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Xen’s body stilled when he heard Evan, then quickly coiled tight, ready to strike. “I’m not leaving,” he said, dismissively.

Knox cocked his head, then looked back, throwing a bored look at the pair.

Evan managed to stand, supporting himself on a pillar. “Youidiot. It’s a trap. He wanted to lure you here.”

“I’m not leaving,” Xen repeated, not a hint of doubt in his voice. Of course, because heknewKnox wanted to lure him here, way before Evan ever found out.

Evan groaned, anger and pain crashing inside him and boiling over. He raised a hand and sent a small energy blast towards the barrier. Some cult members grunted as his spiritual energy crashed against theirs, but the blast dispersed without even forming a crack in the barrier.

He was too weak.

“That’s not it,” Evan stumbled closer to the barrier, careful not to touch it. “He is going to force you to summon Hellfire.”

That was the reason Knox had brought Xen here, the reason these cult freaks were so generously exhausting their meager spiritual energies to keep Evan trapped inside.

As one of the Abyssal Trinity, an Eternal born from Hellfire, Xen possessed the ability to summon the fire at will. The real reason why Knox had orchestrated this whole plan over the course of several weeks was for this moment.

No matter how many people gathered, unless they possessed tremendous spiritual energies or something as legendary as an Infinite Core—along with aid from other demons—humans wouldn’t be able to summon Hellfire easily. And even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to hold it long enough for the reawakenedspirits to jump in and then another fifteen young men to be thrown in.

But an Eternal could summon Hellfire at his fingertips. Every spark of flame that Xen conjured was drawn from the fire burning in the depths of hell. Which was why it turned anything it touched to ash within seconds.

Knox could use that power to be born, to take a physical form.

Xen paused as he heard Evan’s words, then resolutely repeated, “I’m not leaving.”

Evan groaned. “For fuck’s sake.”

Knox clapped, snickering wholeheartedly. “Bravo, bravo! This young boy is quite cunning, isn’t he?” His eyes turned to Xen, tone mocking. “Your taste hasn’t improved even after three centuries. Still clinging onto the same person.”

Something fluttered in Evan’s conscience at that.

Three centuries. Same person.

The fire in Xen’s eyes had calmed just a bit as Evan had stood back up, but the murderous intent seeping from his body and the thick demonic energy blanketing him were still persistent, only growing.

“Come on, aren’t you supposed to ask me what I want?” Knox crossed his arms across his chest, scowling. “Then I would explain my evil plan and laugh maniacally as I stared down at you pathetically crawling towards each other. Isn’t that how this goes?”

Evan’s eyebrow twitched.

What kind of web series has this dude been watching?

Xen remained silent.

“Well, I’m going to tell you anyway,” Knox—the thick-skinned fucker—shrugged. “You see, I’ve been dying to tell you to what lengths I went to find you.”

Xen’s eyes briefly flickered over to Evan before settling back on Knox as he started spouting every single step of his plan that had brought them here.

A few days before the Greenes came to seek Evan’s help, the road construction work was set into motion, clearing trees and laying foundation stones. While surveying the route that would be a brand-new road soon, the workers had come across the Old Oak, crown spread meters wide, and twisted giant branches that sometimes seemed to coil like a slumbering serpent. They’d found the talismans hanging from the vines and spellbound threads wound around the mighty trunk amusing and decided to rip them away for fun.

“Thanks to those foolish humans, I was released from that wretched oak. I was truly grateful, because that tree was uncomfortably cramped,” Knox said, shaking his head in amusement. “And naturally, after being released, the first thing I sought was a host.”

Knox was a mere conscience with no body or form. At least not yet. He knew where Xen was contained, and he ushered all the dark forces and resentful spirits in the woods towards the Greene Mansion, stirring up trouble that would lead the family to seek help from an exorcist. And to get in touch with the most infamous exorcist in Emberlyn, they reached out to Evan’s manager slash friend, Aaron.

Knox had found his host.

After infiltrating Aaron’s mind, Evan’s one and only friend, it was easy to drive the plan ahead.

“Oh, by the by, the story about the generational curse of the Greene family—it was my doing,” Knox proudly turned to Evan, grinning. “I planted those fake memories into their minds, even the grief and pain of losing their loved ones. So real that they didn’t doubt a single thing was fabricated. Impressive, isn’t it?”