Nurarihyon stood opposite the Dark Sun. They were back in her lair in the Sixth Forbidden Zone. She was sitting on her elevated throne of dark fire crystals, looking down upon him standing on a platform of stone amidst the magma lake. Dark flames smouldered upon the molten rock, turning the lake into a chaotic swirl of muted yellows, oranges and black.

“You knew, didn’t you?” he asked her, the question more of a statement.

“It was difficult to make out,” she said, “but as his situation was somewhat similar to mine, I was able to notice.” She tilted her head to the side, resting her chin on the fist of her right arm. “So yes... I knew.”

Nura clenched his fists. “And you didn’t think it necessary to inform me?” he gritted out through clenched teeth.

Hei Yang narrowed her eyes. “Why? Should I have?”

Finally, Nura’s restraint crumbled. “Yes!” he shouted, throwing his arms apart, spittle flying. “If you had just told me that the old bastard was just a step away from Demigod, I would never have committed to this fool’s errand! I would have waited! He didn’t know I was still living. I was at an advantage. Time was on my side. I would have waited till he showed some weakness and hit him where it would hurt him the most. But now?! Now he knows. They all know! I won’t have another chance. And once the news gets back to the mainland, it’s all over.”

He stopped his tirade, his breaths coming in gasps, his eyes locked on Hei Yang gleaming with resentment.

She stared at him coldly.

“Are you done?” she asked in a quiet voice that sent shivers down his spine and snapped him out of his agitated state. He sobered, remembering just who he was talking to.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath to calm himself, “Pardon,” he said. “I lost myself.”

“While I am under no obligation to explain my actions to you," said the Dark Sun, "I will remind you that our agreement was that you’d smuggle my soul anchor aboard the Marine palace, letting me breach its defences unnoticed, while in return, I would make it possible for you to infiltrate Ragyo Kirin’s cabin and isolate it so you could face him uninterrupted. In no way was I required to act as a scout for you.”

She straightened up in her seat, the formless weight of her soul pressure crashing down upon Nura like a mountain. He staggered, resisting the near uncontrollable urge to kneel.

As suddenly as it had arrived, the pressure vanished like a bad dream, leaving his back drenched in cold sweat.

“Besides,” she continued, “You owe me your life.”

Nura could only agree. He did owe her his life. Several times over.

She had saved him when Ragyo Kirin had hired a Demigod to sever his ties to his wife, taking a chunk out of his soul in the process. Though she had ulterior motives, the fact remained that his life had been rescued.

And she had saved him again, shadow walking him out of Ragyo’s reach when the elder Kirin had finally shattered his mindscape and stepped into the Realm of Demigod.

And he would have to rely on her again to safeguard his life once the Shogunate Demigods returned to their homeland and acted against him.

He sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Fine. What would you have me do?”

Hei Yang settled back in her seat. “Do you know why I interfered with the war?”

Nura shook his head. How could he? One moment he had been fighting the Kirin Patriarch, the next he had been tumbling through a tunnel of darkness only to be spat out in Hei Yang’s volcanic chamber on the other end. And despite his acquaintance of more than half a year with the woman, he had no clue about the workings of her mind.

“I think you might have guessed that I wasn’t a complete individual,” she began.

Nura narrowed his eyes. Now that she mentioned it, her voice had lost that odd echoing quality that it had. Instead of the feeling of hearing three voices speaking at once, now it felt like he was hearing just one. One that was a combination of all three.

“My soul was a composite of Miyagi Vulpine – the mother of the Duchess, Hei Lian – the Princess of the Wolves, and the elemental that was the original owner of this volcano. All three individuals were inimical to each other. Ordinarily, my soul should have collapsed, but I was formed under extraordinary circumstances and it didn’t.

“Miyagi Vulpine was a peak Tier 5 mage before she came to this volcano, and in her struggle with the elemental, she had touched the final threshold of Demigodhood. The elemental, by sheer dint of the amount of mana it possessed, was beyond the purview of Tier 5. And Hei Lian had her unique elemental affinity that brought both together. When they fused, I smoothly joined the ranks of Demigods.

"That didn’t mean my troubles were over, though.

“My soul was still divided. Conflicted. They struggled with each other for the domination of my consciousness. Any action I took required that all three sections were onboard with the decision and as mortal enemies, such a consensus between them was hard to achieve. I was effectively crippled.”

“So, this action of yours was to resolve this internal conflict…” said Nura thoughtfully.

“Yes. Miyagi Vulpine had a wish. She wanted her sacrifice to mean something, for her plans to come to fruition. She wanted the Shogunate’s victory. In a way, it was her last wish. After all, she was effectively dead.

“By interfering in the war, I satisfied her desire. Now her voice doesn’t resound so loud. She is a part of me now.”

“And the elemental?” asked Nura.

“The elemental just wanted freedom from this place that had caged it. That was achieved the moment we fused since my motion wasn’t restricted to this volcano anymore. But since its hated enemy was still present as a part of me, it continued its resistance. After Miyagi was assimilated, it too gave up its struggles and became a part of me.

“Hei Lian, though, was a bit harder to satisfy. With the elemental and the kitsune heading each other off, she was in the leading position of my soul most of the time despite being the weakest of the three. And it is her personality that rubbed off the most on me.”

She paused for a beat. “She despised having someone above her, dictating her life. She wanted to be the one doing the dictating. She wanted to rule. So, I took advantage of the precarious situation to cut a deal with Regiis and the Shogunate. I used my status as a Demigod unfettered by the Treaty as leverage to carve out a territory that I could call my own.”

Her vivid yellow eyes transfixed Nura. “And the reason I saved you from your fate was because I needed someone to teach me how to administer it.”

“I am to be an Empress,” she said. “And I want you as my advisor.”