—Frey Starlight’s POV—
There are only a few fragile threads separating life from death.
In this cruel world we live in ... a world that rewards the strong with greater violence and dominance while crushing the weak into misery .. encounters with life-and-death moments are all too frequent.
In a land where the strong devour the weak, one often finds themselves thrown into the jaws of fate—forced to endure trials of sheer existence.
I don’t know how many times the average person is supposed to face such situations in their short life...
But unlike most, I’ve encountered them more times than I can count .. more than anyone else, perhaps.
And the one I found myself in now was definitely one of them.
Gvardiol, the most enigmatic half-demon of his kind, had finally unleashed his full power.
I had pushed him to that point .. forced him to reveal his true nature to the world.
His body had transformed in a strange and terrifying way. That dark, foreign metal that once partially covered him now wrapped around his form completely.
No... it’s more accurate to say that his entire body had become that unknown black metal.
I had torn his previous form apart, reduced it to shreds... yet somehow, he rose again, reformed, reborn in a shell of unbreakable darkness.
Dark aura .. pure shadow coiled around the frame of that metallic body, enhancing his strikes and unveiling the raw brutality of an SS+ class.
In that monstrous form, he was far stronger than the previous Lord, Godfrey.
"Frey Starlight... do you know what drives an enemy more than anything else?"
Having completely cornered me, Gvardiol kept up the pressure, his voice deeper .. more monstrous than before.
His blows were impossibly fast, frequently bypassing my defenses. The sparks that erupted from our collisions spread like wildfire, igniting waves of magical flame around us.
Flames burned atop the ocean itself, unnaturally and beautifully.
This version of Gvardiol was nothing like the one I’d fought before...
"After fighting humans countless times, I’ve come to one conclusion...
The enemy driven by vengeance is always the most relentless."
With a rocket-like punch that made my bones tremble, Gvardiyol drove me further back.
"An enemy fighting for vengeance always puts on the best show before I kill them in cold blood."
"That has always been my greatest thrill here on planet Earth...
But you, Lord Starlight ..
You’re the first enemy who’s ever made me truly want to kill."
His smile had vanished, replaced by an overwhelming wrath.
Shadow aura swirled violently around his arms, each punch causing a massive explosion that shook the battlefield to its core.
They struck me like bolts of lightning, so fast I could barely track them.
Though I blocked most of his blows, my bones quivered with each impact.
In raw physical power... Gvardiol was on an entirely different level.
But I had expected at least this much from the beginning.
"I see... So you’re angry, aren’t you, half-demon?"
Accelerating my steps, I gathered more and more dark aura around my blades and began striking back ..slashing into Gvardiol and delivering a staggering wave of damage with each blow.
Yet no matter how hard I struck him, I couldn’t make him bleed.
His metal shell absorbed the damage with disturbing ease.
Meanwhile, his attacks kept wounding me over and over ..until my blood pooled beneath my feet in a massive crimson lake.
Even so, every injury I suffered regenerated instantly. I didn’t care much for the damage.
Despite Gvardiol revealing everything he had, I never once felt like I was truly losing.
His power was overwhelming, yes—but I blocked most of what he threw at me.
Level 3 Shadow Adaptation.
Max-level Swordsmanship.
These two together elevated my sword art to heights I never thought possible.
Even while locked in combat with Gvardiol, I kept one eye on both Gavid Lindman and V... and I realized something important.
I wasn’t the same person anymore.
"To be honest, I used to think that when I finally saw you again, I’d be overwhelmed with rage... That I’d try to kill you on sight."
The hatred had been festering in me for some time .. ever since my training began, I envisioned this moment over and over again.
I wanted to use that rage as fuel... to destroy you.
"That was my only wish for so long. And truth be told... I expected to feel that way when I saw you standing beside Gavid Lindman and V."
I retreated from Gvardiol, bombarding him from a distance with a torrent of shadow slashes.
His armored body absorbed them all without effort.
At first glance, the fight seemed to have hit a stalemate: I couldn’t hurt him, and he couldn’t stop my regeneration.
But reality was far more nuanced than that.
"I thought I’d hate you even more, Gvardiol...
But when I look at you now, somehow... those feelings have faded .. replaced by something else entirely."
Raising my blade toward him, I offered one final smile.
"Unfortunately for you... I now see nothing but another enemy that must be killed.
A nuisance whose very existence taints this world.
It’ll be a far better place once people like you are dead."
Standing there, surrounded by enemies...
As fire raged around me, and the thunder of war roared in my ears...
I felt nothing toward my opponent.
I didn’t even feel the urge to avenge Danzo anymore...
I simply wanted to kill him .. like any other Ultras warrior.
To bring down monsters of his caliber...
I needed to unleash a single overwhelming attack.
One blow with enough destructive force to bypass his defense and bring him down.
But landing such a strike wasn’t easy...
Especially in my current state.
Without warning, Gavid Lindman reappeared behind me with terrifying speed.
I instantly responded .. parrying his sword with the Dark Sister, then slashing through him with Balerion...
But my blade passed right through his body.
"Phantom Form, huh..."
I exchanged blows rapidly with Gavid Lindman, who used that ghostly state to phase through everything I threw at him.
At the same time, Gvardiol rushed in to join the fray.
They bombarded me with a barrage of deadly strikes, all aimed to finish me off.
The Aether Blade carved illusions in the air, slashing through me, while Gvardiol’s punches shattered my body again and again.
I was completely surrounded.
I fought back with all I had, managing to block and counter several times—but the limits of what I could achieve in this state were painfully clear.
Both of them had reached SS+ rank.
The longer the battle dragged on, the more my Shadow Adaptation gave me a growing edge .. but I would be long dead before it fully took effect.
I already knew that ..
Which meant I couldn’t afford a war of attrition.
I had no idea what hidden tricks they still had under their belts.
And just when I thought things couldn’t get worse...
A volcanic eruption of black fire fell from the sky.