THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 612: Threads of Destiny

After a thunderous battle and the emergence of a terrifyingly strong demon upon the land of the Lightbearers ..

It ended with the Pure Vessel losing the friend dearest to his heart. Orsted died—and with him, something inside Pure died as well.

Crimson, the Red Moon, was only the fifth seat at that time, yet even so he wrought ruin and devastation beyond measure.

Seeing the power of that young demon made the Pure Vessel realize how naïve he had been to think the Lightbearers and the Vessels were the only ones who could threaten his freedom.

But so long as he bore the Spirit of Light, suffering had been his lot from the very start. And that weakness ..that was what he regretted most in his entire story. Had he possessed enough strength, none of it would have happened. He would never have allowed Orsted to die before his eyes.

That event drove the Pure Vessel back to what he truly was, casting aside entirely the period of his life he had lived as Snow.

That night, he parted from Audrey. Each went their own way, ending the bond that had tied them together for years.

From the beginning, neither of them expected to meet; likewise, neither expected to part in such a way.

From that day on, time raced by, and the wheels of fate and destiny began to turn once more, set on writing a pivotal chapter that would transform the world completely.

Audrey remained secluded from the world, searching for someone in every corner of the cosmos, caring for nothing else.

As for the Pure Vessel, from that moment on he became the legendary Lightbearer people longed for.

He returned to that dark abyss and trained like a madman day and night, seeking to increase his strength as quickly as possible.

He pushed his body so far he nearly broke it. Despite the pain and crushing strain, the Pure Vessel never stopped.

His otherworldly talent let him climb the ranks at a blistering pace, and the Spirit of Light within him turned the impossible into reality, granting him the strongest and purest aura.

When his training ended, the Pure Vessel stepped back into the world and officially became one of the Vessels’ knights.

He joined the wars, clashed with other races, and announced his existence to the world at large.

It was only a matter of time before every race understood his power; he was monstrous, surpassing his peers with startling speed.

The incident that made him famous above all else was a battle against one of the strongest demons alive.

After a grueling fight, and only a short time after his emergence, the Pure Vessel succeeded in killing the second-ranked demon of that era ..giving his people a decisive advantage in the war against the demons.

What the Pure Vessel achieved then was a first of its kind. Since the rise of Agaroth’s High Demons, no one had ever slain one of the top ten—let alone the second.

That feat, followed by the staggering number of demons he felled, propelled him up the ranks with breathtaking speed. In record time, he was already regarded as Number One among the Seven Great Powers.

He became a merciless engine of war—from battle to training, and from training straight back to battle.

It was as if his existence had been consecrated solely to combat, forsaking everything else in life.

Like a weapon of mass destruction drawn only in times of war—that was how the Pure Vessel lived the final chapter of his life.

He forged himself so far that they named him Lord of Light—the great warrior whom the Lightbearers chose to follow instead of their so-called king.

Overnight, his name became the most prominent on the world stage. With such a presence, a clash with a certain demon was inevitable.

Just as the Pure Vessel rose among the Lightbearers, declaring himself the strongest among them .. and among all races ..

The Demon King, Agaroth, was still building his own legend.

At that time, Agaroth was hyperactive on the battlefield, waging war after war with his own hands.

The Demon King was like a one-man army—starting wars and ending them himself, and bringing death to countless great warriors.

His latest massacre was what he did to the Pantheon race, and to Number Two of the Seven Great Powers of that era—Midir.

It was said that Agaroth and Crimson alone fought the entire Pantheon with Midir at its head ..

And emerged victorious, after slaughtering a terrifying number of dragons, then deemed the strongest of all.

That catastrophe echoed across the world. The fall of the Pantheon marked the beginning of the end for every other race; only the Lightbearers remained on the stage of that age.

Agaroth rose into an existence that threatened whole races with extinction, and the Lightbearers failed to kill him before it came to that ..making his confrontation with the Pure Vessel only a matter of time.

The strongest and purest Lightbearer, Number One of the Seven Great Powers—versus the vilest demon since the dawn of existence: the Demon King Agaroth.

Everyone knew that battle would change everything. The days flew by, and the countdown had already begun.

As the decisive meeting between the Pure Vessel and Agaroth drew near ..

Secluded in the Valley of the End, apart from the entire world, and after years of searching, Audrey collapsed to the ground, staring at what she had discovered.

After roaming the vast cosmos tirelessly, doing nothing but searching for a single person ..

A goal that seemed wholly impossible, for Audrey did not know what he looked like, or even his features or his race ..

She kept searching nonetheless, certain she would find him in the end.

And that is exactly what happened. While the world prepared to witness the battle between the Pure Vessel and Agaroth ..

Audrey, at last, found a clue that would lead her to the one she had spent her entire life seeking.

Gathering her things, ready to depart and find him ..to put an end to all those bitter years of searching …

Audrey was stunned that night when the Pure Vessel appeared before her in the Valley of the End, for the first time since their parting after Orsted’s death.

His timing was strange—almost as if fate were mocking them.

With a single look, Audrey realized the Pure Vessel was no longer the one she’d known. His very presence, his aura, told her the man before her had become a warrior whose strength now surpassed her own.

That day, Audrey and the Pure Vessel talked, sitting quietly together just as they had when Orsted was still around. They spoke for a long time about many things, most of the talking coming from the Pure Vessel as he recounted what he had done in recent years—how he had become Lord of Light and was ranked first among the Seven Great Powers.

Compared to all he had achieved, Audrey had done nothing but continue searching for a single person. She had little to add—until she finally told him she had found a lead at last. A thread that would guide her to him. A thread that would end a search that had lasted for centuries.

When the Pure Vessel heard that, he congratulated her—genuinely happy for her. That pure part of him had never changed. But there was a tremor of hesitation, of regret, beneath his voice, and it made Audrey certain something was wrong.

After they spoke a while longer, silence fell—until the Pure Vessel revealed the real reason he had come.

He told Audrey he was about to face the Demon King, to fight the war that would most likely be his last.

“I’m about to fight the Demon King, Agaroth—the existence that makes the world tremble as we speak.”

The Demon King was a calamity on an entirely different scale.

“To be honest,” he said, half-smiling, “I feel as if that demon is my opposite—like I was born for this moment, to fight him.”

The strongest Pure Vessel in the history of the Lightbearers, and Agaroth, the vilest demon of all ages—the two seemed fated mirrors, and their clash had always been a matter of time.

“Truthfully, I feel as if fate is herding me toward this battle… and I have a bad feeling about it.”

“I don’t think I’ll fare well there, Audrey. I’m confident in the strength I’ve built over these long years. I’ve trained day and night, slain millions of demons, and reached the peak of my power.”

He knew his body’s limits better than anyone. The purest, most perfect vessel—he could not possess power beyond what he already held.

And yet he couldn’t shake the dark premonition curling in his chest. That, more than anything, was what had driven him to Audrey ..whether he realized it or not.

“In this war… in this confrontation, will you help me, Audrey?”

Seeking her aid, the Pure Vessel placed Audrey before a decisive choice: to help one of her own kind ..one closest to her .. or to set out and finally find the person she had searched for all these years.

Both moments had arrived together, as if someone were pulling the strings to force her hand.

Audrey’s answer would change everything.