Journey to Become the Zenith

The Chaos Spirit’s Terror

”Oh, so it is my servant that summoned me. So why did you summon the great me?” the Spirit Ruler of Chaos asked, floating effortlessly above Isabella as she looked down with a gentle, almost amused smile.

Isabella had never truly understood why she always referred to her as her servant.

By every normal rule of summoning, the relationship should have been the opposite. Isabella was the summoner, and the Spirit Ruler was the one who answered the call. If anything, the summoned spirit should have been the servant.

Yet he had long since learned not to question her peculiar logic.

The last time he had argued over that tiny detail, the conversation had ended with him barely conscious after being thoroughly beaten. Since then, he had wisely decided that correcting her was never worth the consequences.

Even the contract binding them together was unlike any spirit pact recorded in history.

It lacked clear rules, strict obligations, or even the usual balance between summoner and summoned. It almost felt as though she had entered the contract on a whim simply because she had found Isabella mildly interesting.

No scholar could have explained such an agreement.

Taking a slow breath, Isabella forced herself to focus on the present.

There was no time to dwell on old memories.

She raised a trembling hand and pointed toward Victor.

”Please... help me defeat him.”

The Spirit Ruler of Chaos didn’t even bother looking in the direction Isabella indicated.

Instead, she tilted her head innocently.

”So you wish for me to do such grunt work?” she asked, sounding almost offended. ”Can’t you let those lower Spirit Rulers handle this?”

Isabella’s expression stiffened.

”We can’t win without you.”

She lowered her head slightly.

”Please lend me your power.”

Those words did not come easily.

Normally, Isabella would never humble herself this way.

But after witnessing everything that had happened—and after hearing the fear in the voices of the other six Spirit Rulers—her pride no longer mattered.

Only survival did.

The Spirit Ruler of Chaos placed a finger against her lips before suddenly bursting into laughter.

”Nyahaha! Very well!”

She spread her black flame-like wings dramatically.

”I shall lend thee my overwhelming power.”

She paused before narrowing her visible eye mischievously.

”But...”

”The next time you summon me for such a tedious task...”

”...I shall be forced to discipline you.”

Without warning, her expression changed completely.

She grabbed her bandaged right hand with her left and cried out dramatically.

”Do you need me to release the power of my left eye?”

Before Isabella could respond, she abruptly shook her head and shouted toward her own hand.

”Quiet down, my right hand!”

”It is not yet time!”

”The time for the end has not yet come!”

Isabella watched the familiar scene unfold with an awkward expression.

This...

Was completely normal.

Ever since they first met, the Spirit Ruler of Chaos had insisted that a terrifying seal had been placed upon her right hand.

According to her, removing the seal would unleash an uncontrollable power capable of bringing catastrophe.

Naturally, Isabella had checked countless times.

Every examination ended the same way.

The bandages concealed nothing unusual.

No ancient seal.

No divine markings.

Nothing.

Yet...

Considering the overwhelming strength of the Spirit Ruler herself, Isabella had eventually convinced herself there must be something beyond his understanding.

Perhaps the seal simply existed on a level he could not perceive.

It was the only explanation he could accept.

After several more dramatic declarations, the Spirit Ruler of Chaos gradually calmed down.

She gently touched the eyepatch covering her left eye.

Her voice became quieter.

”Let’s see what kind of being I’m facing first before I decide to remove my eyepatch.”

A small smile appeared on her face.

”Now let’s see what pitiful soul I need to crush.”

She slowly turned around.

The black flames behind her expanded into magnificent wings that stretched across the sky.

Dark clouds gathered overhead as if answering her presence, and the already oppressive atmosphere became even heavier.

For a brief moment...

She looked every bit like a terrifying sovereign descending from another world.

She lifted one hand confidently.

”Now... was it you who was bullying my serv—”

Her words stopped.

Her gaze landed on Victor.

Silence.

The smile vanished from her face.

The confidence in her eyes disappeared without warning.

Her pupils shrank.

Time itself seemed to freeze.

She wasn’t looking at Victor’s body.

Her gift allowed her to perceive something far deeper than appearances.

She was looking directly into his soul.

And what she saw...

Made every instinct within her scream.

Hidden within Victor’s soul were countless overwhelming presences—beings so ancient and terrifying that merely glimpsing them made her spiritual senses tremble.

Yet among them...

One figure stood out above the rest.

A name inherited through the memories of every previous Chaos Spirit instantly surfaced in her mind.

Azrial Runious.

The Vampire Emperor.

The Blood Monarch.

Her predecessors had spoken of him with equal measures of respect and fear.

He was a mortal who had once earned a title that belonged only to gods.

A being whose victories had become legends that even divine races acknowledged.

The Chaos Spirit couldn’t understand why such an existence—or the echoes of so many impossible beings—resided within a single human soul.

She didn’t intend to find out.

Without the slightest hesitation...

She swooped downward, grabbed Isabella by the arm, and fled.

Her black wings exploded with power as she accelerated to the fastest speed she could possibly achieve.

Wind screamed behind them.

The battlefield disappeared in an instant.

Only one thought echoed inside her mind.

Run.

The farther away... the better.

Isabella, completely caught off guard, stared at her in disbelief.

”W-Why are you running?”

The Spirit Ruler of Chaos didn’t even look back.

”That’s not someone you—or any mortal being—should face.”

Her voice, once playful and arrogant, now carried unmistakable fear.

”Nay...”

”Even the Gods above would think twice before facing that monster.”

She swallowed nervously before adding,

”Only those Primordial beings have a chance of winning.”

Isabella fell completely silent.

Never...

Not once...

Had she seen the Spirit Ruler of Chaos behave like this.

The arrogant spirit who always acted as though nothing in existence could threaten her was now fleeing with everything she had.

That single sight forced Isabella to reevaluate Victor once again.

At first, she had only feared for the safety of Fantom City, knowing the hidden experts of Skyfall Kingdom possessed terrifying strength.

Now...

Her fear had grown far beyond that.

She was no longer worried only for a city.

She feared for the entire kingdom.

Because she had begun to realize...

She still had no true understanding of just how powerful Victor really was.