Chapter 804

Damn it. What exactly was going on?

Lily Grant genuinely couldn’t make sense of it.

This should have been simple. Instead, the straightforward trip to Nevada had somehow turned into a detour through a fountain.

She wasn’t even sure whether her so-called master had deliberately overlooked one very important fact: Lily had spent years training at Kamar-Taj, yes, but almost all of that training had gone into martial arts.

She knew some magic. Enough, at least, to summon and carry her weapons—the Six Harmony Spear and Twin Victory Blades.

Beyond that, her spellcasting ability was famously mediocre.

Lily had practically become the living benchmark for how much one person could drag down Kamar-Taj’s average magical aptitude.

She could open portals, technically. But even when opening one directly to Kamar-Taj, she normally called ahead first and had someone waiting on the other side.

This was the first time anyone had been reckless enough to ask her to turn a portal halfway through its journey.

Apparently, Evenson had a death wish.

Still, if he’d discovered some dangerous dark mage that needed dealing with, why wasn’t he simply getting on with it?

What was he doing standing around?

Lily watched Evenson stagger out of the fountain.

He moved like a zombie recovering from a severe neurological disorder.

The sight was bizarre.

What she didn’t know was that Evenson was soaked from head to toe and terrified of moving too quickly.

His suit was expensive.

Very expensive.

One wrong movement and he’d wrinkle it.

Once he reached the edge of the fountain, Evenson clasped his hands together. Warmth spread across his body as steam rose from his clothes.

He carefully dried himself from head to toe.

Only after checking his suit for damage did he finally release a long breath.

Thank God.

He’d been careful.

This was a custom-made designer suit. If he’d ruined it by wrinkling the fabric, he’d never forgive himself.

"Hey, I—"

Lily wiped the water from her dripping hair as she approached.

Evenson immediately sidestepped.

"Don’t wave those wet hands around me. I just dried my clothes."

Lily’s raised hand froze.

"Can we please get this over with? We’ve been gone long enough that everyone back at Kamar-Taj is probably convinced my portal malfunctioned again. Walter Wong is probably already preparing my memorial photo."

"Don’t rush."

Evenson folded his arms and remained exactly where he was.

"You should take a closer look at the surroundings first. The dark mage living here isn’t some minor practitioner."

Lily frowned and looked around.

Then her eyes widened.

"This is a magical barrier?"

The enormous estate’s grounds were covered in perfectly maintained flower beds, manicured hedges, and elaborate sculptures.

At first glance, everything looked ordinary.

It wasn’t.

Faint glimmers of light shimmered across the garden—too subtle for ordinary human eyes to notice.

Tiny magical gemstones had been embedded throughout the grounds.

Each one refracted nearly invisible beams of magical energy.

Some beams traveled in straight lines.

Others moved in precise circular patterns, like miniature celestial bodies orbiting an unseen center.

Lily narrowed her eyes and glanced behind them.

There was even one of the gemstones directly above the fountain where they’d arrived.

If they hadn’t happened to materialize directly beneath it, they would have appeared right in the path of one of the magical beams.

And those things weren’t merely alarms.

Lily could tell immediately that the beams were incredibly sharp.

Anything that wandered into one without protection would likely be sliced apart before it even realized what had happened.

"No wonder there’s not a single security guard around," Lily said, sweeping her bangs aside with one hand and grinning. "I knew American security couldn’t possibly be this good."

She looked around again.

"This place is basically a magical fortress."

"Heh."

Evenson scratched his head.

His own little shop was technically a fortress too.

Its defenses were at least as good as this place’s.

Probably better.

But then he looked around at the priceless artwork and sculptures scattered across the estate.

Maybe they should move.

"Anyway," Lily said, "if the entire place is covered in traps, I suppose we can’t exactly stroll through the front yard."

"Hmph."

Lily shrugged off her oversized wizard’s robe.

Underneath, she wore loose punk-style trousers and a military-green athletic tank top.

She rolled her neck.

Then her shoulders.

Then her wrists and ankles.

One joint after another popped loudly.

"If getting through this place is all it takes..."

She grinned.

"Easy."

Lily crouched.

Then exploded upward.

She shot into the air like a tiger pouncing on prey.

While airborne, her body twisted at impossible angles.

Magical beams swept beneath her.

Over her.

Around her.

Not one touched her.

She landed precisely in a gap between two moving beams beside a flower bed.

Then she continued forward.

Every few steps, she changed her movement.

Sometimes she balanced on one foot and hopped forward.

Sometimes she tilted her head at an unnatural angle to let a beam pass.

Once, she dropped onto all fours and flowed across the ground like an animal.

It was absurd.

It was also incredibly effective.

Lily was a master of Bajiquan, and her control over her own body had long since exceeded what most humans could achieve.

Every muscle.

Every joint.

Every bone.

She could manipulate them with extraordinary precision.

In a one-on-one fight, without a shield, even Captain America might have trouble defeating her.

Evenson had no doubt that he couldn’t navigate the magical defenses as effortlessly as she could.

Even Kamar-Taj’s Clea would probably struggle to match Lily’s performance.

Right now, for example, Lily bent backward.

A magical beam passed directly above her chest.

If Clea had attempted the same movement, she might have had trouble clearing it.

Not because Clea lacked skill.

There was simply... more of her in certain places.

Evenson watched Lily slip through the barrier with almost insulting ease.

Yes.

That difference was definitely giving her an advantage.

Eventually, Lily reached the front steps of the mansion.

The magical barrier no longer covered this area.

She wiped the sweat from her chin.

The distance hadn’t been particularly long, and none of her movements had been especially strenuous.

But controlling every muscle in her body continuously had taken a surprising amount of energy.

Lily looked back.

Evenson was still standing where they’d arrived.

A challenging smile appeared on her face.

Let’s see how you get over here, you lazy bastard.

If you can’t cross this, maybe you’ll finally stop acting like my master.

Evenson sighed.

He looked thoroughly unimpressed.

Then he raised one hand.

Three rotating green magical orbs appeared in the air.

A moment later, two identical portals appeared beside them—one green, one violet.

Evenson stepped into the violet portal.

He emerged from the green one.

Just like that, he was standing beside Lily.

She stared at him.

"You have got to be kidding me."

"I said we couldn’t walk through it openly."

Evenson gave her a look.

"I never said we couldn’t use a portal."

He raised a hand and dismissed both portals.

"Seriously. You’re old enough to know better. If you’d waited two seconds, we could have opened the portals together."

He glanced at her.

"Look at you. You’re covered in sweat."

He reached toward her.

"Come here. I’ll wipe it off."

Lily’s expression collapsed.

"Right. This is somehow my fault."

She slapped his hand away.

She had never, in her entire life, wanted to cry more than she did at that exact moment.

Inside the mansion, in a spacious bedroom, a young man in an expensive brown suit knelt on one knee.

His blond hair had been slicked back into a severe pompadour, though it looked slightly greasy.

He was the master of the estate.

Drael.

The man Evenson had been tracking.

At the moment, however, Drael had his eyes closed and his expression solemn.

His left hand rested elegantly against his chest.

Red markings covered the back of it.

Someone sat on the bed before him.

A beautiful woman wearing an evening gown.

Long, golden hair fell around her shoulders in thick waves.

She looked relaxed, almost casual, sitting on the mattress.

Judging from the way Drael knelt before her, she clearly outranked him.

Yet even she wasn’t arrogant enough to sit directly before him and accept his worship head-on.

She had positioned herself slightly to one side.

"We failed."

The woman’s voice carried obvious displeasure.

"How?"

Drael remained perfectly calm.

"I don’t know."

"We spent a great deal of time preparing this experiment. Every stage was calculated precisely. There was no reason for it to fail."

The woman lowered her gaze.

"So?"

Drael slowly raised his head.

One eye cracked open.

"So the only possibility is that your calculations were wrong."

"Impossible!"

The woman immediately stood.

She began pacing around the room.

"My calculations cannot be wrong!"

She turned sharply.

"Do you have any idea how much work went into this plan? I graduated from MIT four times just to make sure I had the necessary background. Then I went to Cambridge and reviewed everything again!"

She pointed at herself.

"With that kind of foundation, how could I possibly make a mistake?"

Her expression hardened.

"If anything, I think your theory was flawed from the beginning."

Drael’s head tilted slightly.

His lips curved into a faint smile.

"Are you questioning me?"

The woman froze.

"No. Of course not."

Despite her confidence moments ago, she clearly knew better than to push him too far.

"I only meant that it was one possible explanation. An extremely unlikely one."

"That’s better."

Drael closed his eyes again and bowed his head.

"I respect your position, but you should not question my mastery of dark magic..."

He paused.

"Princess Phalina."

The two were obviously discussing the failed particle-collider experiment.

One blamed the calculations.

The other blamed the underlying theory.

Neither had the slightest idea what had actually happened.

The true cause had been a lovesick idiot who had loosened several screws on the collider’s coupling mechanism.

It was almost like a scientist discovering that an experiment had repeatedly failed and spending years questioning his calculations, only to eventually discover that the water he’d been using in the experiment had been contaminated.

Sometimes the universe didn’t need a grand conspiracy.

Sometimes it just needed an idiot with a wrench.

"So what do we do now?"

Phalina sat back down.

She deliberately avoided facing Drael directly.

"The strange thing is that S.H.I.E.L.D. suddenly took an interest in the laboratory. They even sent agents to investigate."

She frowned.

"We’ll probably have to lie low for a while. Once things settle down, we can continue the experiment."

"Agreed."

Drael nodded.

"The mortal agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are hardly worth fearing."

His expression darkened.

"But there is one person we shouldn’t underestimate."

"The one who calls himself the Lord of the Black Scythe."

"He is a very powerful dark mage."

"Thank you for the compliment."

The bedroom doors suddenly swung open.

Evenson and Lily stood in the doorway.

"But allow me to correct one small detail."

Evenson smiled.

"I’m not a dark mage."

He stepped inside.

"I’m much worse."

Phalina immediately stood.

"Who are you?"

She looked toward the door.

"How did you get in here?"

Evenson and Lily exchanged a glance.

Then both smiled.

They walked forward together.

And immediately got stuck in the doorway.

Thump.

"I told you to let me go first!"

Lily rubbed her forehead and stepped backward.

Evenson slipped through the doorway.

"Have you never heard of respecting your elders?"

He straightened his clothes.

"I am the Lord of the Black Scythe."

He smiled.

"It’s a pleasure to meet you."

Phalina raised an eyebrow.

This was supposed to be a dramatic confrontation.

The sort of moment where both sides stared each other down and prepared for battle.

Instead, she’d just watched two grown adults get wedged in a doorway.

For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to feel particularly threatened.

"Can we hurry this up?"

Lily looked thoroughly annoyed.

"We’ve got places to be."

She glared at Evenson.

"Are you going to do something, or am I?"

"Go ahead if you want."

Lily’s body blurred.

She prepared to charge.

"I’ll handle this."

She was one of the two elite enforcers of the Hong Kong Sanctum, a martial artist whose Bajiquan had sent countless dark mages and supernatural creatures to their graves.

Her signature technique had earned a reputation for good reason.

But before she could move—

"Wait."

Evenson reached out and grabbed her.

"This woman is—"

He stopped.

His expression changed.

Something felt wrong.

He had been staring directly at Phalina while reaching out to stop Lily.

He had successfully prevented her from charging.

Unfortunately, he had also felt something through his hand.

Something firm.

At first.

Then slightly soft.

Evenson’s expression twitched.

He glanced downward.

His hand was resting directly on Lily’s chest.

Lily had gone completely rigid.

She slowly lowered her head.

Then stared at his hand.

Silence.

Evenson felt the temperature in the room drop several degrees.

Oh, hell.

Lily’s entire face had turned bright red.

She was the second daughter of a powerful Hong Kong martial arts family.

A veteran of the Hong Kong Sanctum.

A woman who had spent years fighting dark mages and supernatural monsters.

And now—

This.

Evenson knew exactly what was about to happen.

If Lily spoke first, he was finished.

If she hit him first, he was finished.

So he reacted.

He immediately pulled his hand away and shouted:

"What are you staring at?"

Lily’s eyes widened.

"This woman clearly isn’t ordinary. I already told you this place was dangerous!"

"You charged in without even understanding the situation. Is that how the Ancient One taught you to behave?"

Lily’s finger trembled as she pointed at him.

"You..."

Her face was crimson.

"You..."

Her throat worked.

"Ugh!"

She looked like she was trying to swallow a gallon of blood.

She couldn’t spit it out.

She couldn’t swallow it.

Evenson quickly changed the subject.

"So."

He turned toward Phalina.

"Beautiful woman with the overwhelming aura of Hell."

He smiled politely.

"Who exactly are you?"

Phalina blinked.

Were these two mocking her?

Over the centuries, plenty of righteous fools had stormed into her presence intending to vanquish evil.

These two might not have been the strongest.

But they were certainly the strangest.

Was there some new rumor going around?

Apparently the best way to kill a demon is to make it laugh itself to death.

"My name is Phalina."

Her appearance suddenly changed.

Her beautiful golden hair detached from her scalp like a wig.

Her bald head split open into four fleshy petals.

Her skull became visible beneath them.

Blood vessels crawled across the exposed bone.

A thin wire passed through the four separated sections of scalp and hooked into the skin near her shoulder.

The whole thing looked agonizing.

Evenson instinctively felt his own scalp tighten.

"Let’s forget I called you beautiful."

Most demons became more attractive when they transformed.

Phalina had gone in the opposite direction.

She had certainly become more exposed.

But this was taking honesty to an entirely different level.

"I am Phalina."

Her voice became colder.

"I am a Princess of Hell."

She lifted her head proudly.

She had expected fear.

Lily’s expression immediately became serious.

But Evenson only nodded.

"Oh."

He paused.

"Princess, your father wants you home for dinner."

Phalina choked.

"Cough—!"

She doubled over.

Unfortunately, the movement pulled painfully against the wire threaded through her scalp.

She grimaced and shook her head.

Her demonic form reverted.

"Damn it."

Moving around like that was horribly inconvenient.

"Oh, right."

Evenson suddenly remembered something.

He smiled.

"And when you get back, don’t forget to light incense for your brother."

Being a princess of Hell wasn’t particularly intimidating.

Evenson had already manipulated Blackheart into his own destruction.

He’d even managed to send one of Mephisto’s senior servants crawling back where he came from.

Why would he be afraid of Phalina?

But Phalina froze.

"Blackheart is dead?"

Evenson blinked.

"You didn’t know?"

"No."

She shook her head.

"I haven’t been close to him for centuries. We never had a good relationship, and I haven’t returned to Hell in several hundred years."

Her tone suddenly became much more subdued.

She seemed almost eager to distance herself from her brother.

"But honestly, it’s not surprising."

"His ambition was always excessive, and he was openly disrespectful toward Father."

She shrugged.

"His destruction was inevitable."

Then Phalina looked around the room.

"You said Father wanted me to come home?"

She sighed.

"Honestly, I do miss Hell."

She gestured around the mansion.

"My palace is much larger than this."

She considered it.

"At least a hundred times larger."

"Oh."

Evenson nodded.

"Then you don’t need to miss it anymore."

"Exactly."

Phalina nodded solemnly.

"Unfortunately, I still have Father’s mission to complete. I can’t return until it’s finished."

She looked at him.

"So... did Father really order you to bring me home?"

Phalina’s attitude had changed for a simple reason.

Evenson’s casual remarks had revealed that he was responsible for Blackheart’s death.

That was enough to make her cautious.

But she didn’t believe Mephisto had actually ordered her home.

"You’re right."

Evenson didn’t bother lying.

"Your father never explicitly told me to bring you back."

Phalina relaxed slightly.

"But if your mission is connected to that cube..."

Evenson’s expression hardened.

"Then I can tell you with absolute certainty that your mission is over."

He looked directly at her.

"I’m here because your father commissioned me to recover it."

"No."

Phalina laughed.

"I may not return to Hell often, but that doesn’t mean I have no contact with Father."

"Over a century ago, he explicitly told me to continue the plan."

She folded her arms.

"He’s one of the Lords of Hell. Why would he suddenly change his mind?"

Evenson stared at her.

One hundred and fifty years.

And you’re calling that ’suddenly’?

Immortal beings really had strange standards for time.

"Heh."

Drael suddenly laughed from where he’d been kneeling.

"Ridiculous."

Evenson looked toward him.

Drael slowly rose to his feet.

"Mephisto wants you to recover the cube?"

He smiled.

"That cannot be true."

"Everyone knows devils do not break their contracts."

Evenson had largely ignored Drael since entering the room.

He was only human, after all.

And if Phalina was here, then the magical defenses surrounding the estate were probably hers.

That made Drael seem relatively unimportant.

But now the man stood.

He slowly turned around.

His face was thin.

When his eyes opened completely, Evenson noticed something strange.

They were unusually large.

Almost unnaturally round.

Silver inverted crosses decorated Drael’s expensive suit.

Evenson’s expression shifted.

"You..."

He studied the man’s face.

Then smiled.

"That face..."

"Drael."

He laughed softly.

"You must actually be Gilderes."

"Indeed."

Gilderes inclined his head.

"Though I’m surprised."

He studied Evenson.

"You don’t seem nearly as shocked as I expected."

"It is surprising."

Evenson ran a hand through his hair.

"But if I were going to be surprised by you..."

He smiled.

"I’d be more surprised that someone who spent eight years studying the Book of the Damned could simply be hanged by a bunch of fanatics."

Gilderes rested a hand beneath his chin.

"That’s true."

His eyes narrowed with interest.

"So you know quite a lot about my history."