The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

Only a faint point of light remained suspended in the center of the charred ruins, surrounded by charred bone steps and the slowly collapsing remains of the dome.

Much later, the light expanded again, and the outline of Astaroth struggled to coalesce amidst the ruins.

Of the six wings, only two remained, and of the twelve eyes, only one was barely lit.

He looked at the spot where his once proud throne had been, now only a black pit remained.

"Bar"

His voice was broken, and the arrogance of the beginning was gone.

"What exactly are you..., you monster?"

Meanwhile, in the human world.

Chen Guan leaned against the wall of the ambulance, his left arm wrapped in his coat, his right hand resting on his knee, the black mark on his palm lying there quietly.

Baal's voice reappeared in his mind, returning to its lazy tone.

"Hey kid, guess where Lord Baal just went?"

"I don't want to guess."

"How boring. Oh well, it's not a big deal anyway."

Chen Guan closed his eyes and did not ask any further questions.

Barr grunted and yawned contentedly.

"I'm sleepy, Lord Baal, you should take a nap. We can talk about your arm later."

The sound disappeared.

Chen Guan opened his eyes, glanced at the flashing police lights outside the car window, and then looked down at his numb left arm hidden in his sleeve.

That's strange. Isn't the Demon God a workaholic who works all year round?

A clumsy lie.

The carriage door was pulled open from the outside, and Yin Tianzheng leaned half his body inside.

"Chen Guan, regarding your injuries, the car has been arranged. Come with me."

"it is good."

He supported himself with his right hand to stand up, bent over, and walked out of the carriage.

Yin Tianzheng's gaze lingered on his left arm for a while, his mouth opened and closed, but in the end he didn't ask anything.

……

The examination room lights emitted a low-frequency hum, and the white light was so bright it made one's eyelids ache.

Chen Guan sat up from the examination bed. His left arm was wrapped in three layers of thick bandages containing a special suppressive ointment. The bandages felt cool to the touch, but the numbness that had penetrated deep into his bones had not subsided at all.

"The extent of the demonic corruption is deeper than expected."

The doctor in charge of the examination adjusted his glasses and put the imaging data into a folder.

"From the fingertips to the elbow joint, abnormal patterns have appeared on the surface of the periosteum. At present, the ointment can only slow down the spread. To completely purify it, a higher-level life-type ability user needs to intervene."

"How long will the ointment last?"

The doctor paused for a moment: "Five days, seven days at most."

Chen Guan nodded, put on his coat with his right hand, tucked his left arm into his sleeve, and jumped off the examination bed.

"Wait, your follow-up treatment plan hasn't been finalized yet..."

We'll talk about it later.

He pushed open the door of the examination room and walked out. The air in the corridor was better than inside; at least there was no smell of disinfectant.

Baal was still underwater, his mind quiet and peaceful, a rare moment of tranquility.

Hurried footsteps came from the corner at the end of the corridor, and two figures rushed over almost at a jog.

Chen Guan looked up and saw an old acquaintance.

Su Yuehe ran at the front, her hair tied up haphazardly with a few stray strands sticking to her forehead. She was still wearing the commander's uniform, and her boots were covered in mud that she hadn't had time to clean.

Yin Chen followed half a step behind her, looking much neater, but the dark circles under his eyes betrayed the fact that he hadn't slept all night.

"Chen's coffin!"

Su Yuehe stopped abruptly in front of him, her gaze quickly sweeping from his face to his left arm, then back to his face, her lips pressed tightly together.

Are you alright?

"He's not dead."

I asked if you were alright, not if you were dead.

Chen Guan pointed to his face with his right finger: "Do I look like something's wrong?"

Su Yuehe stared at him for two seconds, not being fooled: "You haven't moved your left hand the whole time."

Yin Chen stepped forward, his gaze also falling on the left arm hidden in the sleeve, but he did not ask any further questions. He simply said, "When we received the news in the Northern Territory, we almost thought something irreparable had happened to you."

"Almost." Chen Guan leaned against the corridor wall, his tone casual. "But it wasn't too bad."

"Where are An Changqing? Where is Long Ao? Where is Hong Yuan?" Su Yuehe asked in one breath.

"They're all alive. An Changqing is treating his wounds next door, Long Ao is probably lying in some corner AFK, and Hong Yuan is probably looking for food."

Based on his familiarity with these individuals, Chen Guan provided an answer.

Su Yuehe breathed a sigh of relief, her tense shoulders relaxing.

Yin Chen leaned against the opposite wall with his arms crossed: "We heard a rough outline of Liu Xiao's matter from Grandpa on the way. The six-winged phantom sounds outrageous."

"It's even more outrageous when you see it with your own eyes."

"Liu Xiao...is he really dead?"

"He burned himself to ashes, leaving not even a trace."

Yin Chen was silent for a moment, then shook his head: "Madman."

He and Liu Xiao had no personal relationship, but he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.

Su Yuehe knew Liu Xiao, though they weren't close, they were still schoolmates. It was naturally saddening to see a living person suddenly gone.

"How is Liu Feiyu?" she asked.

Chen Guan recalled the last time Liu Feiyu stood in the ruins looking up at the sky: "He was alive, in good physical condition, but his mental state was hard to say."

"He's my brother after all," Yin Chen added.

The corridor was quiet for a few seconds.

Su Yuehe took out a folded document from the storage ring at her waist and handed it to Chen Guan.

"Let's not talk about that now. We rushed back overnight, not only because we were worried about you, but also because of something else."

Chen Guan took the document, unfolded it with one hand, and glanced at its contents.

"Northern campaign report?"

"Hmm." Yin Chen picked up the conversation, his expression turning serious. "Before we left, there was a new development at the Northern Border defense line."

"What's going on?"

"The fissure has expanded." Yin Chen held up two fingers: "Twice as big as it used to be. Within three days, the diameter of the previously stable No. 4 fissure has doubled, forcing the garrison to retreat twelve kilometers."

Chen Guan looked up from the document.

Su Yuehe added, "Not only rift number four, but rifts number seven and eleven have also shown abnormal fluctuations, with a frequency 30% higher than last month. The Northern Command has raised the warning level to orange."

"Have you found the cause?"

"No." Yin Chen shrugged. "Two groups of detection teams went in from the front lines. The first group reported that the energy concentration inside the fissure was abnormally high when they came back. The second group hasn't come out yet."

Chen Guan closed the document and tucked it between his right fingers.

"You didn't come all this way just to deliver a battle report, did you?"

Su Yuehe and Yin Chen exchanged a glance.

Yin Chen spoke up: "The front line needs a backbone force, so the Great Wall Command issued an assistance request, specifically requesting students from the academy to participate in the next round of fracture detection missions."

"To be precise, I called out a few names." Su Yuehe's tone was somewhat helpless: "Among the lower grades, An Changqing, Long Ao, you, and Yin Chenhongyuan and I were all among them."