Caelum didn't know what to feel as he sat silently in the corner of Luna's chamber, watching his daughter sob uncontrollably on the bed. Her body trembled with each broken breath, her fingers clutching the sheets like they were the only thing keeping her from shattering completely.
Wrapped tightly around her was Pixie, so small, so fierce, whispering tearfully into her big sister's ear.
"I'm going to kick Tofu," she said between sniffles. "I'll punch him. I'll throw him from Papa's chamber, right from his window, okay?"
If it hadn't been for the heartbreak consuming Luna, Caelum might have laughed. Pixie, despite her size, sounded so serious. But he couldn't even manage a smile. Not when his daughter was breaking right in front of him. And not when he knew, words wouldn't fix this.
No "it will be alright" would make it alright.
He didn't know the full story yet, but he'd heard enough. Delphine's voice echoed in his mind.
Tuf has claimed the Empress of Aquilonis as his human.
His human.
That should have been impossible.
Tofu and Luna were twin flames the very moment they stepped through the Abyss and entered Solmara. Soulmates. Bound in a way no magic could replicate.
Tofu would have turned his back on Caelum first before he would ever betray Luna.
Which made this betrayal feel like something else entirely.
A trick.
A trap.
A thread in Lucifer's endless web of deceptions.
Despite all the reassurances in their pact, Caelum had made a deal with the devil himself. Lucifer may have promised no tricks… but Caelum had lived long enough to know that with Lucifer, deception wasn't a possibility, it was an inevitability.
He remembered that day clearly.
When they crossed through the Abyss and stepped into Solmara, the first land they touched was the Ebon Spire. His ten animal companions, five cats and five dogs, had risen, walking upright, humanoid, bearing a striking resemblance either to Caelum or to Ceres.
Lucifer had done that deliberately. It was as if he were taunting him.
Tofu and Luna were the most blatant reflections. Luna, with her fierce loyalty and golden fury. Tofu, with his cold humor and dark resolve.
He even made them twin flames deliberately, as if to hammer in the point. This is what you could have had. This is what I'm giving you. All you need to do is fulfill the deal.
The deal should've been easy to fulfill. One of Lucifer's gifts was the ability called Absolute Instant Death, a power so terrifying it could override any protection, even from the Celestials or Holy Beasts. He could kill anyone, everyone, in a blink.
He could've wiped humanity off Solmara's surface in seconds.
That was the plan.
He had no attachment to this world. No love for its people. Mercy, in his eyes, would have been swift annihilation, quick, painless, final.
And then he saw her.
A halfling girl who looked exactly like Ceres.
But he knew it wasn't her. He would've known Ceres in any lifetime.
Still… he couldn't bring himself to harm her. He couldn't bear to watch that face go cold again.
And if he spared just her, what then? She would suffer. The demi-humans would tear her apart eventually. His mercy would have been cruelty.
So he paused.
Watched.
Let her live.
When she dies, he told himself, then I will end them all.
But years passed.
And no matter how much he tried to stay distant, tried to remind himself he was just waiting… Caelum started to see things he hadn't noticed when he first arrived in Solmara.
The small kindnesses. The humans who didn't spit on demi-humans. The ones who saw them, truly saw them, as equals. As beings worthy of respect. Of friendship. Of love.
And though he is now called the Demon Lord, he was still, at his core, human.
That part of him couldn't go through with the original plan.
He couldn't slaughter a world blindly anymore.
And so, he changed the plan again.
To isolate the humans from the demi-humans.
Of course, it wasn't easy. He knew the truth, the only reason the demi-humans worked together was because they had a common enemy. The moment that enemy disappeared, they would tear each other apart. Pride. Blood. Power. It was in their nature.
So Caelum made an offer to every demi-human kingdom.
Bow to him, and he would protect them.
Naturally, it wasn't welcomed. After all… he was human. A human claiming lordship over demi-humans. Suspicion turned to hostility. And the one who resisted the most?
The then-Demon King.
He could not accept that a human walked their lands… claiming to be more than a king, a Demon Lord.
So, Caelum showed them.
Before the gathered demon nobles, he uttered a single word to the Demon King.
"Die."
And he did.
Just like that.
No blood. No screams. Just death, swift, absolute, and terrifying in its simplicity.
And before anyone could so much as breathe, Caelum turned to the Demon Prince.
"You are the Demon King now," he said to Skareth. "I will offer you the same deal."
"Bow to me and my children, and I will save your kind from the humans. I will not force you. You may say no. But if anyone among you dares challenge me or my family, like your father just did, you will share his fate."
"Send your response to Ebon Spire in six days. If I hear nothing, I will consider it a 'no'. And your refusal will be final."
He extended the same offer to all the other kingdoms.
And though skepticism echoed in every court, no one dared challenge him again.
Six days later, every reply arrived.
All bowed.
All… except the Narfs.
So Caelum enacted a more elaborate plan.
He unleashed the gifts of his children, orchestrating chaos in the shadows. Thus began the Great Human War.
While kingdoms of man slaughtered each other in greed and wounded pride, not one willing to yield to another, Caelum gave a different command to his children.
"Rescue the demi-humans."
And so they did, all of them but Pixie.
While the humans waged war, the demi-humans were quietly ushered away.
And when the Holy Beasts, once guardians of balance, began clashing due to the commands of power-hungry masters, violating the sacred law of their existence, they weakened. Exhausted. Until they fell into a deep, unnatural slumber.
And without the Holy Beasts to replenish mana in the air, Caelum released his final safeguard.
The Blinding Mist.
A vast, invisible, and invincible dome that sealed off half of Solmara. Within it, the demi-humans who had pledged loyalty to him were safe, protected for over a thousand years.
And it was all possible… because of his children.
They had not aged a day, because of him. But they had grown stronger, sharper, wiser. Untouchable.
So unless Tofu's betrayal, claiming another woman as his, was Lucifer's doing, Caelum could think of no other explanation.
He didn't believe it was as simple as the Empress of Aquilonis having the same face or name as Ceres. That wasn't enough. Couldn't be.
This wasn't the first time a human had lived bearing Ceres's features or even her name. But they had always known the truth. She wasn't her.
And so, the bond between Tofu and Luna, a twin flame, should have been unbreakable.
Should have been.
"Doll," Caelum approached the bed softly, his voice low as he gently patted Pixie's small head. "Keep an eye on Luna, okay? Papa just needs to speak with Alpha."
Pixie nodded solemnly, eyes still glimmering with unshed tears. But her voice held the fierce spirit only a child could possess.
"Okay, Papa… And make sure to punish Tofu, okay? For making big sister cry…"
She wiped her tears away with her sleeve, her tiny jaw clenched.
Caelum gave Pixie a sad smile, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"I will."
He leaned down next to Luna, brushing her hair gently before pressing a kiss to her head as well. She didn't stir, still curled in on herself, broken.
Then he stood and quietly exited the room.
He needed to get to the bottom of this.
As he made his way to Alpha's wing, every demi-human he passed looked tense, agitated. Some were pacing. Others stood frozen, as if awaiting a verdict. It wasn't until Caelum neared Alpha's office that he heard why.
"Stop protecting those humans!" Peanut shouted furiously. "Luna is crying. She's crying, Alpha! Don't you get it?! Luna never cries in front of anyone. And now she's breaking down, because of what the Empress of those damn humans did to Tofu!"
"I'm not protecting them," Alpha replied, voice calm and unshaken. "I'm honoring Father's word. He gave them sanctuary for staying here and keeping Pixie company."
"Peanut, enough," came Nugget's voice, softer, more measured. "Father gave his word."
Peanut spun around, eyes wide. "You too?! Even you're siding with the humans now?"
"Father gave them five days of protection," Nugget answered. "After that, it's open season."
"That's enough."
The room froze.
Caelum had entered, voice cutting through the tension like a blade as he strode directly toward Alpha's chair. Seven of his children were inside. Alpha stood firm, shielding Delphine and her knights from the others, who looked one breath away from violence.
"Even after the five days pass, no one will touch a single strand of their hair until we know the truth."
"But Father," Peanut protested, practically shaking with rage, "do we even need to ask what happened? It's obvious. The Empress of Aquilonis did something to Tofu. He would never claim another on his own. He knows what that would do to Luna!"
"We are not going to assume the worst," Caelum said coldly. "Not until we hear the truth with our own ears. Until Tofu explains himself, no one makes a move. Is that clear?"
"That's the problem, Father," Peanut snapped, frustrated beyond belief. "Tofu refuses to come home."
Caelum's brow creased.
"Did you tell him it was my order?"
"Yes. I even told him Luna was crying, too. And all he said was…" Peanut's jaw clenched. "All he said was that Luna would understand."
Caelum turned away from them, stepping toward the massive obsidian-glass window. His eyes locked in the distant direction of Aquilonis.
What are you doing, Cub?
He was silent for a moment. Then he turned and fixed his gaze on Delphine.
"May I know," he asked slowly, "when exactly did Tuf claim your Empress as his mate?"
Delphine's eyes widened, alarmed. "No, My Lord. You got it wrong. Tuf never claimed my Empress as his mate."
That caught the room off-guard.
"Did you not tell Luna that Tofu said your Empress was his human?" Neko interjected, his tone calm, but the suspicion in his eyes was sharp and glinting. "Are you lying now?"
"I'm not," Delphine answered firmly. "That is what Tuf said, when the Empress asked why he stopped his strike. He said… she was his human. But even when Queen Azura asked if that meant she was his mate, Tuf said, 'not that kind of human.'"
Silence fell.
Confusion thickened the air like fog. Caelum's frown deepened, processing every word.
"And…" Delphine continued hesitantly, as if walking on broken glass, "…Tofu often tells our Empress stories. About your family. About Luna. About… about you, my Lord."
"But I swear upon the name of Solmara, my Empress has no romantic feelings for Tuf. She already has someone in her heart."
The tension in the room cracked slightly.
Caelum exhaled, long and heavy. He no longer knew what to think.
But he knew one thing, he needed to find out why Tofu had claimed a human as his, especially when he'd admitted it wasn't a mate bond.
Returning to Alpha's seat, Caelum silently assessed his children.
Alpha was still standing protectively between Delphine and her knights, shielding them from the others.
Peanut and Nugget were practically vibrating with restrained aggression, their gazes fixed on the humans, one wrong move, and they'd pounce.
Neko now sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling, but Caelum knew better. That calm was misleading.
Milo and Vivi sat quietly near the door, cross-legged and stone-faced. Yet between the two, they were far more dangerous than any of their siblings in the room. The closest to Luna, they took her pain personally.
Milo could slow time with a flick of his fingers, just long enough to cross a room, strike, and vanish before anyone could react. And Vivi… Vivi could summon a portal beneath these humans and drop them in the deepest part of the Gilded Abyss. No struggle. No trace. No mercy.
He needed someone he could trust to speak to Tofu directly. Someone who wouldn't be ruled by emotion. And aside from Alpha, there was no one else. But he couldn't send Alpha, if Alpha stepped beyond the Blinding Mist, the other demi-human kingdoms would instantly know something was wrong.
Caelum's eyes landed on the large sleeping figure in the corner.
Orso.
The second eldest.
Quiet. Steady. Unshakable, unless provoked personally.
Why didn't I think of him sooner? Caelum mused.
Orso wouldn't lash out. Whatever reason Tofu had, Orso wouldn't argue. He wouldn't fight. He'd simply follow Tofu, sit in a corner, and watch him for hours until Tofu gave up from sheer discomfort and dragged himself home.
"Bear," Caelum called gently.
Orso's eyes opened immediately, alert despite having been asleep a second ago.
"You will accompany Luna. Once she's feeling a little better, you'll go to Tofu together."
"But why Bear, Father?" Neko asked. "And are you really sending Luna?"
"Because I don't trust the five of you not to beat the hell out of your brother," Caelum answered coolly. "Tofu may have a reason for what he did. And whatever that reason is… Luna deserves to hear it first, face-to-face."
Then his gaze shifted to Delphine and her knights.
"You and your companions are still under my protection," he said firmly. "And I apologize for what Luna did earlier. But I hope you can understand her pain."
Delphine nodded slightly, her jaw tight but respectful.
"My offer still stands," Caelum continued. "If your Empress truly wants to speak with me, you still have two days left here. But if you no longer wish to stay, you may return to Aquilonis with Luna and Orso tomorrow."
He stood from Alpha's seat, voice firm, gaze sweeping across the room. "Think about it tonight. I will ask for your final decision in the morning."
Then, he turned to the rest of his children.
"I'll say this again, they are under my protection. And unless you intend to challenge me directly… do not touch them."