We all stared at the see-through glass door.

They weren’t monsters.

Not anything we had seen before.

Beyond that door was another world filled with black-formed creatures with white eyes and sharp teeth.

[ SKRRR-CHHH ]

[ SKRRR-CHHH ]

More than one black creature scratched against the door.

Their white eyes locked onto Echo like she was the only one with the key.

Echo fixed her dress and started checking through its pockets.

And what do you know?

She pulled a key from a hidden pocket in her new dress.

“There it is!”

The key looked like it belonged on a keychain attached to Bel’s halberd.

Echo carried it in both hands with a cute smile across her face.

She looked through the glass like she was talking to her family.

“I need all of you to relax now,” Echo said. “Bel is feeling unwell.”

The creatures stopped moving.

All of their white eyes shifted toward Bel as he slept.

Then a baby black creature began to cry out, like she thought he was dead.

[ SKREEE-EEE! ]

The cry was so raspy it sounded like the baby monster had a sore throat.

I covered both my ears tightly.

The shriek made them ring so hard that I had to grit my teeth.

“Can you, like, do something about that little one?!” I snapped. “The thing clearly thinks Bel is dead!”

The creatures began slamming their bodies against the door.

[ BLAM ]

[ BLAM ]

Not hard enough to crack it.

But enough to annoy Echo.

She didn’t take her eyes off them.

“Look, all of you need to relax,” Echo said. “If he was dead, you would already be spewing out of there.”

The creatures looked at each other like the realization had finally hit them.

Echo rubbed the bridge between her eyes like she had seen this too many times and was tired of explaining it.

The baby moved to the front of the door.

Its body was round.

No eyes.

Only sharp teeth.

Echo sighed and floated toward the glass where the baby waited.

“You gonna let me pass?”

The baby stared at Bel as he slept on the hospital bed.

Then it turned toward the army of creatures beyond the glass door.

It released a raspy screech.

Like an order.

[ KRR-KRR-SKREEE! ]

The army made a pathway like the baby had become Moses himself.

Echo smiled and floated toward the keyhole.

“Finally. They settled down faster this time than last time.”

Before Echo could insert the key—

Scorin grabbed it between his thumb and index finger.

“What’s going to happen when you open this door?” Scorin asked. “I can’t allow you to bring harm to Sophia.”

Madina stood up from her seat and walked to Scorin’s side.

She leaned closer and spoke to him.

“Just let Echo do her thing,” Madina said. “And I’ll help you watch over Sophia if anything happens.”

Scorin smirked like Madina could never match his strength.

Before he could say anything, I saw it.

He was about to unload a disrespectful comment straight to her face.

So I yelled like I was ready for bed and tired of everyone’s nonsense.

“Scorin! Enough!”

He closed his mouth.

Then he looked at me like I had just given him an order.

“What are you talking about, Sophia?” Scorin asked. “I’m here to protect you like your father told me to, remember?”

Sweat formed on his face.

Like one more mean order from me would make him fold backward.

Something told me to take it easy on him.

And for once?

I decided to listen.

“Then protect me by standing right beside me.”

I pointed at the chair next to mine.

Scorin turned his head toward Madina with a serious expression.

He answered me without looking, scanning the room for any more hidden Abyss nonsense.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll be right there.”

Scorin sat in the chair beside me.

His greatsword dissipated into thin air.

He looked into my tired eyes.

Then he noticed the bags under them from me not getting my beautiful sleep.

I turned my face toward the glass door.

“Get on with it,” I said. “I don’t think the anesthesia is going to hold for too long.”

I glanced over at Bel.

His right big toe twitched like feeling was already coming back.

“Yeah, scratch that.”

I fixed my ponytail and pulled it tighter.

My eyes stayed on Echo.

“Hurry up, please,” I said. “I don’t think I have another one of those prepared on hand.”

Echo glanced at Bel for only a moment before snapping her gaze back toward the keyhole.

Then she pushed the key inside and turned it.

[ CHINK ]

[ CL-CLCK ]

[ CLACK ]

As Echo opened the door, a dark cloud seeped from beneath it and trailed toward Bel.

Echo placed one hand on her hip and raised the other into the air, shaking her fist toward the creatures crawling through the clouds in a long line.

“One at a time!” Echo shouted. “No need to rush, dammit! Only a handful of you can come through per rock!”

As the creatures marched through the doorway, the door slowly began to close.

The monsters started climbing over each other, trying to force themselves through the narrowing gap.

Echo grunted and tried to hold the door open with all her strength.

I shoved Scorin’s arm and pointed at the door.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but keep that door open with Echo!”

His crimson eyes flared instantly like the order awakened his sense of duty.

Scorin lunged from his seat and crossed over the line of black clouds.

He pressed his back against the door and forced it open.

At first, he looked like he thought it would be easy.

Then the weight behind the door pushed back.

“Why is this thing so heavy?!”

Scorin grunted and squeezed his eyes shut, pushing with all his strength.

Echo finally caught her breath while helping force the door back open.

“They’re connected to his lifeline!” Echo yelled. “The fight with Ragalia was too intense!”

Her eyes suddenly burst open.

She looked toward Bel.

The black creatures had climbed onto the bed.

Then they began entering his body face-first like they were filling an empty vessel.

The door pushed harder against Scorin and Echo.

I tried to rise from my seat and help, but Madina stopped me before I could move.

Noxx and Nira stood near the entrance, silently watching the madness unfold.

[ VVV-WHUUUM ]

As Scorin and Echo held the door back with all their strength—

My father walked into the room carrying Noxx in his arms.

Noxx looked completely confused about how he went from laying on the floor to suddenly being held and petted by the Demon King himself.

But honestly?

He wasn’t about to question it.

“I can’t believe my children are growing before my very eyes.”

“So are you going to tell me anything, or are you just gonna stand there and watch whatever is happening to my brother?”

Malphas looked at me calmly.

Like he could tell I wasn’t doing well either.

And no, it was not that time of the month.

I was still ten years old, dammit.

“Your brother was born dead.”

Scorin’s eyes shot open.

He looked at Malphas with a worried expression while holding the door open with all his strength.

The gap was only an inch away from closing.

“You actually made a deal with a deity?” Scorin asked.

I looked at him like he had been keeping secrets from me.

Clearly, he had.

He was the Demon King, for crying out loud.

“So you know the Evil Goddess personally?”

My father handed Noxx to me and placed him in my lap.

Then he walked over to the glass door and looked through it.

He placed one hand against the door and shoved it back open with all his might.

[ SQUEEE-CHK ]

He looked at me while holding the door open with one hand.

The creatures spilled out faster.

Crawling.

Growling.

Like they already knew where they belonged.

Like they had just been waiting for Bel to grow.

The door began pushing all three of them back.

Malphas looked at the door.

“I guess that should be enough.”

Then he shoved Scorin and Echo away with his shoulder as the door slammed shut.

[ SLAM ]

Scorin fell to the floor, landing on his behind.

Echo spun through the air before catching herself in midair.

Madina walked over to Bel’s side as he lay in the hospital bed.

Bel slowly opened his eyes to see Madina’s face.

She was so close that the word “boundaries” no longer mattered.

“Hey…” Madina whispered. “Welcome back.”

Bel stared into her eyes like he was waking from a nightmare into a wonderful dream.

He reached up and wiped the tears running down Madina’s face before they could fall onto his own.

“You gonna keep crying?” Bel muttered. “Or are you gonna help me up already?”

Madina moved to the side and helped Bel sit upright.

We all stared at him as he sat there in the hospital bed like a dead man returning to life.

The first person Bel made eye contact with was our father.

Bel gave him a dirty look.

Then slowly raised his middle finger toward him.

“Guess you do love me after all, you old bastard.”

Malphas turned toward me and said something crazy.

“The Evil Goddess and I came to an agreement.”

He walked over toward Bel.

The fact that Bel was the spitting image of Malphas made me rub my eyes.

The moment my father got close, Bel threw a heavy fist toward his face.

Malphas caught it with one hand and placed Bel’s fist back into his lap.

Bel tried to punch him with the other hand.

My father instantly grabbed him by the throat and slammed him back into the bed.

[ BANG ]

Bel tried to swing again with his free hand, but Malphas moved effortlessly.

Like he already knew Bel’s moves inside and out.

“Before that sudden change in personality the day you were brought to me,” Malphas said, “everything finally clicked.”

Bel struggled under his grip.

Then, slowly, he calmed down.

But my father didn’t let him go.

Because he knew the moment he did, the bull would show his horns again.

“The Evil Goddess came to me after the night Bel was conceived.”

Bel tried to push himself up with his tough exterior, but my father wasn’t having any of that.

He continued exposing everything like none of us had a say in it.

And honestly?

None of us could take on my father right now anyway.

“She brought me a violent spirit that refused to fade,” Malphas said. “The soul that should have been inside Bel was already gone. So I placed that spirit inside him.”

His eyes lowered toward Bel.

“That is the Bel you all know now.”

Malphas looked toward the closed Abyss door.

“The Abyss is not killing him. It is keeping him alive. Echo is the line between Bel and that power. Without her, and without those stones, your brother would have died long before any of you got to meet him.”

He finally let Bel go and stepped away, wiping his hands.

“I mean, you saw what Nira did on the battlefield, didn’t you?”

Malphas looked toward Nira.

“She is clearly another form of Sophia.”

Bel sat up and rubbed his neck.

Madina handed him a glass of water while holding his box of food in her other hand.

He walked toward the open door and stepped out of the room.

Then he looked over his shoulder.

“It was Nira’s choice after all,” Malphas said. “Well, she was my daughter at first. But now she is a fairy.”

I looked at Nira as she sat on my shoulder.

She stared at Malphas, already annoyed with him.

“Yeah, because you never let me have any fun,” Nira said. “It was always, don’t destroy the world, don’t break reality, don’t do this, don’t do that. You’re really boring, old man.”

Malphas shrugged and gave me a humbled look.

Like he was watching the future unfold right in front of him.

“I’m happy with my current family,” he said. “They are… still moldable.”

He walked toward a pillar that cast a long shadow across the floor.

Then he placed his hands in his pockets as he got closer to it.

“Make sure you master that new ability you learned,” Malphas said. “It might save your life one day, my darling daughter.”

He stepped into the shadow.

And he never came out the other side.

Like he had entered another dimension.

Everyone looked toward the open doorway.

Scorin watched me with a stern expression.

Madina stared at Bel with hearts in her eyes.

And I looked at Bel as he looked back at me.

Before I could say anything, he beat me to it.

“We got a lot to talk about… huh?”