Lucifer sat with his back against the mass of boxes, his legs crossed and a faint smile. His posture was both elegant and overbearing. He never expected the one to expose him would be this calm, yet fearsome old man with such a simple, yet developed magical spell.

"I can see the lengths you went to train yourself."

Lucifer tapped his forearm, watching the constant azure glow within his pupils as Levi tried to ascertain the source and calibre of his soul.

"How interesting, to have broken the limits placed on the Magus by my father... to have surpassed the original usage is quite the impressive feat, human. I believe the reason for Babylon’s prosperity is in no small way part of your long dedication and service to the Lordship, right?"

He’d seen countless geniuses, from the Scarlet Witch who could turn her blood into flames, or the Frost Witch whose blood flowed with icy floes. Or the grand wizard leading the entire mages guild in the capital.

In sheer ability, Old Levi couldn’t compare to them.

The truth might be that he was purely an amateur, unable to learn other magic and just throwing himself into the one spell he had gained.

But even so.

’Countless men, women and beasts might do the same and fail to gain half the success of this old, unsuspecting steward.’

However, Levi didn’t reduce his resilience.

He glared at Lucifer with a strong sense of resentment and frustration.

"...Do not play tricks with me. Foul Being, though you might have fulfilled my former Lord’s earnest wish, what if now you are unbound, you choose to destroy this beautiful land!"

Lucifer’s smile faltered for a second before he recovered, but there was no longer any warmth, and he now carried a sombre air of exhaustion.

"Destroy this land?"

His voice became strange, almost as if speaking to himself, repeating the words as if trying to sample them.

"Old man, if I wished to destroy Babylon, I wouldn’t need to take such a roundabout path. I could have let the goblins break through Amol, let Ironhold swallow the remains, then watch this territory collapse from hunger, debt and fear."

The blue flicker remained in Levi’s eyes as his body trembled.

’Has he developed it this far?’

Lucifer came to believe that this old man could not only see one’s true soul but also ascertain whether one’s words were true.

’I must win this old man over!’

"But you did not."

"No."

Lucifer leaned back against the stacked boxes, his golden eyes faintly glowing in the dim lantern light.

"Because Luka asked me not to."

The old steward’s eyes trembled for the first time.

"Luka... spoke to you?"

"He did, though only a few times... we spoke for what felt like an eternity for me. Trapped in that darkness, his voice was my salvation."

Though Lucifer spoke normally, each time he mentioned the young boy, remembering his time trapped in the abyss of reincarnation, a genuine delight and nostalgia sounded in his words.

For a moment, the arrogance faded from Lucifer’s face.

His gaze lowered slightly, no longer looking at Levi, but at something beyond the tent, beyond Babylon, beyond even this life.

"The boy was dying. His body had reached its limit, and his soul was already slipping away. I did not steal him. I did not devour him. I appeared before him in that place between death and reincarnation."

Levi’s fingers dug against his sleeves as he shook, gently biting his trembling lips to avoid breaking down into tears.

"And what did he say?"

Lucifer closed his eyes.

"He asked if I could save Babylon."

"...To save Babylon....!?"

The answer both shocked and struck the old man like a hammer in the chest; he’d never seen these thoughts or feelings. It was clear.

His shoulders trembled, yet he did not interrupt.

’To hide your suffering from this man, Good job, Luka... were you actually a genius?’

"I shared knowledge of my lifetime, of events that happened to me, how the world of humans fell with the collapse of Babylon. It was then that his voice became more certain of his request."

Lucifer took a moment, as if relishing his long conversations with a boy from another timeline; many of the things Luka had asked or said soon made sense.

’Luka realised that I was from the future of his world...’

He ground his teeth together with clenched fists, feeling ashamed to have not noticed at the time, underestimating his partner because he was a sick, human boy.

"He knew he couldn’t continue. He knew his father would die soon. He knew the knights were exhausted, and the people were hungry... that the woman he loved, Lady Aldebaron of Ironhold, would eventually abandon him and break what little pride his family had left."

Lucifer opened his eyes again.

"So we made a pact."

"A pact..."

"Yes, after my death in another timeline as a divine being without a body, I could only endure eternity in the abyss. Or, gain a new body. Luka offered me his sickly, ailing body.

So in return.

I swore on my former glory as an Archangel to restore Babylon to glory, a glory far beyond any other. Not as some borderland, or a weak lord protected by pity and old promises turning stale. I swore to make it the largest, strongest, most unshakable territory in this world."

The lantern flame flickered.

Levi’s appraisal spell still glowed in his pupils, but the anger in them had changed or vanished, instead becoming a different emotion altogether.

Despair, sorrow, and a sense of loss.

"So Lord Luka..."

"Passed peacefully, without shame and after enjoying his coming-of-age banquet, thanks to you, he managed to endure until becoming Lord Luka de Babylon."

Lucifer’s voice softened.

"There was no screaming regrets or struggling; he didn’t beg for a new deal or a chance to return. Instead, he smiled."

Levi’s lips parted, and yet no sound came out.

"He said he was tired of being useless. Tired of watching others suffer because his body couldn’t move. Tired of being loved by people he couldn’t protect."

Lucifer looked at Levi properly before he sighed, slipping off the boxes and placing his hand on the old steward’s shoulder.

’Let’s not leave this old man to drown in his grief... There is a way for him to return.’

"Then he asked me to tell you something."

Levi’s body stiffened.

"What...?"

"That you shouldn’t apologise anymore."

The old steward froze.

For several long seconds, the entire tent fell silent.

Then his knees weakened.

Levi reached for the nearby table, barely catching himself before he fell completely. His old face twisted as if someone had stabbed him through the chest.

"That foolish child..."

His voice cracked.

"Even at the end... even at the end, he thought of this old servant?"

Lucifer watched him quietly.

The him before being reborn might’ve found this sight pathetic or strange, but knowing the truth... how Luka’s sickness started as a result of something Levi blamed himself for, leaving the young Lord out in the cold while distracted.

’In reality, he should have known the rain and cold couldn’t make someone that weak...’

Yet Old Levi blamed himself, never forgetting that cold, winter’s eve when he put his magic before the Young Lord who wanted to play in the snow.

This kind of loyalty was something rare to see, even for Lucifer, an Archangel, who couldn’t deny the lengths this old man went for his liege.

"He might have passed on," Lucifer spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. "His soul was not broken, and it was not consumed... There is a method for him to be reborn, and though he did not ask it of me, I will bring him back one day."

"Can you swear that?"

"I swear upon my name as Lucifer, the guardian of Humanity and Luka de Babylon, the Lord of this territory!"

Levi lifted his head sharply, while glaring deeply into Lucifer’s eyes. The change from blood red to golden might not be enough for others, but he could see it. The blue light in his pupils gleamed so brightly that blood trickled from the corner of one eye.

For an instant, his spell pierced deeper than before.

He failed to understand Lucifer’s essence, failed to measure his depth and existence, but he could feel the weight and belief behind his oath.

Levi collapsed to one knee.

"...Then this old man accepts it, pray tell... what method will be used?" He glanced up, bloody tears dripping down the corners of his eyes.

"He will be reborn as my first child. I will grant him all the graces given to me, thanks to his benevolent choice... as my son, I will protect him from all darkness and evils that should seek to harm him."

The old steward looked bewildered, but shook his head before speaking.

Levi wiped the blood from his cheek with his sleeve.

"Although I do not understand you, nor can I trust your nature so easily. My fear of what you are, and might do as the Lord of this land, terrifies me, but... I shall trust Lord Luka’s final wish."

The words were simple.

Almost foolishly so.

Yet they carried a resilience and stubborn strength that made even Lucifer fall silent.

Levi slowly bowed until his forehead touched the ground.

"If you swore to protect Babylon, then I will serve that oath. Not because you are some former divine or powerful. I shall follow you because the boy I raised chose you, allow me to keep watching you, until I ascertain your calibre and vessel as a man."

Lucifer stared at him.

’This old man...’

He had thought Levi useful, then a little troublesome or even dangerous after learning the truth. But only now did Lucifer understand why Babylon, and the world of man, had not collapsed sooner.

It wasn’t the walls.

It wasn’t the knights.

It wasn’t the heroes or the saints.

It was ordinary people like this.

Old, fragile, stubborn humans who somehow held a broken house together with nothing but loyalty and worn-out bones.

"You are more special than I thought, Levi."

The old steward scratched the back of his head.

"That sounds like trouble."

"It is praise."

"From you, I am not certain there is a difference."

Lucifer laughed with a deep bellow, unable to stop himself after the longest time. He finally settled down and was himself.

Levi looked at him with the same stern eyes he had used to scold Luka countless times.

"Then tell me one thing, Lord Lucifer."

"Hahaha, what is it, Levi?"

"Will you continue pretending to be him?"

The question was quite obvious, and a little sensitive for Lucifer, but he swatted those insignificant feelings as his smile slowly faded.

"I am Luka, from the moment I accepted his soul. I accepted this path."

Levi’s brows furrowed.

"Then perhaps that is not a curse."

Lucifer looked at him.

The old man rose slowly, his knees shaking.

"Perhaps that is why he chose you."

Outside the tent, the wind moved softly through the outpost.

Neither man noticed the faint shadow standing near the entrance flap, frozen in place since the moment Levi’s voice first called him a foul being. A trembling hand with long, delicate fingers pressed against the canvas.

Yet by the next gale of wind, their figure vanished.

While inside, Lucifer exhaled and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Well... this is my story."