THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 946: The Path of Devouring

Once again, Agaroth escaped certain death.

Not through his own efforts, but through Frey’s sacrifice.

Frey had sold his freedom and surrendered himself to the First Writer in exchange for Agaroth’s life. And Clea had been more than willing to accept such a bargain, for it was what she had wanted more than anything throughout her life.

Once Frey surrendered, Abraham no longer had any reason to continue fighting. He cast his sword aside, though there was nothing about his expression that suggested he was satisfied with how things had ended.

Even so, there was nothing he could do to change the outcome or interfere with a bargain struck between the First Writer and her eldest son.

According to their agreement, everyone left the Land of Survival that night.

Agaroth alone was left behind.

His powers were not sealed, nor was he restrained in any way. There was simply no need anymore.

The Land of Survival itself was his prison.

A prison he would never escape.

And so, they disappeared before Agaroth could even finish healing his wounds.

One after another, they left before his eyes, and none of them bothered to spare him another glance.

The land that had borne witness to their battle belonged to a barren planet at the distant edge of the Land of Survival. It was an enormous world, vast beyond measure, yet utterly devoid of life.

At that moment, Agaroth became the only creature left upon it.

Wounded.

Broken.

The damage Clea had inflicted upon him was horrific. Even after everyone had left, it took him an agonizingly long time to begin repairing his shattered body.

Clea’s Aether did not fade easily. It remained within him for hours, continuing to destroy his body from the inside.

Hours spent enduring unbearable agony.

Yet even that physical torment seemed insignificant compared to the abyss that had opened within him.

His crimson eyes remained fixed upon the place where Frey had disappeared alongside the First Writer.

There was something terrifying within that gaze.

An indescribable amount of rage...

Hatred...

And madness.

Several hours passed before Agaroth finally regained enough control over his body to move.

But even then, all he could do was crawl.

So he crawled.

Like a worm.

He dragged himself across the cold ground of the world he had desperately tried to escape...

And failed.

Then, slowly, the monster destined to devour everything raised his head and stared toward the distant heavens.

His gaze was vacant, lost within the hell that fate had forced upon him, as though his soul had already abandoned his ruined body and left nothing behind.

That day...

Something inside Agaroth changed.

...

...

—Agaroth’s POV—

"Ah... how naive."

Not once.

Twice.

Twice now, my will had been ripped away from me.

It hurt.

Every fragment of my existence hurt.

It was a pain far beyond anything physical, something that had reached an entirely different level.

A pain that reminded me of the person who had taken everything from me.

The First Writer...

Clea.

Her face had carved itself deep into my being.

She was part of me now.

An inseparable part of my existence.

Her face.

Those eyes resembling entire universes.

That horrifying presence.

That overwhelming power against which I had been utterly helpless.

She was a woman I would never forget for as long as I lived.

"I’ve been searching for the wrong answer from the very beginning."

The First Writer had finally made me understand where I had gone wrong.

Why I had failed.

She had made me understand why I was here now, crawling across the ground, unable even to stand.

The problem was not that I was weak.

The problem was that I wasn’t strong enough to make everyone else’s will meaningless before my own.

What use was a mind if someone else could decide for me?

What use were two legs if someone else could choose the road I was allowed to walk?

And what did it even mean to be alive if my freedom could be ripped away from me the moment someone stronger appeared?

"Oh, Frey... my creator."

"You told me I was free, didn’t you?"

"But this isn’t freedom."

"This is slavery dressed in the illusion of choice."

Despite sharing the flesh and blood of that bitch, I could never bring myself to hate you, no matter how hard I tried.

I don’t think I could hate you even if I wanted to.

"But you know something?"

"I think I finally understand."

"I think I’ve finally found my answer."

I spat out everything that had accumulated within my chest, shouting until my voice echoed across the entire planet and throughout this miserable world.

I knew I was alone.

I knew Frey would never hear a single word.

He was already gone.

But I wanted to say it anyway.

Not for him.

For myself.

My bond with Frey.

My bond with his siblings.

My bond with the High Father.

They were all nothing more than chains weighing me down.

And I was sick of chains.

"I will never place my will in someone else’s hands again."

"I will never trust someone to choose my side when the moment comes."

"I will never beg anyone to understand me."

"I won’t need anyone’s approval."

"And I will never bargain with another person for the right to walk the path I’ve chosen for myself."

I needed none of those things.

I needed only one.

Power.

I finally understood.

I would never obtain the freedom I desired unless I took freedom away from others.

"I need power."

"Bottomless power."

"Power with no ceiling above it and no limit capable of restraining it."

"Power so overwhelming that anyone who wishes to subjugate me will think a thousand times before daring to reach for me."

No... Even that wasn’t enough.

That wasn’t the kind of power I truly desired.

"I want power that makes kings lower their eyes when I command them."

"Power that makes armies retreat simply because I took a step forward."

"Power that makes even those seated above the heavens understand that reaching their hands toward me means losing them."

"I want them to despair whenever my name crosses their minds!"

"I want them to feel fear exactly as I did when I stood before her!"

"I want them to experience the same despair I experienced."

"That feeling of standing before an opponent you cannot reach."

"A monster you cannot defeat."

"Something you could struggle against for eternity and still never hope to touch."

"I want to become an existence whose mere arrival ends the battle."

"That is the kind of king I want to become."

"That is the power I desire."

"And once I possess it..."

"No one will ever take anything from me again."

If the path to that power demanded the sacrifice of a thousand lives...

Then let a thousand die.

If it demanded millions...

Billions...

So be it.

Even if the price was the entire Land of Survival...

I would pay it.

"Let them call me a monster."

"A tyrant."

"A demon."

"I don’t care."

"To obtain my freedom... I must take theirs."

Then I would take it.

I would take their freedom.

I would take everything from them.

"I’m still alive for a reason."

"And that means I still have a chance."

Frey hadn’t kept me alive for nothing.

He would return. I was certain of it.

"He will."

"He can’t stay away from the Land of Survival forever."

He would come back.

And I would be waiting.

I would wait for the right opportunity.

And when it finally appeared...I would seize it with everything I had.

Until then...

"I’ll wait."

’I will rebuild this broken body.’

’I will build my strength from the ground up once again.’

’I will push my Devouring ability to its absolute limits and raise myself as high as I possibly can while I wait... watching from the darkness.’

"The Path of Devouring..."

That was the path I had chosen.

A path that would allow me to reach everything I desired by taking everything from others.

A dark path...

One I was finally prepared to walk.

"I’ll be waiting for you, Frey."

That night, I made a vow.

A vow I would never betray for the rest of my life.