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What is happening?

Evan couldn’t catch sight of Xen and frantically craned his neck, then dipped to the ground to look between the Hellguard’s feet.

What he saw robbed his lungs of the remaining air.

Sizzling currents—like lightning—struck a red-clad figure square in the chest, his body absorbing them with open arms. Cracks crawled up his neck like veins of fire, buzzing with demonic energy.

Xen stood perfectly still, eyes closed, palms outstretched. A small, satisfied smirk played at the corner of his lips.

His eyes peeled open, two pools of molten lava, no irises or whites. As if beckoning something to come to him, his fingers curled, and several more currents struck his open palms. Although he seemed to be enjoying whatever was happening, his furiously fluttering robe didn’t share the feeling.

As Xen absorbed more and more energy from the Hellguard's core, his robes blazed red. Intricate patterns of gold erupted across the shoulders and sleeves until they smoked and caught fire.

Evan gasped as the robe burnt through like paper, falling off of Xen’s upper body in ashy bits. It was chilling yet strangely mesmerizing.

In the middle of the night, the clearing around the Old Temple lit up like a summer morning, blindingly bright. And in the midst of it stood Xen, in just his dark pants and boots, long hair blowing wildly around his body laced with the same fiery cracks.

Evan stared at him like he was seeing him for the first time, eyes trailing down Xen’s body, and—was that a tattoo?

Below his left clavicle, just over his heart, a golden pattern covered almost half of his chest, nothing peculiar in particular. It almost looked like golden ink was haphazardly splashed on that spot, and it dripped a little before drying.

After what seemed like hours but was only three minutes, the currents erupting from the Hellguard’s core dimmed and faded away.

Xen stood still, face twisted into a look of wicked satisfaction. Demonic energy oozed from his form, overwhelming. Menacing. So strong that the trees around shriveled, thick barks snapping from the middle like twigs.

For the first time since emerging from the containment mirror, Xen looked every inch the demon that he was.

Yet, as Evan stared at him, amidst all the emotions whacking his system, the most prominent one was…concern.

He took a cautious step forward, the Hellguard's body still standing between them. “Xen…?”

Xen’s focused stare wavered. He blinked, blinked again, and then some more. The fire parted from the middle of his eyes, revealing those dark irises. His brows relaxed before shifting his gaze to Evan from between the Hellguard’s feet.

A tilt of his head, a little smile, and he was back to the annoying demon Evan recognized, all malice evaporating from his body. His lips moved, but his words were overpowered by the sound of a sudden rumble from above.

A tiny stone tumbled to Evan’s feet.

He stared at it, then slowly trailed his eyes up. The breath that was just beginning to steady in his lungs hitched up his throat.

The Hellguard’s body swayed, then tilted backward, heading for a crash into the ground...right where Evan stood frozen.

“Holy shi—”

A flash of red whipped past him. Warm. Familiar.

Between one blink and the next, Evan found himself standing several meters away from the spot where he’d been just a second ago. Where now, the Hellguard’s body collided into the ground, the sound akin to that of a mountain exploding, blowing up dust and dry leaves and pieces of rocks everywhere.

Evan reflexively stepped away, arms raised to guard his head from the flying debris, when he bumped into something.

Or someone.

Even in the dim moonlight, Evan could see it was Xen, standing unruffled behind him, back in his red suit and short hair. He clasped his hands behind his back as he regarded the clouds of dust rolling ahead with a mask of indifference.

After staring at him like he was a ghost, Evan poked at his arm to make sure he wasn’t. Xen glanced down and quirked a smile. “Hi.”

For reasons unknown, that smile infuriated Evan, and then with the same finger he had poked Xen with, he jabbed it into his ribs, hard.

“Hi, my ass. What the fuck was that just now?!” he angrily pointed at the direction where the Hellguard had exploded. “Why the fuck did you set yourself on fire? Did you have a death wish?Icould’ve helped you with that.”