THE VILLAIN'S POV Chapter 717: The Last Thousand Steps (2)

"Does it bring you pleasure... to watch me clash with my father? Does it delight you to see him attempt to kill me, when he once gave his life to save mine?"

Frey’s grip on his blade tightened. With a violent surge of Black Hole Aura, he unleashed a massive horizontal swing that sent both Zibar and Abraham reeling backward.

Simultaneously, he activated the aura-circulation technique of Nameless, pulling back a vast portion of the energy he had just expended.

Maintaining his distance, Frey’s fingers curled firmly around the hilt as his presence began to swell with power.

"I am merely human... No matter how I strive to mimic monsters, or how desperately I try to transform into one... I always return to what I truly am in moments like these. This ache in my chest is the ultimate proof of my frailty..."

He spoke in a low voice, resting a hand over his heart, a bitter smile concealed by the surface of his mask.

"You agree, don't you? Tell me... Nameless."

"..."

Silence was the only response, though Frey hadn't truly expected an answer.

His clothes were drenched in crimson, even though he had no visible wounds. It was the aftermath of his rapid regeneration, which had stitched him back together after Zibar and Abraham dealt him dozens of lethal blows.

"Every time I strike my father... my resolve fractures. It feels less like I am cutting his flesh and more like I am tearing pieces away from my own soul... I am still hesitating."

"Even though I am consumed by fury, even though the instinct to kill saturates my very being, I still waver before him... That alone confirms my weakness—it proves I am still the same naive brat I’ve always been..."

"If that is the truth... then why did I choose the Path of Blood? Why did I take so many lives and stain my hands forever? Was it not all for the sake of obtaining power?"

Yet, in this moment...

His adversaries were holding back, treating him as an opponent who didn't even require their full effort.

He was nothing more than a hurdle.

A mere warm-up before the true conflict they anticipated.

It appeared that Frey Starlight’s entire path of suffering meant nothing to them; he was simply a source of amusement.

It was a brutal realization, but his foes were Zibar—a being who had survived for millennia—and Abraham Starlight, whose innate strength had been pushed to its limits by the power of Conflagration.

Still, that provided no comfort to Frey, who wielded the legendary abilities of Nameless.

"Am I... truly this pathetic?"

The words escaped Frey's lips in an unconscious mumble.

Before him, Abraham lunged from the right, cloaked in a roaring white light, while Zibar closed in from the left, trailing a shroud of dark demonic mist.

Both felt infinitely more terrifying than Frey’s own stellar aura.

Zibar slowed his pace for a second, a grin spreading across his face.

"Indeed... you are incredibly weak, Frey Starlight."

He spoke the words with cold conviction.

Frey fell into silence for a few heartbeats... before finally responding:

"I understand..."

He shut his eyes tight.

When they snapped open again...

The light within them had shifted.

They were frigid. Piercing. Filled with a desire to kill.

Instantly, Frey adjusted his posture, hoisting his sword high above his head.

Then...

BOOOOOM!!!

An explosion of aura erupted from his body, releasing every drop of his SSS-Rank reserves.

"Then watch... and see what this 'weakling' is capable of."

Frey realized there was no point in continuing this futile back-and-forth.

His enemies would only keep him pinned down.

Rather than allowing them to dictate the pace, he gambled everything on a reckless concept born from his desperation.

Using his burning rage and his deep grief as his fuel...

Frey unleashed the full extent of his Cultivation.

"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow: Frey Starlight’s Style..."

Taking a sharp breath, he prepared to recreate the feat from his past...

The same strike that had once cleaved the moon and obliterated Zibar’s previous vessel.

Sensing the overwhelming pressure Frey was gathering, Zibar ceased his mockery, and even Abraham sensed the impending threat.

This was an attack that could not be ignored.

"Black Hole Aura Output: 100% + Dark Ascension + Combined Power of Dark Sister & Balerion: Nameless Judgement!"

Swinging his blade down in a massive vertical path, Frey tore a gargantuan crescent through the atmosphere.

A dark, celestial moon-shaped arc of energy, the Nameless Judgement, screamed toward Zibar and Abraham.

The sheer destructive force was so terrifying that Geppetto, watching from a safe distance, felt a shiver of dread.

He felt a wave of relief that he had chosen to kidnap Ada Starlight instead of joining the fray—he knew he wouldn't have survived that blast.

The consuming void of the Nameless Judgement began to erase everything in its path; its power was on a completely different scale.

However, against this encroaching dark, a different light ignited.

From the center of the Black Hole Aura, the brilliant star of Abraham Starlight flared to life, manifesting a colossal shield of stellar aura to meet Frey’s strike.

This was a transcendent, high-level technique Abraham had mastered long ago.

Just as Frey had perfected his Nameless Judgement.

One move was built for total annihilation...

The other for invincible defense.

It was a tragic irony—father and son using their ultimate techniques to try and destroy one another.

Abraham Starlight was truly a monster.

After a minute of an apocalyptic struggle that leveled the surrounding terrain...

Abraham stood firm, with Zibar positioned safely behind him.

They stood before Abraham’s massive stellar shield, which was now cracking and crumbling into dust... yet it had successfully repelled Frey Starlight’s most powerful move.

Seeing this, Zibar couldn't help but roar with laughter.

"Is that it, Frey Starlight? Is that your grand finale? The same trick you used before? How foolish! That won't save you this time!"

Zibar laughed like a madman, particularly pleased that Abraham had been the one to take the hit.

But suddenly, Zibar’s laughter died in his throat as he felt a chilling shift in the air.

"The aura... it's moving?"

He looked around frantically, unable to process the sight.

The energy from Frey’s Nameless Judgement—the vast, dark power of the Black Hole—was scattered throughout the battlefield. But instead of fading away after being blocked...

...it began to churn and solidify, surging back toward a single point.

It was all flowing back into Frey Starlight.