Vareon's body began to twist. His flesh rippled like liquid shadows, bones stretching into unnatural angles, veins glowing like rivers of molten red. A suffocating aura spread through the throne room, pressing against every stone, making the walls groan as if they too feared his presence. His voice echoed with a thousand overlapping tones, both human and something far more ancient:
"ALL HAIL TO THE DEMON KING."
The ground split beneath him as his form broke free of humanity. Clawed fingers, elongated jaw with spiraling fangs, eyes that burned like twin voids swallowing all light—he became something that should not exist in this world. An eldritch titan clothed in writhing shadows.
He roared, the sound alone shattering nearby windows into dust.
"I TOOK YEARS… just to GET this POWER! You child—YOU HAVE NO IDEA what it cost me! The SUFFERING I ENDURED, the BLOOD I SPILLED—my very soul torn apart and STITCHED BACK by the Demon King! YOU THINK YOU KNOW ME BECAUSE OF YOUR FRAGMENTS OF STORIES?!"
He stepped forward, each stride cracking stone like brittle glass.
"YOU. KNOW. NOTHING!"
Kazuki stood firm, even as the oppressive weight pressed his body down. His lips curled into a faint, cold smile.
"Yet… I gave you all the proofs, uncle—"
Vareon's voice warped into a scream, shaking the air.
"I AM NOT YOUR UNCLE!"
In a blur faster than thought, his clawed hand seized Kazuki's face. The force was suffocating, his skull threatening to cave in. Then—
BOOM!
Kazuki's body was hurled like a meteor, tearing through pillars, splintering walls, until his broken frame crashed outside into the empty streets. Dust clouds rose like funeral smoke.
Vareon followed, his towering form looming like a nightmare given flesh. As Kazuki struggled to push himself up, coughing blood into the cracked stone beneath him, Vareon's shadow fell over him.
The blows came mercilessly. A kick to the face, smashing him back into the dirt. Another, cracking his ribs. Each strike echoed through the hollow city like thunder in a graveyard.
"Being smart WON'T PUT YOU AT MY LEVEL!" Vareon's voice was a storm of madness. "Every weakness you exposed—TRUE. Every underestimation you made—MAYBE TRUE. BUT NONE OF IT MATTERS! I FIGHT BECAUSE I LOST MY MOTIVE! I RULE BECAUSE I HAD NOTHING LEFT BUT TO BECOME AN EMPEROR!"**
His claws struck again, Kazuki rolling barely in time as the ground shattered into a crater where his skull had been.
"THE DEMON KING SAVED ME! He gave me PURPOSE, a LIFE, when the world spat on me like filth. YES, I LOST MY FIRST MOTIVE—BUT A GREATER ONE TOOK ITS PLACE! WORLD DOMINATION! AND IF IT TAKES ME DECADES, I WILL HAVE IT!"
He stomped down on Kazuki's chest, pinning him. "But first… I will kill you."
Kazuki, blood trailing from his lips, coughed, then chuckled weakly.
"You think you can conquer the world? You can't even conquer your own temptations…" His eyes sharpened. "All you've done… every choice… every slaughter… it was never because of strength. It was because you had nothing else. That makes you weak. Worthless. A pawn."
Vareon's aura flared violently, as though reality itself recoiled at Kazuki's words.
"A pawn…?"
"Yes," Kazuki said coldly. "A pawn of the Demon King. You believe he gave you power, but all along—you were only his tool. And in this game…" His gaze locked with Vareon's monstrous eyes. "I am not playing against you. I'm playing against him."
The world seemed to stop for a moment.
Then Vareon screamed, voice splitting the heavens:
"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE YOURSELF TO HIM!"
His foot came down, crushing Kazuki's face into the ground—