In the depths of the Demon Kingdom, Zaramos stood staring at the charred remnants of his army... black smoke rising from the ashes, and the echoes of soldiers' screams still ringing in his ears.
The air around him was still, yet choked with rage.
"Arthur…" he growled, sparks crackling from his hands.
"He was never meant to be reborn… nor to possess the Wound."
Then he struck the ground with his staff, forged from ancient demonic bone, and the halls of his throne trembled, the walls of his realm screaming with his fury.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, behind the extended shadows of an abandoned fortress, two eyes watched silently.
Jinro, as quiet as the darkness he came from, wrote down his observations and sent them through a magical sigil to the Palace of Shadows:
"Zaramos has begun to move. After Arthur's massacre, he summoned an emergency meeting of the Three Chaos Lords… he may be preparing a devastating retaliation."
Then he vanished, as if he had never been there.
In the Hall of Shadows, where everyone had gathered beneath the blue flame, Arthur and Ignos entered through the Gate of Twin Lights, the traces of battle still visible on them.
The hall fell into momentary silence, then Sajibro stood and looked at Arthur with an expression unlike any before.
It was the gaze of a man who had seen the indescribable.
"I saw you…" he said quietly.
He approached, placing his hand on Arthur's shoulder, and continued:
"What happened wasn't just a battle. You crossed a gate no one else ever has."
He paused, then added:
"Your ability's name… is The First Wound – Abyssal Immortality."
The name echoed throughout the hall, as if the words themselves were summoning a forgotten era.
"When you reach your end, when you are pierced at the core of your very self… you awaken. Only then does death become a beginning. And you become, temporarily immortal — an undefeatable warrior, your power surging, your soul screaming with an unhealable scar."
Then he said:
"The Wound… has been summoned. And the world… will remember your name not only as a warrior… but as a walking legend through fire. They will fear your name… and swear by it."
No one dared interrupt that moment.
Then, in a firm tone:
"Prepare yourselves — we march now to the Kingdom of Frost."
After hours of preparation, the Shadow Caravans arrived at the borders of a kingdom long forgotten by history… the Kingdom of Frost — the land of eternal snow, and the king who never betrayed.
At its gates, the guards waited still, but the moment the king himself stepped forward, time froze.
"Arthur…!" he said, voice mixed with shock and nostalgia.
That king was his old friend… from before the Era of Sealing.
They approached each other and exchanged a long look — one that needed no words.
Then all gathered in a magnificent crystalline hall, and Sajibro began to speak:
"Zaramos… didn't destroy the world with swords, but with deception. In my absence, he wiped out entire cities, executed leaders of allied kingdoms, and unleashed curses unseen in centuries."
Silence filled the hall.
Sajibro continued:
"We are not asking for war… but we will ignite it to end it. But this time, if we lose… no kingdom will remain to write its history."
The king stared at him for a long moment… then stood and raised a blade of pure ice:
"As long as shadows stand by me… the frost will never melt."
In the back, in a side chamber, Arthur stood watching the formation of the new alliance.
He whispered to himself:
"If they're going to remember my name… let it be between frost and fire."
End of Chapter Thirty-Six.