The light at the end of the tunnel... had finally gone out.
Leaving behind only darkness, and an unbearable emptiness within Frey Starlight's broken body.
The temple was thrown into complete chaos after the recent catastrophe, while efforts were made to cover up the incident as much as possible after the entire capital witnessed the enormous aura pillar that shattered the very sky itself.
As if the uproar from the Victoriad and its shocking finale hadn't been enough...
Ivar Valerion, dressed in his formal suit, moved with a contingent of soldiers toward a deep point within the temple.
After passing through many guards, Ivar began descending a long staircase leading to the underground floors.
Deeper and deeper he went, down into the temple's hidden layers beneath the earth.
Finally, he reached the lowest and deepest point.
There, in a massive underground hall, dozens of personnel were scattered about, busy operating all kinds of arcane machinery.
With a grim face, Ivar Valerion pushed through the crowd and approached a woman in her thirties sitting at the forefront.
"Report," he said curtly.
The woman stood and answered promptly:
"No change in his condition. He hasn't resisted at all... but he shows no willingness to cooperate either. It's like he's nothing more than a lifeless corpse. No matter what we do, he shows no reaction whatsoever."
"You're telling me... that all of you couldn't extract information from a seventeen-year-old boy?"
Ivar's voice sharpened with anger.
"You don't understand, sir. That boy ... his body is something I've never seen before," she replied, grimacing.
"What about magic? Did you attempt a memory search?"
Some sorcerers could force those weaker than themselves to speak everything they knew.
Yet even so, the woman's expression tightened further.
"We tried. It didn't work. He…"
She hesitated, then continued.
"He withstood it. No, he didn't even react to mind control spells at all."
As if their attempts hadn't even reached him.
Ivar heard enough.
"I'll handle it myself."
He pressed deeper inside.
Past a thick iron gate and into even darker depths.
There, behind massive steel bars, was a single chamber.
Chains .. massive, heavy chains ..writhed across the floor like serpents, all of them binding one man.
With disheveled white hair, a wrecked body, and eyes that held no trace of life.
Chained and shackled beyond imagination.
"Frey Starlight..."
The one responsible for the recent disaster.
Ivar stared at him, a hint of disbelief in his eyes.
Is this really the same boy?
He still remembered the day Frey had sat across from him, speaking to him, intriguing him, making him wonder what kind of future awaited this boy.
And yet this... was what it all led to.
Ivar felt a chill race down his spine.
The boy's face now looked terrifying. Madness lingered in those dead eyes.
"Frey Starlight, are you enjoying your stay here?"
Ivar stood before him, speaking.
"You really messed up this time, Frey."
You caused a disaster.
"Thirty eight people dead. Twenty-five women, thirteen men. Nurses. Guards. That's your kill count, Frey. Do you even understand what that means?"
A murderer.
Someone who had slaughtered the innocent with nothing but his bare hands.
"Ordinarily, I'd have you executed immediately. What you've done is more than enough to warrant it.
But tell me ...
Is this truly what you want to become, Frey Starlight?"
"..."
Frey didn't utter a single word.
Still staring vacantly at the ground, bound by chains.
"A murderer?
Just another criminal who strangles his victims with his bare hands?"
Ivar's words didn't reach him.
In a flash, Ivar grabbed Frey's face roughly, forcing him to look up.
"Don't play games with me, Starlight. Do you really think you'll get away with claiming insanity?"
He squeezed Frey's face harshly.
"After killing all your victims...
you went ahead and unleashed that... thing."
Ivar Valerion was finally getting to the important points.
"Awakened at C+ rank... yet unleashed an SS rank attack that shattered the temple's dome in a single second..."
It was an event that defied all logic.
But the number of witnesses was far from small.
"What are you hiding, Frey Starlight?"
Ivar's hand struck Frey's face hard.
"A power like that... coming from someone with mere A rank talent."
Slap!
"A force that nearly obliterated the temple and not just killing thirty-eight people."
Slap!
"It could have wiped out thousands."
Slap!
Ivar slapped Frey's face repeatedly until the boy's cheek swelled, blood dripping endlessly from his mouth.
Yet those eyes never blinked, only further fueling Ivar's anger.
"At this level, you've risen to become a potential threat to the Empire itself. I should kill you right here with my own hands... yet I'm giving you a chance."
Holding Frey's bloodied face still, he continued:
"Think carefully before you answer. You won't just bring death upon yourself... your entire family will fall with you if you're condemned any further."
Ivar tried to force Frey into speaking.
"How did you unleash that attack? A demonic contract?!"
He roared, punching Frey again.
"Did you make a contract with the Ultras?"
Punch!
"Did you sell your body for cursed power?"
Punch!
"Only to turn around and slaughter your own kin?"
Punch!
"Answer me! What's your secret? What are you hiding?!"
There was no logical explanation.
No matter how he thought about it, the only answer that made sense was a demonic contract .. a pact of the highest, most insane level.
And yet even that possibility seemed absurd; Frey showed no signs, and even the Church hadn't detected anything.
The entire matter was an unfathomable mystery .. one only Frey himself knew the answer to.
"Speak!!"
"Have you truly sunk so low as to sell your soul for mere power?!"
Ivar couldn't get a single word out of the boy.
Until, suddenly, for the first time ... something changed.
"Hehehe... hehehehehehehehehehehehehe..."
He laughed.
Frey laughed.
A broken, hollow laugh while staring blankly at Ivar, as if mourning everything.
"I tried to die."
Frey finally spoke.
"I wanted to die, hahaha... but even that choice was stolen from me."
"Not only did they take everything from me, they even robbed me of death itself... so what the hell am I supposed to do now?"
Frey laughed harder, while Ivar's frown deepened into a scowl.
"What the hell are you saying?"
"You should've let me do it."
Frey kept laughing uncontrollably.
"You should've let me erase this damned world. Now, you'll all live long enough to see hell alongside me! What a damn ending!"
"What the..."
"You're all going to die anyway!"
What was he even saying?
"Every last one of you... but I'm the only one who can't."
Frey Starlight clenched his teeth and screamed:
"IGNITION!"
But nothing happened.
"You see? The cursed snake binds my body."
"Shut that damned mouth of yours."
With a brutal punch, Frey's head snapped backward, swinging back and forth.
Yet even then, he kept laughing .. groaning and chuckling like a madman.
"There's no point anymore... it's already over."
"I said SHUT UP!"
Ivar pulled out a muzzle and strapped it onto Frey's face, forcibly silencing him.
Even with the muzzle in place, Frey continued to laugh and moan in broken, eerie sounds.
While Ivar Valerion couldn't fully comprehend what was happening.
What could have possibly driven that boy to such madness?
And what exactly had he been ranting about earlier?
Ivar eventually lost hope in the boy, leaving him behind.
As soon as he returned to the massive hall, Ivar let out a helpless sigh.
How had that boy managed to get under his skin like this? How had his body trembled with such insanity?
Just... what exactly was he?