A roar came from within the great doors, and the eyeball ignited with flames as an incomparably immense voice passed from behind the doors into reality.
"This is impossible!"
"How long have I waited for this day!"
"Not even the Red Priest can stop me!"
As the voice roared, the darkness within the doors flowed like liquid, bulging into countless arms, heads, and eyeballs.
Those indescribable things roared, wailed, cried, and laughed.
They were utterly deranged.
Sifa did not even look at them, nor did he make the slightest movement.
Deep crimson flames rose before the doors.
Boom!
The flames surged dozens of meters high, like the trunk of a colossal tree.
Their upper portion rapidly spread outward, forming a canopy.
In an instant, a Flame Tree blocked the doorway, pressed tightly against the gap in the doors and sealing off the things within, preventing them from entering.
Everything that touched the Flame Tree caught fire and turned to ash in an instant.
Even so, the black liquid continued struggling to flow through the doors, trying to enter reality.
Sifa rose off the ground and began ascending into the air. Through the dense canopy of the Flame Tree, he met the eyeball behind the doors in a stare.
"You're merely a projection of the Abyss. Don't think too highly of yourself."
"Or do you truly not know that you're only a projection?"
"Then you're rather pitiful."
The pupil of the eyeball behind the doors contracted before a bellow arrived. "Nonsense! How could I not know who I am?"
"I am the Everdark One, the Lord of Eternal Darkness, the Demon Monarch."
"I am the Abyss itself!"
Sifa gave a dismissive snort. "You nearly had me convinced."
"But that sort of thing might only fool certain humans whose minds are distorted."