Spiral of Madness: Ascension of the Villainous Dragon Prince-Chapter 160: I Will Never Let Them Touch You, My Beloved [1] — His Love

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"Haha! How long do you plan to keep resisting, King of Frostbane?!"

Thalor Vex laughed wildly, unleashing his demonic power at full strength. His Incarnation manifested behind him—a dark, seductive demoness. Purple flames surged from his body, relentlessly clashing against and shattering the psychic barriers erected by Gustaf and Helena, who fought desperately to shield Queen Benladra from harm.

In the distance, Lady Seraphine watched with a calm, satisfied smile. She gently caressed the vines and inhaled the fragrance of the flowers belonging to her "pet"—a creature bearing an uncanny resemblance to the Gardener, the entity Louis and his allies had once battled and driven out of Frostbane.

"I will never let you touch my wife... NEVER! You will have to kill me first!"

Gustaf roared with fury. His Gravity powers surged to their absolute limits and beyond as he deliberately shattered the mental limiters he had imposed on himself. Without those restraints, his brain would quickly overload and burn out from the sheer output of power.

This was one of the inherent weaknesses Espers carried—a constant threat to their lives. Espers were often described as living "gates" to another dimension: the Esper Dimension. This ethereal realm consisted entirely of the collective subconscious of every thinking being across the multiverse—an endless landscape of incomprehensible colors and impossible lifeforms that should never have been touched.

Espers drew power from this place thanks to a rare mutation that removed a natural limiter within the human brain, a safeguard present in nearly everyone. That limiter prevented ordinary minds from accessing such overwhelming force.

Espers had been called the next stage of human evolution—the ultimate potential of a species that had already pushed its brain to its biological limits. They manipulated the laws of physics through sheer thought, wielding power not born of fantasy but of the mind itself.

Because of this, Espers became humanity’s first line of defense and greatest hope against the Dimensional Labyrinth, the Entities, and the Grievances. Even before the full Dimensional Convergence began, the VPI—an organization already nearly a century old and long accustomed to handling supernatural incidents worldwide—had employed Espers who had caused disasters due to their inability to control their awakening powers.

Gustaf was one such Esper. At only six years old, he had accidentally killed his parents during his awakening. While being scolded by his father, his powers erupted uncontrollably. The next thing he remembered was waking up amid the ruins of his flattened home—his parents reduced to crushed flesh and shattered bones.

From that day forward, much like Mirai, Gustaf was raised inside VPI laboratories. Treated as a dangerous anomaly, he was contained, studied, and slowly taught control by older Espers—many of whom were no longer alive today. They helped him confront his guilt and eventually move forward.

In time, Gustaf joined the VPI’s field agents. He took on numerous missions across the globe, confronting the early, small-scale manifestations of the Hintergrid as it began seeping through Earth’s Dimensional Boundary.

The VPI called it the Hintergrid: the "Nexus Between Dimensions." An endless, sprawling convergence of merged worlds and realities, with the Dimensional Labyrinth constantly forming at its core.

Before the full Dimensional Convergence erupted, the Hintergrid outbreaks occurred. Occasionally, Entities—and rarely, a Grievance—would slip through one of the countless doors within that nexus and reach Earth.

The chaos they provoked would be swiftly concealed by governments, while agents—mostly Espers—were dispatched to contain them. Espers were among the few humans capable of resisting or outright ignoring the Mind Corruption of Entities and Grievances and fighting back against their Space, Time, or Reality Manipulating powers.

Gustaf ranked among the strongest Espers ever born, sixth in the world. He wielded the rare element of Gravity, his brain generating potent electromagnetic forcefields he could manipulate at will. The more he trained, the deadlier he became.

Even after years of rehabilitation and earning civilian status, Gustaf never escaped the hollow emptiness inside his heart. The trauma of killing his own parents at six years old lingered relentlessly, slowly eroding his mind alongside his deepening mental illnesses.

For many years he fought mostly alone, unable to connect with other Espers who led far more ordinary lives. Some were even worldwide celebrities in their "normal" personas, treating Esper duties as a side gig—which only deepened Gustaf’s frustration and bitterness.

He viewed the title of Esper not as a gift or a thrill, but as a crushing burden and a grave responsibility. To him it was a terrifying curse, the very thing that had turned him into a monster and forced him to slaughter his own parents without understanding why.

Who could possibly be carefree about carrying such an unpredictable, explosive weapon within themselves? Gustaf had grown bitter toward life itself, toward everything... and yet he kept going, thanks to his guardian, Hector Ernest—the previous director of the VPI and the strongest Esper the world had ever known.

Ranked first, Hector commanded Time itself and was considered invincible. With his power he had prevented countless deaths, reversed moments to save lives... but he always respected its terrifying limits and never dared push beyond them.

Hector had been the unbreakable pillar of the VPI, appointed second director when the first retired. Thanks to him, Earth held together even when the Apocalypse began and the Dimensional Labyrinth descended, slowly beginning to swallow the planet.

Dimensional Rifts tore open. Grievances and Entities emerged, preying on humanity. Entire towns, cities, and then whole countries fell in days. Yet Hector’s efforts preserved a great majority of the world... and he was among the few who accepted Her when She arrived. Together with Gustaf, he helped Her build Frostbane amid the ruins of America.

Still, even with Hector’s guidance, Gustaf never truly felt human—until She appeared.

Almost like an angel, with feathered wings and radiant light magic, She fell from the sky one day without warning and smiled at him.

The very first words She spoke when Gustaf found Her in the crater were...

"Um, are you okay? Were you crying?"

She didn’t even say hello. Instead, She felt an instant, inexplicable connection the moment their eyes met, as though fate itself had drawn them together.

It was Her—Benladra—who changed his life forever.