The two fought like madmen,
earthquakes ripping through the land without pause.
From afar ..
no one could interfere.
All they could do...
was watch.
"This is bad .. if this continues, they’ll destroy all of Helmond!"
Izalith screamed, fully grasping the gravity of the situation.
But she suddenly fell silent.
She felt something ominous behind her.
"Yes... creatures like these must not be allowed to fight without restraints.
They are beings that should not exist in this world."
A deep, aged voice spoke from behind Izalith.
When she turned ..
he was already standing beside her.
A strange old man with a long white beard and features carved by extreme age.
He wore a filthy, long black robe,
his hands clasped calmly behind his back.
His clear blue eyes were fixed on the battle between Agaroth and Odin
as he stepped forward slowly.
"You... one of the Dukedom of Hell...
Maskeith..."
Izalith whispered his name.
Maskeith did not acknowledge her.
"This land has suffered enough,"
he said quietly.
"Do not ruin it further than you already have."
Maskeith extended both hands ..
one ignited with white power,
the other with black.
"Maskeith manipulates life and death:
The Realm Between Worlds."
He spoke ..
and released his power.
A wave of strange aura instantly enveloped the Demon King and Odin,
sealing them inside an isolated space where only the two of them ..
and Maskeith himself ..remained.
Realizing what had happened, both combatants retreated simultaneously and turned toward the old man.
At that moment, Odin’s eyes lit up.
"You... this aura ..
a subordinate of the First Author?"
Odin recognized him.
Maskeith bowed slightly, placing a hand over his chest.
"It is an honor to be recognized by the Pale Devastation himself."
Sealed within Maskeith’s domain of life and death ..
Helmond was finally safe.
At least...
for now.
"What are you doing standing beside the Demon King?"
Odin demanded angrily.
"Do you oppose me, despite knowing what I represent?"
Maskeith remained completely unfazed.
"I apologize, my lord," he replied calmly,
"but I stand beside the stronger side."
He then declared, without hesitation:
"And the strongest here...
is the Demon King—
and no one else."
At those words, Odin’s expression darkened.
What Maskeith had said was nothing short of an insult.
Meanwhile, Agaroth burst into laughter.
"Lord of the Great Ones," the Demon King mocked,
"it seems the world has forgotten you so thoroughly that you are now nothing more than a ghost clinging to life after it has abandoned you."
Agaroth clenched his fist, preparing to surge forward.
"Allow me to show you...
the true meaning of overwhelming power."
In response to the provocation, the pale mist around Odin flared violently as he, too, prepared to strike with everything he had.
"Let’s see how long you can keep that smile on your face."
At the same moment, the two charged toward one another at maximum speed ..
both wielding destructive power no being in this world could possibly endure.
Then ..
just as they were about to collide ..
both of them heard a sound.
A sound of shattering.
A cracking noise rippled through Odin’s body as fractures spread across him—
and he realized, in that instant...
that his time was over.
In the end ..
the Demon King’s arm pierced straight through Odin’s chest, emerging from his back, as the Lord of the Great Ones was unable to do anything to stop it.
At that moment, Odin laughed loudly.
Meanwhile, regret, frustration, and fury twisted Agaroth’s expression.
"It seems... my time has come to an end,"
Odin said with a wide smile, as the Demon King clenched his teeth.
"Are you mocking me, you filthy bastard?!"
Agaroth roared in rage.
"Pull yourself together and fight!"
"This battle has only just begun!"
The Demon King could not hide his disappointment.
Odin, however, continued to laugh as his body slowly shattered.
"Remember my words, Demon King,"
he said, murderous intent erupting from him.
"You will be the first."
"You will be the very first one I kill... once I return."
Odin delivered his threat as Agaroth’s body trembled.
"Come and try," the Demon King replied coldly.
"Your fate will be annihilation ..
to be devoured by the beast that devours all ."
The moment Agaroth gave his answer ..
Odin’s body exploded,
no longer able to maintain its presence in the physical world.
Yet he left behind a promise ..
that he would return.
For a moment, the Demon King remained standing in place,
disappointment clearly visible on his face.
Maskeith, meanwhile, said nothing.
Soon after, he dispelled his Realm of Life and Death.
In the end, there was no victor...
and no defeated.
Although Odin had held the advantage at the beginning,
he was unable to inflict any real damage upon the Demon King.
Likewise, Odin himself had still been capable of fighting ..
forcing their decisive confrontation to be postponed.
Yet Maskeith could not help but wonder...
what had driven the Great Ones to attack Helmond in such a manner?
The Demon World had suffered widespread devastation as a result of the battle.
The death toll was terrifying—
all of it caused by the clash of those monsters.
It was an incident the world would remember...
for a very long time.
---
...
...
...
Far from the battlefield ..
in one corner of the vast cosmos ..
a single man flew forward, speaking to himself in a deep, heavy voice.
"Yes... the Demon King was far stronger than we anticipated,"
the man said, his eyes glowing with a violet light.
"But I completed the mission successfully."
It was clear that he was communicating with someone ..
through something akin to telepathy.
"I will now head toward the continent.
The elite of the races are on the verge of breaching the labyrinths."
"We cannot allow them to discover the Legacy of the History Scribes before us."
The man continued forward.
"There is no need to worry.
I am the strongest among the Great Ones after our lord, Odin."
"Even if it is the First of the Seven Supreme Powers...
or the First Seat of the Demons..."
"I will deal with whoever stands in my way."
The Great One declared, heading toward the continent.
At that moment, a voice echoed from the other side of the connection.
"Be careful .. and do not fail...
Great One of Krat."
Upon hearing this, the body of the Great One of Krat flared with power
before he surged forward within a wave of dark energy.
That very night ..
the First Demon, Manos, was found dead under mysterious circumstances...
as the conflict within the Uncharted Continent
was on the verge of beginning.