THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 717: The Last Thousand Steps (2) ”Does watching me fight my father... does seeing my father try to hurt me ..after dying to protect me ..please you? Does it delight you?”

Frey tightened his grip around his sword, then unleashed a sweeping horizontal cut infused with a massive surge of Black Hole Aura, blasting both Zibar and Abraham back.

At that same moment, he used Nameless’s aura-circulation method, reclaiming a significant portion of the power he had just released.

Standing at a distance from them, Frey wrapped his fingers around his sword hilt as his aura swelled. ”I’m just a man... No matter how much I try to imitate monsters, no matter how hard I try to become one myself... in moments like this, I find myself returning to my roots. The pain eating away at my chest right now is proof enough of my weakness...”

He spoke softly, touching his chest, a faint and bitter smile hidden beneath the mask. ”Isn’t that what you think as well? Tell me... Nameless.” ”...”

Nameless did not respond .. but Frey hadn’t expected him to.

His body was soaked in blood despite not actually being injured .. a result of his regeneration saving him from countless fatal wounds inflicted by both Zibar and Abraham. ”Every strike I land on my father... chips away at my resolve. It feels as though I’m carving pieces from my own soul rather than cutting his body... Even now, I hesitate.” ”Though rage devours me, though the urge to kill fills every corner of my being, I still falter before my father... and that alone is proof of my weakness—proof that I remain the naïve fool I always was...” ”If that’s the case... then why walk the Path of Blood all this time? Why kill all those people? Why stain my hands with their blood? Was it not... for the sake of power?”

But now .. his enemies were holding back against him, treating him as a foe unworthy of their full strength...

Just an obstacle.

A warm-up before the real battle they were waiting for.

In the end, it was as though Frey Starlight’s entire struggle meant nothing... he was merely a source of entertainment for them.

Cruel as that thought was, his opponents were Zibar .. who had lived for thousands of years .. and Abraham Starlight, whose strength had grown throughout his entire life and was further amplified by Conflagration.

Yet that was no excuse for Frey, who possessed Nameless’s abilities. ”Am I... really this weak?”

Frey muttered unconsciously.

Before him, Abraham charged from the right, radiating a roaring white aura, while Zibar advanced from the left with a pitch-black demonic haze.

Both appeared overwhelmingly more fearsome than Frey’s own stellar aura.

Zibar paused for a moment—then smiled. ”Yes... you’re very weak, Frey Starlight.”

He spoke with absolute certainty.

Frey went silent for a few seconds... then replied: ”I see...”

He closed his eyes .. and when he opened them again...

They were entirely different.

Cold. Sharp. Murderous.

In that instant, Frey shifted his entire stance, raising his sword overhead.

Then...

BOOOOOM!!!

Aura erupted violently around him, unleashing the full reserves of his SSS-Rank power. ”Then witness... what this ’weakling’ can do.”

There was no point dragging out a meaningless exchange; Frey understood this clearly.

His enemies would only continue to corner him.

So instead of giving them the chance, he placed everything on a reckless idea that had surfaced under the crushing weight of his circumstances.

Harnessing his rage .. his grief .. as fuel ..

Frey unleashed his full power. ”Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow: Frey Starlight’s Style...”

Drawing a deep breath, he repeated what he once did long ago ..

When he unleashed the strike that split the moon and destroyed Zibar’s previous clone entirely.

Faced with the overwhelming aura Frey summoned, Zibar did not dare underestimate it .. and even Abraham felt the looming danger.

This strike was no joke. ”Black Hole Aura Output: 100% + Dark Ascension + Combined Power of Dark Sister & Balerion : Nameless Judgement!”

Cutting down in a colossal vertical arc, Frey carved a massive crescent through the air ..

A crescent shaped like a dark stellar moon, as he unleashed Nameless Judgement upon both Zibar and Abraham.

The force behind that attack was so catastrophic that even Geppetto felt terror creeping through him, despite being outside its effective range.

In that moment, he was grateful he chose to abduct Ada Starlight rather than join the battle—for he would not have survived such an attack.

The blinding void of Nameless Judgement devoured everything before it ... its destructive might was on an entirely different level.

But against this devouring darkness... another light surged.

From within the void of Black Hole Aura, the radiant star of Abraham Starlight blazed forth, forming an enormous barrier of stellar aura to counter Frey’s strike.

This was an advanced, transcendent technique Abraham had created in the past .. just as Frey had created his own Nameless Judgement.

One technique was designed for overwhelming destruction.. the other for absolute protection.

A bitter irony between father and son .. each unleashing their signature techniques against one another.

Abraham Starlight was extraordinary.

After a full minute of that apocalyptic clash that erased the land itself ..

Abraham emerged, with Zibar standing behind him...

Both of them stood before Abraham’s colossal stellar barrier, now cracked and splintering piece by piece .. yet it had managed to withstand Frey Starlight’s strongest attack.

That alone made Zibar burst into laughter. ”Is this your trump card, Frey Starlight? The same attack you used on me before? How naïve! This won’t save you here!”

Zibar laughed maniacally, especially since it was Abraham who had taken the brunt of Frey’s assault.

But, almost magically, Zibar’s smile faded the moment he sensed something terribly wrong. ”The aura... it’s moving?”

He scanned his surroundings, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

The aura from Frey’s Nameless Judgement .. a massive amount of energy born from the Black Hole .. was unmistakably scattered in the air. But instead of dissipating after Abraham blocked it... ...it began to stir, gathering again, flowing back toward one point.

Toward Frey Starlight himself.