"Agh... Looks like his path was harder than I thought... Damn, I rushed it... This is my eternal problem..." Krakos complained lightly while looking ahead into the vast darkness.

The path of fire had long since disappeared, leaving only the flaming platform that kept Krakos from falling.

"I've been waiting for this moment for decades, but I couldn't wait a little longer... Damn, what happened out there?" Krakos muttered with a thoughtful look as suddenly a shiver ran through his body.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

The darkness dawned a few times, then calmed down as though nothing had happened, but to Krakos it was a sign.

"Well, I have nowhere else to go anyway." Krakos uttered as a slight smile formed on his face, "All I can do is wait, can't I?"

...

Whooooooooooosh.

A strong current of wind brought ash that settled on the ground from which the top of the boulder slightly protruded. Under several meters of ash, Wain slept, and the moment for his awakening had finally arrived.

Crackling.

Wain opened his eyes as he tried to get up, but his heavy weight prevented him from doing so easily.

'What the hell? Has someone buried me? Why am I underground?!' Wain said inwardly as he frowned.

His aura intensified and he swung his arm, causing a shockwave that blew away all the ash above him as well as over the boulder.

"Shit... How long have I been asleep...?" Wain muttered with lost looks while looking around.

Nothing had changed in Death Shore, it was still the same lifeless land, but Wain was sure it had taken him long enough to recover.

'Where is Gladius? He must know that. Wain wondered as his eyes widened and he looked in the direction of the ruins, 'Right... He was there alone the whole time, not a good thing.'

Wain held out his hand as the dark sword caught in the column trembled. It took tremendous strength to pull the sword from such an old column, but since it was their common will, Gladius soon got out of it.

Whooooooosh.

The dark sword flew as though a flash across the wide river and into Wain's palm.

"Hey, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Wain asked with a slight smile on his face.

"Yeah... It hasn't been the best time of my life, but it's good to see you awake. I thought it would take you a lot longer to fully recover, but you've only had two months." Gladius said in a calm voice.

"Two months, yeah? Well, I've had worse." Wain shrugged, returned Gladius to his seal, and waved his hand.

A stream of wind swept away all the ash that had managed to accumulate in that time, revealing the Abyss Brush lying on the head of the earth.

"Though I was delayed, we finally meet, right?" Wain muttered as he lifted the Abyss Brush from the ground.

[You got Abyss Brush!]

[You opened the seventh form!]historical

[Abyss Artist

Paintings are art or...]

"Hmm? What's going on...?" Wain uttered as the message kept interrupting.

He tried to open it several times, but it kept stopping at one point as if something or someone was doing it on purpose.

"Hey, wouldn't it be better to learn everything from me than to read these boring messages?" A calm and mysterious voice sounded.

Wain's eyes widened as he looked at the boulder. There sat a man with long black hair and eyes as blue as the ocean. His pale skin was covered by a loose dark robe that in places was wrapped with random stains as if from white paint.

There was a slight smile on his face, but it seemed trickier even than Sven's, who had hundreds of different plans in his head.

"You're the Abyss Artist...?" Wain muttered with a dazed look.

"Hah, sure, that's me. I think my appearance fits my name perfectly, but there's one final detail missing." Abyss Artist said with a smirk as he snapped his finger.

At the same time, Brush flew out of Wain's hands and headed toward Abyss Artist.

"Well, it's all right now. It's been so many years since I last felt alive." Abyss Artist said as he rested his head on his hand while staring into the void.

"Since you won't let me read the message, why don't you tell me about yourself then?" Wain offered with a curious look.

"My story is not particularly interesting." The Abyss Artist said in a calm voice, but with a devious smile on his face showing that his words were far from the truth, "More important is not how I got to this point, but what I did and what I can do."

'Damn... This guy talks even more mysteriously than Sven... It's just impossible to understand him...' Wain muttered inwardly while shaking his head, then he stared at Abyss Artist, "What are you talking about?"

"You don't need to analyze my words to understand them, it's enough if you just see what I'm talking about." Abyss Artist said with a calm look before stepping forward.

Whooooooooosh.

His silhouette blurred as he appeared right in front of Wain and took his hand. The Abyss Artist put Brush in Wain's palm and said, "Be ready. Something is about to happen that will shake your mind."

"Hmm?" Wain raised an eyebrow as suddenly Abyss Artis disappeared and a dark robe appeared on Wain, as his appearance changed completely.

'Wain, let me ask you one question.' Abyss Artist's voice echoed in Wain's head, 'What do you think is the greatest achievement for an artist?

"What...? What do you mean?" Wain uttered while in confusion as he touched his chin in a thoughtful manner, "I don't know, probably create a masterpiece, a painting that will attract the attention of the world."

'Huh, not a bad answer. However, it's not that simple. The greatest masterpiece is to create a painting not to which the whole world will pay attention, but which will become the world itself, or rather its part with its own particular purpose.' Abyss Artist said in a slow voice with a sly smile on his face before waving his hand.

The Abyss Brush left a dab of dark paint in the air.

At the same time, space trembled in many places around the world.