Klaus raced toward the Ivory Tower like a comet tearing through the crumbling sky, his laughter echoing through the chaos. It was the laughter of a madman… no, of a victor. He had won. He had won. The final piece had fallen into place. Now, no one could stop him.
The world around him collapsed—buildings cracked and tumbled into the void, bridges snapped like brittle bones, and the sky wept fire. He slid down the side of a falling spire, vaulted across a yawning chasm, and landed with catlike grace. The long, alabaster stairs of the Ivory Tower stretched before him like the spine of some fallen god.
A massive pillar crashed down toward him—Klaus didn't flinch. He raised a hand, and essence surged. The pillar halted mid-air, suspended like a marionette on invisible strings. Then, as he dashed past, he released it, and it crumbled behind him in a cloud of pale dust.
He had waited for this moment. Fought, killed, deceived, and bled for it. Now, the Tower—his victory—stood within reach.
And yet, fate—cruel, ever-smirking—rarely grants an unchallenged triumph.
Without warning, a ripple danced across the rain-slick ground, and from a single falling droplet, Mordret emerged like a phantom, his blade arcing downward in a death stroke.
Klaus twisted away, laughing even as he evaded. A gleaming spear, crowned in blood-hued light, coalesced in his hand. With brutal grace, he thrust it toward Mordret's heart.
But before the strike could land, a reflection shimmered into existence—an illusory double, conjured from silvered light. It surged forward to intercept the blow and mirror Klaus's form.
Klaus's grin widened.
He had become intangible, slipping into a another dimension. The reflection, bound to the laws of its own plane, failed to replicate what no longer existed in this one. The mirage collapsed in confusion, and Klaus vanished again, leaving only a trace of wind behind.
Mordret's eyes narrowed, lips curling into a shadowed smile.
"Clever bastard."
He had once believed Klaus was vibrating through space—shifting his matter like a ghost. But now, he saw the truth. This was not misdirection through motion, but utter transcendence of presence.
Then, with a ripple, he disappeared once more—into another droplet of falling water.
But when Mordret emerged, it was not Klaus who greeted him.
It was Sunny.
Born of shadows, the four-armed Devil lunged from the darkness. Without hesitation, he rammed a jagged dagger—not summoned like other memories, not delayed, but real—into Mordret's reflection. It buried itself deep. With four powerful arms and ruthless strength, the Shadow Devil twisted and ripped the reflection apart like brittle glass, shards falling like rain.
Sunny didn't need to know the whole truth—he only needed to know enough.
He had followed on instinct alone. Sunny didn't understand why Klaus was here. But he knew Mordret's goal was to kill Hope. And he would stop him.
Mordret snarled in irritation, wasting no words. There was nothing left to say. The dance had begun.
He melted into a silver sheen.
Sunny plunged into darkness.
And both reappeared, converging on Klaus like predators scenting blood.
Seeing the two behind him, Klaus's face twisted—not in fear, but in delighted wickedness.
Mordret's next move was clever—he mirrored Sunny's form. He knew Klaus would never let himself be copied, so he used the Shadow Devil's image instead. Three doppelgängers melted into the gloom, shadows cloaked in darker shadows.
Three shadows surged toward Klaus from every direction, blades unsheathing like the whisper of death.
Klaus's eyes bled.
Thin, amethyst cracks webbed outward from his pupils as the world slowed around him—his perception stretching each second into eternity. He watched the blades descend.
And then he moved.
At the last heartbeat, Klaus switched places with the real Sunny.
Steel met flesh. The blade meant for Klaus sank deep into Sunny's chest. Blood erupted from his chest as he roared in rage and drove a savage kick into his mirrored self, crushing reflection on broken pillar. He vanished with a snarl, eyes burning with spite.
From above, glass rained down. Mordret crashed down from above like divine judgment, dagger raised to pierce Klaus's heart.
But Klaus caught it.
The blade drove into his palm, blood gushing. He didn't flinch. Instead, he lunged forward and slammed his forehead into Mordret's face with sickening crack of bone.
Mordret staggered.
Why was Klaus here? Was he protecting Hope? Was he seeking her death personally? No, It didn't matter why Klaus was here. He was an obstacle. And obstacles—no matter how brilliant or insane—had to be erased. He couldn't kill Hope with Klaus and Sunny interfering. Whatever Klaus wanted, it meant ruin.
Groaning, Klaus kicked Mordret off. But before he could rise—
—A hand erupted from the shadows beside him.
In it, the Moonlight Shard, gleaming with death.
With a merciless thrust, Sunny drove the curved dagger into Klaus's shoulder. The weapon slid through muscle and bone like a serpent through silk.
But Sunny made a fatal mistake—he didn't vanish fast enough.
Klaus seized his wrist and yanked him into the light.
Then, without hesitation, he slammed a fist—wreathed in essence—into Sunny's gut. The impact sent out a concussive burst that hurled the Shadow Devil through the air and into a marble pillar, which cracked from the impact.
The battlefield fell into a tense silence.
Three figures stood among the ruins.
Klaus stood tall, grinning with blood in his teeth.
Sunny, battered and furious, rose with eyes burning with hatred.
Mordret, calm and cold, observed them both with deadly precision.
The wind howled through the wreckage.
Moonlight Shard dissolved into motes of silver light in Sunny's hand, replaced by the menacing curve of Cruel Sight. His frame, now wrapped in the obsidian embrace of the Mantle of the Underworld, radiated with cold defiance. He took a step forward, spitting blood contemptuously at Klaus's feet.
"You betrayed us, didn't you?" Sunny growled, his voice like gravel scraping glass. "You were meant to assist Noctis. So what the fuck are you doing here, you silver-tongued bastard?"
Klaus tilted his head, watching the ruined skyline—buildings reduced to ruins, fire devouring the horizon and his lips curled lazily.
"Betrayed? Don't flatter yourself, you paranoid worm," Klaus said, voice dry and venom-laced. "I need something from Hope. That's all. As for betrayal—shouldn't that question be directed at you, considering you just tried to split my skull open without a word of warning? I almost died."
Sunny's lips curled into a cruel grin as he eyed the wound he'd left on Klaus's shoulder… but the satisfaction died in his throat as he pressed his hand against the seared puncture in his own chest. Klaus's games had struck deeper than he'd thought.
"Good," Sunny hissed. "Good that I made you bleed, even if just a little. So I ask again… what are you doing here? And you too, Mordret."
Mordret leaned casually on his blade, resting it against his shoulder. A smile played on his lips, the type that heralded nothing but blood and silence.
"Don't you know? I've come to kill Hope."
Sunny barked a laugh, though it trembled with disbelief. "Kill Hope? You've always been cracked in the head, but that's suicidal even for you. She's not just strong—she's divine." His gaze shifted to Klaus. "And you, you violent-eyed freak?"
Klaus's laugh was low and hollow, the sound of something long broken. He looked at Sunny with something between pity and disdain, and it only made Sunny's fury burn brighter.
"I'm here to ask her a question. The nature of that question is none of your damned business, Sunny." He tilted his head, irritation rising like bile. "Why don't you worry about your own miserable role in all this?"
Sunny grinned, wide and mocking, spreading his four arms as if surrendering to absurdity. The Extraordinary Rock, gleaming beneath the mantle of sunlight, pulsed in his hand, granting him voice and venom.
"Because I don't want to. You see, Klaus, I remember the time you nearly tore my eyes from my skull. And you, Mordret—I remember your treachery, your lies. I don't forgive. I don't forget. Whatever you two are planning, I'll see it burn just out of pure spite. So I'll enjoy watching you fail."
Mordret's gaze turned frigid, glinting with lethal intent. Klaus, on the other hand, was done. Patience, thin as a thread, snapped.
He stepped forward and spat. "Stop fucking around, CUNT! Crawl back into your shadows. I'm giving you a chance to escape this nightmare alive."
But Sunny just laughed, shaking his head with that mad glint of amusement.
"I'd rather drag you both into the abyss."
Klaus rolled his eyes, the amusement long gone. His voice dropped, cold as the grave.
"Fine then. You want to see me angry? Congratulations, Sunny. You've succeeded."
Mordret's eyes widened in alarm. He knew that tone. He knew how deep the madness ran beneath Klaus's measured mask. He tried to escape through the reflection, but it was too late.
Klaus's fist struck the ground with an explosion of amethyst light, cracks veining out like spiderwebs through marble. The Ivory Staircase shuddered, groaned—and then splintered apart as a shockwave of cataclysmic force erupted outward. The entire stairway to the Ivory Tower exploded into ruin. and all three plummeted into the abyss below.
As they fell, Sunny stared at Klaus with wide eyes, horror creeping into his features. Klaus was laughing, wild and radiant, his expression twisted in euphoric mania.
Twisting midair, Klaus used Bia, adjusting his gravity and disappearing—only to reappear beneath a broken pillar where Sunny stood, slamming into it with explosive force. Sunny was sent flying, crashing into a floating slab of shattered architecture.
Snarling, he caught his footing and lunged toward Klaus, Cruel Sight now transformed into a radiant silver spear, aflame with murderous fury.
Meanwhile, Mordret had summoned a storage memory, retrieving a dozens of gleaming mirrors. He shattered them and flung the fragments skyward, hoping to reach Hope through their reflections.
But Klaus wasn't about to let him escape.
Bia flared once more, and the shards were slammed back down from the sky like falling stars, scattering across the void. Mordret hissed, his plan ruined.
But Klaus's distraction had cost him.
Sunny was already in range.
The silver spear blazed with white fire as it arced toward Klaus's skull. Just before impact, Klaus turned intangible, slipping into an adjacent dimension—vanishing from reality.
He reappeared behind Sunny, his boot crashing into Sunny's spine. A gravitational spike followed, rupturing through Sunny's body like an invisible cannon. He coughed blood as he was thrown across the air like a discarded doll.
Before either adversary could recover, Klaus appeared again—high above, amidst floating debris, a lone figure crowned in collapsing light.
His fist glowed once more.
Mordret's and Sunny's faces contorted with dread as the air screamed, vibrating with unnatural resonance. Amethyst cracks splintered the sky, and with a roar of thunder and entropy, another devastating shockwave blasted them further into the abyss.
Blood filled their mouths. Bones cracked. Hope was slipping away.
Hovering amidst the annihilation, Klaus looked upward—eyes gleeful and deranged. Then, with a final glance at the carnage he wrought, he opened a door of light in space… and vanished, ascending toward the Ivory Tower where Hope awaited.
***
How was the battle royale? I tried to make it more enjoyable and vivid with detailed descriptions. I'm not sure how well I managed to portray the abilities of all three, but I think it turned out alright.
Now, Klaus doesn't need to fight—it's time to meet Hope!
This volume will be over soon, and a new one will begin. I know this one was long, and someone had told me to divide it into volumes earlier... but I forgot, so sorry about that! I just named Volume One, and it's called 'Loved One of the Void.' Let me know what you think about the title and everything else.
I originally wanted to separate the waking world and the Second Nightmare, but—well, it is what it is. Let's consider this volume an introduction to Klaus and the world around him. One or two chapters left before we enter the second volume!
Lastly, thank you so much for your support—and enjoy!
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