Sai's eye suddenly distorted, swallowed by a fluid mass of shadow — an erasure of presence, an attempt to dissolve his existence into the backdrop of the world. His body crumbled like dust of identity, trying to evaporate into the informational fabric.
Salomi remained silent for a moment.
Then her pupils trembled.
"He is trying to flee."
Not a physical escape.
A flight of being.
Her gaze hardened.
"No. That, I will not allow."
She closed her eyes.
Then reopened them.
They lit up.
Two living suns.
Two golden mandalas unfolding on calm orbits.
The Eyes of Madhurya.
These eyes do not see things.
They see links:
identity, internal coherence, the name behind the form, the ego.
In this world reduced to particles of information, everything should have been unrecognizable.
And yet…
Salomi distinguished a thread.
Thin.
Fragile.
But unyielding.
A thread of pure identity.
The last point through which Sai still existed.
It crawled, trying to disappear into unawareness.
Salomi smiled. Slowly.
"Where exactly did you think you were going?"
She extended her hand.
Her fingers closed on the thread.
She pulled.
With a single, relentless gesture.
Reality made a sharp noise — as if something was forced to reincarnate.
Sai was torn from his flight.
He fell heavily on the information ground, panting, trembling.
"Mercy… Mercy… don't hurt me…"
Salomi placed her foot on his head.
Without brutality.
Just absolute.
Her smile was not human.
"Running away, again?
Do you really keep believing your ego can save you?
Even after your defeat against Apollo, you learned nothing.
You hide, you pretend, you become a shadow at the slightest pressure.
Pathetic."
These words pierced Sai.
In his eyes was something broken — something too human, suddenly.
In a panic burst, he struck.
A brutal blow.
A shockwave distorted space.
The world's particles exploded into whirlpools of scattered information.
Salomi barely faltered.
Then she burst out a clear laugh, vibrating with ecstasy.
She grabbed his wrist without letting go.
"Ah. There it is.
That, is a beginning.
But if you want me to feel it…
you'll have to hit harder."
Sai, panting, screamed:
"Damn... what are you?!"
His shout was not a question.
It was recognition of a gap in nature.
Salomi tilted her head, almost tenderly.
"Someone who understood how your existence works."
She placed two fingers against his forehead.
And declared.
An identity rewrite.
The structures composing Sai—
his title, rank, power, narrative memory of "demon king"—
were dissolved and brought back to a mortal origin point.
As if history itself had been rewritten.
Sai collapsed to his knees.
His breath weakened.
His body grew heavy.
His presence, attributes, essence… lowered.
"No... no, no, no...
My self...
What I am...
My nature...
It... it regressed…"
He raised his hands.
His fingers trembled.
His gaze was that of a wounded animal facing a deity.
"Tell me this is a joke.
I beg you…
Tell me this is not real…"
Salomi looked at him.
And simply answered:
"It's real. Unfortunately for you."
Salomi slowly lowered the tip of Goku no Buki toward Sai, as if presenting a sentence rather than a weapon.
"Look at yourself. Pathetic.
But I'm going to do you a favor.
I grant you a second chance to become what you were…
On condition you follow my orders. No detours. No pride.
Do you understand?"
Sai raised his head.
His red eyes vibrated with anger, humiliation, and a remaining broken pride refusing to extinguish.
"The gods…
They're the ones sending you, right?
Aren't they tired enough of meddling where they don't belong?"
Salomi's voice did not tremble.
She did not raise it.
She stated.
"Wrong approach.
In your state... you should beg, not question."
Sai clenched his teeth.
"Not a chance, you filthy—"
He did not have time to finish.
CRACK.
Salomi's foot crushed his head against the information ground, pinning him there effortlessly.
Not violence.
Just authority.
Sai tried to struggle—his body responded only with the weakness of an ordinary being.
"Let me go… you think that'll make me obey you?!"
Salomi lowered her head slightly, and her gaze became icy.
Not cruel.
Just true.
"I have no connection to you.
I have no reason for pity.
I can make you know all the sufferings a mortal can endure.
And no one will intervene.
No one will mourn you.
So. Obey. Or break."
Sai's ego screamed, struggled.
But his instinct…
his instinct knew.
He closed his eyes.
Dropped his resistance.
"…Very well.
What do you want?"
Salomi smiled softly, almost amused.
"There. You see?
You're wise when you remember what you are now.
So listen.
Where is Zara?"
Sai turned pale.
A shiver ran through his being.
A shiver of memory.
Zara — once the Quaternary Goddess.
Who committed the crime of love.
Who loved a mortal.
And Zeus sealed her in this world as punishment.
Her daughter, Arcane, demigoddess born of the man Shiba, had come to save her.
Sai had seen her.
And had broken her.
Salomi watched him.
And he knew she knew.
"I... I don't know where she is…"
Silence.
Salomi breathed softly.
"Ah. Too bad."
Goku no Buki pulsed.
Transformed into a violet mana katana — a fine, vibrant blade made of pure intention.
SCHLACK.
The blade pierced Sai's back.
A scream tore through the air.
Not just physical pain.
A rupture of identity.
He felt his being unravel.
"WHY?!"
Salomi slightly twisted the blade, without tension in her arm.
"Because you take me for a fool.
You think I don't know what you did to Zara?
That she was broken, trapped in a sealed body, conscious, unable to scream?
That Arcane... begged before dying?"
She brought her mouth close to his ear.
Her voice was not loud.
It was true.
"I did not come to negotiate.
I came to deliver."
Sai screamed.
"STOP!
I'LL TELL YOU!
I'LL TELL YOU, I BEG YOU — STOP!!!"
The world vibrated around them, as if holding its breath.