The impact of the blade still reverberated within Vergil’s body when—

He roared.

It wasn’t a human scream.

It wasn’t ordinary pain.

It was something deeper.

Ancient.

A sound that seemed to emanate not only from his throat, but from every layer of his existence at once, as if his soul, his body, his energy... everything was being torn apart and rebuilt simultaneously, unable to contain what was emerging from within him. The roar spread across the battlefield like a living shockwave, traversing space, vibrating in the air, on the ground, in the flames, in the very structure of that unstable dimension.

His body convulsed.

Violently.

Uncontrollably.

Every muscle contracted and distorted, his veins glowing with a chaotic energy that constantly shifted color, alternating between demonic red, divine gold, and... something deeper, something dark, ancient... draconic. His spine arched backward with brutal force, as if something inside him was trying to force its way out, while his skin cracked in multiple places, releasing bursts of pure energy that caused the surrounding space to collapse and rebuild itself in sequence.

And then—

The world trembled.

But not like before.

Not like when Ifrit had appeared.

This was... worse.

Much worse.

The entire reality began to vibrate as if on the verge of complete rupture, as if that existence had not been made to withstand what was happening there. The ground cracked in impossible patterns, the torn sky oscillated between different dimensional layers, and even the flow of energy around began to collapse, unable to stabilize in the face of that... presence.

Dante stopped.

Completely.

His eyes, still burning from the holy water, fixed on Vergil.

And for the first time—

He didn’t smile.

His expression changed. Slowly.

Towards something... serious.

Something... uncomfortable.

"...What the hell... is this...?" he murmured, his voice low, laden with something that wasn’t fear... but recognition of real danger.

Agares felt it too.

And this time—

She didn’t smile.

Her gaze shifted instantly, her expression hardening as her connection to Ifrit vibrated above her, reacting to that growing anomaly that was beginning to distort even the primordial authority of fire.

"This isn’t right..." she murmured, her voice low, but laden with real urgency for the first time.

She raised her gaze.

Directly at Ifrit.

The colossal entity in the heavens responded immediately, its magma body writhing as it let out a deep roar, as if it too recognized that this... wasn’t something that should exist.

"Get out." Agares ordered, her voice firm, absolute.

There was no resistance. Ifrit simply... retreated.

His body began to dissipate, being pulled back to its original dimension, the flames gradually diminishing as the sky ceased to be a sea of ​​magma and returned to a more unstable... but still less apocalyptic state.

And then—

Agares took a deep breath.

And his form... changed.

The fire subsided.

The markings disappeared.

His horns receded.

And, slowly...

Sapphire returned.

But her gaze...

Remained serious.

Heavy.

Fixed on Vergil.

In the distance—

Alice moved.

Slightly.

Still in Paimon’s arms, her body weak, almost unconscious... but her lips moved.

A whisper.

Weak.

But laden with something impossible to ignore.

"...I did it..."

A pause. Her breath caught for a moment.

"...after seven billion years of trying..."

Her eyes, even half-closed, trembled slightly.

"...I finally did it~..."

And then—

Sephirothy felt it.

Her body... yielded.

Slightly.

As if something had been... recognized.

As if the very structure of the world had stopped resisting.

And then—

The sound stopped.

Completely.

The wind ceased.

The energy froze.

Time... hesitated.

And everyone heard.

A voice.

Not from above.

Nor from below.

But from... everything.

[Confirmed.]

The voice was female.

But not human.

Cold.

Mechanical.

Absolute.

Reality itself... was speaking. Everyone froze.

Even Dante.

Even Lilith.

Even Amon.

Because that—

It was the Voice of the World.

[Creating the evolution of the super-species ’Demon’ to ’Demon Lord’ of the individual ’Vergil Lucifer’.]

For a moment—

There was silence.

And then—

[Failure.]

The world trembled again.

But this time...

In the wrong way.

[Analyzing.]

The voice continued, indifferent, as if processing something that shouldn’t exist.

[Incompatible demonoid species. Searching for solutions.]

Reality began to distort around Vergil, as if being rewritten in real time, invisible lines of existence being erased and recreated in sequence.

[Connecting to the Primordial World Tree. Success.]

A pulse shot through everything.

Something... ancient.

Something... fundamental.

[’Nephilim’ race being extinguished from the bloodline.]

Sephirothy’s eyes widened slightly.

Lilith... froze.

Dante... felt it.

And Vergil—

Screamed again.

[Creating the evolution from super-species ’Demon’ to ’Demon Lord’ of the individual ’Vergil Lucifer’.]

[Pause.]

[Failure.]

This time—

More violent.

More unstable.

More... impossible.

[Analyzing.]

The world hesitated. Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

And then—

[Creating a new race.]

The air grew heavy.

Dense.

Unreal.

[Demon Progenitor status reverting to "Lilith Origin".]

Lilith trembled.

For a moment.

Something within her... reacted.

[Creating a new primordial race.]

The space around Vergil began to completely collapse, his form being enveloped by multiple layers of energy that did not belong to the same plane of existence.

["Nephalem" race being structured~ Acquiring Progenitor status.]

The energy exploded.

But it didn’t stop.

[Error.]

The voice faltered.

For the first time—

Failed.

[The individual possesses a confirmed draconic soul. Evolving into a Dragon~]

The world... froze.

Literally. [ERROR!! ERROR!!]

The voice distorted.

Broken.

Repeated.

Like something that no longer knew what to do.

Because that...

Shouldn’t be possible.

Vergil wasn’t evolving.

He was—Breaking the system.

The error didn’t disappear.

He... evolved.

The very structure of reality seemed to logically collapse as the voice of the world repeated successive failures, like a system that, for the first time since its creation, couldn’t categorize what was before it. The laws governing existence, evolution, and hierarchy began to overlap, break, and reorganize into increasingly complex patterns, trying to find... an answer.

Vergil continued convulsing.

But now—

It wasn’t just pain.

It was transformation.

His body no longer obeyed any known biological or spiritual logic, alternating between physical and energetic states, its form fragmenting and recomposing itself in multiple layers simultaneously, as if it were being recreated... several times at the same time.

And then—

The voice returned.

Different.

More... profound.

[Restructuring parameters.]

The sound was no longer merely mechanical.

There was something... older behind it.

[Analyzing lineage compatibility.]

The entire world seemed to hold its breath.

The energy around Vergil began to stabilize.

Not because it was diminishing—

But because it was being... organized.

[Integrating: Primordial Demonic Essence.]

Lilith’s energy reacted.

Violent.

Recognizing.

[Integrating: Original Angelic Essence.]

Sephirothy’s own sacred rain trembled. As if something greater had taken control.

[Integrating: Fragments of Supreme Entity – Lucifer.]

Dante’s eyes widened.

For a second.

A single second—

He understood.

[Integrating: Draconic Core.]

Space... sank.

As if something gigantic had just been recognized within a form that simply... couldn’t contain it.

[Data conflict.]

[Pause.]

And then—

Absolute silence.

For an instant...

Nothing existed.

And then—

[Resolution found.]

The voice changed again.

Now... definitive.

[Ineligible for conventional evolution.]

[Incompatible with existing hierarchies.]

[Creating new class of existence.]

The world... responded.

But not as before. Not as an attempt.

But as a decision.

[Creating Primordial Race: "Aethronox"]

The name echoed.

Not just as sound.

But as a concept.

As if that word carried within it a definition that didn’t exist before that moment.

Vergil’s body stopped.

For a second.

And then—

It exploded in light.

Not a single one.

But three.

Red.

Gold.

And a deep black... almost cosmic.

[Definition: Entity of absolute convergence between Heaven, Hell, and Primordial Origin.]

Reality began to stabilize around him, but not through containment...

But through submission.

[Race "Aethronox" classified as superior to: Angels, Demons, and Nephilim.]

Sephirothy felt it. Deeply.

Something inside her... reacted.

Not as conflict.

But as... recognition.

[Status granted: Primordial Progenitor.]

Lilith’s eyes widened.

This time—

Out of control.

Because that...

Wasn’t just evolution.

It was creation.

[Authority: Ability to generate hybrid lineages between incompatible energies.]

Vergil’s body began to recompose itself.

Slowly.

But now... stable.

[Authority: Absolute resistance to sacred and demonic energy.]

Dante took a step back.

Instinctive.

Without realizing it.

[Authority: Continuous evolutionary adaptation.]

The energy around him no longer exploded.

It... obeyed.

[Conclusion: The individual did not evolve.]

A pause.

Heavy.

Absolute.

And then—

[The individual was rewritten.]

The silence that followed...

Was worse than any explosion.

Because now—

Everything made sense.

And at the same time...

Nothing else did.

Vergil’s body slowly rose.

His feet touched the ground.

No sound.

No impact.

His eyes opened.

And within them—

There wasn’t just power.

There was... authority.

Ancient.

Primordial.

And when he breathed—

The world...

Responded.

Vergil didn’t move immediately.

His body remained erect in the center of that destroyed battlefield, completely still, like a forgotten statue in the middle of an apocalypse that had already surpassed any concept of war. His eyes were closed, his breath... nonexistent. There was no sound coming from him, no visible aura expanding at that instant.

And yet... something was profoundly wrong.

The space around him... seemed contained.

As if it were holding its breath along with him.

Sapphire—still panting, still with remnants of Agares’ power slowly dissipating from her body—was the first to step forward, her expression now laden with something rare: genuine uncertainty.

"What... happened to him...?" her voice came out lower than usual, almost cautious, as if speaking too loudly might... break something.

But she didn’t finish.

The sky answered first.

A rupture.

Not like before.

Not like Ifrit.

This... was different.

A dimensional rift opened above them, tearing the layers of reality as if they were wet paper, revealing something beyond... something ancient... something that didn’t belong to that system.

And then—

He came.

A colossal body emerged from the rift, black scales reflecting an impossible brilliance, as if absorbing the very light around them. Its size couldn’t be accurately measured, because it seemed to exist in multiple layers at once, a presence that transcended space and scale. A dragon.

But not just that.

A concept.

An end.

A cycle.

Sephirothy looked.

And for the first time since returning from Heaven... her eyes wavered.

"...Ouroboros..." she murmured, her voice laden with something close to reverence... or fear. "...the Infinite Dragon God..."

Amon didn’t say anything immediately.

But his body... reacted.

That presence wasn’t something he could simply analyze.

It was something that... shouldn’t be there.

’What... is such a thing... doing here...?’ the thought passed through his mind, heavy, slow... uncomfortable.

And then—

The dragon roared.

It wasn’t just a sound.

It was a declaration of existence.

The roar pierced everything—space, energy, matter—reverberating directly into the souls of everyone present. The world trembled, not as a reaction... but as an inevitable consequence of something that was simply too big to contain.

And at that very instant—

Vergil replied.

His eyes snapped open.

And everything exploded.

An aura.

No.

Something beyond that.

A demonic pressure so absurd erupted from his body that the battlefield itself momentarily collapsed under its weight. The ground cracked in multiple directions, the air was violently expelled, and the surrounding energy simply... gave way.

Paimon was the first to fall.

Her body instantly lost strength, her eyes rolling back before she could even react, fainting from the impact of that overwhelming presence.

Phenex came next.

Astaroth.

Seris.

One by one... they simply faded.

Without resistance.

Without a fight.

Amon remained standing.

But... barely. His eyes were wide now, his breathing uneven as he stared at Vergil, feeling that pressure that... surpassed his own.

’...He... overtook me...’ the thought came dry, heavy... undeniable.

’Only... in the aura...’

Sapphire...

She didn’t move.

She just looked.

And then...

She smiled.

A genuine smile.

Calm.

Almost... relieved.

"Welcome back... love." His voice came out low, but firm, carrying something that no battle had managed to break.

And then—

He disappeared.

Without distortion.

Without transition.

Without explanation.

Vergil simply ceased to be where he was.

And in the next instant—

He was there.

In front of her.

His arms enveloped her without hesitation, pulling her into a firm, silent embrace, as if that simple gesture carried more meaning than any word could express at that moment.

And then—

Another disappearance.

Another reappearance.

Lilith. He embraced her too.

Without saying anything.

Without needing to.

And then—

Paimon.

Alice.

One by one.

Movements impossible to follow.

Precise.

Instantaneous.

"Sorry for the delay~" his voice came out softly... almost too normal for someone who had just completely rewritten their own existence.

He knelt down.

Before Alice.

His eyes rested on her for an instant.

And then—

He touched her head.

"Wake up."

It wasn’t a request.

It wasn’t magic.

It was... an order.

And the world obeyed.

All the demonic energy present on that battlefield—residues, fragments, excess—was instantly drawn towards her, as if summoned by something superior. Energy enveloped her body, filling every flaw, healing every wound, restoring everything... completely.

Alice opened her eyes.

She blinked.

And then smiled.

"Thank you..." she murmured, her voice still soft, but now... whole.

Paimon woke up soon after, letting out a small, irritated sigh as she leaned on something.

"You made a scene..." she grumbled.

Vergil laughed.

A light sound.

Almost relaxed.

And then he leaned in, placing a soft kiss on her forehead.

"I’m sorry~"

And then—

The voice returned.

That same one.

Cold.

Absolute.

Undeniable.

[KING status granted to the entity called "Dante"]

Silence fell.

Heavy.

Vergil raised his gaze slightly.

And then... he smiled.

But it wasn’t a light smile.

It was... sharp.

"It seems that now..." his voice came out calm, controlled, but laden with an absolute certainty that hadn’t existed before.

"...we are no longer the same."

His aura changed.

It didn’t explode.

It didn’t expand uncontrollably.

It... focused.

Condensed.

Directed.

Everything that had previously crushed the entire field now turned to a single point.

Dante.

The space around him began to tremble.

Not from instability...

But from pressure.

Vergil took a step forward.

Slow.

Controlled.

Inevitable.

His eyes now fixed on him.

Without unnecessary emotion.

Without haste.

Just... decision.

"I will recover..." he began, his voice low, but laden with a weight that made the very air vibrate. "...some things you stole."

And at that moment—

For the first time—

Dante didn’t smile immediately.