Luke glanced at the archangel’s severed torso beside him.

  “What do I do?! Hurry!”

  “The abdomen… it’s still intact,” the feminine voice from the mask answered. “Part of the archangel is still alive, just like I am.”

  “Alive?” Luke’s hands moved frantically over the creature’s body.

  “He didn’t turn himself into an item like I did. He doesn’t know how. And even if he did, his method of survival wouldn’t allow it.”

  Luke lifted the torso. “Tell me what to do!”

  “Open the abdomen. Quickly!”

  [Estimated Time Until End: 00 minutes and 48 seconds]

  His eyes darted left, spotting the thrown knife lying nearby. He snatched it, drove it into the archangel’s belly, and cut. The skin gave way too easily, fragile like wet parchment. When he pulled it open, he froze.

  Something glowed inside. A golden light pulsing like a heartbeat.

  He reached in and pulled it free. Thin red strands clung to it like veins, resisting until he tore them apart. The object felt like a core, yet it was translucent, almost glasslike, with something golden swirling inside. Even Identify failed to read it.

  “It’s his soul,” the mask whispered. “He’s still inside.”

  “Can I use his soul to activate the throne?”

  “No.”

  Luke stared at the mask. The golden eyes carved into it flickered to life.

  “I can activate the throne for you. I told you before, I am only a fragment of a soul. I was incomplete, unfit to be your servant. Do you remember?”

  The golden core pulsed in his hand.

  “If I use the soul of a full Rank D archangel, I can restore myself. I can become your second servant. And activate the throne in your place.”

  “How?” Luke demanded.

  “Your bloodline skill is powerful. If I absorb the archangel’s soul and make myself whole, I can submit to your power and be reborn. But there’s one problem.”

  “What? Say it. Now.”

  Time was slipping away, fast.

  “I need a body. A vessel.”

  [Estimated Time Until End: 00 minutes and 40 seconds]

  Luke froze. He knew what she meant before she explained.

  “You want to make a pact… like the archangel did,” he said.

  “No!” she cut him off, urgent and clear. “I would never take someone’s living body. That is a violation. And even if I had to, I would never consider taking yours. I just need a corpse. Any corpse. We use the core to reanimate it the same way the wyvern was revived. Then I can take residence in it during the process.”

  He lowered the mask, staring across the ruined castle chamber.

  “There’s no damn corpse here!”

  Maybe outside. Soldiers. Fallen knights. Anything. But time made the answer obvious.

  They didn’t have it.

  “Luke,” Artemis interrupted softly. “There is a corpse. And you know exactly where it is.”

  His pocket dimension flickered into his mind, called up by Artemis.

  Angelica’s body.

  “My lord,” the mask said quietly. “That is what I was going to suggest. Let me take that vessel. We must act quickly.”

  “Possess Angelica’s corpse?” Luke’s voice cracked, disbelief and refusal colliding. “No. That’s not right.”

  “Look at the time, you idiot!” Artemis shouted.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Luke knew she was right.

  “I’m sorry, Angelica,” he whispered, removing her body from the pocket dimension. She looked exactly as she had in the moment he ended her life.

  He sat her against the wall, her back propped upright.

  “What do I do?” he asked the mask.

  “Open her abdomen and place the core inside,” the mask replied.

  [Estimated Time Until End: 00 minutes and 32 seconds]

  Chunks of the ceiling were coming down now, pillars cracking and collapsing around him. Luke lifted Angelica’s shirt with shaking hands. When he opened her stomach, warm blood spilled out in a thin stream. He pushed the glowing core inside.

  “And now?” He glanced up at the time, breath short.

  “The mask,” the woman's voice urged. “Put it on her face.”

  Luke pressed the angelic mask onto Angelica’s face. It sealed itself instantly.

  “Now it’s your part,” the voice murmured from within the mask.

  He drove the throwing knife through his own palm and held the wound over her body. Drops of blood fell onto her skin.

  Angelica’s abdomen flared with golden light.

  [Would you like to use Angelica’s Soul Fragment in this process?]

  The notification shimmered before him.

  “Yes!” the angelic voice answered before he could. “It’s the least respect owed to this body.”

  Luke nodded. His system interface flickered open. The soul fragment counter dropped by one. Something slipped out of him, small and white as a teardrop of light, and sank into the golden core inside Angelica’s body.

  Her corpse began to glow.

  [Convert Angelica Undead as your Second Servant?]

  Even Luke hadn’t known this was possible. The core wasn’t reanimating her as a zombie. It was rebuilding her.

  He confirmed.

  Her body flared bright gold. The mask on her face softened, dripping away like melting wax. Her skin shifted to smooth gray stone, polished like marble. The glow intensified. Luke stepped back.

  Angelica’s limbs twitched. Her fingers flexed, one by one, like a machine rebooting. She rose in a single, fluid motion. The rest of her clothes tore and dissolved. The golden radiance swallowed her silhouette until Luke had to shut his eyes.

  When he opened them, a new notification pulsed behind his vision.

  [You have successfully used your Second Servant Slot]

  Another followed.

  [Stone Angel (Servant of the Dark Lord) – Lvl 0]

  Angelica stood before him. Alive. But changed.

  She was a little taller now, completely nude, her skin a smooth unbroken gray. No wounds. No scars. Her muscles defined and sculpted. Two stone wings rested on her back. Her hair, now longer, flowed in the same muted, marble-gray shade.

  She had returned. A gray-winged angel.

  [Estimated Time Until End: 00 minutes and 08 seconds]

  “Angelica…?” Luke breathed.

  She examined her own hands, her new form. Then her gaze met his. Her expression was serious for a moment—until she let out a short laugh.

  “I’m back, Luke.” She smirked. “And stop staring. I’m naked.”

  [Estimated Time Until End: 00 minutes and 06 seconds]

  She ran to the throne.

  "I have to get you out of here, my lord, the last surviving member of Haven."

  Her hand pressed against the crystal.

  It glowed blue.

  The portal reignited.

  “I don’t have much mana left… but it’ll be enough.”

  Luke was still dazed.

  “Are you… Angelica or… the angel?”

  She looked at him, eyes calm and certain.

  “I am both.”

  [Estimated Time Until End: 00 minutes and 03 seconds]

  She grabbed his hand.

  “Come on. We still have a lot to live, my lord.”

  [Estimated Time Until End: 00 minutes and 01 seconds]

  Her wings unfurled.

  She flew.

  They threw themselves into the portal together, fingers locked tight.

  Behind them, the castle collapsed into ruin.

  [Teleporting participant Luke Moon back to original universe]

  He was going home. He was finally going back to Earth after everything. Closing his eyes, he let himself be carried away, offering a silent goodbye to the tutorial.

  [Thank you for participating in: Midnight Terror!]

  [Your Tutorial Points will now be calculated. Enjoy your shopping!]

  As his body dissolved into transit, he opened his eyes one last time. Angelica was beside him, whatever she was now.

  But then…

  [Your Second Class has been fully processed!]

  [Your second class is…]

  The notification vanished as a wave of pain crashed through him. Something deep inside his soul writhed and unfolded. His body was being rebuilt from the foundation up. It hurt, it burned, but the pain carried certainty. His mind knew this wasn’t harm. It was growth. Transformation. Evolution.

  His entire being reshaped itself, stronger, sharper, more complete.

  [You have evolved from Rank F (Half-Demon) to Rank E (Half-Demon), successfully!]

  Another notification pulsed.

  [Your servant Princess Charlie (Skeleton) is evolving from Rank…]

  [Princess Charlie (Skeleton) Rank F has evolved to… (Undead) Rank E]

  [Princess Charlie’s Bloodline of Vespertilio has been activated]

  [Existential conditions verified: Heart, Lungs, Brain, Blood, Flesh, Skin]

  [Bloodline activation complete!]

  [Princess Charlie (Undead) Rank E is evolving…]

  [Evolution complete!]

  [Princess Charlie (Undead) Rank E has evolved into… (Vampire) Rank E]

  [The resurrection of Princess Charlie is now complete!]

  And so, the Dark Lord, his loyal servant once a skeleton and now a vampire, and his newly reborn Stone Angel returned to Earth, where their journey was only just beginning in the vast, endless multiverse.

  [End of Volume 2: The Angel and the Demon]

  I told you long ago that I am a little obsessed with easter eggs and foreshadowing, and it is true. There are many of them hidden throughout the story.

  See you soon.

  https://discord.gg/znGSjCxhkR