The rays of the burning sun of Tartarus beat down on the stone walls as Demon walked from the Triarch toward the pillar at the front of the Castle of Souls.

"Did they believe it?" He brushed his fingers across the square patterns carved into the wall and let the silence answer for a moment. "There is only one way to find out."

He turned and looked at Kim and Eun-woo standing there with the kind of faces people wear when something doesn’t sit right, then walked toward them.

"Joon, are you really sure about what you said earlier?" Eun-woo asked, closing the gap between them.

Before Joon could open his mouth, Kim stepped forward. "I don’t believe it. It’s only been a few days since I met Leon, but he can’t do something like that."

"He can’t?" Eun-woo’s voice pitched up. "We found him standing over the only dead member of his own group. How do you explain that?"

Kim was quiet for a moment. Then she turned away. "No. I won’t believe it. I won’t accuse him of anything unless I see it with my own eyes."

She walked off just as Seo-jun stepped out of the Triarch with a tight jaw and a harder face. "So. How do we finish the task within five days?"

Joon raised a hand. "I know where we can get that many stones."

He kept his voice low as he described the Starfire Opal pillars he had seen at the Heart of Tartarus, then gave a short nod. "We can pull at least seventy percent of what we need from there."

"And how do we get there?" Seo-jun asked, his shoulders stiff.

"I’ll take us." Joon said it without a beat of hesitation. "But when we arrive, stay sharp."

"Why?" Eun-woo’s brow folded.

"Because that’s where Leon killed the two men from our squad."

...

Leon stood at the far end of the road and watched the Triarch climb into the sky and knife toward the Heart of Tartarus.

"So they really believed him." A short snarl left his throat. He pulled out the scroll and began working through it, searching for the path back to where the Madhouse squad had left their own craft.

Loose stones rolled off the walls as he moved through the valley toward the east.

At the peaks of the two mountains on either side, a pair of Serakels watched the small human pass below.

They exchanged a look.

"Should we kill him too?"

"No. He’s stronger than every other human we’ve seen here. We’d be the ones dying. Let’s follow him and see where he goes."

They switched on their invisibility and dropped in behind him.

The blade of Leon’s war disc caught the light when he cleared the valley and stepped onto the mountain path where he had first crossed Aurelian. He paused at the cave they had sheltered in, exhaled once, then kept moving.

When he reached the narrow stretch where he could see the horned beings moving along the road below, he drew a war disc and held still until the path was clear.

...

Dust burst upward as the Ghost Squad Triarch touched down at the Heart of Tartarus.

Everyone moved toward the exit. Kim stayed in her seat.

"You’re not coming?" Eun-woo turned back and looked at her.

"Go. I’ll catch up." She waved him on.

He hesitated, then went.

Alone in the craft, Kim stared at the metal wall across from her, then looked down at her own hands. "Did Leon really do that?"

She crossed to the control unit and pulled up the transmitter, the one that kept silent records of every voice and movement. Her finger found the green button and she started going through the footage.

She stopped. Backed it up. Played it again.

"Why does it look like that section was cut?"

She ran it back three more times. Behind her, footsteps rang against the floor.

She turned. "Seo-jun."

He looked at her with one eyebrow up. "Why are you still in here?"

"I..." Kim took a step back.

"It’s fine. Whatever you were going to say, keep it." His voice stayed flat and calm. He set a handful of Opal stones into the weighing bag and sighed. "This spot will get us through the task with days to spare."

He turned to leave, then paused when he saw her still standing there, eyes moving like she was searching for something she already knew wasn’t there.

"I don’t know what you’re after. But that transmitter stopped working the first day we set foot on this land."

He left without looking back.

’Damn. How am I supposed to prove Leon didn’t kill them?’ Kim shook her head slowly.

She stepped out of the Triarch and started up the narrow path between the walls. Halfway through, something clicked behind her eyes and she slowed.

She looked down at the small recorder clipped to her chest.

A slow smile came to her face. ’This. This would prove Leon wasn’t the one.’

She picked up her pace, the thought still arranging itself as she moved.

...

The dull thunder of metal striking stone filled the air around the Opal pillars as the bags piled up at their base.

Eun-woo dragged a full sac toward the Triarch and came back, his arms already shaking.

"How many?" Seo-jun asked.

"Fifty stones. That run was fifty."

"Good. Let’s break after this load."

When Seo-jun looked around for Joon, he was gone. "Where’s Joon?"

Kim glanced left, then right. "He was right here." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Seo-jun watched the space where Joon had been standing. "He probably headed back to the Triarch. Come on, let’s rest."

...

The craft launched without warning.

Dust exploded out from under it as the Triarch shot upward and banked hard toward the east, already pulling distance between itself and the ground.

"No, no, no!" Eun-woo’s voice broke as he came running out, neck craned back. The sac slid from his fingers and hit the dirt. His hands had gone completely numb. "JOON!"

Kim stepped out behind him, the color draining from her face as she watched the craft shrink against the sky.

Then Seo-jun walked out.

And smiled.