The mountain air, once thick with the sulfurous heat of the Dragon Queen's presence, suddenly turned frigid. It was not the natural cold of high altitudes, but the clinical, blinding chill of Holy Mana.
Standing at the mouth of the cavern, the five "Chosen Heroes" radiated a golden aura that clashed violently with the oppressive darkness Valerius had just unleashed. At their center stood a youth no older than eighteen, his silver hair shimmering under the sun. In his hands, he cradled the Grail of Resurrection, a chalice carved from celestial ivory that pulsed like a living heart.
"Valerius von Infernum!" the youth shouted, his voice amplified by divine magic. "I am Kaelen of the Silver Lineage. By the grace of the Union of Light, your resurrection ends here!"
Valerius didn't even flinch. He ran a thumb along the flat of the Void Eater. The black blade vibrated, sensing the proximity of its natural enemy: Holy Relics.
"Kaelen," Valerius whispered the name as if it were a speck of dust on his sleeve. "The Silver Lineage... ah, the descendants of the man who stabbed me in the back while I was fighting the Sages. Traitors have a way of breeding heroes, it seems."
"Silence, Demon!" a girl to Kaelen's right snapped. She raised a staff topped with a Sun Crystal. "We are the generation of Hope. Your age of shadow is a fairy tale used to scare children!"
With a flick of her staff, a pillar of concentrated solar fire erupted toward the group.
Vorgath stepped forward, his stone skin glowing red, but Valerius raised a hand. He didn't use a spell. He simply swung the Void Eater in a casual, horizontal arc.
A rift of pure nothingness tore through the air. The solar fire wasn't extinguished; it was consumed. The vacuum created by the blade swallowed the heat, the light, and even the sound of the explosion.
"W-what?" the sorceress gasped. "My Tier 8 spell... disappeared?"
"The Void Eater does not destroy," Valerius explained, his voice calm yet echoing with a terrifying bass. "It returns everything to the state of non-existence. Your 'Hope' is quite delicious."
"Don't be intimidated!" Kaelen roared, raising the Grail high. "Divine Blessing: Eternal Vanguard!"
A golden barrier expanded from the Grail, coating the five heroes in translucent armor. Their physical stats tripled, and their wounds—minor scratches from the climb—vanished instantly.
"Aurelia," Valerius commanded without looking back. "Stay with the others. If any of them try to flee, burn their escape route. I want to see how much 'Resurrection' that cup can truly provide."
Valerius vanished.
He didn't use speed; he used the Endless Night still lingering in the atmosphere to "fold" space. He reappeared directly in front of the party's shield-bearer—a massive youth clad in heavy plate.
The shield-bearer slammed his bulwark forward, reinforced by the Grail's light. "You can't break—"
The Void Eater passed through the holy shield as if it were smoke. There was no resistance. The blade severed the shield, the armor, and the boy's arm in one clean motion.
"AGHHHH!" the boy screamed, collapsing.
"Resurrect him," Valerius challenged, standing still.
Kaelen gritted his teeth, the Grail glowing fiercely. "Revive!"
A surge of white light hit the fallen warrior. His arm began to regrow at a visible rate, the flesh weaving itself back together.
Valerius watched with genuine curiosity. "Interesting. It mimics the cellular regeneration of a High Demon, but uses external fuel. But tell me, Hero... what happens if there is nothing left to regrow?"
Valerius gripped the hilt with both hands. His eyes, now marked with the concentric circles of the True Demon King, locked onto Kaelen.
"30% Release: Abyssal Severance."
The world went silent. To the observers, it looked like a thin black line had been drawn across the horizon. To the Heroes, it felt like the universe had blinked.
The sorceress, the archer, and the shield-bearer didn't even have time to scream. Where they stood, there was now only a vacuum. Their bodies, their souls, and even the "Blessing" protecting them were erased from the physical plane.
The Grail of Resurrection pulsed violently, trying to pull their spirits back from the brink, but there was nothing to pull. The Void Eater had left no traces behind.
Kaelen fell to his knees, his hands trembling as he held the now-dimming Grail. Only he and the rogue behind him remained.
"You... you're a monster," Kaelen whispered, tears streaming down his face. "The stories... they didn't say you could kill the concept of life itself."
Valerius walked toward him, the tip of his black sword trailing on the ground, leaving a charred line on the volcanic rock.
"The stories were written by the survivors, Kaelen," Valerius said, tilting his head. "And survivors always lie to make themselves feel brave."
He stopped a foot away from the "Hero." Valerius reached out and gently took hold of the Grail's rim. Kaelen was too paralyzed by the sheer pressure of Valerius's mana to resist.
"This is a fine cup," Valerius remarked, peering into the swirling holy liquid inside. "It will make an excellent wine chalice for my return to the capital."
With a sudden surge of dark mana, Valerius forced his energy into the Grail. The ivory turned black, the holy water boiled away into purple mist, and the relic cracked. The "Resurrection" was corrupted into "Despair."
"Now," Valerius said, turning his gaze toward the horizon where the spires of the Royal City were visible in the far distance. "The appetizer is over. Let us see if the Sages have grown as soft as their 'Heroes'."