Thanatos Nightborne .. an ancient monster who lived in the era that followed the Wars of Oblivion and the disappearance of the chroniclers of history.
A being synonymous with death itself.
It was said that he once led endless armies of the undead, spreading ruin and annihilation, extending his dominion across a vast expanse of the cosmos...
Thanatos was terrifying when it came to individual power .. but the true source of his danger lay in his armies, armies composed of exceptionally powerful beings he had personally slain.
Now, that monster had returned—his sights set on Amon.
The Eleventh-Rank High Demon barely had time to catch his breath, let alone avert his gaze, as Thanatos targeted him directly.
Amon managed to block Thanatos’ strike, but the sheer momentum sent him flying back a tremendous distance, crashing violently into the ground.
Steadying himself, Amon looked up at his new opponent, then flexed his arms one after the other.
"Just a single punch was enough to numb my arms..."
That first clash alone was sufficient for Amon to grasp the sheer magnitude of his opponent’s power .. and to realize his identity as well.
There were very few beings like Thanatos.
That ashen gray skin.
Eyes that were nothing but hollow sockets, glowing with a dark blue light.
And a mouth sewn shut with black thread, as if someone had tried to silence him.
"No doubt about it... You’re Thanatos, aren’t you?" Amon asked as Thanatos slowly approached.
"You... are strong. I intended to kill you with that blow."
The words escaped Thanatos’ mouth as a harsh, grating sound .. like whispers rising from hell itself.
Thanatos cast a glance at his opponent... then at the battlefield around them... and finally at himself.
"How many years has it been? How long was I gone?"
He clenched his fist as his aura surged dangerously.
In response, Amon activated his Transparent World, preparing for battle.
Yet Thanatos showed no reaction to it at all—continuing instead to observe his surroundings.
"I can’t sense the Soul Bearers... no, I should say they’ve changed. And then there’s that accursed Demon King..."
The moment Agaroth came to mind, naked rage surfaced across Thanatos’ twisted expression.
"He didn’t just take the Death Soul from me .. he dared to share it with another insignificant creature as well. That wretched beast...!"
Thanatos covered his face, concealing the distortion born of seething fury.
Fragments of Agaroth’s image slowly resurfaced in his memory .. the Demon King he had fought ages ago.
Despite Thanatos’ endless armies...
Despite the dozens of SSS-rank warriors and above he had personally gathered...
Despite wielding the Death Soul itself at the time...
None of it had been enough.
Agaroth annihilated them all, slaughtering them one by one.
It had been a brutal, earth-shattering battle .. yet no matter how hard Thanatos fought, he could not stop him.
The Demon King killed them all while laughing, reveling in the carnage ..
As if Thanatos were nothing more than an ordinary warrior, not the embodiment of death itself.
"Unforgivable..."
Thanatos ground his teeth as his aura erupted violently from nothingness, shock flashing across Amon’s face.
"Unforgivable!!"
He roared, his hollow eyes stabbing into the demon before him.
"Even thinking about that bastard enrages me .. and now you stand before me, reeking of the same filthy presence."
"I will slaughter you here and now, servant of that vile Demon King."
Thanatos raised his arm .. and a wave of darkness swept across the entire region.
Seconds later, the earth itself began to quake.
From beneath the soil, skeletal hands burst forth—bones of the long-dead, creatures whose time had ended countless years ago.
Yet they rose again, answering his call.
In mere moments, an army of the dead flooded the battlefield, while Thanatos charged straight at Amon, colliding with him in a cataclysmic clash.
At the same time...
Frey stood nearby, gripping Abraham tightly.
Abraham writhed in agony, utterly unsettling Frey .. Thanatos’ last movement had caused the black fog around him to violently churn.
It looked as though Abraham was fighting something within himself, desperately trying to resist it .. preventing it from spreading deeper.
Frey’s gaze darted between his father, the ongoing battle, and the undead army recklessly hurling itself at Amon.
His mind went blank .. unable to keep up with what was happening.
Then Gehrman’s voice cut through the chaos, snapping him out of it.
"This is your chance, Frey! Take your family and get out of here!"
Gehrman motioned for Frey to flee—but Frey showed no intention of agreeing.
"No. I’m not running."
He replied coldly as violet Soulfire ignited across his body, killing intent erupting from him.
"I don’t know what that monster is that appeared out of nowhere .. but I do know one thing. He’s an enemy of the demons."
Gripping the Dark Sister tightly, Frey rose slowly to his feet.
"If I return to the battlefield now, I can exploit this .. and kill Amon."
Frey had no intention of retreating, no intention of letting this opportunity slip away.
But Gehrman intervened once more.
"I don’t know exactly what you’re going through—but look carefully at what’s around you."
Standing before Frey with his exhausted body, Gehrman tried until the very end to stop him.
"Look at your father. Look at your sister. Think carefully, Frey Starlight .. is this really the right moment to throw yourself into a battle whose outcome you can’t possibly predict?"
As Gehrman spoke, skeletal figures began closing in around Ada, yet the barrier of the artifact protected her, forcing the undead back.
Even so, she remained trapped within that sea of death.
As for Abraham ..
He was suffering unimaginably.
And it was painfully clear that Thanatos was the cause .
"If you think Thanatos is an ally, then you’re gravely mistaken. That monster is an enemy to all living things. If he defeats Amon, he will immediately turn on the nearest living being and attempt to build a new army .. one to replace the one he lost in the past."
Gehrman spoke calmly, then shifted Frey’s attention back to Abraham.
"What’s happening to your father right now is because of him. Thanatos’ power is what restored Abraham’s body to life—and now he’s trying to reclaim it, to turn him into one of his followers. Your father is resisting... but there’s no guarantee he’ll endure if he stays this close."
Gehrman paused, then continued in a firm voice.
"Don’t rush ahead, Frey. What we accomplished today is more than enough. We killed three High Demons, including Wesker, and we released a direct enemy of the demons. That alone is something we can make use of .. but not in the way you’re thinking."
He placed a hand on Frey’s shoulder, appealing to him one last time.
"Think, Frey. Use your head. What matters most to you on this battlefield?"
For a brief moment, Frey and Gehrman stared at each other, the deafening explosions of the clash between Thanatos and Amon echoing around them.
Frey fell silent.
Then he clenched his fist.
"Damn it!"
He cursed, hoisting Abraham over his shoulder before instantly using short-range teleportation to appear beside Ada.
With a swift swing of his sword, Frey unleashed a violent wave of aura that obliterated all the corpses surrounding them. He then entered the barrier, pulling Ada close with his free arm.
Holding his family tightly, Frey finally yielded to Gehrman’s words.
Meanwhile, the battle between Amon and Thanatos intensified.
Thanatos possessed greater raw strength than Amon .. but having lost the Death Soul, he had been stripped of his most terrifying offensive weapon. That alone was what allowed the Eleventh-Rank Demon to barely hold his ground.
Even so, the battlefield descended into absolute chaos.
From nowhere ..
Frenzied blue flames rained down, engulfing Thanatos, as the colossal shadow of draconic wings spread across the entire battlefield.
Nito arrived in his monstrous form, rushing in to support Amon.
Amon was now fighting at full power .. yet he still refused to use his hidden, world-breaking ability, something that deeply unsettled Gehrman.
Gehrman had expected Amon to be forced to unleash it against Thanatos.
And yet—he hadn’t.
"What in the hell are you hiding, Eleventh-Rank Demon...?"
Gehrman muttered, retreating just as Fulghor descended from the sky at tremendous speed.
"Gehrman—we need to leave immediately. This is no longer our battle."
Gehrman nodded at once, agreeing without hesitation.