“All right, Riza, pack up. Time to go home,” I stretched, feeling every bone in this small body protest after that recent mana outburst. “You’ll see the real world. And we absolutely need to swing by my sister.”

  Riza—who had been trying to make a water ball the size of an apple—froze.

  “You have a sister?” Her eyes went wide. “Is she… is she human too?”

  “Yep.” I lazily lifted into the air, flipped onto my back, and drifted through the sky with my hands behind my head. “Only, unlike me, she doesn’t waste time on nonsense.”

  We flew back. After beating the brothers, the way felt shorter. I drifted in the wind currents, staring into the endless blue, while Riza flew beside me. Every now and then she’d focus—and every now and then a short rain would spill down over us.

  “Zen…” she called, wiping droplets from her face. “Are all humans as strong as you?”

  I couldn’t help a snort, imagining some ordinary guard trying to snap a hundred-meter demon’s head off with his fingers.

  “Nope. Most humans are busy growing cabbage and yelling about firewood prices. But my sister… she’s the only one who’s actually stronger than me.”

  “There are beings stronger than you?!” Riza even slowed midair from shock.

  “Oh yes.” I closed my eyes dreamily. “Mira is magnificent. She can fold me up without even using magic. Just with a look. So behave yourself when we meet, or both of us will get it.”

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  With my levitation and Riza’s wings, we reached that same huge city in the mountain in just a day. Familiar faces were already waiting at the gates: the sullen dark-elf demon and the fire maiden.

  Seeing us alive and unharmed, they froze like statues.

  “It’s over,” I landed on the stone and dusted road grime off my jacket. “I killed them. All three. You can throw a party now—or whatever you demons do. Mass dancing on hot coals?”

  The maiden and the elf exchanged a look. Their faces had that stunned blankness like I’d just told them the sun would rise in the west from now on.

  “The Council… the Council is waiting for you,” the elf forced out, gesturing toward the mountain.

  I rolled my eyes so hard I almost saw the back of my own head.

  “Again? What do those thirteen old men want from me? Sitting in their hole all sad and important… Do they actually enjoy it?”

  “They want to officially recognize your authority and discuss—” the fire maiden started, but I cut her off.

  “Listen,” I stepped closer and lowered my voice like I was sharing a secret. “I’ve got a better plan. Pass this along word for word: ‘Zenhald went to eat bread and introduce his friend to his sister.’ That’s it. That’s my official answer.”

  I turned to Riza, who was curiously studying the spears tossed into a corner.

  “We’ve got absolutely nothing to talk about with them,” I went on, now addressing the guards. “If they’re that bored, tell them to get themselves a cerberus. Or start planting apple trees like I did. They already know my demands: peace, friendship, bubblegum. If they break it—I’ll come back, and then their Council becomes a ‘Council of Twelve,’ then ‘Eleven’… you get the math.”

  I gave the stunned representatives of power a cheerful wink.

  “Come on, Riza. There are way too many serious faces here. My teeth start aching from them.”

  And we walked away from the great mountain, leaving the guards frozen behind us. Ahead was a long road to the human kingdom—and I was already imagining Mira’s face when I showed up on her doorstep with a small winged girl tucked under my arm.