THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 931: A Door Between Worlds (1)

It was their first meeting since Clea had sealed Agaroth’s power, preventing him from devouring any more strength.

Contrary to all expectations, Agaroth had remained astonishingly active ever since. He had built himself a magnificent fortress—one grand enough to amaze even Frey, who had spent most of his life within the Great Council of Writers.

The chamber Agaroth claimed for himself resembled a laboratory.

It was enormous, cluttered with countless strange objects piled haphazardly upon one another, creating complete chaos.

At the center of that disorder stood the broken man who bore the power of Devouring, manipulating streams of dark energy between his hands.

Slowly turning toward Frey, their eyes met.

Neither of them spoke.

Silence lingered between them for several long moments before a mocking smile slowly spread across Agaroth’s face.

”I thought you’d never come back.”

”And yet... here you are.”

”Standing before me.”

Leaning casually against the table buried beneath his scattered experiments, Agaroth spoke with complete composure.

His voice carried no emotion whatsoever.

”Did you come to mock me?”

”To laugh at a slave who tried to break his chains...”

”Only to earn himself a new set instead?”

Frey’s eyes widened slightly upon hearing those words.

He wanted to deny them immediately, but the words died in his throat the moment he remembered everything that had happened...

The conversation between himself and his mother.

From Agaroth’s perspective, it was only natural to see Frey as someone manipulating a being he himself had created.

And denying that accusation wasn’t so simple.

After all, Frey had done nothing to oppose his mother.

He had simply stood there... and watched.

Because of that, he wasn’t even sure he had the right to deny it.

”Nothing?”

”So you’ve gone mute, Frey?”

”Say something.”

”Anything.”

Agaroth remained outwardly calm.

Yet the table behind him crumbled into dust the instant his fingers brushed against it.

”Deny it.”

”Come up with an excuse.”

”Anything !”

He urged Frey to speak.

After hesitating for several seconds, Frey finally answered.

”I...”

”I don’t know what I should say.”

A faint, bitter smile appeared on the young Writer’s face.

”I imagined countless possibilities.”

”I kept thinking about what I should say when we met again.”

”But when the moment finally came...”

”I couldn’t say a single word.”

”...How pathetic.”

Frey let out a quiet sigh.

Across from him, Agaroth’s expression darkened into a scowl.

”Pathetic indeed.”

”You created me to oppose them, didn’t you?”

”The Creatures of Mist.”

Taking one slow step forward, Agaroth released his aura.

”They are beings made entirely of Aura.”

”And I am the monster that devours that Aura and renders it meaningless.”

”You wanted to use me against them.”

”You wanted to bring me into the Aether World for your own benefit.”

”Tell me...”

”How does it feel now that everything has fallen apart?”

”That your plan has failed?”

Standing directly before him, Agaroth’s crimson eyes blazed fiercely.

”It feels disgusting, doesn’t it?”

”When someone else decides your fate for you.”

”You’ve misunderstood everything.” Frey interrupted him without looking away.

”I never gave you that power to exploit you.”

”I wanted it to belong to you.”

”to survive... to become strong enough...”

”Strong enough to protect yourself.”

”You honestly expect me to believe that nonsense?”

Agaroth’s voice became heavy.

In response, Frey simply smiled.

”It’s the truth.”

”You were the very first being I ever wrote into the Land of Survival.”

”I was only a child.”

”I knew nothing about this world.”

”All I wanted...”

”...was a place where I could escape.”

”A place far away from the Council.”

”Far away from the First Writer.”

”A place where I could rest.”

”A place where I could talk to someone without hidden motives.”

”Someone who saw me simply as Frey...”

”...instead of Clea’s son.”

”You were that person, Agaroth.”

Seeking refuge from the countless expectations others placed upon him, the Land of Survival had always been Frey’s sanctuary.

It had been his refuge in the past.

It remained his refuge in the present.

And he believed it would remain so in the future as well.

He was telling the truth.

He had never hidden anything from Agaroth.

He taught him the secrets of the world.

He revealed the truth of the Aether World.

He even allowed him to live alongside himself and his siblings until they had all become something resembling a family.

Frey.

Seth.

Arlecchino.

Audrey.

Lea.

And Agaroth.

The six of them had lived together for a long time within Frey’s world under Abraham’s guidance.

Unlike everyone else, Abraham had never treated Agaroth as nothing more than a written creation.

Though those bonds eventually faded as everyone gradually left...

Frey never stopped returning.

Agaroth knew that.

He had never denied it.

Yet an intense conflict continued raging within his heart.

One half cherished those memories and treasured every one of them.

The other searched endlessly for freedom.

For the meaning of life.

That half longed to break the chains placed upon him and shape his own destiny with his own hands.

Every moment of Agaroth’s existence felt like an endless internal war.

A life of constant confusion.

Yet there was one thing that defined the man who possessed the power of Devouring above all else...

He had never stopped moving forward.

”Then help me.”

His voice carried unwavering determination.

”If everything you’ve said is true...”

”Help me break these chains.”

Within those crimson eyes, Frey saw a terrifying thirst for freedom.

An unbreakable resolve.

He immediately understood.

Despite everything that had happened...

Agaroth had never abandoned his dream.

Frey could only nod solemnly.

”I will.”

”But... how?”

After Clea intervened and sealed Agaroth’s powers, their original plan involving Aether was no longer possible.

However...

The man with crimson eyes had already conceived an entirely different idea.

”If I can’t make this world reject me through Aether...”

”Then why don’t I simply build a door leading outside instead?”

Agaroth pointed toward something important he had realized.

”Think about it.”

”Every time you enter this place, your real body remains outside while another body manifests here.”