The room fell quiet for a moment as Bel drifted into a deep sleep.

I released the straitjacket from his body.

It burst into Umbral Grace mist around him, cooling him down while he rested peacefully.

I looked at my hands and watched the Umbral Ice slowly dissipate from my skin as well.

“I wonder what would happen if I kept going…”

Riku pulled the syringe out of Bel’s back and watched him sleep peacefully.

SMACK

I slapped Riku so hard across the face that he probably tasted the Umbral Grace still lingering on my hand.

He looked at the floor, his hair covering his face.

He didn’t look at me.

Instead, he fixed his posture and bowed.

“I’m sorry for getting carried away, my dear little sister.”

Before he left, he didn’t look Madina in the eyes.

She stood near the door, holding her side from where Riku had made her fall.

And now it looked like I had more work to do.

I didn’t give him an expression.

Just a blank stare.

Like nothing else needed to be said.

Before he opened the door, I didn’t apologize.

I let the scolding sink in for a moment.

“Ask Jessica to give you an ice pack,” I said. “It might bruise later.”

Riku hesitated before reaching for the door.

Like he wanted to apologize one more time.

But instead, he nodded and grabbed the handle.

When he opened the door, Scorin was standing there with two bags that clearly came from his hometown.

He scanned the room.

Bel knocked out.

Madina near the door.

Me barely standing.

Then his eyes landed on Riku’s face.

He looked shocked for a moment.

“What happened to you, Riku?” Scorin asked. “Looks like Syrin smacked you again.”

Riku sighed and passed by Scorin, heading toward the hospital exit.

“I’ll be back later, my dear little sister,” Riku said. “I need to… look at myself in the mirror.”

Riku left through the main entrance with his demon katana in his hand, staring at it.

The door closed behind him.

He was talking to the blade like something was living inside it.

I turned around, expecting to see Bel lying down.

But Scorin was right in front of me with two bags in his hands.

“Did you eat?” Scorin asked. “You must be hungry.”

I sighed and rubbed my hands together, trying to chase the numbness away.

“Yeah, I’m starving,” I said. “But right now, I need to take care of Bel.”

I started walking around Scorin, rubbing my hands together harder, trying to get the warmth back into them.

He placed the bags beside the sink and walked over to me with a serious expression.

I stopped in place.

His hands glowed a warm orange.

Then he gently grabbed both of mine.

It wasn’t hot.

It was warm.

Like he already knew what was wrong with me even though he hadn’t witnessed a thing.

“Hey… what’s wrong, Scorin?”

He didn’t look at me.

He examined my exhausted body instead.

My hands shook in his from all the caffeine in my blood forcing me to stay awake.

Scorin shook his head and closed his eyes with a serious expression.

Then he turned his gaze to Madina.

His face shifted from angry dragon to thoughtful prince.

“Are you okay to watch over Bel?” he asked. “I don’t think Sophia can work under these conditions.”

I tried to speak for myself because, like—

hello?

Was I letting someone else talk for me now?

“Listen, I don’t know what’s going on,” I said. “But I have more people waiting for me.”

Scorin grabbed one of the bags and handed it to Madina.

She looked confused as she sat in the comfortable chair that was clearly made for someone to sleep in.

“What’s this for?”

I tried pulling my hands away from Scorin’s firm grip.

I grunted and twisted my wrists in his hands.

“Can you, like… you know? Let me go already!”

Madina opened the bag and took out two bowls of food.

One had Bel’s name on it.

The other had Madina’s.

She placed the one with Bel’s name behind her back and opened the one with her name.

“Rice and steak?!”

Madina had no shame.

Before she even found the fork in the bag, she started eating the steak with her hands and scooping rice with her fingers.

I looked at her with pure disgust.

Scorin finally let go of my hands.

And yeah—

even my nails felt warm.

“Thanks for being thoughtful,” I whispered softly to the side, wearing a silly expression. “But you need to warn me before doing stuff like that.”

I placed a hand over my chest.

“My heart couldn’t take it.”

Scorin looked at Bel and walked over to him.

He fixed Bel’s sleeping posture, turning him onto his back so he could rest peacefully on the bed.

Before I could say anything about how to handle Bel, Scorin pushed a box of food toward me.

My name was written on it.

“Eat, please,” Scorin said. “My brother sends his regards.”

With those words escaping his lips, his expression shifted into something uncomfortable.

Like he had been scolded real quick and sent back here with presents.

I opened the box.

Inside was a chicken salad with demon ranch dressing.

“Purple this time?” I said. “They’re always trying new colors.”

I poured the dressing into the salad and closed the lid.

Then I raised it over my head and shook it like a maraca.

Madina laughed at me like I was doing something outrageous.

“Something funny, beast girl?”

She shook her head and continued eating.

I looked around for the rock from the sky.

And of course—

Scorin had it in his hands.

I swallowed the salad I had been chewing.

My voice came out raspy, with air catching between my words.

“Do you know anything about that?”

Scorin didn’t look at me.

He held the rock close and looked at Bel’s face.

Then his gaze drifted past Bel.

He pulled out his dragonic greatsword and pointed it at the shadows in the corner.

They looked darker than usual.

“Come out. Now.”

I looked at the corner like Scorin had lost his mind.

Then something moved inside the shadows.

I shot up from my seat and ran to the door, expecting a giant rat to come flying out of that dark corner.

“Father told me he hired an exterminator!”

Madina waved her hand toward me with a smile on her face and steak sauce on her cheeks.

“It’s only Echo,” she said. “He’s keeping the Abyss at bay.”

An eyeball floated slowly out of the shadows.

It swayed from side to side, like it was having a debate and fighting a battle at the same time.

Its pitch-black iris matched Bel’s.

Red stress lines spiderwebbed across the sclera.

A gentle voice came from the eye.

Light.

Soft.

But exhausted.

“I’m busy,” Echo said. “What do you want?”

Echo continued swaying from side to side, her eye fixed on Scorin’s hand.

Then her eye opened wide.

An intense stare locked onto the rock.

“Why… is that here?!”

I froze for a second.

Her voice echoed through the entire room with purpose.

Echo floated toward Scorin’s hand calmly.

She hesitated before getting too close, even though Scorin still had his dragonic greatsword in his hand and every intention of using it.

“So she finally gave it to me?”

I walked over to Madina like she knew what was going on.

Apparently, she did.

Madina cleaned her hands with a wet wipe from the bag and fixed her hair at the same time.

She looked like she was about to get back into action.

“That rock is what you were looking for, right, Echo?”

Madina placed her hands on my shoulders, stood up, and sat me down in her chair.

Then she looked at me with confidence across her wolfish face.

“I think the Evil Goddess gave us something that belonged to Echo in the first place.”

Before Madina could reach out and grab Echo—

Echo bolted toward the rock in Scorin’s hand like it already belonged to her.

Scorin pulled the hand holding the rock back.

Echo flew through empty space and stopped short.

She huffed and puffed somehow, even though no one knew where her mouth was.

Her body shook in midair before her aggressive gaze returned to Scorin.

“Dragon,” Echo said. “Hand it over. I need that to overpower the Abyss.”

Scorin looked at Echo with confusion.

For a moment, the room went quiet.

Then a small earthquake shook the floor.

Not hard enough to knock anyone down.

But strong enough to shift me in my seat and make my voice rumble when I spoke.

“Give the damn rock to the eye already!” I snapped. “My brother is clearly the cause of all of this!”

Scorin didn’t look at me.

But his face tightened with annoyance.

For some reason, he looked more bothered by hearing me stressed out than by the floating eyeball asking for the rock.

He instantly reached his hand out and held the rock between his fingers.

“Just take it already,” Scorin said. “Sophia is getting mad at me.”

I looked at him like—

why did he care that much about how I felt?

I rolled my eyes and waved my hand in the air, telling Echo to hurry the hell up.

Echo nodded at me, then looked at Scorin.

“Thank you for cooperating.”

Scorin sighed and waved his hand, telling Echo to hurry up.

“Just do whatever you were going to do already.”

The room shook again.

This time, harder.

[ RUMBLE ]

Echo floated toward the stone in Scorin’s hand.

For a moment, I thought she was going to touch the stone herself.

Nope.

Echo went straight into the rock.

The stone began to shine like a black star, floating into the air until it nearly touched the ceiling.

[ SHING ]

Scorin backed away from the rock with Echo inside.

Then he immediately stood in front of me like he was trying to become a protective shield.

I looked at him like he was clearly doing too much.

Like—

what was with the sudden switch?

“Uh… I can’t see the light show,” I said. “Can you, like… move?”

He didn’t listen.

He held his arms out at his sides, ready to catch anything that might fire from the glowing rock now hovering like a black star in my patient’s room.

“Scorin, do you have a pair of sunglasses?”

I placed my hand over my forehead, creating shade for my eyes.

Scorin looked at me like he couldn’t believe I was this calm during a disaster.

He didn’t answer.

So I yelled at him like he ignored me on purpose.

“Hey! Are you listening to me?!”

The rock drifted back down gently.

But as it descended, it began to mold itself like clay.

Each piece of it sculpted itself with fine precision.

Invisible chisels etched outlines into the surface, shaping it into a female doll.

[ SWISH ]

[ SWISH ]

[ SWISH ]

[ SWISH ]

I looked to my side and saw Madina smiling with her hands clasped over her chest.

She looked like someone witnessing a rebirth.

“Bel will be fine once Echo evolves,” Madina said.

I didn’t give a rebuttal.

Because the female doll started moving its limbs in midair.

My face twisted into a creeped-out expression as cracks along the doll’s joints began to rotate.

[ CRACK ]

[ SNAP ]

[ POP ]

The doll stood upright in midair.

Pure black obsidian hair grew from her head.

Then she opened her eyes.

They were the same as Echo’s base form.

Pitch-black irises.

But this time, her sclera looked like she had gotten a good night’s rest.

Jealous?

Yeah.

I was.

I covered Scorin’s eyes because she was still naked in midair.

He stiffened in confusion as I held them shut.

“What are you doing?”

I looked at him like he was stupid.

“Just bear with me for a moment.”

A black dress formed around Echo’s body.

Her eyes opened wider as a dark glow burned behind them.

She looked at her hands.

Then her feet.

Then the black dress.

Amazed.

“It feels good to wear this again.”

The room rumbled one more time.

[ RUMBLE ]

Echo looked at Madina with a calm expression and a small smile.

Then she reached her hand toward empty space.

A small pocket opened in the air.

“Then let me show you the Abyss.”

[ ZIP—DOOM ]

A door opened on a wall that had nothing there before.

But we could see through it.

I let go of Scorin’s eyes and forced him to face the door.

It looked like a screen had been carved into reality.

Then monstrous noises crawled through from the other side, like something wanted out.

Scorin and I spoke at the same time.

“What the hell is that?”