon for communication.’

He began to drift upward, tension pressing against his spine. He’d thought a mere demon queen wouldn’t matter for someone like Aurora—one of the great high mages.

But it seemed she had underestimated Hell even more than he had.

"...Veil. Can you handle the titans?" Atlas’s voice didn’t rise, but the weight in it made Veil’s ears twitch.

"Huh—how in this hell did you think I can manage that? Look at the fucking numbers," Veil snapped, motioning toward the endless silhouettes moving beyond the ridges.

Atlas only shrugged. "You can manage it." He didn’t slow his approach.

Aurora’s eyes flicked toward him as she felt his presence drawing closer. "Atlas... this is my business. I never told you to butt in."

Atlas stopped just short, his shadow cutting over the stone. "...Are you serious?"

She didn’t answer him directly, gaze swiveling back to her opponent—Lidia, herald of the Demon Empress of Between. The name dripped from memory like oil, and the air felt thicker for it.

"Yeah... I can take her," Aurora said, as if the hand clamped around her throat was nothing.

{{{...Nothing’s gonna change, little one. And you—}}} Lidia’s gaze shifted to Atlas. Her pupils narrowed.

{{{...Wait. What are you?....you...you are not human.}}}

Before Lidia could even blink, Aurora’s voice snapped—cold, commanding, and laced with Law.

{Hold}

The word became iron, and Lidia froze mid-motion. Aurora didn’t let the pause breathe.

{Fall}

Gravity seized the demon queen like it recognized her as an intruder. She slammed downward, plowing through stone and soil, the sound a deep-bellied doom that echoed through the city. Dust billowed in slow, curling spirals before settling.

Aurora’s lips curved slightly. She turned back toward Atlas, but his eyes widened a fraction—because a shadow was rising behind her.

"Careful!" he barked, blitzing forward. His palm met the massive palm of the titan, one swinging for her with a bone-deep.... boom. The air bucked in a pressure wave, stinging the skin.

Then the sky lit up. Mage towers, hidden in the shoulders of the giants below, awakened. They unleashed their fury in every spectrum of hellfire—acidic streams, shards of burning crystal, lances of light that bent unnaturally.

None of it was mortal magic; it hissed and warped in ways that tasted wrong on the tongue.

Atlas caught one of the acidic bolts along his arm. It burned instantly, eating at him even through hardened flesh. The scent was bitter, corroding. His breath hissed between his teeth.

"Veil!" Atlas called, bracing as another volley came. He turned his body, sheltering Aurora from the barrage.

The ground beneath them trembled. Shadows moved in the streets below as the city itself seemed to lean inward, watching as chaos reined supreme.

And far deep down in the distance, below the battle’s rising scream, Atlas’s gaze flicked for a heartbeat toward it, below the titans—

And the netizens turned toward the towering statues carved in his image, centuries old, their eyes turned in silent judgment toward him. Dust clung to their faces, yet the gold leaf still caught the light, as if the city refused to forget what it once thought him to be.

For a second, the noise around him dulled. He could almost hear the whispers of the old prayers, the weight of the worship he’d discarded, worship of demons. And then the next blast came, dragging him back into the now.

Below the titans....The darkness rolled in.

*********

IMPORTANT NOTIFICATION

Tomorrow, the battlefield will be silent — because I’ll be sharpening the blade.

No Chapter for a day, but only so I can strike harder. I’m building a war chest of Chapters for the next privilege push, and when it hits, you’ll be able to charge dozens of scenes ahead of the rest. The calm now is the breath before the storm — and when the storm breaks, it will be worth every coin you’ve ever spent here.