Meanwhile, while the supreme powers of the material world remained trapped within the Mysterious Continent of the Land of Survival...
Frey quietly continued cleansing the outside world, making his preparations far from the chaos. He gathered followers beneath his banner and steadily increased his strength, all in anticipation of what was yet to come.
Under the command of the Shadow Sect, the demons were suppressed across every corner of the universe. Frey’s forces were divided and dispatched to the countless worlds that had fallen beneath the evil race’s rule.
Every army the Shadow Sect deployed contained at least one of the commanders personally chosen by Frey—great warriors such as Alexandee Rybak and Fulghor.
With the higher-ranking demons absent and no truly powerful demons remaining within those scattered armies, the Shadow Sect crushed them with overwhelming speed. The native races of each planet rose in swift rebellion as well, taking advantage of the Sect’s support to reclaim their worlds.
Reports of victory poured in from every direction.
The demons, whose numbers had once been estimated in the tens of billions, were falling at an astonishing pace.
The true might of demonkind had always rested upon the Ten High Demons... and above all, the Great Demon King, Agaroth, whose name alone had terrified the entire world.
Now, however...
He was gone.
And the same held true for most of the Ten High Demons, who had either already fallen or suffered crushing defeat.
As the demons collapsed across countless worlds, Hellmond could no longer come to their aid as it once had. It could send no reinforcements...
Because the Master of the Shadow Sect himself had invaded Hellmond and subdued them all.
Only a single month after the Shadow Sect launched its lightning campaign...
Everything was over.
For the first time since time immemorial, the evil race that had devoured the world’s very life force had finally fallen.
It was an utterly crushing and humiliating defeat.
The demons had not merely lost.
They had become subjects of the Shadow Sect, submitting completely after the Elders of the Hell Dukedom lowered their heads before Frey and pledged their loyalty, swearing to fight beneath his banner.
The agreement would later become known as...
The Triad Treaty.
It was a pact laced with betrayal from the very beginning.
Each side knew with absolute certainty that the other would betray them the moment an opportunity arose.
The Elders of the Triad sought the deaths of Agaroth and Crimson, the First High Demon. Once those two disappeared, they would reclaim dominion over Hellmond.
And beneath their outward loyalty, they fully intended to stab Frey in the back as soon as victory was secured.
As for Frey...
He accepted their proposal because recruiting them had been his objective from the very beginning.
The Ancient Demon Triad...
Old Omen.
Old Mugh.
Old Uriazabal.
All three stood at the peak of the SSS rank, having reached its Seventh Stage, and each possessed at least one World Breaking Ability.
Together, they represented a force comparable to the strongest High Demons and even the Seven Great Powers themselves.
Through that agreement, Frey secured control over demonkind and ensured that the aether from which they had been created would never return to his mother.
It became a historic turning point.
Its greatest symbol was perhaps Frey Starlight ascending the floors of Hellmond’s Tower of End.
The tower built solely for Agaroth.
The tower whose summit held his throne.
The very throne upon which he had sat for countless years while sealed away.
It had once been a place no living creature dared approach.
Not while Demon King Agaroth and the First High Demon guarded it without ever leaving.
Yet fate had a cruel sense of irony.
Frey climbed its endless stairs as effortlessly as though he were strolling through his own home.
And that description was hardly an exaggeration.
The Tower of End had, in truth, become his new residence.
It was one final mockery devised by the ancient Elders of the Hell Dukedom—a way to humiliate Agaroth by handing his impregnable fortress over to his greatest enemy.
Frey accepted the gift gladly.
Although he could have reached the summit instantly, he deliberately chose to begin from the very bottom, climbing every floor with quiet patience.
Beside him walked both Maskith and the Great One of Earth at his own request.
As they ascended together, the three discussed everything that had happened... and everything still waiting ahead.
Among them, Maskith looked noticeably paler than usual.
Unlike the Great One of Earth, whom Frey had personally protected, Maskith had been forced to withstand the combined attack of the Demon Triad himself.
Frey had intentionally intercepted the attack for everyone...
Except Maskith.
"Young Master..."
Maskith finally spoke, unable to suppress his curiosity.
"Did you already know they were coming?"
Without turning around, Frey continued climbing the staircase while examining each floor they passed.
"I didn’t sense their presence until the very last moment."
He answered calmly.
"But I expected them to come."
Maskith slowed his steps for a brief moment before silently following again.
He swallowed the words he had wanted to say.
Yet Frey had already seen straight through him.
"Are you afraid of dying?"
He chuckled lightly.
"Why? Your heart is in my possession, as you well know."
Maskith fell silent.
Meanwhile, the Great One of Earth showed clear interest in what he had just heard.
’So... the Author’s followers cannot truly die as long as their hearts remain intact?’
The conclusion formed almost instantly within his mind.
But the moment he noticed Frey glancing toward him from the corner of his eye—as though he had read that very thought—he immediately buried it deep within the recesses of his mind.
"So..."
The Great One of Earth spoke instead, steering the conversation elsewhere.
"That means we’ve already accomplished two of our objectives?"
Frey nodded.
"We’ve brought the demons under our control..."
"And we’ve recovered Manus’s corpse."
He paused briefly.
"Though the second objective wasn’t achieved exactly the way I intended."
The Great One of Earth instinctively glanced toward Frey’s shadow.
It appeared darker than every other shadow around him.
Within it lay the imprisoned body of Yosefka, the Eighth High Demon.
"Manus is the First Demon..."
The Great One of Earth said quietly.
"The one from whom all demons originated."
He continued, emphasizing a crucial point.
"Every demon is born through him. That is why the Great Ones raided this place long ago."
"To kill him."
The Great One recalled Odin’s command, one that had arrived without warning.
He himself had not learned of it until after taking control of the Chaos Devourer.
The Pale Devastation had wanted Manus dead.
And the Great One of Earth had successfully fulfilled that order.
"With Manus dead, no new demons can ever be born again."
"They exist only through him."
"That is why humans are considered unique. They are the only beings capable of giving birth to entirely new demons that did not originate from the First Demon."
Frey nodded.
"When the First Author... my mother... interfered with my world, it would’ve been unreasonable for her to write every demon individually."
"So she made them all originate through Manus instead."
"And aside from a very small number of exceptions, she didn’t even bother granting them any power of their own."
It had been an ingenious solution.
Frey could only acknowledge that much.
Through a single being...
His mother had effortlessly created an entire race.
’Writing this many creatures would’ve taken me years, even if I’d devoted myself completely to it...’
Frey lowered his head slightly.
His violet eyes narrowed.
’Mother...’
’You’re truly incredible.’