"Where... am I?" Roland found himself in an abandoned theater. Many of its buildings had crumbled into ruins, but the remaining colonnades, walls, and foundations still showed their Roman style. Crimson moss grew quietly between the stones, like blood that had congealed.
Then the sunlight pouring from the sky seemed to go out. An ominous black hole appeared from nowhere, spewing scarlet flames that gathered into a human-shaped figure.
Brass armor, a blood-red cloak, and horns strikingly like Zetton II's. Roland already knew who had appeared.
"This is a world I created. It is a proving world modeled after the Incineration of Humanity caused by the First Beast. Through it, I recreated seven Singularities and drew Chaldeas here from countless Parallel Universes. I gathered their hopes in the Holy Grail and drank them dry. I am the Beast of Sodom. You may call me Draco."
"All right. So why am I here?" Roland asked.
"Because my Beast authority is Anti-Messiah: the power to mock, kill, and devour the Savior," Draco said. "By feeding on the desire to devour the Savior, I became the Beast of Sodom's true form. But that drew that Savior here."
"And then I suffered a crushing defeat."
"Even though I tried to stop him, he still completed his journey through this world."
"But before his resurrection, he made an agreement: you would defeat me."
"Me?" Roland shrugged and rolled up his sleeves. "All right. Looks like I really do have to fight all seven Beasts."
"But you can't use your abilities," Draco said quickly when she saw him readying himself for a fight. "Hear me out first."
"No abilities?" Roland let the power surging through his hands fade. "Then how am I supposed to beat you?"
"Let Him tell you Himself."
A few minutes later.
Standing