– Frey Starlight's POV –
Abraham Starlight is dead.
My father is dead.
He died protecting me ... right until the very end.
I stood there, frozen, unable to say a word. My mind simply couldn't process what I had just witnessed.
So I did nothing… I just watched as my father's body turned into stardust, while his final words echoed in my ears:
"I'm sorry, my son… Even in my final moments, I wasn't the kind of father you could be proud of. Maybe… maybe you even hated me. But I truly… truly love you, my son."
...
"When I ignited the ten stars of the Stardust technique, sacrificing my life, I reached a level of strength that allowed me to perform feats beyond what any ordinary human could ever achieve."
In his final moments, he entrusted me with all the power he had gathered .. along with a fragment of his will .. sealing it into my small body.
Or rather… into my body.
"Using the last bit of experience I earned through the system, I recorded this message for you. I've lived in this world far longer than you have. So even if you're the one who wrote all of this… I know you'll suffer in this cruel world."
He left me with many things.
My father had a feeling something might one day threaten his life. So before his death, he made arrangements ... preparing for me to inherit the title of Starlight Lord, and ensuring I would have many advantages.
"I left all the aura I had gathered inside of you. You might think of it as borrowed power, but make no mistake… I only filled a fraction of your potential. The sea of aura you possess is far greater than anything I've ever held."
Aura at the SSS rank… That was his gift to me.
And within that aura, he embedded his will.
A will to protect his son… to support and encourage me every time I was about to fall.
All this time, I had felt it .. something was always pushing me forward, keeping me from collapsing.
When I almost died inside the Shadow Sect… it was his strength that kept me conscious.
When Heisenberg tried to kill me that day on the train… it was my father's will that shielded me.
When I faced Baylor… during the island trial…
And even in my final battle against Snow Lionheart…
My father was there. He was always there, watching over me… every step of the way.
The vision began to fade, and I was pulled back into reality.
I was still kneeling in my room .. the very room where it had all begun.
And there… I saw him.
My father, standing before me in the form of radiant white light, slowly dissolving into the air.
I took a deep breath, trying to muster the best smile I could give him.
"Dad… you know, I did my best."
"When I realized I'd never see you all again… it hurt. It hurt so much I wished I were dead. I wished for death, just so I wouldn't have to live in a world without you."
-Frey Starlight (Dual Soul)-
"That's why… when I believed there was even the slightest chance of hope through winning the Victoriad… I fought. I fought and fought."
"I picked up my sword, trained every day, threw myself into battles of life and death… until my body broke time and time again."
"I shed blood, sweat, and tears… just to survive while everyone else kept trying to kill me. And still ... I kept fighting."
-Frey Starlight (Dual Sou-
I gasped, overwhelmed, as all those feelings I had been suppressing finally erupted.
"It hurt! It hurt more than anything! Pain I had never known .. not in my peaceful past life… but I endured. I endured, and fought against the whole world… just for the chance to come back."
And in that moment ... I couldn't hold back the tears any longer.
"It was hard! Every time I tried to move forward, another wall stood in my way. It really hurt! It hurt!"
Gasp
I choked, unable to speak clearly.
Two years of bottled-up emotions… feelings I had never shared with anyone… came crashing out all at once.
"It hurt so bad, I wished I was dead. I wished for death more than once! And yet… I kept going. I kept going .. for you. For all of you."
When I reached a point where ordinary humans would have long since broken, I pushed past it.
I wanted my father to know. I wanted him to hear it.
At that moment, that glowing specter of my father smiled.
"I know."
-Frey Starlight (Dual S-
That spirit… or what was left of my father's will… was beginning to fade.
And so, before it vanished completely, I forced myself to speak the words I had always wanted to say ... fighting past the burning tightness in my chest that made it so hard to breathe.
"I suffered through hell for all of you… Father, so please don't say that I might hate you. You were my world. You all were the reason I kept going."
I tried to keep myself composed as I forced those words out. Even in my previous life, I had never once said them properly to my father.
"That's why, Dad… I wanted you to know—I really, truly love you. You and the rest of our family… I love you all so much that I can't imagine a world without you."
I just wanted to say it once… that I loved him.
To be honest, even now, the thought of living in a world where they don't exist is something my mind simply can't accept. I still want to die .. right here, right now.
But...
"I love you too, son… I'm grateful I was blessed with a son like you. I'm proud of you… and I'm sure the rest of them feel the same."
At that moment, I saw hazy images forming behind my father.
The same figures that had visited me in my dreams so many times.
"Son… just as we were given another chance at life, the rest of our family must have been too. So live, Frey. Live and make the most of your second chance. That's all we ever wanted for you… live, my son. Live."
I listened to his final words in silence, unable to say a thing as tears drowned my voice.
All I could do was nod frantically as I choked on my emotions.
"Thank you, my son… And be careful of what lies within you. Use your power wisely. Because what's inside you… is nothing but darkness. A darkness I could never understand, no matter how hard I tried."
When Abraham Starlight tried to pass on his strength…
What he found inside was an endless abyss .. an unfathomable darkness without bottom or light.
"But when I gazed deep into it… that darkness stared back. I saw something sitting at its depths."
Something he couldn't comprehend.
Something that sent shivers down his spine ... something that not even the Fourth High Demon had managed to do.
"So keep moving forward, son… but do so carefully. Little by little, you'll uncover the truth."
You'll discover the truth of that darkness within.
The message ended.
The final specters of my family vanished from before my eyes.
And with them, the words faded from my system interface.
The Dual Soul… was finally gone.
And what remained ...
Frey Starlight.
I couldn't accept it. I couldn't accept that they were really gone.
So I ran toward them .. toward him .. reaching out with my right hand, trying to hold onto that fading light.
But my hand didn't catch them.
It grabbed something else entirely.
I felt the coarse, solid texture of the object that had emerged from within that radiant glow.
Something dark.
My eyes widened as the shape fully revealed itself.
The engraved hilt, the pitch-black blade…
A black katana that unleashed a wave of power, surging through my body in an instant.
"The Dark Sister..."
My father's final gift to me.
I collapsed to the ground, sitting there, gazing at that sword for a long, long time.
This… this was the last thing he had touched before his death. The sword that had been with him for so many years.
I sat in silence, thinking.
Thinking about the true meaning of my life up to this point.
My chest was still burning. My eyes were red and sore from crying. I had probably cried more today than I had in my entire life combined.
Even now, I still wanted to die.
I still refused to live in this cruel, unforgiving world.
But… my father, he lived here for so long.
He endured so much more than I ever did. He spent his life fighting for me—and in the end, he gave that life to save mine.
My father… who sacrificed everything for me.
By what right…?
By what right could I throw away the life he protected with everything he had?
From the very beginning, this life was never mine to throw away.
I don't know if I deserve to live. I don't know if I can keep going in a world without purpose anymore.
That hollow space in my heart… it's still just as empty as it was the day I got here.
But at the very leastc.. out of respect for my father's sacrifice, and the tragedy he endured for my sake ..
At the very least…
"I won't die in vain."
To kill myself now would be an insult to everything that man went through.
Abraham Starlight.
"So then… let's start over."
I slid the sharp edge of the Dark Sister across my head, cutting off the long strands of white hair.
They fell to the floor as I walked over to the bathroom mirror—the same one where I'd seen my reflection for the first time.
And there it was again—my face, staring back at me.
A lot had changed…
That pale skin, the dark rings beneath my eyes…
The darkness in my gaze.
And my white hair.
So much had changed. But now, with my hair cut short again… in a way, I looked like I did back then.
Back when I first ran into this bathroom, terrified. Back when my entire world collapsed before my eyes.
Today, I would walk through the ruins of that broken world—searching for a reason to live.
"I will live."