The Author's POV

The tension in the room was palpable, thick enough to cut through with a knife. Waylan's smile vanished in an instant, leaving behind a stoic expression devoid of any emotion.

His clear eyes began to cloud over, and in just a matter of seconds, they turned pitch black. But upon closer inspection, they were much more than just a dark void.

As I gazed into his eyes, I could see the reflection of the entire cosmos staring back at me.

The swirling galaxies, the shining stars, and the infinite expanse of space were all contained within Waylan's eyes.

"Is this your answer?"

Waylan's voice boomed across the room, carrying with it an ancient quality that made the powers within my body tremble.

I felt a sudden pressure crash onto me, and I struggled to keep my footing. Despite the weight bearing down on me, I refused to falter and stood my ground.

"Even after I conceded and allowed you to work with us, you still choose to work against us?"

Waylan's gaze was cold and unforgiving, and I knew that I was in deep trouble.

"Arrogant."

He spat, and the cosmos within his eyes began to expand, slowly creeping up the walls of the room.

I watched in seriousness as the stars and galaxies began to envelop everything around me, slowly but surely.

Even in the face of such overwhelming power, I remained composed/

"Arrogant, huh?"

I managed to gasp out, struggling against the immense pressure that threatened to crush me.

"Would knowing that I'd get disposed of after serving my usefulness count as me being arrogant? …Rather, instead of arrogant, shouldn't you be saying something along the lines of self-aware?"

I was no fool.

The information that Ryan had sent me coincided with everything that I had managed to figure out myself, and I knew that Waylan wasn't someone who'd spare someone that had lived up to their usefulness.

He couldn't fool me, and I knew that he needed to die, regardless of whether he'd eliminate me after.

'He needs to die regardless.'

I thought to myself, my resolve hardening with each passing second. His existence was something that needed to be eliminated to have any chance at the third cataclysm that was soon going to come.

"Self-Aware?"

Waylan looked at me with a calm expression, musing over my words very carefully. It wasn't long before he shook his head.

"You're the last thing from self-aware. If you were self-aware, you'd know which side to join."

The world around me began to distort and warp, and suddenly, I found myself in a cosmic background filled with stars and planets in the distance.

I looked around in wonder, marveling at the beauty and grandeur of it all. I felt weightless as if I was standing on nothing at all. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before, and I couldn't help but be in awe of the spectacle before me.

"Are you surprised?"

Waylan's voice cut through my reverie, pulling me back to reality. I turned to face him, nodding my head in amazement.

"Yes, I'm surprised. Where have you brought me?"

Although I had seen how he had managed to send me here, I never felt a thing, unlike when I was with portals. It was somewhat baffling.

"I'm surprised that you can't tell where we are considering that you have 'his' power, but that isn't important."

Waylan's gaze pierced through me, and the white glow that emanated from his body grew even brighter.

"What important is your answer."

He slowly reached his hand toward me.

"Will you join me, or not?"

***

Boom―!

The reverberations of the explosions could be felt all over the world. The ground began to shake, and the mountains were pushed down to the ground. The entire area was filled with the sound of screams of agony, and there was a constant flow of blood.

Gates of enormous magnitude were scattered across the cloudless azure sky, and hordes of dark humanoid creatures rushed out of them as quickly as they could.

"Kill them! Don't spare any of them!"

"Arkhh!"

All of those who emerged had a crazed and bloodthirsty look on their faces as they flew toward the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of elves who were standing on the ground behind the trees with their bows drawn and their staffs raised.

WIIIIIING--! Spells and arrows flew in the air, impaling many of the demons that were rushing their way, but that proved to be futile.

No matter how many were cut down or impaled, a significant number of them regenerated in the blink of an eye and continued to charge at the humans. Even if they succeeded in killing themselves, new demons would appear from behind and take the place of the ones that had been killed.

The screams that were heard throughout the area gradually became higher pitched, and it wasn't long before the elves began to suffer casualties.

In the distance.

"What a pitiful sight."

The expression of indifference that was plastered across Jezebeth's face was not consistent with the compassionate words that came out of his mouth.

"It's such a shame that so many have to die today… A pity, a real pity."

He shook his head in disappointment.

Not so far from him were two elven figures. An elderly one and a younger one, both wearing shiny silver armor.

They stared at Jezebeth without moving.

Noticing their gaze, Jezebeth turned his gaze and smiled at them.

"The deaths that are taking place over there don't appear to be having much of an effect on the two of you at all. Is this how things normally work with you Protectors?... Do you only care about maintaining balance and disregard those who have no use for you?"

His words were met with silence, but Jezebeth was unconcerned by this development. He was enjoying the present very much.

He had dreamt of this day for a very long time, and although he had seen this scene many times in the past... He knew... that this was the very last time he'd see this scene ever again.

It was for this reason that he was rather chatty today.

"I know the two of you are waiting for reinforcements… thinking that the five other Protectors will come to your aid soon enough, but…"

Jezebeth cocked his head to the side and peered off into the distance. His expression remained one of contentment as his eyes became fixated on a particular scene off in the distance.

"Well, never mind five… Four, I guess."

Jezebeth's eyes lit up with something as he kept looking at the scene in the distance, but he eventually shook his head and tore his gaze away from the sight.

"Not yet… It's still a bit too soon."

A mumble escaped his mouth before he turned his attention back to the other two Protectors. While he had both hands behind his back, his hair was blowing in front of him, and his eyes, which had a purplish-red tint to them, began to glow all of a sudden.

Swoosh!

Instantaneously, the two Guardians started to move, and their silhouettes began to blend in with the surrounding area. They vanished for a moment and then reappeared right in front of him.

The silver-armored elf, who had his rapier drawn and pointed toward his neck, showed no sign of holding back as the slash shattered the area that it passed through.

WIIIIIING―!! The force behind that one slash made everything in the far distance appear to be of insignificant size, and at the same time, the carefree expression that had been on Jezebeth's face vanished.

If that wasn't all, the elderly elf appeared behind Jezebeth with a large magic circle―the size of a car―appearing above her staff. A terrifying fluctuation burst forth from the magic circle, spreading across the nearby areas and shattering everything that was within the vicinity.

BOOOOM―!!

Even though they were quite a distance away from the main battlefield in the distance, the aftershock of that attack was still sufficient to reach certain areas of the space, killing anyone who had the misfortune to be in their range.

With a powerful slash at the front and a powerful spell at the back, Jezebeth's situation was rather serious. Only that… his previous serious expression vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and a smile soon formed on his face.

"Enough."

Everything stopped.

Even though it was only a single word, the moment it was spoken, both of the Protectors' bodies came to a stop. Jezebeth's body soon began to radiate a dazzling white light, accompanied by golden runes and words that floated around him.

The light was so intense that the elves who were far away were instantly rendered unable to see because of its glare.

…The same couldn't be said for the demons, as they seemed completely unaffected by the radiance.

"Uagkh!"

"Ukh!"

As the demons continued their murderous rampage, more blood splattered against the air.

Jezebeth tilted his head to the side and looked off into the distance while maintaining a contented grin on his face.

"That's good."

It was only after he was satisfied with what he saw that he shifted his attention back toward the Protectors and waved his hand. The space around them distorted, and they reappeared in the vastness of space.

The once-vibrant planet has long since disappeared. It was gone, and in its place was an eerie silence and a chill that went straight to the bone.

"I feel like this place is better suited for the three of us."

Jezebeth looked at the two with a calm smile.

"If we were to join in on the fun with them, we would be implicating our forces, and that would be a real shame..."

While Jezebeth spoke, the two Protectors quickly broke free from the binds that were changing their bodies. It wasn't too hard since the force that was restricting their body wasn't too strong.

"We… should've made sure you had died back then…"

The elderly elven lady spoke. Her eyes, which had been a bright blue, started to cloud over and eventually darkened completely. The situation was the same for the second Protector.

Both of their scalps became completely golden, and the skin on their bodies began to peel off in patches. An ethereal glow materialized over their bodies, and a terrifying pressure erupted from the combined mass of the two of them at the same time.

Jezebeth was pushed back a couple of spaces as a result of the pressure, which was intense enough.

He still carried a smile on his face as he gazed at the two of them.

"I don't disagree with you."

Jezebeth nodded his head with a smile.

"Had you killed me back then… then perhaps the two of you could've lived."