He intended to begin immediately.
Yet before he could reach her...
The Great One of Earth stopped him.
"Wait."
He instinctively reached out.
But withdrew his hand before touching Frey.
"Is there something you want to say?"
Frey asked, gesturing for him to speak quickly.
The Great One nodded.
"The demons..."
"What will happen once the... source supplying them with aura disappears?"
Frey smiled faintly.
"Their hunger for life will naturally return."
"They’ll endure for a while."
"They’ll desperately search for places overflowing with life force and consume whatever they can."
"If they succeed..."
"They’ll prolong their lives a little longer."
His expression gradually darkened.
"But if they fail..."
"The weaker ones will die first."
"The stronger ones will survive longer."
"But eventually..."
"Even they will lose to hunger."
"And in the end..."
"They’ll begin devouring one another."
"A fitting end."
The Great One of Earth opened his mouth, intending to say something.
In the end...
He chose silence.
Allowing Frey to proceed without another word.
Frey ignored him.
He walked forward until he stood directly before Audrey.
From this distance...
He could finally see the exhaustion carved into her face.
The silent agony frozen upon it.
"Hello..."
He greeted her with a gentle smile.
"Audrey."
The Sword of Shadow Sovereignty materialized in his hand.
His aura flowed into the blade, causing its power to surge.
The pressure filling the chamber changed completely.
A terrifying presence descended upon everything within it.
For the first time in countless years...
Audrey’s tightly closed eyes slowly opened.
Only a little.
With great difficulty, she looked toward him.
Her emerald eyes were clouded.
Empty. Bereft of life.
She failed to recognize the man standing before her.
All she understood...
Was that he was incredibly powerful.
Powerful enough...
Perhaps...
To grant her final wish.
"Kill me..."
She begged weakly.
Her lips barely moved.
In truth...
She spoke through her aura itself.
"The pain..."
"I can’t bear it anymore."
"Please..."
"Kill me."
She pleaded once again.
Frey’s smile deepened.
It was a forced smile.
"As you wish."
Sovereignty of Shadows moved the instant those words left his mouth—perhaps even faster.
Maskith and the Great One of Earth widened their eyes as the blade tore through Audrey’s chest, sending a torrent of crimson blood scattering in every direction, splashing across the floor, the walls, and the flowers surrounding her.
Audrey released a warm gasp as her body jerked backward, her eyes turning upward.
Yet despite the brutality of the scene, she felt no pain.
Instead, she felt warmth.
Her eyes slowly closed, and her consciousness began drifting away.
Blood spread throughout the chamber as life escaped her body. The aura threads Agaroth had implanted within her began trembling, and little by little, their radiance faded.
The vivid crimson that had once pulsed with life gradually turned into a lifeless, dark gray.
That gray spread slowly until the red disappeared entirely before their eyes, as though someone had poured a bucket of dull paint across an ancient masterpiece.
Frey drove Sovereignty of Shadows deeper into Audrey’s chest and left it embedded there, immense aether radiating from the blade.
Then he slowly extended his hand, allowing the crimson butterfly that had accompanied him for so long to leave his palm and return home.
It vanished into Audrey’s body.
The moment it did, the other butterflies scattered throughout the chamber began moving as well, following the first one after another.
"Don’t you dare die in my hands, Audrey."
Frey leaned closer and whispered beside her ear, allowing the sword resting within her chest to flood her with every trace of aether he possessed.
"Gray doesn’t suit you at all."
"I see..."
Maskith closed his eyes after observing enough.
The Great One of Earth turned toward him, curiosity plain in his gaze.
"What?" Maskith asked with a mocking smile. "You want to know?"
The Great One remained silent for a moment before sighing.
"You do realize I can simply enter your mind and discover everything myself, don’t you?"
Maskith froze.
Then he turned away in irritation, muttering beneath his breath as he walked off.
"What an irritating ability..."
The Great One of Earth smiled faintly as he watched Maskith leave, then returned his attention to Frey and Audrey.
After peering into Maskith’s mind the moment the old man had unconsciously lowered his guard, the Great One finally understood what was happening.
Unlike Maskith, who had entered the Land of Survival through his own means, Audrey had been incapable of doing the same by ordinary methods.
Instead, she had abandoned her body in the Aether World and been reborn as a creature belonging to the Land of Survival—as one of the Light Bearers.
Doing so had exposed her to tremendous danger.
She could have lost herself completely during the process.
Yet she chose to take that risk willingly, determined to enter the world and find Frey, who had become lost within his own creation.
Perhaps it had been nothing more than good fortune, but being reborn as a being native to the Land of Survival meant Frey could use his powers upon her, unlike Maskith.
That was what gave him a chance to save her now.
Frey could create the proper vessel.
But that would only complete half the process.
The other half depended entirely upon Audrey.
She would be the one who had to fill that vessel.
"She’ll have to face her own ordeal and overcome it herself... if she wants to survive."
Looking at the sleeping girl and the man who had driven a sword through her chest, the Great One of Earth found himself wondering aloud.
"What is she seeing right now? What kind of memories is she living through?"
He was curious.
Yet he could not enter her mind, nor Frey’s, who had remained alert to his presence from the very beginning.
And so, his question remained unanswered.
During those decisive moments inside the ancient Chamber of Flowers, Audrey entered a dark tunnel that might not have possessed an exit at all.
She wandered through it like a drifting ghost, unfamiliar with both the path and the place in which she had found herself.
With nowhere else to go, she could only continue forward, hoping she might eventually reach an end.
The tunnel was long and cold.
Her spectral figure appeared unsettled, and nothing of her could be seen except for her misty green eyes, which barely gave off any light.
After walking in silence for what felt like an eternity, Audrey staggered slightly, her gaze distant.
"How long... have I been trapped here?"
Her voice carried exhaustion.
She had been wandering for far too long.
Whenever she looked behind her, she felt certain she had abandoned countless pieces of herself along the way.