Raka and I entered the Slumber Pit Village alone.
The rest of the forces remained stationed at the border, awaiting my command, silent sentinels who would not step forward unless the situation crossed a point of no return. The moment we crossed the village boundary, a sharp metallic stench slammed into my senses, old blood layered over fresh blood, so thick it felt like breathing through rusted iron.
It came from the direction of the Sea of Unity.
Raka slowed, his usual loose posture tightening, his steps light but deliberate as he moved closer to me. His voice dropped instinctively.
"North… you feel that too, right?"
"Yes," I replied, eyes narrowing. "It's not just blood. There's fear mixed into it, dense and unresolved. Whatever happened here didn't end cleanly."
The village itself looked frozen in the middle of life. Doors were left ajar, cooking pots sat cold on stone stoves, half-packed carts stood abandoned in the streets. A child's wooden toy lay cracked beneath a wheel, stained dark at the edges.
No corpses.
That bothered me more than if there were.
Raka clicked his tongue. "You know, this really feels like the start of one of those low-budget horror films. The kind where everyone keeps saying 'let's split up' right before dying."
"You watched those?" I asked.
"Of course," he replied casually. "Someone has to appreciate terrible storytelling."
I glanced at him. "And if we find out everyone here is already dead?"
Raka's smile stayed, but his eyes hardened. "Then we'll make sure the ones responsible never get a second breath. And if even one person is alive…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
We continued forward, toward the Sea of Unity, until the infamous Dark Cave finally came into view, its entrance yawning like a wound torn open in the earth.
Every domain had one, ancient convergence scars created to halt territorial expansion. They were meant to be sacred graveyards, places where the Sea of Unity absorbed lingering hatred, regret, and fear, allowing the dead to rest peacefully.
That was why they were once called the Caves of Peace.
But peace had long since abandoned this place.
The air grew heavier with each step, pressing against my chest, as if the cave itself were breathing, exhaling corruption into the world. Dark mist clung to the rocks, pulsing faintly, and the sunlight dimmed as clouds swallowed the sky.
Raka frowned. "Yeah, no. If the Sea of Unity couldn't purify this, then whatever's inside is either anchored by something divine or something very, very stupid."
"Sometimes those overlap," I said.
As if summoned by our words, shadows peeled themselves from the cave walls.
Four figures stepped forward, their bodies hunched, robes clinging to twisted frames. Long, greasy strands of hair obscured their faces, and their mana was wrong, warped and stagnant, like a swamp left untouched for centuries.
They bowed.
"Haha… Lord of Ice, North Frozenlight."
"And the Angel of Frost, Raka Frozenlight."
"We humble slaves greet the honorable beings."
The words echoed unnaturally, repeating again and again, overlapping in a sickening rhythm.
"We humble slaves greet the honorable beings."
Raka sighed loudly. "You know, if you're going to worship someone, at least try not to sound like a broken record."
I didn't bother hiding my disgust. Even without divine perception, their corruption was obvious.
Demons.
Raka stepped forward. "Who are you?"
"We are the slaves of Lord Sloth," they replied in unison. "Only humble slaves. Very humble slaves."
Maniacal laughter burst from them, sharp and unhinged.
"Hahaha!"
"Hahaha!"
"Hahaha!"
Raka rubbed his temple. "Sloth? That lazy excuse for a demonic god? Isn't he bound by the neutrality pact? If a god intervenes directly, it triggers divine war."
"Yes… and no," one answered, its head twisting too far to the side. "War is declared only when multiple factions intervene. One god, one nation, is merely… expansion."
Raka's voice echoed in my mind through telepathy.
"They're stalling. Sloth hasn't descended yet. He's trying to force a descent using sacrifices."
"I can feel it," I replied silently. "There are still people alive inside."
That single fact burned hotter than any anger.
Raka's lips curled into a grin. "Good. Then we're not too late."
He stepped forward, spreading his arms theatrically.
"Well, my brother's in a bit of a hurry," he said lightly. "So how about I stay here and keep you all entertained while he saves your victims?"
The demons froze.
Then their hidden eyes ignited crimson.
"Hahaha!"
"You caught us."
"You caught us…"
"You caught us…"
The cave erupted.
Shadows poured forth like a flood, bodies emerging endlessly, four becoming dozens, dozens becoming hundreds, until the darkness itself seemed alive. The ground trembled under the weight of more than ten thousand demons, their mana pressing down like a suffocating tide.
"North, go!" Raka shouted, laughter laced with fury. "Every second you waste here is another human screaming inside that cave!"
I didn't hesitate.
As I passed him, Raka's body exploded with blinding white light. Eight pairs of crystalline ice wings burst from his back, each feather razor-sharp, refracting light into blinding arcs. The temperature dropped violently as frost raced across the ground, freezing demons in place mid-laughter.
The first wave didn't even realize they were dead.
Raka vanished.
A heartbeat later, detonations of ice tore through the horde. Spears of frost impaled demons from below, shattering them into glittering fragments. Blades of compressed cold carved through ranks, severing limbs, freezing blood mid-spray.
"Hahaha! Come on!" Raka shouted, spinning through the air as he crushed a demon's skull with his bare hand. "You're blocking the entrance! At least die somewhere convenient!"
Demons screamed as their bodies froze solid, then shattered under the pressure of absolute zero. Others tried to flee, only to be pinned by walls of ice erupting from the ground.
Behind me, the battlefield became a storm of divine slaughter.
Ahead of me, the cave waited.
And inside it, fear still lived.
I stepped forward, cold authority spreading from my feet, frost creeping along the cave walls as my presence descended.
"Hold on," I murmured, my voice carrying into the darkness. "Your god has arrived."
No matter how deep the darkness ran, no matter how late salvation seemed, I would tear this place apart if it meant saving even one life.
Because that was the difference between a god and a monster.
And tonight, I intended to prove it.