Between Two Worlds... That was the title of a struggle that ended in tragedy within just one world .
But the world itself was deeply divided, and everyone lived their own version of the tale.
On the desolate side, steeped in the scent of death, beneath lifeless skies and over a barren land, the march of a great army thundered forward ... its cavalry unleashing an aura of raw intimidation.
The knights of this host wore black armor emblazoned with cryptic insignias. At their head rode a towering figure in golden armor ... infamous across the continent: Godfrey, Lord of the Ultras.
His army, one of the strongest known, now marched toward a new battlefield.
But their opponent wasn't an army. It was just one man.
As they advanced further, the Ultras finally reached a strikingly distinct zone ... one marked by a towering barrier stretching into the sky.
A cadre of mages rushed out to greet them.
"We welcome the Highblood."
"Where is he?" Godfrey's voice bore no patience, only battlelust.
The mages understood. They led without delay.
"Still within the barrier, as always ... wandering aimlessly, waiting for new prey."
Godfrey snarled, signaling his forces to prepare.
Their enemy was a monstrous entity hailed as the strongest among the Hollow: Pontiff sulyvahn.
Let there be no misunderstanding ... this was no ordinary foe. He was something else entirely.
Pontiff sulyvahn possessed no awareness of his surroundings. He couldn't be spoken to, reasoned with, or communicated with in any form.
He would simply attack anything in sight.
He was once human. No one knows how that changed.
sulyvahn had slaughtered legions of men and beasts alike.
He had turned entire provinces into wastelands ... so much so that the greatest Ultras mages had constructed colossal barriers to trap him in a vast expanse.
His prison was the size of a nation, its boundaries maintained by mages working round the clock.
These barriers emitted a suppressive aura that usually repelled predatory beasts—but surprisingly, they proved effective against Pontiff Sulyvahn in the past.
And so, for a very long time, Pontiff Sulyvahn wandered alone across that land, after slaughtering everything within it.
A prison the size of a country, built for one man. That's how great a calamity the Pontiff was.
Now, he was their target.
Godfrey commanded his army to ready themselves. They passed through the barrier and entered the sealed zone.
It was said that sulyvahn could sense anyone stepping into his prison.
But no one saw or felt anything at first.
"Find him... now," Godfrey ordered.
Mages quickly triangulated his location.
He was far away ... hundreds of kilometers out ... dragging his enormous sword behind him.
The Ultras began their assault.
Their arsenal included arcane cannons and other weapons of unspeakable power.
Every resource they had was aimed at a single target.
Spells were cast, sonic waves charged, and the magical artillery roared to life. A rain of destruction blackened the sky.
All of it fell upon the Hollow.
An earth-shattering explosion followed, a shockwave cresting skyward.
They had hit him. That much was certain.
The cannons could damage even SS class entities. Surely, he had taken some harm.
A flicker of hope stirred.
"Did we get him?" someone asked.
Then silence.
Followed by dread.
A suffocating killing intent crept into their bones.
The feeling of imminent death settled over the soldiers like a second skin.
Godfrey stepped forward, twin greatswords gleaming.
"He's coming."
They couldn't see him yet ...but the deathly aura closing in was all the proof they needed.
In the end, they trembled where they stood, deep within the barren lands, as a horrifying roar tore through the air.
Moments later, they saw him ... charging from the distance like a feral beast.
A single man, sprinting on three limbs, dragging a colossal greatsword behind him, its weight carving a trail through the earth.
He wore a full suit of armor, rusted and eroded by some kind of dark energy, and atop his helmet sat a crimson plume.
But none of that mattered.
"Raaaaaaaggh!!"
The monstrous scream intensified as he entered their range. They bombarded him instantly with countless magical attacks, tearing apart the ground around him ... yet he never stopped.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAGHGHGH!!"
The sheer weight of his killing intent was enough to make even the most battle-hardened warriors tremble. Among them, Godfrey charged forward—toward Pontiff Sulyvahn.
Godfrey unleashed his full power, flooding the battlefield with gravitational and earthen aura to crush his enemy beneath the weight of his might.
Ultras Lord versus Hollow.
Both of them thundered toward each other, their roars growing more savage with every step.
In seconds, Godfrey found himself face to face with Pontiff Sulyvahn ... only those terrifying eyes visible through the cracks in his helm.
And then the world shook.
Godfrey's twin swords clashed against Sulyvahn's massive greatsword.
Godfrey ...revered as the strongest tank alive, said to be able to withstand both Oliver Khan and Ivar Valerion at once ..was believed to be invincible in raw physical combat.
But jaws dropped in horror when he was hurled into the sky with a single blow.
That mountain of a man, weighing tons, flew through the air before crashing violently, tearing through the terrain and leaving a gaping dent in his armor.
There was no time for shock.
Because the monster was already there.
Pontiff Sulyvahn ... having launched the strongest among them like a ragdoll .. now stood before the rest of Godfrey's army.
Thousands strong, they suddenly looked small ..insignificant ...when the Pontiff's scream thundered once more.
He leapt into the air, spiraling mid-flight, and brought his greatsword down in a sweeping arc of devastation.
Flesh and bone were torn apart in an instant.
Within seconds, he had carved his way deep into their ranks, tearing everything in his path to pieces.
From the beginning, recruiting him had been a fool's hope. The only plan was to eventually unleash him upon the Empire's forces at the right moment.
But they had made a critical mistake.
They had underestimated him.
Godfrey rushed back into the fray ...but Sulyvahn was still slaughtering his soldiers with primal savagery.
He bit and devoured them through the mouth-slit of his bloodstained helmet.
It was a massacre.
…
…
…
The Empire – Alcatraz Prison
Alcatraz was the Empire's largest prison, sealed with powerful enchantments that distorted the senses and stretched the perception of time.
Three months ago, it received one of its youngest inmates ever ..a seventeen-year-old boy.
Strangely, he showed no fear of the infamous prison that loomed before him.
From the moment he parted ways with Phoenix Sunlight, Frey Starlight was dragged to his cell.
A narrow, empty room with no bed—just a chair and a toilet in the corner.
Frey spent most of his time there, seated with a vacant expression, often found staring into the void. He did nothing else.
No torture was applied at first. That was Alcatraz's method: the first month, equivalent to an entire year for the senses, was pure isolation between four suffocating walls.
This psychological tactic was highly effective, often breaking inmates before the real pain even began.
Thus, the first "month" passed.
Then came the second.
And at that point, Frey felt as if a full year had gone by.
The second phase began.