Third Intermission: Needles, Reproaches, and Shadows of Hidden Abilities...

The decrepit mansion was quieter than usual, save for the rhythmic dripping of a sickly brazier and the murmur of the wind seeping through the cracks in the windows.

The sickly light from the bone candlesticks only partially illuminated Zeltha's room, leaving the shadows resembling restless figures.

Yuzuru lay on a cracked leather couch, bandages clumsily wrapped around her crow's-beak mask, which now resembled a patched-up carnival figure. 

Every so often, she shuddered as if something still seethed within her body that refused to obey her.

A spasm ran through her body, reminding her that the last fight with Ayato and his team had still left her near death in her… grotesque form.

Zeltha, leaning back in a chair, held an obsidian needle engraved with magical runes. Her half-closed eyes, her slow, lazy movements, reflected the apathy of someone who would rather be asleep.

"Don't move so much, idiot," she growled, inserting another needle. "This is so you don't turn into some flying abomination."

"Oh, right... because I'm going to relax while you pierce me like a voodoo doll," Yuzuru snorted, moaning as another spark of her dark energy pulsed beneath the bandages. "It's your fault if you poke where you shouldn't!"

The Dark-Elf jammed another needle into the shoulder of Lone-Demon of Wind, this time with a small, runic click that left a greenish glow on the blackened skin.

Yuzuru wanted to retort, but a bone-crunching sound and an electric spasm ran through her arm, forcing her to stifle a scream.

"Sadism included?!" she managed to shriek.

"I get paid for this." Zeltha inserted the next needle listlessly, like someone peeling a piece of fruit.

Bang!

The door burst open, and a shadow of rage burst into the room: Tatsuya.

"Enough with this cheap quack game! I demand a rematch against Ayato and Isolde's team! My humiliation cannot go unpunished!"

His eyes blazed with rage, and with clenched fists, he punched the wall, leaving cracks.

Yuzuru looked at him with a mixture of contempt and amusement.

"Rematch, huh? Come on, Tatsuya... remember how it went when you fought under the influence of drugs." She pointed a finger, as if it were obvious. "You burned half a forest of hallucinogenic plants and mushrooms, inhaled the smell, and then lost miserably to them."

Tatsuya frowned, trembling with rage.

"That... that doesn't count! I was... affected by external circumstances!"

"Yes, yes," Yuzuru interrupted, leaning toward him with a cruel gleam in her eyes.

Tatsuya gritted his teeth, holding back a scream. Yuzuru leaned back again, letting the needles embedded in her torso vibrate gently, releasing runes that began to calm her dark energy.

"And you say that, Miss Kuchisake-onna? Do you look beautiful now with that scar across your mouth?" Tatsuya leaned forward, pointing at Yuzuru.

"Pardon?" Yuzuru bolted upright, several needles quivering like ridiculous antennae poking out of her torso.

"I'm talking to you, you sack of rotten feathers! You could barely stand outside Ferro Scuro. You're a liability!"

"Come and tell me straight, you one-dimensional psychopath!"

The two faced each other, tension crackling. Zeltha sighed, dropping the bundle of needles onto a tray.

"Wonderful... now they're fighting dogs."

When Tatsuya tried to light a fire in his hands and Yuzuru, still stuck in the needles, pulled claws from her gloved hands, Zeltha moved with unexpected swiftness.

"That's enough!" Zeltha chimed in, her fingers forming a runic seal in the air, and both of them were wrapped in chains of dark light that pulled them to opposite ends of the room.

"I didn't summon two candidates for the Dark Lord to slaughter each other like rabid schoolchildren!". Her normally monotonous voice sounded deeper and firmer than ever. Her tired eyes flashed with a dangerous glint.

There was an awkward silence. Tatsuya muttered, and Yuzuru snarled beneath her mask, making sure it remained covered.

"Listen carefully, you misfits! I'm not interested in your bruised egos. As long as you fight amongst yourselves, you'll achieve nothing!"

Zeltha leaned against the wall, suddenly exhausted as she raised her voice like an underpaid teacher dealing with troubled students. The sparkle in her eyes dimmed, and a huge yawn betrayed her.

"Discuss it tomorrow. Now, shut up! If you wake me up again, you'll both end up like laboratory frogs!!!"

Yuzuru and Tatsuya exchanged a hateful glance, but neither dared to retort.

Zeltha returned to her chair, exhausted. 

She closed her eyes... and fell into a deep sleep, one of those that mixes premonition with discovery.

The Dark Elf was already in the Dream Plane, where she could think in peace instead of dealing with the world.

In her vision, the Lone Demons weren't just beings with great potential to become the new Dark Lords: they could forge contracts with Demons or Primordial Gods.

Such pacts would allow them to enhance their abilities and accelerate the growth of their powers: Tatsuya's pyrokinesis, Yuzuru's aerokinesis... but at a price that slowly consumed their body, mind, and soul.

Zeltha saw that she must first determine if both of them were capable of confronting Ayato in their base states.

Only then was it justifiable to grant them a contract: a test of worthiness... or, failing that, a desperate recourse to increase their powers with no guarantee of survival.

"Interesting..." Zeltha whispered, though in the dream her voice was barely an echo. "These two... if they can cooperate, they could change everything... If they fail... well, the risk of being consumed is absolute."

A slight flicker partially woke her.

The two Lone-Demons were still motionless, their bodies emitting a faint afterglow from the acupuncture, while Zeltha yawned, vaguely remembering the vision.

"I have a task for you two, and it involves working as a team and seeing if you can do it on unfavorable ground..."

Yuzuru sighed, the needles still glowing faintly beneath the bandages, and allowed herself a wry smile beneath her crow's-beak mask.

Tatsuya, for his part, snorted, crossing his arms, his earlier humiliation still burning in him.

"But this task will be very fun... The fun being related to your revenge against Ayato Nagatoshi, Isidora Rose Tepes, and Vera Lauren~"

Zeltha yawned again, though this time with a slight smile: she knew the discoveries of her dream would have to wait.

The real work was just beginning.