THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 649: The Key of Darkness (2)

Even in death and defeat, that masked warrior left his chains wrapped around their throats like an eternal curse.

Many of the greater demons believed this state would last far longer. But a few years ago...

”Nameless’s seal .. and the chains binding Agaroth ..grew weaker, for the first time.”

Weaker by a hair .. too slight to change anything then. Yet the strongest, keenest demons noticed at once, sensing that something was happening.

The cause remained unclear, but it coincided with one thing:

”The appearance of Frey Starlight.”

There was no proof, but the King’s Eye saw something .. and that was why Wesker came to Earth immediately. After his cataclysmic fight with the Engineer and Abraham Starlight, Wesker stayed on Earth, spinning threads and seeding his poisons.

He hid in the shadows, watching quietly from afar. For years he observed .. and in those short years, the Upper Fourth discovered something pivotal. Something that would change everything.

Now that Beatrice had witnessed the truth with her own eyes, she knew: Frey Starlight is Nameless .. or rather, Nameless resides within him.

”Now it all makes sense.”

The dots connected. The truth Wesker uncovered was simple .. but decisive:

The power of the seal imprisoning Agaroth was ebbing, little by little. And whenever it did, it coincided with Frey Starlight’s growth .. his mastery over different facets of himself.

”That colossal seal is Nameless’s power itself. The stronger Frey Starlight grows, the weaker the seal becomes in turn.”

It seemed the power was returning to him. And if Frey Starlight were to become Nameless in full .. if that masked warrior returned at his peak .. there would be only one outcome:

”The seal... will break.”

And the Demon King...

”will return.”

That is why they need Frey alive. That is why Agaroth has not killed him, despite being able to do so from afar with ease. Wesker, too, knows this thanks to the King’s Eye .. so he has not killed Frey, only driven him to his limits.

Zibar did not know. Nor did Beatrice. But the last battle laid the truth bare for them both.

”Frey Starlight... you are the key.”

The key that will open the door to a new age of horrors and war.

”You always were the key.”

Unconscious at the heart of the crater, after a brutal fight and a hard-won chance to rest, Frey had no idea this was only the beginning .. that he had opened the way to a different hell, and that the greater demons now understood what he was, and how important.

”You will not die. You won’t be allowed to die anymore,” Beatrice said, a wry smile curving her lips. ”You won’t die .. but you will walk through a hell unlike anything you’ve ever seen, Frey Starlight... poor man.”

Toward that man, she felt ridicule... and a flicker of pity. He had grown so powerful she could no longer handle him; even tricks would not avail her now.

It had become necessary to raise the level .. and send foes who could push Frey to the brink. That was what Wesker had been doing all along .. and, at the same time, what the Engineer had done as well. Both sides worked the same design, for utterly different ends.

Between one and the other, Frey Starlight was forced to bear everything alone:

The Engineer Gehrman machinations and the Nameless Cult.

The pressure of the demons .. the weight of being watched by Agaroth.

Wesker’s shadows coiling ever tighter around his throat.

Unprecedented pressure, all on one man’s shoulders.

”You’ve won a great victory, Frey Starlight—but at what cost?” Beatrice said one last time, turning her gaze elsewhere. ”It seems our esteemed guests have finally arrived. I should go.”

With a subtle shimmer, Beatrice vanished, and her words echoed once more upon the rain:

”What a poor man you are, Frey Starlight.”

...

...

...

On the far side of the devastation, the Empire’s detachment finally arrived.

Thousands of fighters poured in under the command of Gal Varion Sunlight, with Frey’s companions at the forefront .. Uriel, Selena, Seris, Dawn... all of them were there.

They had raced at full speed, ready to throw themselves into battle, but their fervor was smothered halfway there when a colossal pressure rolled in from afar ..an echo of a power none of them understood.

A pressure from another world. And then, out of nowhere, they all witnessed the rending of the moon. Being so close, they saw Nameless Judgement lance into the heavens with terrifying clarity.

There was something familiar in that power .. an aftertaste of Frey Starlight’s aura that every one of them knew.

It was too much. Many froze, refusing to advance. Who would dare step into a fight at that level? There could only be death waiting there.

Even so, they pressed on once that pressure finally dissipated and it became clear the battle had ended.

When they reached the site, they stopped dead before the vast impact basin that stretched for staggering distances .. a crater the size of a nation.

In those brief moments, beneath the torrent of rain drumming on their helmets, the Imperial soldiers stood staring for a long time at the ruin before them.

Among them, Gal Varion clenched his fists until his knuckles whitened, teeth grinding.

”What kind of battle leaves destruction like this?”

Whispers rippled everywhere; soldiers traded fear and bewilderment in hushed tones. Some dared to descend into the crater. Seris took to the air, sweeping the scarred landscape from above.

The deeper she looked into the aftermath, the deeper her frown grew.

”What happened here? Who did you face, Frey? What kind of enemy drove you this far?”

The crater was enormous, but finding Frey didn’t take long. He lay there .. in its very center.

Seris reached him first, with the others close behind.

Frey was in a strange state. The upper half of his body was bare; his lower garments were shredded. Though his body showed no wounds, his complexion was ghostly pale. Dark Sister was stabbed into the ground beside him, thrumming with a solemn, resonant hum.

His left hand was sheathed in a baleful black gauntlet that made Seris’s instincts bristle the moment its presence pressed against her.

It seemed Frey had collapsed the instant the battle ended, falling face-down into unconsciousness. Seris gently turned him over.

That finally revealed his face. It was the same man she had seen so many times—yet somehow different, as if he came from a world entirely apart.

”Every time I see you, you’re farther away,” she murmured. ”Reaching places we could never follow.”

Uncovering the tattoos that wound along her arms, Seris set Frey’s head in her lap, then placed her palm over his chest. The sigils flared with a regal sky-blue light, and strange spikes of pure aura unfurled, coiling around him.

For the first time in his life, Frey had exhausted the immense SSS-rank reserves within him. The ocean inside him had run dry. Seris poured everything she had into him.

The others arrived in a rush; Uriel bent over him, golden power bright with worry. But all she could do like Seris .. was feed him her aura. His body bore no lasting injuries.

That was the trace of Nameless ..the state Frey had entered for that brief, terrible span. Nameless had repaired the mortal wound Zibar left in him as if it were nothing at all.

”No matter how hard he tries, wherever he goes... it seems his fate is to fight alone,” Uriel said softly, sorrow shadowing her voice. Seris kept her silence.

Even with Snow and Uriel ready to stand at his side, it felt inevitable that Frey would find himself alone against monsters. It was a bitter truth.

One by one, soldiers filtered in, but few dared draw near .. keenly aware that this gaunt man had split the moon and wrought a miracle before their eyes.

A heavy silence thickened .. until Selena pulled out a scrying crystal and her face darkened, shade by shade.

”What is it?” Dawn asked at her side, and heads turned toward her as one.

In that moment, Selena spoke for all to hear.

”Snow Lionheart...”

Her voice was leaden as she delivered the news.

”We’ve lost Snow Lionheart’s signal.”

It was only the beginning.