She laughed—a bitter, humorless sound. "So you noticed. Of course you did. You're more observant than I gave you credit for."

She moved to a chair and sat heavily, her wings drooping slightly in a way that suggested exhaustion or stress. "I did come here for an evaluation. That part was true. But I also came here because I need help, and I'm running out of options."

"Help with what?" Satou asked, moving closer. "Have you asked the other demon lords?"

"Yes," Seraphine said, and there was frustration in her voice. "I sent messages to all of them. Malakor didn't respond—he never does unless it directly threatens continental stability. Volcanus said my territory isn't his problem. Azshara suggested I handle my own affairs. Chronus..." she laughed bitterly, "...Chronus told me I deserve whatever's coming."

"And Loki?"

"Loki was the only one who responded with actual advice," Seraphine said. "He told me to come to you. Said you were 'resourceful, powerful, and stupid enough to help even when it wasn't in your interest.' His exact words."

Satou mentally cursed Loki. Of course the schemer would do this—send a problem his way without warning, probably seeing it as an opportunity to bind Seraphine to their alliance or gain leverage or achieve some other goal Satou couldn't even fathom yet.

"What do you need help with?" Satou asked carefully.

Seraphine took a breath, and Satou could see her struggling with whether to actually reveal this vulnerability. Finally, she spoke.

"One of my spies in the human kingdom sent me a hidden message three days ago. The information..." she paused, her hands clenching. "The Reaper is coming."

Satou felt a chill run down his spine at the name, even though he didn't know who or what that was. The way Seraphine said it, with genuine fear in her voice, told him everything he needed to know about how serious this was.

"Who is TheeReaper?" Satou asked.

Seraphine stood and began pacing, one hand unconsciously going to her mouth. She bit at her fingernail—a nervous habit that seemed completely at odds with the confident demon lord persona she normally projected.

"The Reaper is the humans' ultimate weapon," she said. "Their strongest and oldest hero . He only appears once every ten years or so, which suggests his power requires a long cooldown or there's some restriction on how often he can be deployed. But when he does appear..."

She shuddered visibly. "Entire demon lord territories have fallen. He's killed at least three demon lords personally that we know of—possibly more. Twenty years ago, he destroyed Volcanus's northern fortress, killed three thousand demons, and left Volcanus himself severely wounded. The only reason Volcanus survived was because he's essentially unkillable by conventional means."

"What makes him so dangerous?" Satou asked.

"His ability," Seraphine said, and now she was biting her nail hard enough to draw blood. She didn't seem to notice. "It's called Absolute Adaptation. Anything you throw at him—any attack, any strategy, any power—it works exactly once. Maybe. After that, he adapts. Becomes immune. And then he uses a version of that same power against you."

She stopped pacing and looked at Satou directly. "You hit him with fire? He absorbs it, becomes immune to fire, and then burns you. You use magic? He negates it and reflects it back. Physical attacks? He hardens his body and then shatters your weapons. Poison? He metabolizes it and poisons you. Every single ability, every technique, every strategy—it only works once before it becomes his weapon against you."

"That's..." Satou struggled to find words. "That's essentially an impossible ability to counter."

"Yes," Seraphine confirmed. "Which is why he's killed demon lords. Because we rely on our signature abilities—our domains of power. Volcanus relies on fire, so The Reaper adapted to fire and beat him at his own specialty. The demon lord of the eastern wastes relied on lightning—The Reaper adapted and killed him with his own power."

She was biting her fingers again, hard enough that blood was trickling down her hand. "And my domain is corruption. My power is seduction, manipulation, binding others to my will through supernatural charm and corrupting influence. The Reaper will adapt to that. Will become immune to my corruption and then..."

She trailed off, but the implication was clear. If The Reaper could use corruption against her, he could bind her, could make her his servant, could turn the fourth-seat demon lord into another hero's trophy.

"My city," Seraphine continued, her voice shaking slightly. "My people. Centuries of building my domain. All of it is in danger. The spy said The Reaper is mobilizing. He'll reach my territory within two weeks, maybe three. And I don't know how to fight him. None of my abilities will work more than once. My retinue will be slaughtered or corrupted. My city will fall."

She sank back into her chair, her usual poise completely abandoned. She looked smaller somehow, vulnerable in a way Satou had never expected to see from a demon lord.

"That's why I'm here," she admitted quietly. "I came for the evaluation because it gave me legitimate reason to travel. But I also came because Loki said you were... different. That you had abilities no one expected, powers that defied normal categorization, strategies that shouldn't work but did. I came hoping that maybe, just maybe, you'd know a way to fight someone who can adapt to anything."

She looked up at Satou, and her mismatched eyes held genuine desperation. "So here I am, the predatory seductress, the corrupted angel who everyone fears, sitting here begging a three-month-old provisional demon lord for help because I don't have anywhere else to turn. Because my people are going to die, and I can't save them alone."

She laughed, a broken sound. "Pathetic, isn't it? The mighty Seraphine, reduced to this."

Satou looked at her, really looked at her and saw past the beautiful facade, past the corrupted angel exterior, to the person underneath. Someone ancient and powerful, yes, but also someone who genuinely cared about the territory she'd built and the people who'd chosen to follow her.

Someone not so different from him, really. Just trying to protect what they'd built from forces that wanted to destroy it.

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