Nether Monarch Astaroth's cold declaration of war hit the Undead World like a boulder dropped into boiling water. It sent waves surging through that realm and set off a chain reaction across the battlefield high above.
"Astaroth! You gutter rat! Finally ready to bare your fangs?!"
The Lord of Destruction's furious will swept across the sky like a shock wave. Abyssal Flames erupted with unprecedented force, briefly overwhelming the Lord of Torture's Mental Storm.
"War? Good! The Abyss has never feared war! If you rotting piles of bones want to die, I'll grant your wish!"
To him, Dies Martin's schemes, the Night Lady's intervention, and the conflicts within the Undead...
None of it mattered.
He was destruction incarnate, chaos's favored child.
Battle was the reason he existed.
Since Astaroth had lit the fires of war, he would gladly answer and burn everything to ash!
Right or wrong, cause or consequence—none of it mattered. This was the instinct of the Abyss, the will of destruction!
"Roar!"
The Lord of Destruction let out a thunderous roar. No longer content to circle the Lord of Torture and the Lord of Lava, he swung his immense eyes, blazing with Abyssal Flames, toward Nether Monarch Astaroth. Terrifying Destructive Energy began to gather.
Nether Monarch Astaroth's icy will did not retreat an inch. "Brute force. How foolish. You'll pay for your arrogance."
The darkness around the Shadow Throne deepened, as though it meant to swallow the entire sky.
The tension between the two Main Gods instantly pushed the standoff overhead to the brink of all-out war.
And as the Lord of Destruction's battle-hungry roar rang through the Void, it seemed to serve as a signal. Deep in the bottomless Abyss beneath Blue Star, presences older, more chaotic, and more despair-inducing began to awaken.
If the arrival