On the roof, Jakery noticed something was forming. It was almost invisible, but he could make the outlines of something standing over it.
He kept his eyes on it, hoping to confirm his suspicion. After staring at the anomaly for a few minutes, he finally saw it taking shape.
It kneeled down, then Syndicate Dust gave its colorless body some color. Jakery saw it was a Distorted standing over the home.
The Distorted stared right back at Jakery. He could feel his body twitch just by standing in its eyesight, so he diverted his gaze around the home.
He realized no one was paying attention to the Distorted. As a matter of fact, no one noticed the entity up there. It was like he was the only one who could see the Distorted.
It pointed an arm at Jakery with a closed fist. He realized the Distorted had something in its hand. That something being Tellendor, Ether's weapon.
The Distorted held it up high so Jakery could get a clear look at the thing. Then it vanished, along with Tellendor.
This encounter was odd. The Distorted didn't show signs of aggression towards Jakery, nor behaved as if it was being fed, it didn't even cause the feeling of dread.
Jakery brushed it off as his mind playing tricks on him, he did see a Distorted earlier during the entire defense against the Light Legion.
But just as he turned around, he caught the same Distorted in the corner of the room. It was upside down, as if it was hanging from something, using its legs to keep it up.
"HEY, DISTORTED RIGHT THERE!" Jakery warned the rest.
Valentine and Pearl turned to look at the corner of the room Jakery was looking at, but there was nothing there.
"Distorted?" Pearl looked back at Jakery. "Relax, you probably got some type of trauma from earlier. I watched that Distorted raise from no where and kill so many of them."
"Did you just say, 'them?' Are they not your allies?" Valentine asked.
Pearl smiled. "I'm Legionless now. If you want me to pledge loyalty, all you have to do is ask. I've had enough of that Legion!" she laughed.
While they were talking, Jakery kept scanning the room for the Distorted. He wasn't sure if it was real or not, but he still needed to be careful.
Then something strange happened. Jakery looked down at Ether's body, he wanted to make sure he was still breathing properly. But then he opened his eyes and sat up.
It caught them all by surprise, but Ether wasn't phased. He simply stared blankly at the wall in front of him, as if someone was standing there talking to him.
"Hey, you doing good?" Ether asked.
Jakery carefully walked up to Ether, then tapped him on the shoulder. But he didn't respond.
"That's awful, really? Well, are you okay?" he continued talking to no one.
Pearl snapped her fingers, trying to catch Ether's attention. But that also didn't work, he kept talking to no one.
"Oh good, good. Where is it?"
Valentine tried to gently push Ether back down onto the bed, but when he touched Ether. He felt his body get drained of any warmth, the color in his flesh and eyes disappeared completely.
"THANK YOU!" Ether excitedly said. "Give it to me, please."
All three watched as Tellendor came out of nowhere and placed itself into his hand. Then Ether smiled at the wall, thanking whatever he was talking to.
He yawned, then placed Tellendor leaning against the wall next to his bed. Ether calmly laid back down and closed his eyes.
"...What the hell just happened?" Pearl shockingly asked.
Valentine didn't bother asking questions, he wanted to continue doing his role inside the room. He placed his index finger back inside the wound.
"What if that Distorted wasn't fake, what if it talked to Ether directly?" Jakery tried to make sense of the situation.
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes until they heard the floor creek behind them. In unison, they turned their heads and right behind them was who they least expected.
Demon Coros stood there, silently. Everyone was too shocked to mention his naked body, and odd transformation. It was as if that wasn't Demon, it was someone similar.
But Jakery and Valentine silently agreed this was Demon himself. The same one Ether accidentally killed. He moved his head to look at everyone's faces.
"H - hello..? Demon, is that... you?" Jakery cautiously asked.
Demon shifted his gaze to Jakery. "Define 'you.'" he responded in a rough voice.
"Are you... Demon, as in my brother?" Jakery responded.
He looked down at himself, making sure he was in one piece. "I am not, but I also am. I've made peace with my Distorted side, now we're one."
"So you're saying you resisted the Broken Melody in its entirety?" Valentine asked Demon.
Demon chuckled. "Such fine music is rare to come across."
"There's no way, how did you do this? Do you remember your past? What were you doing when you weren't with us? Are you sure you're Demon?" Valentine was shocked.
"When Ether cut me down, I woke up on the Fourth Rule's abyssal black hand. It looked down to me and explained what was my new purpose. I know why I'm here, but do you?" Demon responded.
Pearl walked up to Demon. "So you're saying, the Fourth Rule remade you?"
"And the Fifth," Demon added. "Death is just a time out now, why should I care if my head gets cut off? As long as I continue to be their vessel, I'll be immortal."
Valentine carefully examined Demon's body, he still couldn't believe he was still alive. But in a strange way, it made sense.
Demon withstood the early stages of the Broken Melody, survived the aftermath, managed to interact with the Syndicate Dust freely. And even interacted with the Fourth and Fifth Rules.
The Fourth Rule states only it can recreate, create, and destroy things completely. And the Fifth Rule of Reality states everything has a birth and a death, nothing is forever.
But if Demon was telling the truth, then the Fourth Rule recreated his body and alternated it completely. While the Fifth Rule allowed him to stand in the grey area between life and death.
Pearl and Jakery didn't understand why would the Rules do such a thing. But Valentine did. He knew the Rules experimented on them because they wanted to understand better.
If Demon was the vessel, then all Nine Rules were capable of indirectly interacting with them. But for now, no one was sure if it was true.