“You already have magic superior to that of anyone else you will face,” Zomuri said.

“True, but I can still die, and my enemies are clever and savage. Give me the power over death, my lord. You and I both know that I’m your best chance at achieving what you’ve craved for centuries—the entire mainland united under your name. The people of the world will worship you and offer all their riches for your blessings. There will be no god as loved as you’re loved. No god as wealthy and glorified as you. If you grant me invincibility, I can all but guarantee this to you.”

“Invincibility . . .” The god pulled on his beard as he contemplated Prince Gin’s offer. “Perhaps I could do that. But it would cost you.”

“What do you want?” Prince Gin said.

Sora held her breath as she waited for Zomuri to reply to the prince. Anyone who knew anything about the Kichonan gods knew that Zomuri loved only three things: blood, glory, and treasure.

“I want your soul,” the god said.

Prince Gin crossed his arms. “Choose something else. If I give you my soul, then it won’t get to rest in the afterlife if I die before reaching the Evermore.”

Zomuri chuckled, and it shook the room. Sora and Daemon had to let go of the doors or the handles would jiggle too much and give them away.

“You speak of your research,” the god said, “but for a man who prides himself as a scholar of Kichonan legend, you are woefully undereducated. You must not have read the legend Dassu and the Warrior.”

Daemon whispered to Sora, “I’ve heard that one before. . . .”

Zomuri, in the meantime, continued speaking to Prince Gin. “If you had, you would know that you are condemned to the same fate. Ten years ago, when you were on the cusp of death and your soul traveled down the final tunnel of light, you caught a glimpse of the glittering emerald magic that awaited you there. But instead of crossing the threshold to the afterlife, you reached in, stole the ability to see the magic, and brought it back to this life, where it is not supposed to be used in so powerful a manifestation. Do you really think the gods will let your soul rest in peace after that?”

Daemon threaded his hands through his hair and tugged on the blue locks. “That’s how he got ryuu magic?”

Sora just stared through the keyhole. She didn’t know it was possible to go to the brink of death like that and return, let alone steal an ability like Sight from the afterlife.

Prince Gin seemed equally stunned by what Zomuri had said but for a different reason. “If I die without agreeing to your terms, my soul is condemned to the hells?”