"It's not pathetic," Satou said quietly. "Asking for help when you need it isn't weakness. It's wisdom."

He sat down across from her. "Tell me everything you know about The Reaper. His patterns, his limitations, his previous battles. If we're going to figure out how to fight someone who can adapt to anything, we need to understand exactly what we're dealing with."

Seraphine's eyes widened slightly. "You're... you're going to help me? Just like that? Even though I came here intending to add you to my collection, even though I've been testing your vulnerabilities, even though helping me gains you nothing and puts you in danger?"

"I'm going to help," Satou confirmed. "Because that's what we do—we protect people from threats they can't face alone. That's the whole point of building power, isn't it? To protect those who need it?"

For a moment, Seraphine just stared at him. Then, to Satou's complete shock, tears began forming in her mismatched eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you, Satou. You have no idea what this means to me."

"Don't thank me yet," Satou said. "We still need to figure out how to actually beat this Reaper. Which sounds extremely difficult, possibly impossible. But we'll try."

He stood and moved to the door. "Lyra, Jessica, you can come in now. We have a problem to solve, and I'm going to need your minds as well as mine."

The door opened immediately—they'd clearly been listening at the keyhole. Both women entered, looking between Satou and Seraphine with confusion and concern.

"Seraphine needs our help," Satou explained. "The strongest human hero is coming to destroy her territory. We have maybe two weeks to figure out how to fight someone whose ability makes him essentially unbeatable."

"That's insane," Jessica said immediately. "We're not equipped to fight heroes. We barely have enough forces to defend our own settlement!"

"I know," Satou agreed. "But we're going to help anyway."

Lyra looked at him for a long moment, then sighed. "You're too kind for your own good. But if you're committed to this, then we need a strategy session. Immediately. With everyone who might have useful input—Urgak, Cassius, maybe even Loki if we can get him here."

"I can summon Loki," Seraphine offered, wiping at her eyes. "He'll come if he knows we're actually planning something."

"Do it," Satou said. "This is above our current capabilities. We need every advantage we can get."

As Seraphine moved to contact Loki, Lyra pulled Satou aside. "Do you realize what you just committed us to? We're going to war with the humans' strongest hero. A being that's killed demon lords. This could destroy our settlement, could get us all killed."

"I know," Satou said. "But I couldn't just say no. Could you?"

Lyra looked at him, then at Seraphine who was still wiping tears from her eyes, then back to Satou. "No," she admitted. "I couldn't. Which is why I love you, even when you're being recklessly noble."

"Is this what our lives are going to be like?" Jessica asked quietly. "Constantly facing impossible threats, always one step away from destruction, never able to just live peacefully?"

"Probably," Satou admitted. "But we'll face it together. All of us. And somehow, we'll survive."

"You better be right," Jessica said. "Because I just got you. I'm not ready to lose you to some hero with an impossible ability."

Seraphine's portal shimmered, and Loki's familiar figure stepped through. The demon lord took one look at the assembled group and grinned.

"So," Loki said cheerfully. "You figured out what Seraphine really needs. Excellent. Now, shall we discuss how to kill the unkillable hero? This should be interesting."

Satou looked around at his companions,Lyra, Jessica, Seraphine, and Loki.

They were planning to fight The Reaper.

They were probably going to die trying.

But they were going to try anyway.

Because that's what you did when people needed help.

Even when it was insane.

—----------

The meeting room had transformed into a war chamber. Maps were spread across the table, showing Seraphine's territory—a region called the Fallen Spires, located in the eastern part of the demon territories, several hundred miles from Satou's settlement.

Loki stood at the head of the table, his usual playful demeanor replaced by focused intensity. Seraphine sat beside him, still looking vulnerable despite having composed herself somewhat. Lyra, Jessica, Urgak, and Cassius completed the circle.

"Let me make sure I understand the situation correctly," Urgak said, his single eye scanning the map. "The Reaper, the humans' strongest hero is mobilizing toward the Fallen Spires. We have approximately two weeks before he arrives. And his ability makes him essentially immune to any repeated strategy or attack."

"That's correct," Seraphine confirmed. "My spies report that he's traveling with a small elite force. Not an army—The Reaper doesn't need an army. Just support personnel to handle logistics and claim territory after he's destroyed the primary defenses."

"How does he usually operate?" Lyra asked, her administrator's mind already working through the problem. "What's his typical pattern of attack?"

"Direct assault," Seraphine replied. "He announces his arrival, gives us time to prepare—which is psychological warfare, making us waste energy on defenses he'll just adapt to—then attacks the strongest point. He wants to break our will by showing that our best efforts are useless. Once the leadership falls, the territory usually surrenders or scatters."

"Arrogant," Urgak observed.

"Effective," Seraphine countered. "He's earned the right to be arrogant. The last demon lord who faced him tried everything—threw fifty different attack types, used forbidden magic, even self-destructed trying to take The Reaper with him. None of it worked. The Reaper adapted to all of it and walked away without a scratch."

"There has to be a limit," Jessica said. "No ability is truly infinite. There must be conditions, restrictions, weaknesses."

"If there are, no one's discovered them in the 300 years The Reaper has been active," Seraphine said grimly.

Loki tapped the map thoughtfully. "The key is in the name of his ability: Absolute Adaptation. He adapts to what's thrown at him. But adaptation requires experience—he has to encounter something before he can become immune to it. The question is, what hasn't he encountered yet?"

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