After Izalith’s Blood Barrier collapsed, what the Upper Demons had concealed as their final trump card was finally revealed.
It was not a sight meant for mortal eyes.
Standing upon the dead soil of Hellmond, Frey slowly raised his head.
Before him towered a colossal, grotesquely mutated abomination.
Its body was nothing but demonic dead flesh—covered in ulcerated crimson skin, countless twisted faces embedded across its frame, innumerable arms and legs protruding in every direction, its entire existence warped into something even demons themselves would recoil from.
The creature let out a deafening groan.
Through his sharpened senses, Frey watched as it absorbed one demon after another into its own flesh, swallowing them whole as though they were nothing more than nourishment.
Its appearance alone made its identity impossible to discern.
Its aura, however... gave it away immediately.
"What an unpleasant thing to look at."
Frey narrowed his eyes before glancing toward Izalith, his expression as indifferent as ever.
"So this was your final gamble..."
He chuckled quietly before shifting his gaze back toward the monstrous giant.
"You placed all your hopes on the Demonic Soul?"
That abomination was none other than Yosefka—the Eighth-Ranked Demon and bearer of the Demonic Soul.
"The Demonic Soul grants its bearer greater strength in exchange for devouring members of their own race. That has always been the hallmark of the Cannibal lineage..."
His violet eyes calmly studied the grotesque mass before him.
"But Yosefka has taken it to an entirely different level."
His enhanced senses measured the terrifying pressure radiating from her.
It surpassed anything an ordinary SSS-rank existence should ever possess.
"She has devoured an extraordinary number of demons."
Rather than concern, Frey felt a measure of relief.
If Yosefka had consumed them herself, then the Demonic Soul had imprisoned their existence within her.
Their aether would not return to his mother... unless Yosefka herself died.
Still...
The amount of power she had accumulated exceeded even his expectations.
The Eighth-Ranked Demon no longer resembled a being capable of reason.
Without the slightest warning, she attacked.
Dozens of monstrous crimson fists crashed toward Frey’s head like falling meteors, obliterating the ground where he had been standing.
Yet the Lord of the Shadow Sect evaded the assault effortlessly.
At the same time, he carried Izalith away from the attack’s range with his free hand.
"She no longer distinguishes friend from foe."
Hovering high above Yosefka’s enormous body, Frey observed the battlefield from above.
"It seems she’s completely lost her mind."
Only now did he fully grasp the creature’s immense scale.
Her swollen body had grown far larger than he had imagined.
Countless fleshy tendrils spread outward from her frame, crawling across vast stretches of Hellmond.
Everywhere he looked, Yosefka was devouring more demons without pause, endlessly feeding herself in pursuit of greater strength.
It was disturbingly similar to Agaroth’s World Breaking Ability that devoured everything in existence...
Except Yosefka could consume demons alone.
The instant she located Frey’s position, the entire sky descended upon him.
A forest of mutated arms crashed toward him from every direction.
Frey weaved through them effortlessly.
Even so, he noticed something.
"They’re getting faster."
The bombardment continued relentlessly.
When Yosefka finally realized brute force would never touch him, she changed tactics.
An overwhelming amount of demonic aura gathered before her.
A gigantic sphere of pitch-black energy condensed in the air.
Without hesitation, she launched it.
Holding Izalith in one arm, Frey simply extended his free hand.
Dark gray aether gathered before his palm.
He fired a projectile scarcely larger than himself.
It looked pitifully small.
Yet that insignificant blast pierced straight through the enormous sphere of demonic energy without slowing in the slightest.
It continued onward.
It bored directly through Yosefka’s gigantic body, leaving behind a clean hole straight through her torso.
Compared to her colossal size, the wound appeared almost insignificant.
But Izalith, witnessing everything from only a few meters away, could not hide her shock.
Her crimson eyes widened.
’That attack...’
’It’s almost identical to the Purgatory the King uses...’
Her thoughts spiraled uncontrollably.
’Nameless never possessed anything like this before...’
’Where did he obtain such power...?’
After releasing that strike, Frey slowly clenched his hand.
Then opened it.
Then closed it once more.
As though attempting to familiarize himself with an unfamiliar sensation.
The gray aether coating his fingers gradually darkened until it became pitch black.
Negative Aether.
The aspect of destruction.
’Although I’ve regained the ability to wield both forms of aether...’
He quietly studied his own hand.
’...I’m still unable to manifest the Runes.’
A trace of dissatisfaction crossed his mind.
It vanished just as quickly.
Yosefka attacked again.
This time with even greater madness.
The battlefield became a sea of explosions.
The gigantic demon lashed out blindly at everything around her, determined to strike Frey even once.
Every attack failed.
"Her power keeps increasing..."
Frey’s expression finally turned thoughtful.
"...and she’s already surpassed limits she should never have been capable of reaching."
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
"Simply devouring ordinary demons could never produce this kind of growth."
His eyes narrowed.
"For her power to rise this far..."
Realization suddenly flashed across his face.
His violet eyes widened.
"So that’s it."
"There was only one demon capable of granting such a leap in strength."
"The First Demon..."
"...Manus."
His gaze sharpened.
"You devoured his corpse."
He finally understood.
"The other demons you consumed afterward..."
"...were nothing more than camouflage to keep me from discovering the truth."
Frey extended his hand.
From empty space, a pitch-black sword materialized.
Sovereignty of Shadows.
The moment it appeared, a terrifying pressure burst forth, causing space itself to tremble.
Across from him, a mocking smile finally appeared on Izalith’s pale face.
"Manus, the First Demon, was always unimaginably powerful..."
She coughed blood before forcing herself to continue.
"But he refused to fight until the very end."
"His strength served no one."
"At least now..."
Her crimson eyes burned with determination.
"...his death has become a blessing for our race."
"Yosefka inherited his power."
"And she’ll wield it for Hellmond!"
Frey sighed.
It was the sigh one reserved for someone hopelessly naïve.
"You’re a fool..."
He continued avoiding Yosefka’s relentless attacks as effortlessly as before.
"...if you truly believe she’s capable of bearing that power."
He slipped past another barrage of aura blasts without the slightest difficulty.
"Yosefka isn’t Agaroth."
"He possesses no limits."
His gaze remained fixed on the monstrous demon.
"But she does."
"Have you never wondered..."
"...where all that power she’s stolen is actually going?"
Agaroth resembled an endless black hole.
No matter how much strength he devoured, nothing ever exceeded his capacity.
Yosefka was different.
She possessed limits.
Every ounce of power she absorbed continued filling her beyond what her existence could contain.
The inevitable result...
...was destruction.
"She’s already lost her mind."
"Her body has begun to mutate."
"And soon..."
"...she’ll die on her own, crushed beneath the weight of power she was never meant to possess."
Those words finally shook Izalith.
Tension surfaced across her face.
Yet she immediately rejected them.
"You’re lying!"
Frey laughed.
The sound carried neither arrogance nor anger.
Only certainty.
"And what would I gain from deceiving you?"
He looked toward Yosefka once more.
"Even if her strength doubled again..."
"...defeating her would still be effortless."
"I wouldn’t even need to lift a finger."
"She’ll destroy herself."
Even so...
The way Frey watched Yosefka was not the gaze of someone willing to wait for his enemy to die.
"I need Manus."
His grip tightened around Sovereignty of Shadows.
"And since she swallowed him..."
"...I refuse to let her die."
Releasing Izalith, Frey tossed her aside.
The Seventh-Ranked Demon plummeted helplessly toward the ground below.
Her crimson eyes never left Frey Starlight—
The man she had always known as Nameless.
Holding Sovereignty of Shadows with both hands, Frey began pouring power into its blade.
Dark, star-like aura surged around it.