On the small mezzanine of the old single-story house, Huy still couldn’t fall asleep. He paced back and forth restlessly, face full of anxiety as he muttered under his breath:

  – “Why are they taking so long…? Still no contact. If they got caught… how am I supposed to save them…?”

  Downstairs, Mr. Tín opened his door and stepped out, looking up toward the loft.

  – “What are you doin’ up there wanderin’ around this late? Tomorrow you gotta go buy things for your wedding, only a week left now. I see your head’s all over the place — what’re you worryin’ about, huh?”

  Huy forced himself to calm down and gave a stiff smile.

  – “Well… I’m getting married soon, you know. Guess I’m nervous so I can’t sleep.”

  Mrs. Nguy?t walked out of her room, still holding a hand towel.

  – “Go to sleep, son. Tomorrow you’re takin’ me to the market early, then we gotta clean the house spotless. If your in-laws visit and see a mess, it’ll be embarrassing.”

  Huy scratched his head, smile crooked.

  – “Yes, yes… I know. I’ll sleep now.”

  Mr. Tín shook his head and looked at his wife.

  – “Well… he’s gettin’ married, so losing sleep is normal.”

  Mrs. Nguy?t smiled gently and tugged at his arm.

  – “Come on, let’s turn in early. We have plenty to do tomorrow, or we won’t be ready in time for the wedding.”

  The small house gradually sank into stillness, broken only by the whisper of insects in the night.

  ---

  Meanwhile, the luxury cars slowly rolled past the wrought-iron gates of the Gothic mansion. The warm yellow lamps cast long shadows across the polished black-stone courtyard.

  Inside the living room, Din rubbed his ear, annoyed by the noisy crowd in C?u D?ng’s neighboring mansion.

  – “The whole lower floor over there is still frozen, and above that is an entire ocean floating in the air,” he muttered.

  Erion leaned back on the sofa, expression indifferent.

  – “Father-in-law ordered everything returned to normal. I’ll deal with it later.”

  The little demons covered their mouths, giggling.

  – “Looks like the only one the Great General listens to… is the King of Hell himself.”

  Trang suddenly remembered something and chuckled.

  – “Ah, I forgot — we still have some seafood left, and a lot of octopus. Let’s make grilled skewers.”

  The little demons cheered in unison:

  – “We’re starving! Our stomachs have been screaming this whole time!”

  Erion shot them a sideways glance, voice dripping with sarcasm.

  – “At this rate, even ten diamond mines won’t be enough to feed you pests.”

  Chen immediately chimed in, grinning mischievously:

  – “One mine spanning a few dozen thousand hectares on the Shadow Planet would be enough! I don’t even get one gemstone to myself!”

  Laughter echoed through the living room. The entire group — vampires, demons, and fairies alike — all smiled brightly, like a true family finally relaxing after days of battles and tension.

  At this moment, in the backyard garden of the Gothic mansion, the aroma of grilled seafood filled the night air. Skewers of octopus, lobster, and squid were being expertly flipped by Erion and Chen over the glowing charcoal, the firelight reflecting in their amber-brown eyes.

  Trang sat nearby, her hair tied high, fanning herself with a paper fan:

  – “Chen! Grill them a bit more, okay? Earlier Lita complained that the food was still half–raw.”

  Lita immediately protested, voice soft and pouty:

  – “It wasn’t Chen’s fault! I was the one eating too fast.”

  Chen fired back, eyes mischievous:

  – “Seafood is best when grilled just right. If the princess insists on overcooking it, it'll shrink and get tough.”

  Din smirked, pouring red wine:

  – “Earth-style dinner gatherings like this are actually pretty fun. Maybe us vampires should open a barbecue restaurant.”

  Yin burst out laughing:

  – “Good idea! The Count sells grilled meat, I mix blood cocktails — we’d be packed!”

  A row of little demons sat eating and singing, their playful voices echoing across the lavender-filled garden.

  H?ng Nhung raised a brow, turning to Arian:

  – “Next time we host a party, let me handle the music.”

  Arian took a sip of wine, his cold gaze softened with quiet amusement:

  – “Of course. No one can outperform my wife in singing and dancing.”

  Trúc Di?n, busy mixing dipping sauce, smiled toward Lita:

  – “Erion and Chen grill just right — it keeps the sweetness and softness. Go on, eat. It’s not raw.”

  Laughs rippled through the garden, blending with the crackling of hot charcoal. It was a rare peaceful night among beings bearing both power and darkness in their blood.

  ---

  At the same time, over at Mr. Tài’s mansion, the night had grown deep. In a small loft room, Charles still couldn’t sleep. A question weighed heavily on his mind — Mr. Nhan, the weathered 70–year–old man who collected scrap for a living.

  Yet with the sharp intuition and discerning eyes of a professor, Charles sensed something hidden behind the fa?ade.

  Earlier, Deep had sent several photos of Trang, the orphaned niece of C?u D?ng.

  Charles zoomed in, studying her tomboyish features. A small figure, a face marked with quiet sorrow. His expression darkened:

  – “How… how do I find her now? That girl has suffered enough…”

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  His phone vibrated — Deep was calling. Charles answered softly:

  – “Are you all home yet?”

  The voice on the other end replied:

  – “Yeah, the three of us are back. Don’t worry. I sent you the photos of Trang — did you notice anything?”

  Charles narrowed his eyes, speaking urgently:

  – “Last time when we met Mr. Nhan and his friend, we still didn’t know where Trang was. But… those two old men were suspicious. Especially Mr. Nhan.”

  Deep paused for a few seconds before replying:

  – “Now that you mention it… Even though he looks poor and collects scrap for a living, the aura he gives off isn’t normal. Maybe… we should keep a closer eye on him.”

  Charles considered for a moment, then asked:

  – “We’ll keep updating the situation with Mr. D?ng’s family — through the number Mr. Nhan gave us. But I also want information about the old man himself.”

  Deep agreed immediately:

  – “Alright. I’ll have my assistant investigate. Who knows — we might find Trang through him.”

  Charles hung up, his eyes fixed on the laptop screen — the blue glow casting tense shadows across his face. Inside him, a growing unease swelled:

  – “Mr. Nhan… who exactly are you? And Trang… where are you now?”

  Inside the small, worn-down four-level house, the warmth from a tiny charcoal stove wasn’t nearly enough to chase away the biting cold left behind by the earlier magical storm. The young demons who had just been warned by the royal-blooded figures were now huddled together in small groups. Their clothes were soaked, hair disheveled, and their faces pale with cold and fear.

  The father of the purple-layered-hair boy — a full-blooded scorpion spirit — stepped out from the inner room, his voice booming like thunder:

  – “What were you all thinking, daring to provoke members of the royal class? Are you out of your minds?!”

  The mother, also a scorpion spirit, quickly stepped in, her voice gentler but her eyes filled with worry:

  – “Enough. Don’t get involved with them anymore. Your father and I can’t shield you from that. You don’t understand who you’ve messed with.”

  The father gritted his teeth, then sighed heavily:

  – “Alright, go inside, eat something, and rest. As for the others, call their parents to pick them up before this turns into a bigger mess.”

  The mother looked around, her gaze landing on a group of trembling leopard-spirit teenagers. She shook her head:

  – “Heavens… Look at your hair, all green and red. Just playing around all day, not thinking about your future at all.”

  The red-haired girl lowered her head, voice shaking as if she were about to cry:

  – “It was Huy… He said they glared at him, so we followed them to check.”

  The father frowned deeply, asking each word with weight:

  – “So who are they… among the royal class?”

  The entire group looked at each other, faces drained of color, breaths tightening in their throats:

  – “Those two men… they’re vampire lords. One carries the elegance of British nobility, and the other has the aura of Qing Dynasty royalty… When they looked at us, it felt like knives stabbing straight into our hearts.”

  The father’s eyes widened, his expression shifting instantly:

  – “Good heavens… That’s Count Din and Yin — the Ch? L?n Chinese–Vietnamese vampires — his subordinates! Those two are tycoons in their own circles. You kids should be grateful you’re still alive.”

  The mother clutched her chest, her heartbeat racing:

  – “They’re terrifying forces. You all better behave yourselves. And that brat Huy — that centipede spirit — if he wants to cause trouble, let him. Stay away from him. As far away as possible, you hear me?”

  A storm rose inside their hearts, thunder rolling again as gusts of wind seemed to lash at their spirits. In the small house, the dim yellow bulb and the flickering light of the charcoal stove cast trembling shadows across the terrified faces of the teenagers — as if the eye of the storm from earlier had pushed straight into their chests and settled there.

  Late at night, the quiet alley echoed with the chirping of crickets. Huy, the centipede spirit, tiptoed down the stairs, his footsteps light as a cat. He glanced toward his parents’ room — the lights were completely off. After waiting a few seconds to be sure they were asleep, he slowly unlocked the door, stepped outside with his phone, and rushed into the backyard where a dim yellow bulb flickered above the porch. His fingers trembled as he dialed.

  Inside the four-level house, the group of soaked young demons sat around the charcoal stove, drying their hair and warming their hands, when the phone of the purple–layered–hair boy suddenly rang.

  He jolted, staring at the screen:

  – “It’s Huy — the centipede spirit — calling!”

  His father frowned deeply:

  – “What the hell does he want at this hour?”

  The boy answered and switched it to speaker. Huy’s voice came through, low and urgent, mixed with the sound of insects outside:

  – “What’s going on with you guys? Why hasn’t anyone called me back?”

  The orange-haired girl sneezed loudly, her voice irritated:

  – “We nearly died! You said ‘it’s fine’ — we almost lost our souls!”

  The buzz–cut boy with earrings sneezed as well, voice trembling:

  – “At first, I thought there were only two vampires like you said… and the rest were just low-ranking demons… But they were way higher than that!”

  The father, who had been smoking rolled tobacco, froze mid-inhale and narrowed his eyes:

  – “Who else was there? Say it clearly.”

  The purple-layered-hair boy swallowed hard, voice shaking:

  – “At first they looked like humans. But when we got close… their forms changed horribly.

  There was a white-skinned man with amber-brown eyes — his skin turned jet black, horns twisted out from his head, and a black diamond crown appeared between them. His eyes turned ruby-red, shining like fire!”

  The temperature in the room seemed to drop instantly, a cold wind sneaking in through the cracks. The red-highlight girl added with trembling voice:

  – “And the other one… long black hair, delicate face… but his eyes turned emerald-green with oval pupils. Half his face down to his neck was covered in pearly white scales. He wore a golden dragon crown inlaid with jade… beautiful but terrifying!”

  On the other end of the line, Huy went silent. Then his voice rose in panic:

  – “The one with white scales… that’s an ancient divine beast — a thousand-year serpent spirit, the White Serpent King of the old Xà Clan, originally from Ch? L?n! I met him once. As for the one with the spiraled horns… from what you described, he’s a demon. But I don’t know exactly who!”

  Hearing this, the father — a seasoned scorpion spirit — shot to his feet, hands trembling violently, voice cracking:

  – “Black diamond… Dear heavens… that’s the Royal Demon of France — the one imprisoned in the Infinite Hell by Lord Satan a thousand years ago! How could he be here?!”

  The teens fell speechless. The mother grabbed her chest, her heart pounding wildly:

  – “I once heard… his power rivals Lord Satan’s. Before he was captured, he commanded a galactic demon legion. His military genius… they called him the Black Diamond General.”

  Silence swallowed the entire house. The only sound was the wind howling outside.

  Suddenly, the orange-haired girl remembered something, her voice shaking:

  – “There were… two more. A young man with platinum-blond hair down to his waist, icy blue eyes… and a girl with golden-brown hair dressed like a Lolita princess.”

  The father froze, then collapsed into his wooden chair, the cigarette falling from his hand:

  – “My god… That’s Prince Arian and Princess Lita — the children of Lord Satan! Does this mean… they’re all gathering together… a new force is rising?!”

  The whole house fell into suffocating silence.

  Thunder rumbled in the distance — like a warning from the heavens about a coming convergence of supreme beings, preparing to shake both realms: human and demon alike.

  In the warm living room, Join was dozing on the sofa, half-asleep, when he suddenly woke and staggered toward the bathroom.

  After finishing, he intended to return to the soft couch — but the moment he opened the door, instead of the living room, he found himself facing another bathroom identical to the one he had just left. He rubbed his eyes, muttering to himself that he was just a bit tipsy.

  – “I only had a few cans of beer… there’s no way I’m drunk out of my mind.”

  He stepped into the next bathroom, then opened the door again — and once more, it was the same identical room. Panic struck him as he rushed forward, flinging open door after door in rapid succession. Within seconds, he had passed through nearly twenty adjacent bathrooms, each one a perfect, endless clone of the last.

  Breathing heavily, he froze, horrified.

  – “What the hell…? This is like a maze with no exit!”

  In desperation, he raised his right hand. A wooden magic wand materialized in his grip. With a flick, a stream of blue energy shot forward, shattering a shower stall and igniting a small fire in one of the rooms.

  But even as flames crackled and glass burst behind him, the path ahead remained unchanged — the infinite line of cold, identical bathrooms stretched on, unmoved, as if testing the limits of his sanity.

  Meanwhile, in another bedroom, Anh Ph??ng and Mary jolted awake at a sudden chill — the sharp scent of the sea. They blinked in confusion as the mattress beneath them split open, dropping them straight down — plunging into the deep, freezing abyss of the ocean, where crushing pressure squeezed their lungs mercilessly.

  They quickly summoned their wands; sparks of energy flickered weakly, powerless against the vast weight of the water surrounding them. The two girls clung to each other helplessly in the suffocating darkness.

  On the rooftop of the Gothic mansion, Erion sat on a black velvet sofa, the Black Crystal Mirror resting in his hands — a spatial mirror forged from solid black diamond and obsidian. Its surface shimmered with an eerie violet sheen, like a strip of endless void that devoured the light around it. Erion smiled in triumph, his voice cold:

  – “The era of charging in with battalions is long gone. These days, you strike at the deepest fears in their souls.”

  Beside him, Din sipped his whisky, sighing nostalgically.

  – “A thousand years ago, the Grand Commander led countless legions across the galaxies… and now those soldiers are under the command of your father-in-law.”

  Arian glanced at Trúc Di?n, eyes curious and slightly urging.

  – “Brother-in-law, when are you planning to make your move? If Lita acts first, it won’t be pleasant.”

  Trúc Di?n gently stroked the surface of the Tranquil Moon Mirror (T?nh Nguy?t B?ch Kính) — a spatial mirror crafted from white jade, pure quartz, and verdant jadeite. His voice was deep and cold, carrying resolve.

  – “I’m about to begin as well.”

  In the silence of the night, faint waves echoed from the Black Crystal Mirror — a whispering reminder that the battle of the mind had begun, and every mirror, every fear awakened, would determine who was still standing when dawn arrived.