THE VILLAIN'S POV Chapter 701: The Truth Behind the Abyss (1)

Audrey vanished in a burst of scarlet radiance, leaving Frey in absolute solitude.

Her actions were intended as a cautionary signal—a frantic bid to rescue Frey from the abyss and provide him with even a minor revelation regarding the world’s buried secrets.

The outcome, however, was entirely inverted.

Rather than guiding him, her revelations left him utterly devastated.

"Agaroth has kept me alive all this time because I am the key to unbinding his seal... And Odin, the most enigmatic of the Great Ones, is actually a disaster on the same scale as the Demon King..."

Frey muttered those words under his breath, his body sinking until he sat upon the frigid stone ground.

"Audrey... what am I supposed to do with information like this?"

The way Audrey had appeared, the tone of her voice, and the depth of feeling in her gaze—none of it suggested a meeting between strangers.

She looked at him like someone who knew him intimately.

Like someone who understood his very soul.

Unconsciously, Frey’s fingers brushed his lips as he replayed the encounter, desperate to find logic in the chaos.

Agaroth. Odin. Himself. And Nameless.

A hidden link existed between these entities—a thread weaving them together and pulling them toward an unavoidable disaster.

"I have only experienced two lives... Once as Frey Starlight, the identity I hold now... and once as an ordinary human who was ignorant of this world’s existence. So how could Audrey possibly know me?"

"What truth about myself am I missing? What... exactly am I?"

A sharp breath escaped Frey as agitation and haste boiled within him.

As if acting on its own, his hand reached out to retrieve the freezing black mask, pressing it against his face.

"Give me an answer... Nameless."

The moment that name was uttered, Frey’s mind plunged into the dark.

He fell deeper and deeper into the familiar void where the campfire burned without end. His alternate selves—remnants of his life from various eras—were gathered around the flames as usual. Ignoring them, Frey marched further into the shadows, heading toward the most secluded corner of the abyss.

Since his battle with Wisker, his power had surged tremendously. Furthermore, after he absorbed the aura Audrey left behind, his bond with Nameless had intensified enough to pierce the mist that previously obstructed his path.

He took a few more strides and then halted.

His gaze was cold as he looked down.

There he sat.

The entity that struck terror into the hearts of countless demons.

Nameless was seated upon a basic chair, his chest bare and his feet touching the ground, his head bowed low. His long, snowy hair was a perfect match for Frey’s, while the black metal mask concealed his features. Broken chains lay scattered around him, serving as evidence that his imprisonment had ended long ago.

It was proof that he possessed the power to strike at any moment or seize control of Frey’s physical form whenever he desired.

And yet, he remained still.

He sat in total, motionless silence.

Frey’s jaw tightened in frustration.

"How much longer do you intend to just sit there? How long will you continue to refuse to act?"

Dropping to one knee, Frey brought his gaze level with Nameless, though the seated figure did not bother to look up.

"Here. Attempt to seize my body again. This time, I won't put up a fight."

Frey’s tone was low and unnervingly steady.

"If it is you, I am certain you can resolve everything. You possess more strength than I do. You truly comprehend the workings of this world. No one could manipulate you the way I have been manipulated."

"So take it. Claim my body. Do with it as you please. Just give me one promise... protect a specific group of people. Keep them alive."

A forced, pained smile touched Frey’s mouth.

"It is a fair trade, isn't it? It shouldn't be a difficult task for someone like you."

There was no response.

Nameless remained a statue. Then, with agonizing slowness, he tilted his head up, locking his shimmering violet eyes onto Frey.

A shiver raced down Frey’s spine.

Finally, Nameless uttered a solitary word.

"No."

That was his only reply.

Frey’s face contorted with sudden fury.

"No? What the hell do you mean, no?!"

He lunged to grab Nameless by the head, but his hands were halted in mid-air by an unseen barrier. Despite this, Frey screamed:

"You and those who follow you forced me to be your vessel! My entire life turned into a living hell because of you! And now that I am finally offering it to you... you decline?!"

"Then tell me... what is it you actually want?!"

His roar vibrated through the emptiness, causing the very walls of the void to tremble.

"Answer me, Nameless!"

At last, Nameless stirred.

His movements were slow and deliberate.

His voice carried a chilling, excessive calm.

"I... do not know."

Frey went rigid. "...What?"

Nameless raised his hands, observing them with a sense of bewilderment as his fingers shook slightly. His aura began to ripple—erratic and unstable—reminding Frey of the dangerous nature of the being before him.

"I am unaware of what is happening to me. I do not understand why I am here, or what my function is supposed to be."

The legendary king who was once devoid of feeling—the being who viewed all existence with cold indifference—now gripped his hands into tight fists.

A violent shockwave of aura erupted from him.

"I have never experienced anything like this... These sensations..."

For the first time since his beginning, Nameless was feeling emotion.

The most bizarre aspect was that these feelings were not his own. They were the emotions of Frey Starlight, and they were somehow leaking into Nameless’s soul.

Nameless was beginning to endure exactly what Frey suffered.

"When you endure pain... I feel it. When you mourn... your grief flows into me. Your happiness, your agony... everything."

Nameless spoke with a heavy, somber tone before letting out a soft sigh.

"I never suspected that emotions could be so... excruciating. So loud and so intolerable. They are truly... a curse."

The term "curse" was a perfect description of the human torment Nameless observed within Frey.

"You have been there... inside me the entire time."

The realization finally hit Frey. Nameless had been a witness from the start, watching every moment of despair, fury, and heartbreak. He had experienced Frey’s life as if the memories were his own.

As a result, something had shifted within Nameless.

Frey’s suffering—something the heartless king had never encountered—had triggered a foreign awakening. Having emotions forced Nameless to remember his own history—the carnage, the destruction, and the myriad lives he had ended in his quest for power and Dao.

He was no savior, nor was he a righteous monarch.

He was a monster who had caused more slaughter than even the Demon King.

"Are you... experiencing guilt?" Frey questioned.

Nameless was silent for a long moment before he replied in a whisper.

"I do not know."

He lacked the vocabulary for his current state, but it was a feeling that should not exist in a being like him.

Frey composed himself, trying to grasp the situation.

"You said earlier you don't know why you exist within me. What does that mean?"

If this was intended to be the rebirth of Nameless—a method of using Frey as a vessel—then his confusion was illogical. Frey suspected a lie, yet the mask had no motive for deception.

"I am ignorant of Gehrman’s true intentions or his ultimate objective. My current memories are restricted to what is stored within the mask. Because of that, my very existence is currently unfinished."