Location: Valerius, The White Bastion – Capital City of Frontierra
The massive, iron-wrought gates of Valerius groaned open, revealing the sprawling, majestic heart of the Frontierra Kingdom. The Capital City was a marvel of pristine white stone architecture, towering spires, and aqueducts that sparkled with enchanted, crystal-clear water. But today, the usual bustling commerce of the city was paused.
The streets were lined thick with tens of thousands of citizens, their faces a mix of desperate hope and profound relief.
Leading the procession was the Church Hero, Lucius. He rode atop a heavily armored white stallion, his platinum blonde hair and flawless silver-and-gold armor catching the noonday sun. He looked exactly as the legends described—a divine incarnate, completely untouched by the horrors of the battlefield.
Dragging heavily behind his horse, bound in a cocoon of searing, golden chains, was General Vane.
During the long march back from the Northern fortress, the legendary traitor had regained consciousness and violently attempted to break free. He had surged his abyssal mana, attempting to shatter the binds with pure, unadulterated brute force. But Lucius’s anti-magic chains were an absolute tier above Vane’s capabilities. Every time Vane pushed against them, the holy runes etched into the metal flared, burning his flesh and suppressing his core until he was forced back to his knees. Now, Vane walked in grim, defeated silence, a dark stain against the pristine streets of the Capital.
As the surviving Holy Knights and Church Heroes marched behind them, the crowd erupted into cheers, tossing rose petals and waving the Kingdom’s crest. But for the Vanguard, the cheers sounded like ash falling on a grave.
Commander Gideon walked near the front of the formation, his heavy shield strapped to his back. His face, usually set in a mask of stoic leadership, was lined with dark shadows of profound depression. His eyes scanned the crowd, noting the family members of the knights who had marched out with them weeks ago.
Then, Gideon’s heart twisted violently in his chest.
Standing near the edge of the barricade was Tomas’s family. Gideon recognized them immediately. A mother with deep worry lines, a father clutching his cap in calloused hands, and a little sister wearing a patched dress, holding a small bouquet of wildflowers. They were straining their necks, their eyes darting desperately from knight to knight, hopefully searching for the dual-wielding hero who would never come home.
When the mother’s frantic gaze finally met Gideon’s, the Commander couldn't bear it. He swallowed the bitter bile in his throat and accidentally—shamefully—looked away, staring fixedly at the cobblestones beneath his boots. The realization of what his averted gaze meant slowly dawned on the woman's face, and her hopeful expression shattered.
Further back in the ranks, Elias walked like a perfectly calibrated automaton.
To the cheering citizens, the young, cyan-eyed Church Hero looked perfectly normal. He marched in step, his posture straight. But inside his mind, his sanity was hanging by a frayed, terrifying thread. His heart was hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. Every time a citizen waved a red banner, Elias violently flinched.
His mind was racing with a continuous, looping nightmare. He didn't hear the cheering crowd; he only heard the sickening crunch of Crimson Scarlet’s bone scythe shearing through armor. When he blinked, he didn't see the white walls of Valerius; he saw Scarlet's glowing, manic crimson eyes staring directly into his soul, paralyzing him with an absolute, predatory killing instinct.
Even now, Elias’s right hand, resting on the pommel of his sword, was trembling so violently it rattled against his scabbard.
"Elias!" a voice called out.
Elias snapped his head up. Standing near the inner bailey were his parents, waving frantically, tears of joy streaming down their faces. His mother rushed past the guards, throwing her arms around his neck. "Oh, thank the Goddess! You're safe!"
Elias hugged her back. He forced the corners of his mouth to curve upward into a smile. But it was entirely lifeless. His eyes remained vacant, utterly hollowed out by the sheer magnitude of the fear he had witnessed.
Location: Valerius Royal Castle - The Outer Courtyard
Waiting at the steps of the grand royal palace were the Royal Knights, the elite guard of the King, clad in heavy gold-trimmed armor.
As Lucius brought the prisoner to a halt, the Captain of the Royal Guard stepped forward, unfurling a scroll with the royal seal. "Lord Lucius. The Crown extends its eternal gratitude. Under the supreme law of Frontierra, any Summoned Hero who betrays humanity and defects to the Abyss is to be granted no mercy. The King and the High Judges demand immediate execution in the public square."
Vane didn't even blink at the proclamation.
But Lucius raised a single, silver-gauntleted hand, silencing the Captain. "The punishment will be delayed."
The Captain frowned, visibly taken aback. "My Lord... the law is absolute."
"The law of mortals bends to the necessities of the divine," Lucius replied, his tone chillingly even. He looked down at Vane. "A Hero does not abandon the Light without a catalyst. Before his soul is extinguished, I will personally interrogate him. I will know exactly why he betrayed his kin, and what secrets the Demon Lord shared with him. Secure him in the deepest, magic-nullifying cell of the Grand Cathedral."
Lucius's word was absolute. The Royal Knights bowed their heads, stepping aside to let the Church Hero drag the traitor into the darkest depths of the capital.
Location: The Internal System Partition - The Memoryscape
For the past seventy-two hours, Sofia Vileblood, the Blood-Drenched Demon Lord, had been a passenger inside Kyouya’s soul.
When Nova had partitioned her consciousness, Sofia expected to be trapped in a void of endless code or darkness. Instead, due to the symbiotic nature of the assimilation, she found herself drifting as a phantom observer through a vast, intricate theater of Kyouya’s repressed memories.
And the world she saw was utterly alien to her.
Sofia walked through what the boy called "Earth." She stared in awe and confusion at the towering spires made entirely of glass and steel, touching skies polluted with grey smog. She saw carriages made of metal that roared without horses, moving at terrifying speeds down black, paved rivers. The technology of this civilization was incredibly advanced, practically devoid of magic but bursting with mechanical miracles.
But the miracles of the world were violently overshadowed by the tragedy of the boy.
She watched a memory of Kyouya when he was just twelve years old—a completely ordinary, somewhat quiet child in a secondary school uniform. He was sitting at a dinner table, laughing with his parents. But the memory shifted rapidly, the warm colors draining into cold blues and greys. The childish, genuine smile on Kyouya’s face faded away, replaced by an expression of numb shock.
His parents had abandoned him. There was no grand demonic attack, no noble sacrifice. Just the mundane, crushing cruelty of adults walking away from their child, leaving him a meager sum of money and locking the door behind them.
Sofia, a being of absolute power, watched in silence as the twelve-year-old boy was forced to walk his own path. She watched him pack his small bag, wandering the concrete labyrinth of the city. He found a small, rundown dormitory to live in. The rent was more than he could afford, but a kind, elderly woman—the dormitory owner—took pity on the young, polite boy. She significantly reduced his rent, giving him a small, cramped room that smelled of old wood and dust.
From that day on, Kyouya's life became a desperate grind for survival. Sofia watched him walk from shop to shop, bowing his head, asking for part-time work. Most owners took one look at his young age and shooed him away, citing labor laws.
Finally, a small, warmly lit cake bakery took a chance on him.
The contrast was jarring to Sofia. The boy who possessed the [Absolute Gluttony of Everything], the monster who could eat Immortal beings and erase existence, spent his teenage years wearing a white apron, quietly and meticulously icing sweet strawberry shortcakes.
Despite his independence, Kyouya was starved. Not for food—the kind Auntie often left bowls of hot rice and soup at his door—but for connection. He had no friends his own age. The grueling schedule of school and work left him utterly isolated. He never spoke to anyone beyond polite customer service greetings.
To escape the crushing boredom and loneliness of his reality, Kyouya turned to manga. Sofia watched him sit on his thin mattress, completely absorbed in beautifully drawn books about other worlds—worlds filled with magic, Systems, and purpose. He wanted to leave Earth. He wanted to be Summoned.
One rainy evening, Kyouya found a shivering, soaking-wet kitten abandoned in an alleyway. Unable to help himself, he tucked the tiny creature inside his jacket and brought it home, adopting it as his sole companion. He would talk to the cat while doing his homework, sharing his meager dinners with it.
Watching from the ethereal distance of the memoryscape, Sofia’s crimson cape fluttered in an imaginary wind.
He is an anomaly capable of breaking the world's laws, Sofia thought, staring at the teenage Kyouya petting the sleeping kitten. But beneath all that terrifying code and gluttony... he is still just an abandoned, deeply lonely child.
Location: Floor 1 - The Outland Dungeon Exit
Suddenly, the modern world of glass and steel shattered like a fragile mirror.
[PROCESS COMPLETE: Entity Manifestation Successful.]
[Partition Closed.]
Sofia gasped, her eyes snapping open. She felt the heavy, dense mana of the Dungeon rush back into her lungs. The cold stone beneath her boots, the weight of her gothic dress, the hum of her own Immortal blood—she was back in her physical form.
She stood near the cavernous, sunlit exit of the Outland Dungeon.
A few feet away, Kyouya Kusanagi was stretching his arms over his head, popping his shoulders. The dark-suited teenager turned around, his golden-ringed violet eyes locking onto her.
"Well," Kyouya said, offering a tired but arrogant smirk. "You're out. Took exactly seventy-two hours. And Nova successfully copied a massive chunk of your skill tree, so I'd call this kidnapping a massive success."
He paused, his smirk faltering slightly as he noticed her expression.
Sofia wasn't glaring at him with her usual aristocratic disdain or demonic fury. Instead, her eyes were soft, holding a heavy, melancholic sadness as she looked at him. Yet, despite the sorrow in her gaze, her oppressive, terrifying aura remained an undeniable fact of her existence.
Kyouya shifted uncomfortably, crossing his arms. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Sofia remained silent for a moment, the image of the lonely boy in the bakery flashing through her mind. She slowly closed her eyes, offering a faint, almost maternal smile that Kyouya had never seen before.
"Nothing, Kyouya," the Demon Lord whispered softly, stepping out of the shadows and into the sunlight. "I am just... finally seeing you for what you truly are."
✦✦✦