The moment of brief relief Ice Phoenix had felt after realizing Arfrotian had never truly betrayed her was quickly shattered by the terrifying reality that unfolded before her. The Eternal Frostheart's backlash had taken shape—its icy wrath now surging forth from the divine spear, which was still clutched in Arfrotian's hand.
From the blue crystal embedded within the spear—the very core that connected its divine structure—unimaginable power burst forth. The air became thick with freezing energy, ice swirling violently as the very essence of the Eternal Frostheart began to spiral outward. Blinding white beams of raw ice energy shot in all directions, illuminating the battlefield in an eerie, bluish-white glow.
And then, without warning—
The Calamity Ice erupted.
It came like an uncontrollable flood, a monstrous force seeking to engulf everything within its reach. The once chaotic yet contained energy within the Eternal Frostheart was no longer stable; it was a catastrophe in itself, threatening to consume the surrounding space-time, reality trembling under its influence.
Ice Phoenix, who had been caught in her thoughts just moments ago, felt her heart lurch. The very thing she had feared—the very nightmare from her past—was unfolding before her eyes once again.
"No..." she whispered, her voice barely escaping her lips.
The traumatic memories she had tried to suppress came rushing back. The day when the icy omniverse was transformed from a once-thriving domain into this frozen wasteland… all because of this very disaster. She had seen this kind of catastrophe before, and the scars it left upon her soul had never faded.
Her hands trembled as she watched in growing horror. It was happening again.
Zenian, still half-frozen and barely able to move, could do nothing but stare at the raging force of destruction. Even the scholarly angel followers who had accompanied him—those who had remained conscious after experiencing the sheer shock of Arfrotian's Pandora—knew that their end was near.
They could feel it.
Death.
It was crawling towards them with an icy embrace, whispering the promise of their inevitable demise.
But then, in the midst of all this, as the icicle calamity froze even Arfrotian's own hands, the man only smiled.
A smirk, filled with something beyond madness.
He looked directly into the roaring catastrophe and spoke, his voice sharp and chilling:
"Do you think you are the only one who knows how to ROAR AND DEVOUR?"
And at that moment—
Pandora responded.
The Red Ice—Arfrotian's forbidden, unimaginable power—burst forth from his body in full force.
Like a sleeping dragon that had just been woken up, it roared into existence with unstoppable hunger.
Red icicles shot out in every direction, devouring everything they touched—consuming existence itself, erasing the very fabrics of space-time. Unlike the mindless destruction of the Eternal Frostheart's calamity, Pandora seemed to act with a level of awareness, as if it possessed a second mind.
The battlefield transformed into a spectacle of devastation.
Arfrotian stood amidst the two clashing forces—holding the white icicle calamity in his frozen hands, while his body unleashed the crimson catastrophe of Pandora.
The scene was unreal.
A breathtaking, yet nightmarish display of pure destruction and chaos, red and white colliding like two cosmic disasters in battle.
And then—something even more shocking happened.
Pandora… reacted.
Sensing the brewing icicle calamity from the Eternal Frostheart, the Red Ice shifted its target.
Rather than spreading outward in uncontrollable destruction, it lunged towards the raging white calamity—as if responding to a natural rivalry.
Arfrotian, with a fierce glint in his eyes, released more and more of Pandora's energy.
The two catastrophic forces clashed.
Everyone watching—Zenian, Ice Phoenix, and the remaining angels—braced themselves for the inevitable.
If these two disasters were to collide at full force—
The entire icy omniverse would be erased in an instant.
Yet, what happened next…
Defied all logic.
Instead of unleashing a cosmic, omniversal burst that should have shattered reality itself…
The two calamities did not explode.
They devoured each other.
The Eternal Frostheart's backlash and Pandora's rampage collided and began consuming one another, each force trying to overpower the other. It was as if they were two apex predators caught in a vicious struggle, both refusing to be dominated.
But something even more unexpected happened.
As they continued to battle and neutralize each other—
Arfrotian absorbed them.
In an act of sheer recklessness, or perhaps something more calculated than anyone could comprehend, Arfrotian pulled both raging forces into himself.
Risking his own life.
Because the alternative was far worse.
If, by any chance, these two disasters multiplied instead of nullifying each other, the entire omniverse would have been lost.
And so—
Arfrotian took it all.
A monstrous, unbearable pain ripped through his body.
It was unlike anything he had ever felt before—as if his very existence was being torn apart from within. His nerves screamed in agony, his very core trembling under the sheer pressure of both conflicting forces now residing inside him.
He gritted his teeth. His fingers dug into his chest as he squatted down, panting.
The Eternal Frostheart—the very weapon responsible for all of this—slipped from his grasp and fell to the frozen ground.
Even as he suffered, his resolve did not waver.
Through labored breaths, he muttered to himself:
"At the very least... I have to keep my promise to Ice Phoenix."
He clenched his teeth, enduring the unbearable storm brewing within him.
"I can't—at any cost—let this icy omniverse, which already has barely any life, become completely barren… just because of my madness in testing this backlash… to train my already uncontrollable power."
For a moment—the world stood still.
And then—silence.
A terrifying, unnatural silence.
Ice Phoenix, Zenian, and the angels—all of them, who had expected the worst, slowly opened their eyes.
What they saw—
Was nothing.
Nothing had happened.
The calamity was gone.
The destruction never came.
It was as if the apocalyptic disaster had simply vanished.
"...What… happened?" Ice Phoenix's voice broke the silence, her tone laced with disbelief.
Zenian, still half-frozen and unable to fully process what had just transpired, muttered, "Did that man… really stop it?"
The reality of the situation sank in.
The terrifying nightmare that Ice Phoenix had feared—the calamity that had taken everything from her eons ago…
Had not repeated itself.
For the first time—
She felt relieved.
Truly, deeply relieved.
Zenian, despite all his hatred for Arfrotian, was left speechless.
The man had actually… stopped the calamity.
But as their eyes turned back toward him—
They saw Arfrotian, still on the ground.
His hands clutched tightly against his chest, his breath ragged.
The battle wasn't over yet.