At the same time, terrifying black Negative Aether flooded its edge.
The sword trembled violently beneath the overwhelming force.
Yet it never cracked.
It endured everything without complaint.
Its appearance began to change.
Its blade broadened.
Its edge stretched longer.
Sovereignty of Shadows no longer resembled an ordinary sword.
It looked like a blade forged from black stellar fire itself...
wrapped in the darkness of Negative Aether.
"I can use aura indefinitely thanks to my Aura Circulation technique. But aether is different... I can’t rely on it without limits."
Instead of fighting with aether alone, Frey adopted a different approach.
He fused it with aura, wielding both simultaneously.
The result was a level of power far beyond what either could achieve on its own.
Gathering his strength, his body vanished like a shadow.
He slipped through Yosefka’s relentless barrage, carving apart everything in his path with Sovereignty of Shadows—her mutated flesh, her swollen demonic aura, every obstacle alike.
Every slash left behind burning fissures that refused to fade.
The blade itself was cutting through the world.
Dodging it became impossible.
Within moments, Yosefka found herself trapped inside a vast cocoon of endless black slashes, a web of destruction closing around her from every direction.
The enormous body that had continued expanding only moments ago now began shrinking instead.
Its limbs were severed one after another at a terrifying pace.
Yosefka screamed in agony.
Driven into desperation, she unleashed every ounce of power she possessed in a suicidal explosion powerful enough to engulf the entire battlefield.
Yet Sovereignty of Shadows cleaved the explosion itself in half.
The attack accomplished nothing.
As Frey continued dismantling her body, he sensed the true Yosefka hidden somewhere inside that mountain of twisted flesh.
From her came an overwhelming hunger...
A craving so immense it seemed capable of devouring everything.
Her own kin.
Her own world.
Everything.
’Perhaps she knew this power would destroy her...’
’Perhaps she understood it would rob her of her sanity.’
’...and accepted it anyway.’
’Because obtaining this strength mattered more than the price.’
Although he had never met Yosefka before, Frey understood part of her simply by reading her aura.
He showed her no mercy.
His blade continued tearing her apart without hesitation.
The Cannibal lineage had always been infamous for its insatiable thirst for power.
By consuming the flesh of their own race, they grew stronger.
Through her Demonic Soul, Yosefka granted the same ability to those contracted with her.
Just like her followers—creatures such as Hollow Smogh—who endlessly pursued greater strength...
She herself was no different.
There had never been some noble purpose behind her pursuit of power.
No lofty dream. No grand ambition... Only hunger.
A limitless craving carved into her very existence by the Demonic Soul—
A World Breaking Ability.
Its bearer was condemned to desire power forever.
That was why she had devoured Manus’ corpse despite knowing it might very well kill her.
Her hunger had surpassed reason.
"Mother..."
Frey’s voice was little more than a whisper.
"Why would you create such a revolting ability?"
"An endless hunger... one that transforms its bearer into the very embodiment of greed..."
He could never truly see through his mother.
She had always remained an unsolvable mystery.
The Six Great Souls ranked among the mightiest World Breaking Abilities ever created.
Each had been forged by beings of overwhelming power—some of them Writers, just like Clea.
Their strength transcended common sense itself.
In the hands of their original owners, they were capable of overturning the course of entire wars.
Unfortunately for Yosefka...
She could never unleash the true potential of the World Breaking Ability she possessed.
Against the extension of Frey’s Black Hole Aura fused with destructive Negative Aether...
She collapsed with shocking ease.
The battle itself lasted only moments.
It had begun when Frey cast the Seventh-Ranked Demon, Izalith, out of the sky...
And it ended before she even reached the ground.
By the time Izalith finally crashed onto the earth...
Space itself had become warped beyond recognition.
Yosefka’s gigantic body had been mercilessly carved apart until it returned to its original size.
Her wounds were catastrophic.
Death should have been inevitable.
But Frey refused to let her die.
Drawing upon Positive Aether—the aspect that breathed life itself—he poured an immense quantity into her broken body.
Her life was pulled back from the very brink.
Just like that...
The demons’ final trump card had been crushed.
Frey stepped calmly out of the sea of ruined flesh and fading aura, dragging Yosefka’s shattered body behind him.
He had not suffered a single wound.
Not even a scratch.
The Zenith of Night Armor covering him still gleamed flawlessly, untouched by the battle.
Izalith struggled to rise.
She attempted to gather her strength.
To do anything.
She failed.
Her body had already been severed.
Negative Aether continued suppressing her from within, preventing her from summoning the power of her Blood Soul.
The same fate had befallen Asmodeus.
His Death Soul had likewise been completely sealed.
Three bearers of the Great Souls...
Yet not one of them had managed to leave so much as a scratch upon a single man.
Once the battle ended, Frey turned away from Izalith without another glance.
A powerful surge of aura suddenly spread across Hellmond.
The corners of his mouth slowly lifted.
"It seems Dawn the Second has finished."
The moment those words left his mouth...
Everyone felt it.
A strange aura erupted outward, spreading across an immense portion of Hellmond—
Then beyond it.
Until it embraced the entire planet.
Izalith sensed it immediately. Her unease only deepened.
"What did you do?!"
She shouted at the only person who appeared to understand what was happening, fear evident in every word.
Frey merely shrugged.
Almost innocently.
"I didn’t do anything."
"That power isn’t mine."
He wasn’t lying.
Only moments earlier, the battlefield had held no one but Frey, Izalith, Asmodeus, and Yosefka’s broken body amid endless destruction.
Then...
Heavy footsteps echoed from afar.
Not one. But thousands. Accompanied by countless auras.
Weak... Yet innumerable.
Izalith quickly looked from side to side.
Her crimson eyes widened.
Endless hordes of demons were rushing toward them from every direction.
They were the ordinary demons of Hellmond.
The very ones who had deliberately been ordered to stay away.
Many resembled savage beasts.
Others possessed appearances befitting noble demons, similar to the Upper Demons themselves.
Their numbers were staggering.
Demons had always been known for their overwhelming population.
A race born for war.
Every single one capable of fighting.
Izalith couldn’t understand why they had come.
They had been ordered to remain far away.
Anyone who approached was supposed to die.
For a brief moment...
She believed they had come to rescue her.
To fight beside the Upper Demons.
That illusion shattered instantly.
The horde surrounded them from every direction.
One after another...
They knelt upon a single knee.
From every side of Hellmond, demons lowered their heads in absolute submission before only one individual.
This had happened before.
Once...
They had knelt countless times before Agaroth.
But today...
They were not kneeling before Agaroth.
They were kneeling before someone else entirely.
Not just anyone.
The greatest enemy their king had ever possessed.
The demons...
Had knelt before Frey.
Offering him their loyalty.
The sight drained every trace of color from the faces of the Upper Demons.
Above Frey, another figure slowly descended through the crimson sky.
Pale skin.
Loose white robes.
The Great Earth had completed his task.
"I’ve finished manipulating all of their minds."
His calm gaze settled upon Frey.
"They’ve forgotten their master."
"They’ve all forgotten Agaroth."
"From this moment onward..."
"...you are the new Demon King."
That...
Was precisely what Frey had wanted to hear.
Across every corner of Hellmond, demons continued kneeling one after another.
The Great Earth’s ability had not yet worked on beings like Izalith.
Manipulating minds of that level required far more time.
But every weaker demon had already submitted.
That alone was enough.
It was exactly what Frey had intended.
The demons had fallen beneath his rule.
Their fate now rested entirely in his hands.
"With this..."
Frey looked across the kneeling sea of demons.
"...Agaroth has lost his followers."
"And the First Writer has been stripped of the creatures she created with her own hands."
In the blink of an eye...
Two of Frey’s objectives had already been accomplished.