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“Hellguards are warriors of my realm, their sole purpose destruction, uncaring of who they’re fighting. Hence, in its true form, a Hellguard has no sight,” Xen pointed a casual finger at the huge rock giant, like observing a tourist attraction spot. “Its hearing, however, is notoriously sharp.”

As if on cue, the Hellguard’s head twitched, slowly turning in their direction, the action drawing a rumble as rocks grated against each other. It stepped out from behind the tree, a low growl emanating from its chest, echoing throughout the area.

Xen pointed at it again. “Look—”

Evan slapped a hand over Xen’s mouth, gritting, “Shut up!”

Amused for some reason, Xen let Evan pull him away from the path that led to the stone door and towards the nearest tree before ducking behind it.

The thumping footsteps quaked the ground as the Hellguard turned its head, trying to locate the sound that had caught its attention. When it couldn’t hear it again, the demon growled, the sound making hair spike up along Evan’s nape.

A warm palm smoothed the hair back as it slid around Evan’s nape. “Are you afraid?” Xen whispered against Evan’s hand still covering his mouth.

If that wasn’t a rhetorical question, Evan was two seconds away from committing suicide.

Evan dropped his hand and shoved Xen against the tree, forcing him into a sitting position, but considering the physical dynamic, that feeble shove didn’t do much. Relenting, Xen casually folded his arms behind his head, leaning back against the tree with a bored look. “Youareafraid.”

“Did you see the size of that thing?” Cold sweat broke out across Evan’s forehead as he sneered. “Of course I’m…startled.”

The wordsI’m afraidhad never left Evan’s mouth—not for as long as he could remember being an egoistic piece of shit. And even in such a situation, where a slip of the tongue or two could be overlooked, his mouth was particularly reluctant to utter those words.

Showing weakness before a demon was no different from dangling a bleeding ass before a shark. They would devour it.

Dropping his spinning head into his hands, Evan tugged at his hair roots. He’d finally reached the post-decision misery state where he was rethinking every life choice he’d made in the past twenty-seven years of his life. The most reckless being following a demon into a haunted land disconnected from society. If hesquinted hard enough, Evan could see his doomed future self cursing him.

“He is just a rock. He won’t hurt you,” Xen said, stretching his long legs, then crossing them as he relaxed against the tree trunk. “Well, as long as you don’t try to force your way into the temple.”

“Then why are we even here?” Evan whisper-yelled, eyes never leaving the Hellguard as it swung its head, listening. “I can’t fight that thing.”

“Why not?”

Evan blinked. “Oh, my bad. Um, this might not be obvious, but A, I’m human. B, I’m not a walking boulder from hell. And C, why don’tyougo fight that thing?”

Xen’s eyes trained on Evan, studying his look of distress. His heart was beating so loud it echoed faintly in Xen’s ears, skipping a beat with every stir from the Hellguard. With a sigh, Xen sat upright, staring at Evan. “You’re not aware of your own potential, are you?”

“We don’t have time for bullshit!” Evan snapped, peeking from behind the tree at the agitated demon. “How do we get into the temple with that thing guarding it? Why is a demon guarding atempleanyway?”

It was like the Devil guarding the church. Absolutely unheard of and positively impossible.

A cold wind blew across them, the belt of Evan’s coat fluttering. Xen caught it between his fingers, almost reflexively, before slowly bringing it up to his nose and inhaling deeply. “He has something he needs to keep safe.”

Evan cursed under his breath. “Of course, he does.”

Keeping safe,protecting,helping—these were words he’d have never before associated with demons and similar creatures of the dark. The books claimed that they were selfish,manipulative, and only cared for what benefited or amused them.

But again, so were humans, weren’t they?

Suddenly, Evan gasped as a piece of information fluttered into his mind, sprinkling sweet gasoline over the fire in his chest.

That witch’s grimoire had said that Hellguards served Eternals. If this Hellguard was “keeping safe” something inside the Old Temple…did that mean what he was thinking?

Eyes wide as a saucer, Evan slowly turned at Xen, voice barely above a whisper. “Tell me that relic doesnotbelong to a Demon King.”

Xen paused in the middle of sniffing Evan’s coat belt and looked up, twilight casting shadows across his face.

Then he smiled.

Oh, fuck no.