– Snow Lionheart's pov –
It had been a long time…
Since I last felt like this.
Those golden symbols—whose meaning I never truly understood—had grown stronger ever since I obtained Vermithor.
As if it had been the key that unlocked a new realm of power.
Everything was connected.
The War King's Form burned through my aura at a terrifying pace, allowing me to wield levels of power I was never meant to reach.
And that was what let me face the furious statue head-on.
Locked in a vicious clash with that entity, the two of us spun in a whirlwind of metal—sparks flying with every violent collision.
The explosive auras from our battle drowned out all my senses,
but I was certain of one thing:
Frey had made it through.
There was no longer any need to hold back.
With a bloody grin, I poured more and more Star Aura into my sword,
each strike landing with greater weight, hammering against that giant scythe.
Barely able to hold myself back now, I was fighting to keep the bloodlust in check.
I had to finish this quickly.
Clutching Vermithor in one hand, I raised the other to summon a storm of elemental force—
a barrage of razor-sharp ice spears.
Without hesitation, I hurled them at the furious statue's head.
But he twirled his scythe like a massive fan, shredding the spears into dust.
I didn't give him time to breathe.
Using a surge of black lightning, I unleashed a horizontal cut—aimed directly at his torso.
Preoccupied with blocking the hail of ice, he reacted too late to stop my lightning strike—
empowered by Void Step.
The blow landed clean, forcing him back as the lightning detonated across the ground beneath him.
But even then—on his iron body—
It left barely a scratch.
"Tch…"
I held back a curse, wondering what on earth this thing was made of.
Despite everything, he didn't falter.
He simply stared back at me with his glowing violet eyes, as if he was trying to figure out what I was made of.
Time was slipping away…
"In that case…"
How about this ..
Swoooosh!
I unleashed a blinding wave of light from Vermithor
an eruption so intense it blanketed the battlefield, even obscuring the entire black castle behind it.
"Void Step."
Using the boosted form of the technique, enhanced by the War King's Mode,
I coated my blade in a blazing stream of blue fire, and hurled it forward like a devastating energy beam.
At the same time, I activated Void Step again ...this time channeling black lightning.
The crackling surge tore through the earth, striking from behind the statue.
"Void Step!"
Everything happened in an instant.
This time, I pushed my ice aura to its limits—
igniting a white frost along my sword's edge, unleashing a wave of subzero energy across his exposed flank.
Alongside it came a high-frequency sonic blast, shadow aura chains to bind him,
and even gravity itself—to pull him to the ground.
To destroy that statue ...
I brought out everything I had.
Surrounded by a storm of overwhelming elemental forces ..
Angry widened his glowing eyes as the light finally cleared…
only to see nature's wrath crashing down on him from every side.
The explosion tore through the battlefield—
an elemental catastrophe that shattered the terrain and sent shockwaves through the sky.
But of course…
He survived.
Bathed in violet light, a shimmering aura clung to his body like armor ..
shielding him from the full brunt of my attacks.
But this was the moment ..
The exact moment I'd been waiting for.
As the smoke and chaos cleared ..
and the statue dared to believe the attack was over…
He saw me standing directly in front of him.
Just centimeters away.
My stance wide open.
My sword aimed straight at his chest.
This was the moment I'd been waiting for—
The moment the enemy lets down their guard.
When the real attack begins.
Using the War King's Form and Vermithor,
I pushed my aura to its absolute limit.
Elemental particles danced wildly around my blade.
Drawing in a breath of fire ...
the golden markings on my skin blazed to life as I swung with everything I had.
"COSMIC FORMATION!!!"
This time, it was ten times stronger ..
No.
Even more than that.
A colossal explosion of light swallowed the statue and the entire castle behind him.
A pillar of pure white aura surged into the heavens, piercing the clouds ...
a nuclear beam unleashed at point-blank range.
And in the midst of that radiant inferno,
the furious statue was finally obliterated—
reduced to nothingness by the full force of my power.
In that moment…
I wished with all my heart ..
That this would be enough to end it all.
...
...
...
– Frey Starlight's pov –
I had finally entered the castle.
The black castle…
The one that made my entire body tremble without end.
I glanced at my hand, trying to steady myself ..
but the way my fingers shook made it clear how utterly I failed at that.
Step after step,
I wandered through the towering fortress.
What I stood upon was the grand entrance to this terrifying place ..
a hall with walls adorned in symbols and carvings I couldn't understand,
and ceilings so high that even the largest giants could walk—or run—through with ease.
But what truly caught my attention, aside from the incomprehensible symbols,
were the murals that accompanied them.
Illustrations that depicted, as far as I could guess, the life of the one who had once ruled this castle…
The scenes on the walls showed glimpses of brutal wars.
Battles that raged across land and sky on a scale I had never seen before—
a scale that managed to send a chill down my spine through images alone, without me needing to live them myself.
The enemy in these wars was familiar—
always the same.
Demons.
But the mystery lay in who fought the demons.
Unlike the demons .. who all belonged to one race and were easy to recognize ..
the other side was chaos incarnate.
A gathering of countless different beings and creatures I had never seen or heard of.
I couldn't help but wonder if what I was seeing was real…
or just some imagined depiction crafted to embellish this place.
Completely captivated by the murals ..
my senses returned when the ground suddenly shook beneath me.
A violent tremor rocked the castle as the thunderous roar of an explosion echoed through the walls.
"That aura..."
Stunned, I recognized it instantly.
It was familiar ..
yet far stronger than I had ever felt it before.
The source of that attack could only be one person—
Snow, still battling Angry outside.
That blast reminded me—again—
that I had to keep moving.
That I needed to end this, once and for all.
It was the least I could do for my comrades, who were fighting in my place beyond those walls.
To bring an end to all this madness ..
To find the answers I'd been searching for.
Answers to questions that had long haunted my life.
With those thoughts burning in my mind, I charged deeper into the castle ...
hungry for the truth.
And the further I went,
the more I realized how vast this place truly was.
A massive citadel, built like an ancient museum…
But completely empty.
Other than the decorated walls carrying those paintings,
there was nothing.
Nothing at all.
Like a ghost house of ancient wars,
left alone in the middle of a sea of kneeling pilgrims ..
worshippers of a king who never returned.
The more I advanced,
the higher I climbed the grand staircase…
The slower my steps became.
That fire inside my chest grew hotter and hotter .. until it felt like my insides were burning.
My pulse pounded.
A splitting headache roared in my skull.
I started breathing heavily,
clutching the wall just to keep moving.
"What… is happening to me?!"
My vision blurred.
I could barely keep my consciousness from slipping.
The long corridor ahead of me began to twist and ripple ..
like an old painting fading with time.
Then the pain struck.
Blinding.
Searing.
Even I—someone well-acquainted with agony—
screamed from the depths of my soul.
I writhed on the ground,
unable to see,
as visions flooded my mind ..
as if the murals had come to life inside my head.
People I had never met.
Places I had never seen.
All accompanied by torment I couldn't fight.
All I could do was scream ..
and pray for it to end.
But it didn't.
It never stopped.
It was like someone was crushing my skull with a giant hammer,
again and again and again.
For the first time in my life—
I cursed the strength of my mental resilience.
That ability…
which once felt like a blessing,
now felt like a curse.
A curse that kept me conscious through every moment of that pain.
I twisted on the ground for hours ..
like an insect...
Until finally, my eyes rolled back into empty white,
and I lost consciousness at last.
But even in that unconscious state,
the visions didn't stop.
They followed me into my dreams.
Haunted me through that endless train of torment.
And after what felt like an eternity..
I finally opened my eyes.