“I am serious.” There was something fatalistic in Zizi’s tone.
“Rui doesn’t know you can’t cast underworld magic while you’re here, does she?” Yiran realized. “Are you planning something?”
Zizi didn’t reply.
“If you’re going to do something stupid, at least tell me what it is. It’ll be between us. I won’t say anything to her.” Yiran shot a threatening glare. “And I won’t agree to any favors until I know what’s going on.”
Grumbling, Zizi pulled his sleeve back. There was an unusual watch around his wrist. It appeared ancient, its gold gears glinting against a pitch-black face. “Apparently, I buried this underworld relic under my tree. I’ve no recollection of doing that, but I have this now and I can use it to destroy the spell. I was planning to ask some white lanterns for help in tracking it after I met Rui at her dorm earlier tonight, but you showed up and complicated things.”
“But you said you’re as good as human here. How can you use this watch if it’s from Hell?”
“Icantechnically draw power from the underworld, but there are two issues with that. Each time power from the realm of the dead is used in the realm of the living, it screws things up. The talisman the Hybrids have was made with an underworld relic too, and every time they use it, something in the realms breaks. It can’t remain here, and it’s my job to get rid of it.” He paused, looking as if he was trying to decide whether to go on.
“What’s the other issue?” Yiran prodded.
Zizi stared at his hands, clenching and unclenching them. “This mortal body has spent too much time in the underworld, and the strain of housing my soul for so long makes it worse. I can feel its spirit core slowly weakening. There’s a chance it’ll be destroyed in the process of using the relic—regardless of whether I do it here or the underworld.”
Yiran couldn’t believe his ears. “Did you just casually drop the fact that you might die if you use that watch to save my realm?”
Zizi frowned. “I’m not sure if Kings of Hell actually die.” He didn’t sound entirely certain. “We’re told that we’reeternal, whatever that means. But my, uh, situation, is slightly different.”
“How different?”
“I drank the Lady’s tea to cross over to the realm of the living eighteen years ago. Now my soul is tied to this body and only this body.” Zizi chuckled at himself. “I guess I messed around and found out.”
It took Yiran a few moments to absorb everything he’d just said. “Rui is going to be devastated if anything happens to you.”
“She’ll be okay. She doesn’t remember what we shared in either lifetime.”
Zizi looked like he didn’t care, but Yiran knew it was an act. “There has to be another way,” Yiran insisted.
“The sooner the talisman is destroyed, the sooner the Nothing will stop invading my world and my siblings won’t be in danger anymore. The faster we can stop your father from transforming more people into Hybrids, the less overwhelmed the Exorcists will be. It’s a game of time. And even if someone else finds the talisman, they can’t destroy it. Only I can.”
Yiran shook his head stubbornly. “We’ll think of something else.”
Zizi held up his watch. “This is the simplest, most efficient way.”
“Is it safer for you to destroy the talisman if you’re in the underworld?”
“Possibly. It takes more effort to draw power from my realm while I’m here.”
“Then we’ll find a way to make that happen. Decrease the chances of anything awful happening to you.”
Zizi narrowed his eyes. “If I didn’t know any better, I would swear that it’s you who’s going to be devastated if anything happens to me.”
Yiran rolled his eyes. “Iwillbe upset if you cease to exist, Zizi.”
The mage’s lips formed a silentoh.
“Only because I’d have to be a pathetic loser by myself,” Yiran added quickly.
Eyes twinkling with glee, Zizi ruffled his hair. “Aww, you mean a lot to me too.”
Yiran smacked his hand away. “Whatever. All right, hear me out.” The more he spoke, the more viable his idea seemed. But some luck would be involved in pulling the whole thing off.
Zizi still looked doubtful after he was done explaining. “We’re leaving too many things to chance.”
“With our brains, we can come up with options for the different situations that could arise and find a solution for each scenario. If we do it my way, you won’t have to use your relic or any underworld magic while you’re here. You can take the spell back to your realm and destroy it there. Maybe the other Kings can do something to protect your body. As long as you extract me safely or I can slip away myself, it’s all good. If it doesn’t work out, you can go ahead and execute your own plan.”
