The floating island barely remained intact.
The body of the elite commander lay motionless at the edge.
Dark blood spread across the ground like a mark of rebellion.
Kim was on one knee.
His breathing was uneven.
His vision blurred.
And the gate behind his heart trembled with a dangerous silence.
Then—
The sky split open.
Not an ordinary tear.
It was as if the dimension itself had been forced to bow.
A pillar of black fire descended from above,
pressing the floating islands downward.
Gravity doubled.
The void shuddered.
A deep voice echoed in every direction:
"Who dares…"
The voice was not loud.
Yet it carried the weight of an entire bloodline.
Kim barely managed to lift his head.
And the System fell silent.
For the first time…
it was silent.
The black fire slowly faded.
And he appeared.
Tall.
A dark robe like a starless sky.
Long black hair flowing behind him like a living shadow.
Two crimson eyes—
not only furious,
but sovereign.
A king.
He needed no declaration.
The ground lowered beneath him in submission.
He looked first at the body of the elite commander.
He saw the shattered armor.
He sensed the remnants of the strange resonance in the air.
Then he raised his eyes to Kim.
And the anger within him peaked.
His demonic aura expanded.
The island began to crumble further.
"You."
Just one step.
But the distance vanished.
He stood directly before Kim.
The pressure alone nearly crushed his bones.
He raised his hand—
the air itself formed into an invisible blade.
He was about to pass judgment.
Then…
he stopped.
Not because Kim defended himself.
Not because an energy blocked the attack.
But because he saw.
The open wound in Kim's side.
The blood that did not flow like human blood.
The faint glow behind the bones of his chest.
And most importantly—
the eyes.
Not fully crimson.
Not human either.
A mixture.
But deep within them…
an old reflection.
Something he knew.
Something he had seen before…
in a woman who once challenged his throne.
His hand froze in the air.
The aura around him trembled.
The rage did not vanish—
it transformed into something else.
Shock.
He stepped back.
A quiet voice escaped him without control:
"…Impossible."
Kim barely managed to stand.
But he forced his body upright.
He looked directly at him.
No bow.
No fear.
Only heavy exhaustion.
His voice was hoarse:
"Are you… Azrael?"
The void fell silent.
The king did not answer immediately.
Instead he looked at Kim's chest.
He felt the ancient seal.
A heavenly seal.
A seal even he himself had never been able to break.
He whispered her name—
the name of the woman he had loved and lost.
This time… his voice was no longer royal.
It was dangerously human.
Slowly, he looked back at Kim.
"So… you survived."
But his expression changed suddenly.
Because he did not see a child.
He did not see a balanced heir.
He saw compressed chaos.
A gate of annihilation.
A body cracked from within.
Eyes exhausted by the world.
And he saw something else—
something he had never expected.
Kim had not come to return.
He had come to judge.
The king spoke again, more cautiously:
"Who did this to you?
What happened during all this time?"
Kim smiled faintly.
"A hell."
A short pause.
"That's the short version of my life."
Silence.
Then he added quietly:
"And you."
The aura around the king dimmed slightly.
Not weakness.
Realization.
If he attacked now—
it would not be killing an invader.
It would be killing his own blood.
But if he let him live—
his chaos might burn the entire dimension.
A moment hung in the air—
between a king and his rage…
and a son and his ruin.