Alex and Anos sat across from each other, their chairs creaking under their weight as they recovered from yet another intense battle.

The sparring sessions had become a daily ritual, a test of strength and skill that neither seemed willing to forgo.

But today, the atmosphere between them was different—serious and contemplative.

Anos exhaled sharply, running a hand through his white hair. “You’re a monster, you know that?” He said, his voice carrying no malice, only grudging admiration.

“Every day, you grow stronger. At this rate, you’ll surpass even my expectations.”

Alex smirked, wiping the sweat from his brow. “You say that like you’re not the same. I’ve noticed it, Anos. You’re getting stronger, too. You just don’t think about it.”

Anos leaned back, crossing his arms. “Well, I try to improve myself so I can defeat you in your game.”

Alex shook his head at that, making Anos chuckle. “You don’t think I can?”

Alex, however, just shrugged. “Who knows…”

Anos had stopped thinking about winning or losing some time ago.

At first, he had fought Alex to prove a point, to establish dominance, but somewhere along the way, it had become something else.

He had begun to enjoy it—this rivalry and camaraderie. Without even realizing it, he had started to see Alex not as an opponent but as… a friend.

It was to the point that he had asked Alex not to speak formally to him.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Then, Anos broke the silence. “I’ve been thinking about something.”

Alex glanced at him, intrigued. “Go on.”

Anos hesitated. He wasn’t one to hesitate, but this… this was different. “I heard you talking to Zahara,” he finally said. “You were looking for Keryu.”

At the mention of that name, Alex’s expression tensed, his gaze sharpening. “Yeah. Is there something wrong?”

Anos let out a heavy sigh as if shedding a weight he had carried for too long. “I know where he is. And I know why you haven’t been able to find him.”

Alex sat up straight, his eyes narrowing. “Were you behind all of this?”

That question increased the tension in the air as Anos closed his eyes, exhaling.

“Yes, I was the one who took him from the prison.”

Anos had never thought that he would be admitting it, but he still did.

He might seem like a guy who cared about nothing, but Anos valued friendships because he hadn’t been betrayed by a friend yet—not like he ever had a friend.

He once cared about family relations, but he was betrayed so that wasn’t possible anymore.

So, when he finally had someone he treated as a friend, he couldn’t bring himself to hide something he did—especially when it seemed to be troubling Alex more than he had thought.

For a moment, silence stretched between them, thick and heavy. Alex’s fingers curled slightly, but he didn’t react with anger or immediate hostility. He simply waited.

Anos met his gaze head-on. “It was the last help I gave him, and now, I don’t care about his life and death.”

He had heard about Keryu not being his son from Eris’s ears. He knew the truth now, but for some reason, he found his fatherly feeling rising when he saw the state his son was in.

For the first and the last time, he decided to help Keryu. Not the one inside the body, but the one who had died, leaving only the body behind.

Alex understood that because he knew what kind of person Anos was. Unlike what it seemed, he wasn’t completely heartless. There were some people he still cared for, and Keryu turned out to be the son of one of those people.

‘I knew it!’ Alex exclaimed inwardly as he realized that his plan worked out fine.

He hadn’t wanted to become friends with Anos so soon, but when he heard about Keryu’s disappearance, Anos seemed like the biggest suspect.

Since Alex knew about Anos’s personality, he grew closer to Anos just for the guy to admit that he was the one behind Keryu’s disappearance.

Yes, he knew that the demon lord did it because of his emotions, but as he said before, he didn’t care about Keryu’s life and death anymore.

So, after remaining silent for a while, Alex asked. “And where did you send him?”

He was sure that Anos wouldn’t hide Keryu anymore, and although things had gone quite off-track, it was still manageable if he could capture Keryu alive.

Anos didn’t disappoint him. He spoke as he exhaled. “The temple of the demon god. A place where the faithful go to be tested. A trial that only those who are truly chosen can survive.”

Alex’s eyes widened a bit as he asked, “Isn’t the survival rate of that place less than 2%?”

“How do you know that?” Anos frowned, but as he saw Alex’s eyes, which seemed to be trying to come up with answers, he shook his head. “Forget it. And yes, it’s true.”

Alex heaved a sigh of relief as Anos let the topic go since the information about the temple of the demon god was considered one of the top few pieces of information.

Alex leaned forward slightly, his fingers tapping against the armrest of his chair. “You sentenced him to death.”

“No,” Anos corrected, his voice steady. “I gave him a choice. If he’s strong enough, he’ll survive. If not, then he wasn’t meant to live anyway.”

Alex’s lips pressed into a thin line. He understood.

Anos had done what he thought was right, not as a father, but as someone who had long accepted the reality of his son’s demise. Keryu’s survival was his own responsibility now.

“Then I guess it’s time I paid him a visit,” Alex said, standing up. His crimson eyes burned with determination. “I’ve let him run long enough. If he survives, I’ll make sure he knows exactly where he stands.”

Alex didn’t hide his intentions anymore.

If before he was scared of the demon lord retaliating for him killing Keryu, that worry was gone now.

Now, Keryu was nothing more than a stranger to Anos.

Anos watched him, then smirked faintly. “You always wanted to kill him, didn’t you?”

“You could say that,” Alex replied, not hiding anything, and Anos raised a brow at that.

“Why?”

Looking into Anos’s eyes, Alex spoke with killing intent clear in his voice. “He was going to go after my women, and he had tried to frame me many times.”

Hearing those words, Anos just shook his head, clapping his hand as he called for one of his subordinates.

“My lord.”

In less than a second, a guy with a shadowy form appeared in front of Anos, kneeling.

“Take this man to the temple,” Anos ordered, and although the shadowy figure seemed shocked, his form shifting, he nodded.

“As you wish, my lord.”

With those words, the figure stood up and gestured for Alex to follow, who, despite squinting his eyes, followed behind.

But before he left, he glanced back at Anos. “You know, you’re not as detached as you pretend to be.”

Anos chuckled, shaking his head. “Maybe not.”

As Alex walked away, Anos remained seated, staring into the distance. He had done what he needed to do.

Now, it was up to fate to decide what happened next.

“Cristina, this was all I could do…” He muttered, closing his eyes.

…………………….

Meanwhile, in the temple.

Keryu lay motionless on the cold stone floor, his breath shallow and ragged.

The air around him was thick with the metallic scent of blood—his own and that of the massive beast lying lifeless beside him.

His body was in ruins, both arms severed at the elbows, his torso riddled with deep gashes, each one oozing crimson life onto the temple floor.

He could barely move, and even if he could, he doubted it would make a difference now.

His gaze flickered to the remains of the beast.

A grotesque sight—its thick, sinewy neck had been torn apart, a jagged wound gaping wide where flesh and muscle had been forcibly removed.

Next to Keryu’s mouth, a chunk of raw, bloodied meat sat half-chewed, the only proof of how he had survived long enough to kill the monstrosity.

He had eaten it.

Desperation had stripped him of all hesitation. His body had acted on its own, gnawing through the beast’s throat, his razor-sharp teeth rending flesh as his mind teetered between survival and oblivion.

The memory alone made his stomach churn, but he had no energy left to even retch.

His vision blurred as darkness threatened to swallow him whole. Was this how it ended?

No revenge? No second chance?

He thought of Alex.

His hands twitched—if he still had them.

He cursed under his breath. It was a pathetic way to go.

He had fought, clawed, and struggled, only to be left crippled, dying in a forsaken place with no one to witness his last breath.

Was he really going to die like this? Without making Alex suffer the way he had suffered?

The flickering embers of his consciousness threatened to extinguish. His eyelids drooped. The darkness was pulling him in—

Until a deep, reverberating voice echoed through the temple.

“Do you desire power?”

Keryu’s entire body stiffened, though he was far too weak to react beyond a faint twitch of his remaining muscles.

His heart pounded sluggishly, and for a brief moment, he thought he was hallucinating. Was this death’s final mockery? A cruel delusion before his soul faded?

He swallowed thickly, forcing his dry throat to work. “Who…?” His voice was barely more than a whisper, but it was all he could manage.

The voice rumbled again, low and commanding. “I am the Demon God.”

Keryu’s eyes widened slightly, his foggy mind clearing just enough to process the words.

The Demon God.

And suddenly, everything clicked. The oppressive atmosphere, the suffocating darkness, the ominous aura that seemed to pulse through the walls themselves—

He was in the Temple of Demons.

The only one who could send him here was Anos.

The realization sent a shiver down his spine.

Anos, the bastard demon lord, had thrown him into this hellhole.

But why? Was this meant to be a test? A punishment? A second chance?

Before he could dwell on it, the voice came again, insistent. “Do you desire power?”

Keryu clenched his jaw.

Normally, he would have hesitated.

He was no fool—forming a contract with a god, especially one as notorious as the Demon God, was never without consequence. The price would be steep and the toll unbearable.

But none of that mattered now.

He thought of Alex again—his smug face, his unwavering confidence, the way he had ruined everything for him.

He had to destroy him.

“…Yes.”

The word left his lips without hesitation, a whisper of pure, unfiltered resolve. He would do whatever it took. If he had to throw away his humanity, his soul, and his very existence—so be it. He refused to be weak. He refused to lose.

The temple trembled.

A low, guttural laugh echoed through the chamber, filled with dark amusement. “A wise decision. Had you said no, this moment would have been your last.”

A cold sensation slithered through Keryu’s body, coiling around his broken limbs and sinking into his very core. His pain faded into numbness, replaced by something else—something ancient, something insidious.

Power.

Pure, overwhelming power.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep