-Frey starlight POV-
It was strange.
Just moments ago, I had been fighting for my life .. a brutal, desperate battle against a demon that tore my body apart.
And yet… inside my mind, it felt as if only seconds had passed.
Now, I found myself in a different world.
A world of darkness.
My body was whole again uninjured, free of the horrific wounds I'd suffered just moments before.
But this place wasn't unfamiliar.
I'd been here before.
It was the same shadow realm I had entered when I used Third-Person Pov on Sansa.
The moment I realized that, a bitter nausea crept over me.
"Did I lose…?"
The presence of this darkness meant one thing .. the demon wasn't dead.
It was still alive… buried deep within.
"Even after using Ignition twice… it still wasn't enough?"
Impossible.
This wasn't even a full Demon Seed.
The entities inside those seeds were just fragments .. a tiny shard of will from the most powerful demons.
It shouldn't have had that kind of strength.
Those final blows should've been enough to destroy it completely.
But here I was…
Once again, wandering alone through the dark.
I wondered… what had happened to me?
I didn't think I was dead ..
Which meant something had pulled me into this shadow realm.
So all I could do now was wait.
Sit in silence.
Wait for the demon to show itself.
And so the minutes passed.
Then the hours.
One after another ..
I drifted alone through the void.
It felt like I would remain lost here forever.
But somehow, I kept my composure until the very end.
Why?
Because I wasn't alone.
From the very beginning, I had felt it ..
A presence watching me from a distance.
Its gaze was like sharpened blades piercing through my skin, stabbing not just my body… but my soul.
As if it were dissecting me .. studying every inch of who I was.
I didn't dare speak at first.
That presence… the pressure it exuded… the chill it sent down my spine .
I may still be just an insect compared to beings like them, But even I could tell the difference.
This wasn't the same demon I had fought before.
No… this was something else.
Something far worse.
Far more terrifying.
Then ..
As if reading my thoughts, a voice answered from the darkness.
"Very perceptive… Frey Starlight."
The demon's voice echoed beside my ear .. sending a shiver through my entire body.
It was a woman's voice.
"Who are you?!"
I shouted into the darkness.
And in response ..
The shadows smiled back.
Twin violet eyes ignited in the void, glowing with unnatural light as they locked onto me ..watching with eerie interest.
I knew this was some kind of inner realm.
A mental or spiritual space.
But still ..
Her presence alone was enough to make my whole body tremble.
And for some reason… I felt like I knew her.
The demoness circled me, eyeing me with a wide, amused grin.
"You know who I am. How interesting."
Her voice whispered beside my ear again, and I cursed under my breath.
She was reading my thoughts.
I didn't want to accept it.
But it was her…
The King's Shadow.
The third upper demon in their ranks ..
Vayne ..
Knowing her identity only made everything worse.
I was in real danger.
Before me stood a demoness at the peak of the SSS tier.
I couldn't do anything against her.
All I could do… was stand still and breathe.
Even if this world wasn't real—
Even if this form was just spiritual—
I was drenched in sweat.
And my heart wouldn't stop pounding.
"Frey… Frey… Frey…"
She kept repeating my name, her grin growing wider with every word.
"What's your secret, Frey Starlight?"
She stepped closer.
"What are you, really? What are you hiding?"
With every step she took, my chest tightened.
Until she stood just a few steps away—
And with each movement, I felt like my heart might burst.
"Tell me, Frey… why?"
"Why would a worthless little creature like you…"
"…draw the attention of the Great King?"
And at that moment ..
She was so close ..
Her face nearly touching mine.
That was when I saw it..
Just for a moment..
I caught a glimpse of her true form, and I froze completely, holding my breath in terror…
Terrified that any movement might bring about my end.
"The Demon King, Agaroth… has remained dormant for countless years.
He doesn't move, doesn't act ..just sits silently atop the tower.
No matter how fate surged or how this world trembled, He never lifted a finger. Unaffected. Unbothered. Untouched."
Vayne continued speaking .. her grin slowly fading.
"And then, out of nowhere… the King moved.
For the first time in millennia, he showed interest.
And the thing that caught his eye…
Was nothing more than a pitiful little creature.
A worthless human named Frey Starlight!!!"
She screamed ..
Her blackened hands seized my face, and a wave of power surged through me, flooding my entire body.
From the very beginning, I tried to react—
To resist.
To move.
To fight.
To run.
Anything.
But I couldn't.
Her presence alone crushed me, and she shouted into my face, raging:
"What are you hiding?! Why is the King interested in you?! What are you, Frey Starlight?!!"
From her hands, a dark force began to spread ..
It slithered into me like molten lava being injected straight into my soul.
The pain was beyond anything I had ever known.
All I could do was scream.
Scream, and try to escape.
But it was no use.
"Show me the truth!!! What are you hiding?!"
My spiritual body began to fracture under her pressure.
I felt myself slipping away ..
Felt death creeping in from all sides.
Vayne dark power wormed its way into the very core of me ..
To my essence.
To every fiber of my being.
Like fragile glass, I began to shatter.
I watched it happen slowly, agonizingly.
And the worst part .. Was that I could do nothing.
I was completely powerless.
I stood motionless before her, helpless…
Waiting for death.
It felt like this was the end ..
So amid my own screams, drowned beneath Vayne howling voice ..
I closed my eyes.
And waited for death's hand to carry me away.
Then, in just a few seconds ..
Everything shattered.
And I fell... Into the dark.
…
…
…
Frey Starlight's screams ceased ..
The moment his being broke apart completely.
But right then…
Vayne eyes .. those of the third-ranked upper demon .. flew wide open as she stared at the terrifying phenomenon unfolding before her.
Just moments ago, Frey had been trapped within her domain ..
A shadow realm conjured by the King's Shadow, a power given to her by the Demon King Agaroth himself.
But somehow…
Frey broke it.
He released a terrifying surge of power that completely overwhelmed her.
A sea of violet aura exploded from within him, flooding the entire space.
"His darkness… it's overwhelming mine?!"
Vayne stared in disbelief.
Frey's power now surrounded her ..
And she was the one trapped inside his domain.
Not the other way around.
For a moment, Vayne was so stunned that she forgot what she was even holding.
When she finally snapped out of it ..
When she looked again at the human in her grasp ..
She realized…
It wasn't Frey anymore.
When had it changed?
How?
She had no idea.
But her eyes didn't lie.
The being now before her…
Was someone entirely different.
White hair.
A shadowy form.
A face hidden behind a terrifying black mask.
She was still holding him.
He sat there quietly, deep within the abyss.
Then ..without warning .. he raised his head slowly.
Their eyes met.
In that moment…
Vayne felt something she hadn't felt in centuries.
Her expression froze ..
As if death itself had touched her.
That presence.
That face.
That mask.
She recognized it.
And that…
Was what terrified her most.
She tried to flee ..
Staggering back instantly.
But a formless power gripped her in place.
Even at her level—SSS rank—
Even with all her power—
She couldn't move.
All she could do was tremble where she stood.
It was almost laughable .. how quickly the roles had reversed.
She, a demoness who stood atop the world…
Now shaken to her core by a human.
A human who radiated the same presence ..
As her great king, Agaroth.
Because he was the only one who had ever emanated something like this.
"…So this is the truth… you're the one…"
Vayne recognized him.
"So that's why the King is interested in you…"
She had finally found the answer.
"You're …"
She was about to say his name ..
But in that moment, he raised his hand toward her.
And in the very next instant, the entire world trembled at his command.
A storm of overwhelming force surged forth ..
A terrifying power that tore through the third upper demon in existence, destroying her completely.
True, Vayne didn't die ..this was only a spiritual projection of her form.
But that didn't change the fact.
She had just been utterly obliterated…
By a human.
A young man named Frey Starlight.
And the moment he erased her…
The man lowered his head again, slipping back into silence ..
As the dark world around them collapsed once more.
Everything fell still, as if the realm itself now waited quietly…
For the return of that ancient will.