THE VILLAIN'S POV Chapter 782 Death Could Not Hide

Frey raised his head to look at him.

Fulghor moved ahead of Frey, assessing him carefully, before giving a nod.

"Yes.

Your strength has surged tremendously... suitable for a genuine ruler."

Frey dropped his eyes to his hand...

then balled it up tightly.

"It seems my form is brimming with energy...

yet my thoughts are a whirlwind at the moment."

His gaze sharpened while recollections from the Aether World raced across his mind.

The harder he sought to grasp his own nature...

the clearer it became how vast his ignorance truly was.

However, as he squeezed his fist harder, Frey steadied himself... his determination turning intensely keen.

"No matter the reality...

it alters nothing."

He raised his eyes to the heavens.

"I understand my duty.

And the road I need to follow."

While he inspected his physique, the group clustered near him.

"With your breakthrough complete, we can now strategize our following steps effectively,"

Nova Starlight declared.

Frey agreed with a nod.

"Correct...

but before that—"

He shifted his attention to the right... aiming at a shadowy spot concealed by foliage and underbrush.

"Let's handle this unwelcome intruder."

His icy statement left everyone frozen... including Gehrman and Fulghor.

Frey ignored their surprise.

In the blink of an eye...

He disappeared, employing swift teleportation.

Frey materialized right in that shadowy nook he'd eyed just before.

Then... utterly abruptly...

He thrust out his arm, summoning his blade as a tremendous burst of aura exploded forth, slicing directly at the hidden threat ahead.

BOOOOOOOM!!

One powerful stroke from his sword razed the whole right flank of the woods, releasing a devastating flood of ruinous might.

All onlookers gaped at him in astonishment... both from the sheer scale of his might and the suddenness of his assault.

Yet mere moments passed...

Before comprehension dawned.

Fulghor spotted it initially.

Soon the others caught sight too.

From the area Frey had hit, an odd entity arose.

A shadowy fiend—its form wholly crafted from gloom and obscurity, bearing a featureless pale visage, merely vacant, soulless voids.

It lifted from the shattered ground and confronted Frey.

"You..."

The fiend wailed, its tone piercing and rasping like grinding steel.

"How could you sense my presence?!"

Frey gripped Dark Sister more firmly.

"No need to reply. Death awaits you regardless."

Slash!

Frey released a gigantic surge of black hole Aura, splitting the shadow clean in half.

An assault like that would doom any common foe...

But this shadow defied the norm.

Its top portion fused back with the bottom right away, reassembling as it sprang away.

Still, evasion proved futile.

A explosive arrow akin to a nuclear blast struck it as Fulghor joined the fray.

Fulghor's aura overwhelmed, its area of devastation vast.

"Watch out, Frey. This thing poses a real threat."

Gehrman cautioned from Fulghor's shoulder, worry etching his features.

"He's from the Hell Duchy... the killer Vex."

Fulghor positioned himself guardedly before Frey.

"That scum can erase his aura entirely, rendering him almost undetectable.

Plus, he wields various skills to slay victims instantly."

Gehrman ground his teeth.

"I never thought they'd dispatch him so soon..."

Vex had probably lurked among them since the start... biding time to strike at Frey or Gehrman.

The sole reason for his delay was the multitude of combatants nearby—

and Fulghor's formidable presence.

"All of you, retreat! One touch from him means death!"

Gehrman yelled to the Shadow Sect members.

Right then, a malevolent aura pulse swept the atmosphere, dulling their perceptions.

"You're right, Saint Gehrman... usually, I'm beyond detection."

From the latest blast site, a massive shadow burst upward.

Vex swelled his shape to gigantic proportions, looming higher than Fulghor himself.

"Only the Demon King Agaroth ever noticed me previously... during my botched attempt on his life.

Besides him, none have ever discerned me."

His empty stare turned to Frey.

"Until this peculiar youth emerged."

He jabbed a finger at Frey, who advanced, brushing off Gehrman's alert.

"What trick did you use?"

Frey offered no words.

The glowing V-shaped marks in his Void Eyes said it all.

The Void had unveiled Vex's form, flawless hiding or not.

"I don't quite grasp the situation fully... but you're among the mightiest demons, correct?"

Frey stated evenly as his frame blazed with Soul-Flames and black hole Aura.

"Ideal. I needed a subject to trial this strength on. You've spared me the search."

At light speed, Frey lunged toward the towering Vex.

Dark Sister bore a colossal, unchecked power as Frey slashed with full force.

Vex stayed still.

He appeared utterly exposed.

But as Frey neared, his Void Eyes caught an anomaly...

An unseen force barreling toward him.

Frey evaded just in time.

"Oh?"

Vex rasped.

"You didn't merely find me... you perceive my unseen strikes too."

Void Eyes offered far more than ordinary sight.

They revealed the invisible.

And with his SSS-rank physique, Frey could now handle the flood of information from them.

Like a dark tempest, Frey ripped apart Vex's colossal frame, tearing it like mere flesh under a knife.

For all Vex's bulk, Frey dismantled him in under a second.

However...

The blows felt insubstantial, as if no solid form existed.

"Such boldness... vessel of Nameless."

Vex's snake-like tone resounded as his face reformed elsewhere amid the shredded remains.

"If my secret assaults miss... I'll enclose you from all sides."

The shadow Vex that Frey had cut abruptly grew, creating a enormous cage of darkness encircling Frey.

Within, myriad shadow appendages assailed him from every direction.

But Frey stood firm.

He channeled his full might into Dark Sister, his eyes alight.

"Frey Starlight's Style: Nameless Judgment."

His tone stayed serene...

Though the aftermath did not.

Post SSS-rank ascension, Nameless Judgment infused both

Black hole Aura and Soul Power.

The outcome...

Proved apocalyptic.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!

Via his blade, Frey detonated a gigantic aura explosion that engulfed Vex, the earth, and the firmament...

a ruinous blow that awed all who saw it.

The power's intensity made even Dark Sister and Balerion's Arm quiver for the first instance beneath the immense strain.

The blow wiped out Vex utterly, alongside a huge swath of nearby landscape.

Nevertheless, after vanquishing his foe, a subtle scowl crossed Frey's features.

"Again... it felt like striking no corporeal form."

Frey glanced around, pushing his Void Eyes to full extent...

yet found no sign.

No remnant of Vex lingered.

By every reasonable measure, he'd slain the foe.

But Frey harbored no illusions.

"Your senses serve you well. That wretched killer fled upon seeing defeat inevitable."

Fulghor uttered from behind Frey, his eyes on the devastation's heart.

"The slayer Vex wields great power, yet he conceals his true capability unless victory is assured.

He's a vexing adversary... one infamously tough to dispatch."

"Such killers prove deadliest in swift conflicts."

Frey inclined his head.

"Though he escaped now, the impending war will draw him out eventually.

We'll confront him then."

Vex's chances of nearing them anew seemed slim...

With Frey's Void Eyes, the Hell Duke had forfeited his prime edge: flawless stealth.

Following the short skirmish, the group headed back to the Shadow Sect, readying for what lay ahead.