Rewind the clock several minutes earlier.
Far away from the collapsing battlefield where Heaven and Earth were beginning to merge... Amon Solaris and the Prophet were locked in a brutal final confrontation.
The isolated dimension imprisoning them was falling apart. Cracks stretched endlessly across the artificial sky while the laws stabilising the realm shattered one after another. Entire chunks of space collapsed into nothingness before reforming moments later beneath surging grey mist.
The dimension lock fluctuated violently, like a pendulum.
One instant, it appeared on the verge of total destruction.
Next, the Prophet forcefully stabilised it once more.
But despite his desperate efforts... The oute had already been decided.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
Black-and-white flames exploded across the dimension as lunar mana surged like an ocean swallowing the heavens. The grey mist maintaining the isolated world was being burned away at a terrifying pace. Nyx pulsed within Amon’s grasp.
The black blade had fully transformed, its edge now dyed in monochrome radiance—the same terrifying power as Amon’s Eclipse Arts.
Every swing split apart space itself while lunar flames devoured the Prophet’s authority piece by piece. Across from him, Joroxin staggered backwards.
Panting. Bleeding. His once untouchable aura had pletely collapsed.
The ancient Demon Prophet stared at Amon with hollow eyes as his body slowly crumbled apart beneath the accumulated damage. His soul was nearing its limit.
The dimension was collapsing. His plans had failed.
And for the first time in countless years... Joroxin looked tired.
Amon lowered Nyx slightly and gazed at the defeated demon in silence.
"Joroxin..." he said quietly. "You’ve lost."
The Prophet remained silent for several moments before releasing a long, weary sigh.
"...Lost." His lips curled bitterly. "Yes... Perhaps I have."
Even after all his schemes... After manipulating civilisations from the shadows... After engineering wars, betrayals, and disasters across multiple generations... He still failed to overe the monster standing before him.
Amon Solaris.
Joroxin slowly raised his gaze.
"We prepared for heroes," he muttered. "For kings. For chosen ones."
His ruined face twisted faintly.
"But not for a monster like you."
Amon’s expression didn’t change.
"No," he replied calmly. "Your preparations were fine."
The Prophet frowned.
"...What are you talking about?"
Amon stared at him quietly.
Truthfully, he hated Joroxin. The demon had destroyed his world twice over. He was responsible for endless suffering, endless death, endless despair.
And yet... Amon also understood him better than anyone else.
Because if Amon had continued living solely as Number 23... a weapon without emotion.
A machine built solely for survival... perhaps he would have eventually bee something like the Prophet.
Cold. Detached. A slave to another.
"Joroxin," Amon said at last. "You won in another timeline."
Silence.
The Prophet froze pletely.
His ghostly eyes widened for the first time since the battle began.
"...What?"
"You succeeded," Amon continued. "Humanity was wiped out. The world fell. The world became a wasteland ruled entirely by demons."
The Prophet stared at him wordlessly.
Then slowly... Understanding dawned in his eyes.
"I see..." he whispered. "You regressed."
Amon shook his head.
"No. Not exactly." His gaze darkened slightly. "But something similar happened."
He had no intention of explaining Yue’s regression or revealing everything.
Still... Joroxin had earned at least this much honesty.
"Your plans worked," Amon admitted. "You just faced the wrong enemies."
For a brief moment, silence consumed the crumbling dimension.
Then suddenly... the Prophet began laughing.
At first, it was quiet.
Then louder. And louder. Until manic laughter echoed throughout the collapsing world.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Grey mist trembled violently around him as he clutched his face in amusement.
"I see now!" Joroxin roared. "I finally understand!"
Amon narrowed his eyes.
"Understand what?"
"My King..." The Prophet wheezed through laughter. "My King never intended to conquer your world!"
"...What?"
The Prophet pointed weakly toward Amon.
"I was never meant to win," he rasped. "I was merely a tool. A whetstone meant to sharpen your blade!"
His laughter became almost hysterical.
"HAHAHAHA!!!"
Amon frowned deeply.
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Heh..."
Joroxin slowly lowered his hand, his expression twisting into pity.
"Amon Solaris... you’re powerful beyond reason... yet still so naive."
The Prophet’s body was already disintegrating. His flesh had nearly vanished. His soul was unravelling. Even if Amon did nothing, Joroxin would soon cease to exist entirely. And knowing death had already arrived... The Prophet no longer had reason to lie.
"This Universe..." Joroxin whispered. "What do you think it truly is?"
"...Explain."
"To mortals, the Universe is everything. Your home. Your reality. Your existence."
The Prophet’s hollow eyes gleamed faintly.
"But in truth..." His smile widened. "It is merely a playground."
Amon remained silent.
"A playground for Gods," Joroxin continued. "For beings like my King... and eventually... beings like you."
Those words caused Amon’s eyes to narrow slightly.
Meanwhile, the Prophet kept speaking.
"The Goddess Hyades believes she can preserve the world by preventing its evolution. She thinks monopolising the Mandate of Heaven protects this dimension from destruction."
His laughter turned mocking.
"But she’s wrong."
For the first time, Amon began gaining genuine insight into Hyades’s motives. She hadn’t merely been greedy.
She had been afraid... she thought she was protecting the world... but in truth...
"If my King truly wished it," Joroxin said calmly, "he could erase your planet with a single thought."
Amon’s expression darkened.
"He didn’t need armies. He didn’t need me."
The Prophet slowly spread his arms.
"This entire invasion..."
"...was meant to temper you."
Amon froze.
"To create Gods strong enough to inherit this dimension," Joroxin explained. "To evolve your world into something equal to the Demon Realm itself."
The implication stunned Amon momentarily.
If that was true... Then the Demon King had indirectly helped humanity evolve.
"...Why?" Amon asked coldly. "Why help us?"
"Because Gods grow bored."
The Prophet chuckled softly.
"For the longest time, Urath was one of the few higher dimensions capable of producing true Gods. Beings with infinite lifespans eventually exhaust all meaning."
His smile deepened.
"So what do they do then?"
Amon answered immediately.
"...They play."
"Exactly."
The Prophet grinned in delight.
"My King and the other Demon Kings are effectively immortal. Even if their bodies perish, their essences remain bound to the laws of Urath itself. They will always resurrect eventually."
"They’re that powerful...?"
"In Urath?" Joroxin laughed weakly. "Absolutely."
Then his gaze sharpened.
"But what happens if a new dimension emerges?"
Amon remained silent.
"A dimension strong enough to contain beings like them," Joroxin whispered. "A battlefield where their immortality is no longer guaranteed."
Realisation struck Amon instantly.
"...They want war."
"More than that." The Prophet’s eyes gleamed with madness. "They want risk, jeopardy and maybe... death."
For the first time in countless years, Amon genuinely felt chilled.
The Demon Kings weren’t invading because they needed resources.
Or territory.
Or domination.
They simply wanted stimulation.
Conflict. Entertainment.
An existence capable of threatening them.
"Hyades..." Joroxin muttered mockingly. "That foolish child thinks clinging to the Mandate of Heaven solves everything. But the moment stronger dimensions notice this world..."
He smiled.
"...your planet bees part of the game."
Amon clenched Nyx tightly.
"So our only option is to evolve," he said grimly. "Bee stronger. Fight back against beings like the Demon Kings."
The Prophet laughed softly.
"Heh... exactly." His body had almost pletely disappeared now. Only fragments of his soul remained.
"This Universe is the playground of Gods," Joroxin whispered. "If you refuse to bee prey..."
His fading eyes locked onto Amon one final time.
"Then grow stronger."
The collapsing dimension began breaking apart pletely. Grey mist scattered into nothingness. Joroxin’s soul slowly dissolved into particles of fading darkness. Yet even as death claimed him... The Prophet smiled.
"Amon Solaris..." His voice became distant. "I will remember your name."
The Demon’s body finally crumbled away. But before he vanished entirely, he left behind one final warning.
"Bee the God you were meant to be."
"Because that..." His voice disappeared into the void. "...is the only way you can save your world."
And with that... the mightiest demon Amon had ever faced...
The architect behind two ruined timelines... The Prophet of the Demon Cult...
Faded into oblivion, returning at last to the waiting embrace of his eternal Demon King.
Amon stood alone amidst the collapsing dimension, silent as the final remnants of Joroxin’s presence faded into nothingness.
The grey mist dissipated. The artificial sky shattered. Fragments of broken space drifted endlessly through the void while lunar flames quietly burned around him.
Yet Amon remained motionless.
The Prophet’s final words echoed repeatedly within his mind.
A playground for Gods.
Amon slowly lowered his gaze toward Nyx, whose black blade still hummed with Eclipse energy.
Normally, he would have dismissed such words as the ramblings of a dying enemy.
Joroxin was a demon. A manipulator. A liar who had orchestrated the destruction of humanity across multiple timelines.
And yet... Amon’s instincts told him otherwise.
The Prophet had spoken the truth.
Not all of it, perhaps.
But enough.
Hyades’s obsession with controlling the Mandate of Heaven suddenly made sense. She wasn’t merely power-hungry. She was terrified of what lay beyond the boundaries of their dimension. Because if beings like the Demon Kings truly existed...
Then, Solfea had never been safe to begin with.
The demon invasion.
Hyades’s tyranny.
The cycles of power that there was always a new challenger for the Mandate of Heaven...
Those were merely the beginning.
An appetiser.
Beyond their world existed monsters capable of erasing dimensions with a thought. Immortal beings who treated entire universes as entertainment.
And now... With Heaven and Earth beginning to merge... Their world had finally entered the gaze of those higher existences.
Amon should have felt fear. Anyone else would have.
But strangely enough... He didn’t.
Instead, a familiar resolve slowly surfaced within his chest.
Amon had never been someone who drowned himself in despair.
Whether as Number 23 or as Amon Solaris, his life had always been simple. If an obstacle appeared before him... Destroy it.
If an enemy threatened his home, kill them.
That was all.
Amon closed his eyes briefly before releasing a slow breath.
"I see..." His voice was calm. "So that’s how it is."
The shattered dimension trembled around him as lunar mana slowly receded into his body.
"If the Demon Kings want to invade..." Amon raised Nyx onto his shoulder. "...then I’ll fight them."
No hesitation existed within his eyes. No fear. Only certainty.
For the longest time, Amon had carved his path forward with nothing except the blade in his hand.
Gods, demons, monsters, fate itself—it didn’t matter what stood before him.
If they threatened the people he cared about... He would cut them down.
Simple as that.
The pressure radiating from his body intensified. Black-and-white flames flickered across the void as Eclipse energy surged violently around him.
"If they step into my territory..." Amon’s crimson eyes glimmered sharply beneath the ruined heavens. "...then I’ll bee strong enough to kill them too."
BOOOOOOM!!!
The isolated dimension finally collapsed pletely. Space shattered like glass around Amon while endless darkness swallowed the remains of the battlefield.
Yet amidst the collapsing void... Amon smiled. A cold, fearless smile filled with absolute confidence.
"Bring it on."
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