Slayer's eyes opened to the everlasting darkness surrounding everything. The entire place looked empty. Devoid of life, space, time, light. Nothing existed here.

At least that was his initial thought, but as he turned around, he saw a bright star glowing deep within the eternal darkness.

However, before he could've taken a step towards the light, he found himself in a different place. A cozy room with a fireplace crackling nearby. He stood before a wide red leather sofa, which looked really comfortable.

"You can take your seat. I'm sure you've got lots of questions, and I have little patience, so let's begin!"

The deep voice reverberated through the building, maybe even the entire Realm. It demanded attention and held immense authority, while also bringing fear into the hearts of normal people.

Slayer wasn't normal, though. He turned around, gazing at the seated man with deep curiosity.

His long white hair and beard fell gently on the yellow, traditional robe he wore. From his dark-skinned face, a pair of bulging crimson eyes stared at a paper held between his large fingers.

Behind the man, a fist-sized flame burned ferociously. As Slayer focused on the flame, he could hear the faint sound of screams.

A few seconds passed while Slayer observed the intriguing man. His bulging eyes moved away from the paper, staring up at Slayer with a scowl.

"I said sit. Haven't you heard me?"

The mysterious man's stern voice echoed inside the room, leaving no room for disagreement. Slayer sat on the sofa, opposite the man's large armchair.

"What's this place, and who are you?"

The man's bulging eyes narrowed at Slayer's rude questions, but since he already expected them, they didn't anger him.

"I'm going to be straightforward with you. Since you're only a partial soul, you probably don't remember much about your past or your death… You see, this place is called Limbo. This is where all the dead souls end up, including yours. I'm sure you can guess who I am."

Slayer's blood-red eyes widened as memories began flooding his mind. He recalled all the horrible things he had done. Every murder and family eaten. Then he remembered his death at the hands of the mysterious time traveller.

Suddenly, everything made much more sense. He leaned back on the sofa, staring at the man… At Death himself…

"I thought you would be more imposing, like a warrior who collects souls. Instead, I got an elderly person with bug-like eyes."

Death rolled his bug-like eyes then continued reading the paper held in his hand.

"Stop lying to yourself. I'm the consciousness behind death. I've no corporeal form, so I take on how anyone would expect Death to look like. You imagined me this way, so stop lying and let's begin your reunification!"

Slayer chuckled to himself, but before he could've made another remark or asked a question, a strange white glow appeared beside Death's chair. The light formed into a humanoid boy, maybe fourteen or fifteen-years-old.

"Who are you?" Asked the light and Slayer simultaneously, surprising each other.

"Your two halves of an Asian man known as Zhuan. A Mad person named Harold split your soul. He killed one half and experimented with the other, rewriting your memories and will. That's when you became Slayer. You felt pleasure after each murder and craved human flesh for sustenance."

This news shocked Slayer. He had no recollection of childhood, parents, or anything a normal human would have. His first memory was of killing an average-looking woman in an alleyway, then consuming her fresh body.

His other half didn't look too surprised. If anything, he seemed relieved and joyful, the exact opposite of Slayer's emotions. A strange feeling appeared in Slayer as he watched the child-like expression of the boy.

"Do we really have to reunite?"

Slayer's words came from his heart. After all the suffering, killing and cannibalism he caused, Slayer felt concerned about the boy. If they reunited, he would also experience everything… Slayer didn't want the boy's smile to disappear…

Death stared at his paper, then glanced up at Slayer with his bulging eyes. His stern face looked annoyed, but also a bit confused, like he didn't understand Slayer's words.

"What do you mean? The process had already begun. Haven't you realized? Well, I guess you wouldn't know…"

He became silent for a moment, then motioned the boy to take a seat beside Slayer. The boy happily obliged…

"Look, when Harold separated your soul, he left all the pleasant emotions with Zhuan, then killed him. You, Slayer, only know anger, sadness, fear, hatred, etc. However, now with the proximity of your other half, new emotions began arising within you… Worry, empathy, kindness…"

Slayer's eyes widened again. His feelings were indeed changing, and with them his outlook on life gained a different perspective too.

Slowly, a small, genuine smile grew on his once-scared face. He glanced down at his hands, which healed themselves as his soul let go of the burdens he's been carrying since forever.

"Fine, then. How do we reunite?" Asked Slayer, while staring into Death's crimson eyes.

Before the stern man could've answered, the young Zhuan reached out and grabbed Slayer's hand. With that, their souls began reuniting.

Their glow brightened, and Death stood up from his leather armchair. The cozy room disappeared, and the tall man pointed towards the bright star far away.

Zhuan's souls began flying towards the star, while intermingling with each other. Soon only one bright soul remained as it joined the other dead people.

…

Victor and Valerie both floated above the hilltop, where Henry stood looking bewildered.

"Well, he wasn't lying at least. He did end the fight with a single strike!" Declared Valerie with a bright smile.

The other Ethereal just raised an eyebrow as his dark eyes stared at Valerie in disbelief.

"One Strike?! Oh, you're just going to ignore the hundreds of different timelines he abandoned?"

Valerie chuckled, her dark blue eyes staring at her son with pride and love. Her humming continued, so Old Dawn stayed floating above the destroyed land.

"I only count this current timeline, which means he won with a single strike! Anyway, why are you still here? Your army lost, so why don't you scram?"

This time Victor laughed at the other Ethereal's question. He stared into the stars above and watched as they began shaking.

Confusion etched Valerie's face as a strange feeling of danger grew in her heart. She glanced around, yet she saw nothing of note or out of the ordinary.

A few seconds later though, something weird happened. A gentle ripple went through the fabric of reality, and somewhere far away, the sound of chains breaking echoed.

"What's happening?" Asked Valerie, with a tinge of fear marring her voice.

While Valerie was an Ethereal, her loved ones weren't, so anything that could trigger her sense of danger was extremely powerful. She feared what might happen to everyone she loved.

Victor didn't answer her question. Instead, he turned into a large raven and flew to the upper deck of the Old Dawn, where everyone, including Henry, gathered together. Valerie flew after him, and soon both Ethereals landed on the deck.

Everyone stared at Victor with barely veiled hatred. Leslie grasped Sarah's hand so she wouldn't do anything stupid. However, since the demon's anger boiled too, Yannick needed to hold him back.

At the front stood Valerie with Vicky, Henry and Bea by her side. The General also stood close, but far enough to stay out of any possible altercation.

His dark eyes glanced along the gathered people. It stopped on Sarah for a moment, but his handsome face didn't reveal any emotions like regret or shame. There was nothing but a hint of boredom in his gloomy expression.

Suddenly, another larger ripple went through the fabric of reality. This time everybody, even regular humans, felt its effect. The sound of chains breaking echoed louder, and it mixed with the noise of squeaky hinges, as if some giant, rusty gate opened.

On the Old Dawn's deck, everybody stared at Victor with suspicion. However, he just grinned and chuckled creepily.

"Why are you looking at me? I didn't cause this. You should all be looking at the Prince with accusatory glances, since these next events are his fault!… Congratulations, by the way! You single-handedly brought about the Second Apocalypse!"

Nobody believed Victor's words… Nobody, except Henry…

While everybody thought about the true cause of the ripples and the strange sounds, Henry's mind went into overdrive.

He recalled everything about the barrier surrounding Earth, about the past gods who got locked away long ago, and about Bran's sacrifice, which damaged the barrier and the locks.

"I see you already figured it out." Said Victor with a bored expression.

Another ripple went through Earth's space and time, and the squeaky noises became louder. However, everybody's eyes stayed focused on Henry and Victor, since they seemed to know what was happening.

"Did you know this would happen? Is that why you brought Slayer here, since to defeat him, I need to overuse my ability!"

Henry's expression turned angry, which only made Victor laugh. The threatening aura around the Prince couldn't affect an all-powerful Ethereal.

"Not really. My initial plan wasn't to break the locks and weaken the barrier around Earth's Realm. I merely planned on taking over the world by force. However, with the appearance of your mother, Valerie. I had to use Plan B!"

"Your ability to travel back in time only affects Earth's Realm. Time continues to flow normally in every other Realm, which means each second you went back in time caused millions or even billions of tiny fractures to appear all across reality, which weakened the barrier!"

Another ripple and a deafening noise of chains breaking echoed throughout the planet and the stars above.

Victor raised his arms as, somewhere far away, the cacophony of approaching doom reached everyone's ears.

"Welcome everybody! To the Second Apocalypse!"

[End of Part 2 — Vengeful Prince]