Kaiser had his reservations about this deal, and not without reason. Two doubts lingered in his mind. First, the Elder might be far more powerful than he'd originally imagined. Second, the Unborn as a race were not just a threat, as they were an existential danger to the world itself. That meant the upper echelon of the Unborn had to at least rival humanity's strongest.

He knew that the Supreme Beings represented the pinnacle of the Unborn, but they weren't a threat at this time. Instead, it was the Overlords who mattered now. The Ten Hopes stood at the very top of humanity, so logic dictated that the Overlords, the Unborn's second highest rank had to be on par with humanity's second strongest: the Titans.

Kaiser had no delusions about his current standing. He was nowhere near the level of monsters like Chaos or even Regulus, who'd only recently died. Facing one of them would be suicide; he had no chance. The Herald, it seemed, saw through his caution.

"Why me?" Kaiser demanded, his voice cold. "If the Elder is so powerful, why not send one of your own? I am certain you could find people who are currently stronger then me, and I have no doubt that some Overlords would jump at the chance to take the number one spot for themselves."

The Herald's lips curled, a hint of pride in the expression. "The Elder," he said softly, "Is the most skilled fighter alive… or unalive. If he faced any of the Ten Hopes, he would fall, yes, the gap is just that great. But the tenth Hope? He'd make them bleed." The Herald's voice sharpened, almost hungry. "Any Titan, though? He'd slaughter them. One, two, five—makes no difference."

Kaiser didn't hide the scorn in his reply. "Absurd. You're asking me to face something you say could kill multiple Titans at once."

The Herald only shrugged, as if the world itself was an afterthought. "Things are not so black and white, Kaiser Dios. The Elder could kill any Titan, yes. But do you know the only person, besides the Hopes, who could kill him?"

Kaiser's stare sharpened, wary. "…You're saying it's me?"

The Herald's lips stretched into a slow, predatory smile, as though savoring a secret too exquisite to share. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his unnatural eyes devouring Kaiser with a hunger that was almost worship.

"The Elder's power is a simple one, deceptively so. He is a void. He devours power itself. Within his radius, all Sol is extinguished, all blessings and curses snuffed out like candles in the rain. Within that emptiness, nothing is left but bare hands, raw will, and the blade. Within that world, only one law matters: pure, unadulterated skill. Technique without equal. And in that world," the Herald said, his voice trembling with the thrill of prophecy, "He is the king. Or so he thinks."

He let the words hang, savoring the silence, then his gaze fell all over Kaise, top to bottom, like a scholar studying some forbidden artifact.

"But then there's you."

For a moment, it was as if the air thickened, the battered room shrinking until only the two of them existed. The Herald's next words fell like a hammer. "Do you know what you are, Kaiser Dios? You are an aberration. A thing the world should never have allowed to exist." There was no insult in his voice, only awe.

"In all my centuries, I have seen monsters walk this earth. I have watched civilizations burn, saints rise and fall, heroes become evil. I have witnessed the Titans lay waste to nations and the Hopes rewrite history with a gesture. And yet, not one of them, not one, carries what you carry inside."

Kaiser sat silent, face carved from cold marble, but the Herald pressed on, voice tightening with fascination. "The Elder is a legend, yes. He is the blade that cuts all things, the duelist that humbled Titans. He is perfection in motion, art given violence. But you—" The Herald's lips curled, savoring the shape of the word.

A silence stretched between them. The Herald watched Kaiser with naked anticipation, like a beast waiting for the first drop of blood. "You are his only equal," he whispered, voice thin with longing. "If I am to see the greatest duel this world can offer, it must be between you and the Elder. That is why you are here. That is why I choose you."

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Kaiser met the gaze without flinching. And in that moment, monster recognized monster, each seeing, at last, a worthy reflection.

"Before we discuss anything further," Kaiser said. "I need answers. Did you have any part in me leaving Nebrosa?" He leaned forward, and the light caught on the jagged lines of ice that still webbed his hand. "I could never understand why I woke in this world, and not my own. Did you see what my Origin was? Did you bring me here, solely for this purpose?"

Maximilian's eyes dropped, his gaze settling somewhere near the battered floorboards. "There was a plan to get our hands on you," he admitted quietly. His voice was almost gentle, almost regretful. "We watched you, Kaiser. Through your whole childhood. We saw how much of your life was wasted in that place. The torture you endured... Most people would have ended it in an hour. Most wouldn't even last an hour. But you…" He trailed off, a shadow of something like respect flickering behind the purple lights in his eyes.

Kaiser's lips twisted. For a moment, he remembered. The hours upon hours, each one worse than the last, his body breaking and mending again and again until even agony became just another routine. He remembered how his regeneration had been forged in suffering so pure and unrelenting it had no name. And somehow, instead of shattering, he'd become what he was. Strong. Enduring. Unbreakable.

To Maximilian's lack of surprise, Kaiser laughed, a dry, hollow sound that had no mirth in it. "I guessed as much," he said. "You never miss an opportunity, do you?"

The Herald looked up. His borrowed face was solemn. "Then why, Kaiser? Why were you so loyal to Nebrosa, after all that? The Unborn waited for the first crack, for your hatred to spill out. For that moment of weakness, when you'd let us in. We waited for years."

Kaiser's eyes narrowed. "You wasted your time," he replied flatly. "I was always weak. Pathetically so. Even at my strongest, I felt like a shadow, haunted by the memory of failure. My weakness disgusted me." His tone was matter-of-fact, unadorned by self-pity or shame.

"All I ever knew was obedience. First for my king, my master, when I was young. Then, as I grew, for Nebrosa itself. If I'd acted otherwise, I'd have felt unreal—a lie, a fabrication, something made up by someone else. My rules, my loyalty… they were the only things that kept me from dissolving into nothing. But even those weren't mine. They were truths others gave me, truths I let define me. It took a long time to see that."

He paused, and for an instant, there was something raw in his expression. "By the time I'd grown into a man, Sabel had become the greatest problem in existence. I was free, by then—truly free. But I chose to follow my oaths anyway. That was freedom too, wasn't it? Shackles I put on myself. I chose to play the hero, to fight the evil of Shabab. That was my freedom."

Kaiser let the words settle between them, his voice dropping even lower. "Killing Sabel should have been easy. Half the world was under my command, and still, I failed. I won't pretend I'd change those years of torture—they made me strong. But I changed, Maximilian. I changed a lot, even before coming to this world. More since."

The Herald's voice was soft. "We called you Oathkeeper, among ourselves."

Kaiser nodded, his smile as cold and precise as the edge of a blade. "Now... The truth is mine. Judgment is mine. I answer only to myself. If the world offends me, I will break it. If it does not please me, I will remake it. You Unborn are tools, nothing more, and in your eyes, I know I am the same. Weapons... That is what we are. We are wielded and we are spent. That is the law I accept and the law I rule by."

He leaned forward, voice dropping to a killing whisper, every word coiled with absolute conviction. "If you aided Sabel, guided his hand and twisted fate itself against me? Good. That was your will. You were right to pursue your interest. Just as I will crush anything in my path, for that is my interest. Principle is ash without the fire to enforce it."

For a moment, the room seemed smaller, the very air bending to Kaiser's will. Maximilian's borrowed form now looked fragile and haunted. Then, shockingly, a tear slipped down the dead man's cheek, cutting a bright line through the cold purple flesh. He touched his face, as if unable to believe the sensation.

This was not the sorrow of the defeated. It was the awe of someone who'd stared into the abyss and seen something greater staring back.

He opened his mouth, but nothing came. Words failed. In all the centuries Maximilian had wandered, wearing a thousand skins, he had never been left speechless by a king, a hero nor a god. But this…this was no hero. Not even a king.

Kaiser was something else... Something absolute.

And in that silence, Maximilian bowed his head in recognition. In all the history of monsters, there had never been one quite like this.

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