Beliar stood there with eyes wide open, staring at the dark-purple ring.

The massive, hundred-meter tall stone ring suddenly stood up straight as swirls of energy gathered inside it. It was powering up!

Whoooomp!

With a low hum, the ring shook and a transparent, spherical barrier of the same color expanded outward from its center. Beliar who was close to it was pushed aside as the barrier expanded rapidly to a diameter of twenty-five kilometers.

Shortly after stabilizing, the ring shook once more and the space inside it warped, greedily devouring the energy around it.

"You bastard! Stealing our Mana to power yourself, how dare you?!" Beliar bellowed. Not only did this thing rudely push him away, but it was now also using Mana of their world to power itself.

He blasted forward towards the barrier and punched.

Booom!

The resulting explosion from the collision was great as the chaotic energies of both sides swirled and dispersed, however, the barrier remained unaffected.

"Hmph! It's strong…" He took out a black greatsword with spikes protruding out from its sharp edges. As he poured his energy into the weapon, the sword started to shine a dark light. Whenever the darkness touched, the light was devoured.

"Ha! Take this! Claw of Darkness!" Beliar swung his greatsword, producing dangerous lightning from the immense energy in his swing. The sky turned dark as his power was released, and the wind howled while moving out of the way.

Rumble!

The sword struck the barrier and shook it slightly, making the whole barrier ring like a bell and produce thunder-like sounds.

Suddenly, the purple ring shone with a blinding light, and a wavy membrane formed within. It was moving and waving, like ripples on a lake. Then suddenly, soundlessly, like an assassin in the night, a hand came out of the purple membrane, then a face, followed by the entire head.

Akin of ash-gray, with a peculiar human-like face, and black horns curling backward, a being stepped out. Two and a half meters tall, with wings like those of a bat on his back, and a tail of a lizard, the Demon stood straight.

It looked around the new environment inside the barrier with its amber eyes and then proceeded to jump up and fly around the place as it examined it calmly. It suddenly noticed Beliar looking at it from the outside and made a mocking expression.

Enraged, Beliar started an even more intense barrage of attacks but they turned out to be futile. More than a thousand attacks rained on the purple barrier, but all of that only resulted in a slight tremble.

"Cursed Demon! Get out here and fight me!" the High Elf roared.

However, the Demon simply laughed at him and turned around, floating freely above the newly-formed portal. Soon another being came through, another Demon, this one even bigger and stronger looking than the last. Then there was another, this one looking like a female, who appeared excited and bloodthirsty.

They were not all there was, of course, far from it. A sea of monsters spilled out of the portal, visibly excited and growling at the same time.

There were countless Goblins, millions of Hobgoblins and Orcs, Orc Warriors clad in full plate armor, and an immense number of Shamans, creating a fiery environment as soon as they left the ring portal.

Soon Beliar saw Ogres walk out, their grotesque form making the High Elf feel sick. Even Giants, ten-meter-tall monstrosities walked out of the portal, but compared to its purple greatness, they appeared small and weak.

"What kind of bull-!" Beliar opened his eyes wide as the invaders continued jumping out of the portal, quickly filling the barrier.

As the monsters filled the footprint inside, the portal ring hummed and started sucking even more Mana towards it, expanding the barrier further.

Beliar was now already more than thirty kilometers from the portal and was getting pushed away even more.

"Sons of bitches! Stop hiding in your shell and fight me!"

He suddenly realized how the Demon King must have felt, but instead of calming down, it enraged him further. Seeing the barrier continuing to expand without end, he took one last good look at it, before warping the space around him and disappearing from the place.

"Innos!" Beliar reappeared at the Phoenix Temple and immediately flew inside.

"What's going on?" Innos inquired.

Beliar opened his mouth to speak, but then he suddenly stopped and flipped his hand over. A white sphere materialized on top of his palm, sparkling like a diamond in the light. He moved the sphere closer to his head and a drop of white light flew from him to the sphere.

"Here, see for yourself!" Beliar tossed the sphere to Innos, who then grabbed it and closed his eyes, sending his senses inside. In no time at all, the daily events appeared in his mind from the perspective of Beliar. They shared memories.

"We are getting invaded?!" Innos opened his eyes in disbelief.

Beliar nodded with a dark expression and said, "It appears so, and I can't break that fucking barrier! I need someone that knows a bit more about defensive formations, do you know anyone?"

He was in a bad mood, Innos, on the other hand, appeared to be much calmer, "Sure, I know a guy…"

"Good!" Beliar nodded, "I'll keep an eye on the barrier! Get him to break it open, I'm itching to fight!"

leaving these words behind he once again disappeared from the place. Innos could only shake his head and sigh, "Still so aggressive, you didn't change a bit during those long centuries of solitude…"

He left his research facilities with hands behind his back, seemingly in thought. A fire circle formed before him and warped the space inside it.

"Let's go visit an old friend…" he murmured and stepped into the fire. He disappeared a moment later and so did the flames. The room darkened and returned to tranquility.

"A month. That's how much time I'll need to break it," a silver-haired old High Elf Elder stated calmly after examining the expanding barrier.

"A month?!" Beliar shouted wide-eyed. "Aren't you one of the best formation masters on the continent?"

The old High Elf Elder chuckled quietly, not minding his outbursts at all. "Well, in truth I only need a day, but this barrier is ever-changing. I need a month because that's when it will stop expanding and I'll finally be able to get to work," he calmly explained.

"A month…" Beliar weakly said, sounding completely defeated. He kicked the barrier in anger, but the thing didn't even budge.

Innos who was standing there shrugged his shoulders and said, "Since nothing can be done about it, I'll return to my studies. I'll see you in a month!"

Beliar sighed and flew to the barrier, sitting down on top of it. "That's fine… One month, I can afford to wait that much…"

"Shouldn't we just get a few more Elders and brute force this barrier apart?" the old man asked.

"No!" Beliar sternly shook his head. "I can deal with these weaklings on my own, I don't need their help! I just need you to open the barrier, nothing more!"

"Are you sure you don't need more help?"

"I'll be fine!" Beliar snapped back.

"Very well…" the old man also sat down on the barrier and took out an old book, slowly reading it.

Beliar casually glanced over and lifted his brow, "Elemental Codex? Why are you reading that book for children? And is that Wyvren leather?!"

Answering with a gentle voice, the man said, "It is indeed precious beyond compare… It reminds me of my youth, when I was still wild and full of energy, like you…"

"Whatever…" Beliar scoffed and turned away, "I'll just wait this month and then break these stupid Demons to smithereens! They are so weak, I don't get why they even bother attacking us…"

However, as the month passed by, and the barrier continued to expand without any signs of stopping, Beliar felt annoyed and cursed the old man for his miscalculations.

"Shouldn't we just get some reinforcements?"

"No! I said I'll deal with them on my own! And stop reading that stupid book, you read it a thousand times already!" He was Beliar, a traveler of the Void, a Soul Eater slayer! These beasts didn't deserve to be the shit beneath his boots, much less an enemy he would bother to acknowledge.

"…" The old High Elf remained silent, not replying to the invitation for an argument.

As another month passed by, the barrier still expanded, separating billions of monsters from the outside world, and even Beliar himself started to feel worried.

However…

"It's fine, stop looking at me like that! Even if they continue gathering, it's just a few billion of them! I can take care of them in less than a day! Easy peasy!" Truth was, he didn't feel all that confident anymore, but his pride didn't let him admit to it.

"…"

After the third month of expansion, as Demons of Divine Rank started coming through the portal, the entirety of the Elven force finally took notice, and so they gathered and attacked the barrier at once.

But...

As the purple walls of light collapsed, so did the peace on the continent, it was too late to prevent a disaster, and a bloody war ensued, lasting long years, and ravaging the planet.

And Beliar became the sinner, the sinner of their race, and the traitor of the world.