On the way to Returning Abyss Palace, Ash and Death Frenzy stayed silent the whole time, as if their earlier harmony had only been an act at a Masquerade Ball; now that they had taken off their masks, they naturally had to return to their respective positions.
They were watcher and victim, conspirator and pawn, future heart and past body—perhaps even king and mount.
Ash did not know why he wanted to get along with Death Frenzy. Perhaps it was because Death Frenzy cared about Sonia, and he was Sonia's boyfriend-fan, so shared interests always closed the distance without anyone noticing; or perhaps it was because, when he had stepped into Broken Lake Prison like rootless duckweed, Death Frenzy had appeared before his eyes, dispelling the confusion and loneliness in his heart like a blazing sun.
So even when Death Frenzy told him, "We will replace you," Ash still thought there was room to maneuver, that there was still a possibility for them to coexist. This was not arrogance on his part; it was because, beyond Death Frenzy's blunt malice, he could also sense that faint goodwill.
Even now, Ash still believed Death Frenzy genuinely cared about Sonia. Of course, one could frame it with some conspiracy theory like "Death Frenzy merely hopes her future vessel develops well," but he did not like thinking that way... In this world, there was always love without reason, and meetings that came out of nowhere.
But precisely because her goodwill was utterly undisguised, her malice was also completely unrestrained.
Because she hated Vishy, and because "Silent Rain" suited Vishy, she had destroyed that Wonder, without the slightest care for how much help that Wonder would be to Ash and the others, as if she had been waiting to admire Ash's fury to please