BUT EVEN BENEATH ALL THAT… SOMETHING WASN'T RIGHT.
Shingen's body lay scattered across the arena—limbs severed, blood soaking the ground, reality itself still trembling from the violence. His head remained upright, eyes lifeless, mouth frozen in an eternal silence.
Esau didn't look back.
He turned and walked away without the faintest trace of hesitation—no remorse, no doubt, not even acknowledgment. To him, it was finished.
Just as Shingen's remains began to dissolve.Just as the Watcher stepped forward to announce the end of the match.
Something that should never happen—happened.
The corpse moved.
The lifeless body that lay sprawled upon the ground—devoid of thought, emotion, soul, and will—stood up.
Flesh regenerated in real time. Bone reknit itself with wet, unnatural sounds. Blood flowed backward, crawling into veins that should no longer exist. Torn limbs reattached, sealing seamlessly as though the injury had never occurred.
Esau froze.
He turned back slowly, eyes widening as he stared at the figure that moments ago had been nothing more than dust and death.
Shingen rose to his feet—but it was no longer Shingen.
His jet-black hair bled into deep violet, pulsing faintly like a living bruise upon reality. His once-blue eyes darkened into something far deeper than shadow—darker than Hell itself, swallowing light rather than reflecting it.
His skin crumpled and cracked, peeling away like dead parchment.
From his back erupted four massive black wings, each one screaming—screaming—with false scriptures, broken prayers, and twisted testimonies that clawed at the mind. Words that should never have existed echoed endlessly, overlapping and contradicting one another.
He brushed dried blood from his shoulder with casual indifference.
Then the wings pulsed.
The world shifted.
The arena vanished.
They were no longer within a subspace, nor bound by regulated reality. They had fallen into something else entirely—a gap.
An unguarded space.
There are always gaps.
The gap between a breath.The gap between intention and action.The gap between failure and despair.
Most are sealed. Watched. Corrected.
But when a gap is left unattended, it grows.
And when it grows enough, it becomes an IN-BETWEEN.
That was where they stood.
An endless expanse of fractured ripples and widening cracks, fissures bleeding divine ichor into nothingness. Space folded in on itself in silent waves, and the air felt thin—wrong—as though existence itself had loosened its grip.
Esau stood motionless, studying the figure before him.
This wasn't his brother.
This wasn't even something wearing his brother's soul.
"…Who are you?" Esau asked calmly, tilting his head slightly.
The motion alone caused the ripples to shatter unnaturally, cracks sealing and reopening as the IN-BETWEEN widened in response.
The being stared back at him, eyes hollow yet impossibly aware.
"Me?" it asked, voice layered—too many tones speaking at once.
A slow, distorted smile formed.
"I'm a Demon."
And the gap widened further.
In truth, Demons were never fairy tales.
They existed.
Just not within this reality.
They came from elsewhere—a realm adjacent yet incompatible, a place that did not obey the same laws, logic, or limitations. Not above. Not below. Beside.
Demons could not be classified under the Tower, nor ranked within mortal systems of power. They existed parallel to them, as one of the Seats of High Authority. Their strength was not something to be measured casually—because even the weakest among them possessed the capacity to erase entire civilizations with a single, careless thought.
To mortals who had read manhwas, novels, and legends, Demons were often simplified—entities dwelling in the Abyss, or what was commonly called Hell. A realm of torment and fire.
That description was incomplete.
Hell was not merely a place of suffering.
It was a reality of absolute freedom and false being—where identity, form, and law were optional, and strength alone dictated truth.
Esau stood firm within the IN-BETWEEN, gaze steady despite the oppressive presence before him.
"Why are you here?" he asked calmly."And why do you have control over Shingen's body?"
The Demon laughed softly.
"Since I'm going to kill you anyway," it said, raising a finger and pointing directly at Esau, "I suppose I can indulge you."
Its voice echoed unnaturally, as though the space itself was repeating its words.
"Do you remember your Awakening Day?"
Before Esau could answer, it continued.
"Do you know why Klein and Shingen weren't there?"
Its smile widened—cruel, knowing.
"Your brother—no, your sworn brother—was drowning in hatred. Envy consumed him. You stood where he believed he deserved to stand."
The Demon lowered its hand.
"So he sold his life to me."
A pause.
"And not just to any Demon."
In Hell, rank was not symbolic. It was absolute law.
If a higher-ranked Demon fell to a lower-ranked one, the victor ruled. No rebellion. No resentment. No pride. Strength was truth, and truth was final.
The Demon's wings shifted as it continued, voice steady and instructional—like a teacher explaining an inevitable conclusion.
"There are six ranks in Hell."
It raised one finger.
"Sixth Rank — True Demons.The lowest tier… yet still beyond mortal comprehension. These are not imps, succubi, or mindless fiends. They are True Demons—born directly from Chaos and the Void itself. Mortals may manipulate the Void, but to be born of it… that is something else entirely."
Its eyes darkened.
"Even a single True Demon can erase multiple civilizations with a thought."
A second finger rose.
"Fifth Rank — Demon Lords.Not 'lords' in the way mortals understand. They reside in the Second Hell. Each Hell is ruled by seven Lords, and these beings are the elder kin of True Demons—possessing refined intellect, mastery over mind and flesh, and dominion over countless lesser entities."
A third finger.
"Fourth Rank — Calamities.Born from war itself. Conflict given will. Their purpose is singular: to destroy, to unmake, to reduce existence to ruin. They do not scheme. They do not reason. They end."
The fourth finger rose, and the IN-BETWEEN trembled.
"Third Rank — Voids.Conceptual beings. They possess no true physical form and can only exist within IN-BETWEENS like this one. The elements mortals believe they control?"It laughed softly."Those are gifts. Granted by Demons long before your kind learned to name them."
A fifth finger.
"Second Rank — Divine Demons."
The Demon spread its wings slightly.
"Beings such as myself. We were Gods—and more. We do not merely destroy; we rule. We command legions, shape realms, and operate within creation itself. Chaos is not only destruction, Esau."
Its gaze locked onto him.
"Chaos is also creation."
The being spoke again—quieter now, slower, his voice heavy with pride rather than volume.
"I am Uphsiel. I am the apex. The peak. The sovereign of all Divine Demons," he said.
"I rule both creation and destruction. And my role—my singular purpose—is to end you… and annihilate the variable."
The words settled into the IN-BETWEEN like a verdict.
Then the being vanished.
Not by speed. Not by teleportation.
He simply was—standing before Esau, close enough that reality bent inward around his presence. The cracks froze. The ripples stilled. Even the false scriptures whispering from the wings fell silent.
Esau had listened. Truly listened. Every word. Every implication. The puzzle pieces aligned at last.
The Demon did not attack.
He watched Esau's face—searching for fear, anger, denial, even resolve.
He found nothing.
That emptiness made him smile.
"You truly are an Omega," the Divine Demon said, admiration threading through his tone. "Across millions of years, across billions of eons—I have watched kings rise, variables emerge, realities collapse."
His gaze sharpened.
"You are different. You are the variable."
A pause.
"But you are not strong enough. If this battle proceeds… you will die."
There was no mockery in his voice.
Only certainty. Almost pity.
Esau did not flinch.
He did not raise his hand.
He spoke a single word.
"Unravel."
The IN-BETWEEN screamed.
The floor beneath divine rule—beneath demonic authority—began to come apart, not breaking, not shattering, but unwriting itself. Layers peeled away like false assumptions. Laws collapsed into silence. The gap that once held them ceased to exist.
The Demon's smile faltered—for the first time.
Reality inverted.
And the scenery shifted.
They were no longer in the IN-BETWEEN.
They stood within the Realm of the Absolute One.
A domain where hierarchy meant nothing, where authority was not claimed but proven, and where even gods were reduced to truths—or erased as lies.
Here, creation held its breath.
And destruction waited.