Nameless’ voice came calm... yet filled with something deeper.
"I couldn’t do it."
"I couldn’t burn your soul completely... because the moment it ignited—
the moment I gained that power..."
"...another flame ignited inside me."
He paused.
"I was enraged. Overwhelmed by anger and sorrow... to the point I wanted nothing but to destroy Agaroth."
"But..."
"The moment I struck him with the fangs of your raging soul..."
"...my own soul began to burn as well."
He looked at me.
And I saw it ...
the truth reflected in his eyes.
"When you burned... I burned too."
"When you die, Frey... I die as well."
I was stunned.
We... lived together.
And we would die together too.
"When my soul ignited," he continued, his voice trembling slightly,
"the death aspect of my ability stopped functioning... and the burning halted with it."
"That’s why... you were able to open your eyes again."
His voice quivered ...
revealing emotions that were entirely his.
"I couldn’t maintain that power."
"I could only release a single strike."
He paused... then spoke again.
"But Frey..."
At that moment—
Nameless removed his mask.
Revealing his face.
I was shocked by what I saw ...
But even more by the expression he wore.
A smile.
A gentle smile—filled with relief... and something close to salvation.
"I was... happy."
"I was happy I didn’t have to burn your soul completely."
"Because... I wanted to save you too. More than anyone else."
"I felt at peace."
"And somehow... I have no regrets."
Nameless spoke more than I had ever heard him speak before.
Every word carried weight ...
alive with emotion he had lacked for so many years.
And I found myself moved as well.
Those same feelings stirred within me.
I couldn’t blame him.
All I could do...
was smile.
"I understand."
I nodded slightly.
And together, we walked deeper into the darkness.
Step by step—
until a faint light appeared in the distance.
Without hesitation, we moved toward it—
making it our only guide.
And within minutes...
we reached it.
A small, gentle flame.
A warm fire ...
the only source of light in that endless world.
A simple campfire burned—familiar, quiet—
its gentle warmth wrapping the space in a sense of safety and calm.
Around it sat a group of familiar figures, gathered close, drawing strength from its heat.
The flames danced softly across their faces, illuminating expressions shaped by different lives... yet bound by the same core.
The moment Nameless and I arrived, they all turned at once.
Each gaze carried a different emotion ...
but none of them held hostility.
Only understanding.
Only acceptance.
Only... us.
We all shared the same face.
We were fragments of the same existence...
versions of myself scattered across time, each forged by a different struggle, a different Chapter.
"So... even Nameless, and our strongest self of all... ended up here in the end."
Spoke one version—white-haired, his features heavy with quiet despair.
"It wasn’t enough... all that suffering, all that struggle... it still wasn’t enough."
Another answered—long black hair, eyes still alive with defiance.
"There was nothing we could do. This time... the wall was too high. We’re talking about the Demon King."
They all nodded.
"It was impossible to predict Agaroth’s arrival," said the version of me that had once been a writer, turning toward Nameless.
"You were the closest. So close to defeating him... wasn’t all that power enough? Weren’t all those sacrifices enough?"
Nameless shook his head.
"I attacked with everything I could gather... and for the first time..."
"I surpassed him."
He paused.
"But that level of power... wasn’t enough to kill him."
"What if you had been complete?" another asked. "Would the result have been different?"
"I... don’t know."
Nameless clenched his fist slightly.
"I gave everything I had... but I couldn’t give everything Frey had."
He turned toward me as he spoke.
"The burning stopped... and with it, the flow of that power."
"...Maybe if our souls had burned to the very end—"
He cut himself off.
"No... it wouldn’t matter. Agaroth hadn’t revealed everything either."
"So... is this the end?" one of them asked.
This time, I answered.
"No."
I looked into the quiet fire—
watching its flames reflect within my eyes.
"These eyes... will open again."
"There’s still more to this story."
At that moment, every version of me stared back ...
Nameless included.
Then, without another word, we all sat around the fire.
And we waited.
We waited for the next Chapter to begin...
for the next version to appear.
A stronger one.
A better one.
A version we could place our burdens upon ... our hopes... our dreams.
Another self...
who would walk the path we carved with our own hands.
Until that moment came—
Frey Starlight would not fall.
He would keep moving forward.
Just as he always had.
...
...
...
The battle between Nameless and Agaroth came to an end.
They clashed with everything they had ...
and in doing so, shook the very foundations of the universe and the material world, reminding every living being... who stood at the pinnacle.
Somehow—
it ended where it all began.
Back on Earth.
That same planet where every living being had already perished...
Agaroth appeared first.
His followers lingered nearby, watching from a distance ...
cautious, trembling, unable to approach.
Their faces were filled with shock.
With fear.
With something deeper.
Because of what they saw.
The Demon King...
the tyrant who had never once lost his overwhelming presence...
stood before them—
broken.
His shadows had dimmed.
His aura... no longer suffocating as before.
His chest was torn open.
His abdomen split apart.
Half his face was shredded.
The King’s Eye ...
destroyed.
Gone.
And the wound—
would not heal.
No matter how many times he tried, it continued to bleed... endlessly.
A violet wound—radiating a violent glow—
drenched in black blood and fragments of dark aura.
He was shattered.
More than he had ever been.
And yet ... his remaining eye...
and his ruined face...
held an expression that defied everything else.
Satisfaction.
As if he had finally eaten his fill—
a meal he would never taste again in his lifetime.
A smile split across his face ... wide, genuine ...
the smile of someone whose emptiness... had finally been filled.
Before him ... Nameless lay on the ground.
Arms severed.
Legs gone.
His chest torn open so deeply... his heart was exposed.
Half of his mask had shattered—
only a warped, broken fragment remained.
On the exposed side—
Frey’s face.
On the hidden half—
Nameless.
Agaroth looked down at him... and spoke.
"Thank you."
"I will never forget this day... as long as I live."
"I won’t forget, Frey... I won’t forget."
He extended his hand.
"I will never forget you."