As Arfrotian uttered a single word—"Pandora."
At that exact moment, the Eternal Frostheart's backlash was unleashed.
A force that had once frozen over half of the omniverse in ancient times, a power so devastating that it had carved the very identity of this realm—the Icy Omniverse. And now, after eons of slumber, it was once again erupting into reality.
Yet, in the face of such an apocalyptic force, Arfrotian stood there, completely unfazed.
Because for him, this was nothing more than an opportunity.
A chance to unleash the sleeping monster within him.
A force unlike anything else.
The paradoxical power of Red Ice.
A power so unnatural, so wrong, that even the laws of existence refused to define it.
Arfrotian's true essence—PANDORA.
The ground beneath him cracked as the first traces of his forbidden power seeped out—droplets of Red Ice forming at his feet, resembling blood staining an endless expanse of frost. But those droplets were merely the beginning.
Because the moment Arfrotian commanded Pandora—
It burst forth.
A massive eruption of Red Ice, expanding outward like a monstrous tide, swallowing everything in its path. Arfrotian's figure became cloaked in a malevolent red aura, his left eye—now fully crimson—glowing like a cursed moon. The air itself began to twist and distort under the sheer paradox of its existence.
A horrifying chill spread across the battlefield.
It was nothing like the cold of Black Ice.
Nothing like the frozen purity of White Ice.
This was something else.
Something unnatural.
Something that shouldn't even exist.
And those who bore witness to it—they knew.
They knew they were standing before something that was never meant to be seen by mortal eyes.
Zenian, who was already in a state of shock from the overwhelming power of the Eternal Frostheart, now found himself staring at something far worse. His lips parted, but no words came out—only a ragged breath, as though the very pressure of the Red Ice was stealing the oxygen from his lungs.
His thoughts were a chaotic mess.
"What… what the hell is he doing?
Red… ice?
Does that even exist?
No… No, this isn't just some ice! This aura—"
A sharp pain shot through Zenian's chest as he realized—he was struggling to breathe.
Because the very atmosphere around Arfrotian was being crushed.
A force that shouldn't exist.
A force that wanted to erase existence itself.
The overwhelming, suffocating weight of Pandora was bending reality around Arfrotian, making even standing near him feel like a death sentence.
And Zenian wasn't the only one affected.
The angelic soldiers who had been standing behind him—the same warriors who had been barely enduring the Eternal Frostheart's freezing chill—
They collapsed.
One by one.
Falling to their knees, gasping for air, their bodies trembling as though they were caught in the grasp of something far beyond ice or cold.
This was not mere frost.
This was something else.
This was the nightmare of existence itself.
Zenian staggered, forcing himself to look up at the source of this monstrosity.
And there he was.
Arfrotian.
Standing amidst the crimson storm.
His left eye, now a glowing abyss of deep red, bore down upon Zenian with an expression so inhuman, so utterly predatory, that for the first time in his existence, Zenian felt something he never thought he would experience—
Dread.
True, undeniable, existential dread.
It was a feeling beyond fear.
This was the feeling of standing before something that should not be.
This was the feeling of realizing—
You are prey.
Zenian's voice cracked as he managed to stammer out a question, barely audible against the crushing weight of Pandora's presence.
"Hey… what the hell… are you even doing?"
He could barely form words.
Because this—
This wasn't normal.
This wasn't even something that could be called a power.
This was a calamity given form.
Arfrotian, clad in the suffocating red aura, the Red Ice expanding violently around him, slowly turned his gaze towards Zenian.
And then—
He smiled.
A deep, amused, utterly terrifying smile.
"Oh? Didn't I say it clearly?"
His voice was smooth. Unbothered.
But it carried with it the weight of something far beyond comprehension.
"If you want to defeat a monster…
You have to pit it against another monster, isn't it?"
Zenian froze.
Those words.
Those very words—he remembered them.
Arfrotian had said that before.
But this…
THIS IS WHAT HE MEANT?!
Zenian's mind spiraled in chaos as he looked at the nightmare unfolding before him.
Red Ice.
An anomaly beyond anomalies.
Even as a Fallen Archangel, he had fought against the Shadow Elves, whose Black Ice Magic was legendary. He had battled alongside his fellow angels, wielding White Ice, the divine counterpart to Black Ice.
But this?
This thing surrounding Arfrotian?
Red Ice?!
This was beyond any understanding of elemental forces.
Even in his countless battles across Luminia, even in all his studies of forbidden arts—Zenian had never once heard of Red Ice.
Yet here it was.
Surrounding Arfrotian.
Emanating from him.
Spreading like an infection upon reality itself.
Zenian's eyes widened as his mind tried to comprehend what he was witnessing, but before he could even begin to process it—
Arfrotian spoke again.
And what he said next—
Shattered everything.
"Oh, my dear rat…"
His voice was filled with mockery, yet it carried a weight that buried itself deep within Zenian's soul.
"You see, this Red Ice around me… Well, you could say…
This is my specialty.
Or rather…
The sleeping monster within me."
Zenian felt his heartbeat slow.
But Arfrotian wasn't finished.
He smiled.
A deep, utterly amused smile.
And then—
He spoke the final words that utterly broke Zenian's mind.
"And the most amazing thing?
You know what it is?"
Zenian could barely move.
Could barely think.
And before he could even brace himself—
Arfrotian answered his own question.
"I don't even know what the hell this power of mine is."
Silence.
Pure, deafening silence.
Zenian's mind turned blank.
His body—numb.
His breath—stopped.
There were no words.
There were no thoughts.
There was only—
Terror.
And with that—