Chapter 391: Frey starlight vs Mergo (1)
Life was never fair.
No matter how hard you tried, no matter how much you sacrificed to reach something ...
In the end, you’d crash against the painful truth, realizing your failure.
Even after defeating an army of over a thousand Ultras, with the ogre Lawrence at their head, Frey now found himself standing before a monster far more terrifying ..
Mergo, the Lord of the Ultras, said to be the strongest among them.
Here, atop a blood-soaked battlefield, surrounded by scattered corpses...
Bodies that had become nothing more than a feast for the crows...
The two stood face to face over a crimson pool, tainted with black.
Frey Starlight vs Mergo.
The Lord of the Ultras had just asked him a question ..
"Who are you?"
Who is this young man who annihilated such overwhelming numbers alone?
What is the secret of the Victoriad’s hero, the one who climbed from the bottom to reach what no one else had?
Those questions haunted Mergo as he tried to assess the boy standing before him.
But Frey didn’t respond.
He couldn’t bring himself to.
His feet, sunken in the pool of blood, made it feel like he stood in a swamp—
Even walking felt like dragging a mountain.
His armor had been discarded long ago, leaving his upper body bare, soaked in blood, There was no part of him left unscathed.
Just standing was a challenge.
His blood-soaked eyes could barely see anymore.
His swords. . once an extension of his body.. felt heavy now.
Each step drained what little strength he had left.
And now, he was facing one of the strongest Lords of the Ultras.
The smell of blood.
The exhaustion.
The dead.
Frey felt it all.
He wanted nothing more than to lie down and close those heavy eyes.
But he couldn’t.
Not when those scenes kept flashing in his mind.
He saw Danzo—his friend—bleeding as much, perhaps even more, in some far-off place.
He saw Gvardiol tearing through his friend’s body, laughing madly.
That horrific laughter echoed in Frey’s mind like a curse.
"I have to go..."
He muttered, forcing himself to move forward.
"Go? Go where?"
"To them... I have to reach them."
"Ah, I see. You’re talking about your comrades," Mergo replied.
He scratched his head, his gaze fixed on Frey from the start, trying to decipher the nature of the young man who had caused such a massacre.
With a half-smile, Mergo said something that struck more fear into Frey than anything else.
"Sorry, but you’re not going anywhere."
Mergo began walking toward him, stepping over the sea of corpses.
"You’re far too dangerous, boy. The mere thought of letting a monster like you go free, letting you grow stronger... it terrifies me."
He laughed, unsheathing his Ushigatana.
"I’m too old for surprises. My bones can’t take it anymore."
And just like that, the Lord of the Ultras made it clear—he would not let Frey pass.
But before he could even blink .. Frey charged at him, enveloped in blazing purple aura.
His swords burned with fury.
How could he still move like this? Even in that state?
Mergo briefly wondered.
Frey’s blades were aimed directly at his neck.
But the old Lord still wore that same calm smile.
"Well... it doesn’t matter."
In the blink of an eye—
A strange wave of aura exploded, spreading in all directions.
Frey had been a heartbeat away from slicing Mergo’s neck .. But in the very next moment, the old man was already behind him.
"Even if you were in perfect condition... the outcome wouldn’t have changed."
At that instant—
Blood exploded from Frey’s arm.
His right hand, along with the Dark Sister, had been severed.
Mergo was too fast.
So fast, Frey hadn’t even seen or felt the strike until his hand was gone.
The old Lord had intended to end it quickly.
But what he didn’t expect—
Was Frey grabbing his severed hand before it hit the ground and forcing it back into place.
In less than a second, an impossible scene unfolded .. Flesh fused with flesh, and a violet light surged from the wound, reattaching the limb as if it had never been lost.
And as soon as it was restored ..
Black flames ignited from Frey’s swords.
A roaring storm of aura erupted from his blades, surging toward Mergo.
The latter blocked it easily .. But his expression shifted to seriousness.
That bloody monster had come at him again, relentless.
His severed hand had returned.
As if nothing had ever happened.
"Interesting," Mergo muttered.
Their blades clashed—Frey’s twin swords against the Ushigatana.
Mergo fought without any difficulty, blocking every strike, exchanging rapid blows.
Legendary blades rang out, steel against steel, in a violent rhythm ... Between Frey, who attacked like a madman,
And Mergo, who parried everything with terrifying ease.
"Why do you fight with such ferocity, boy?"
BOOM!
Both moved at blinding speed.
Mergo kept retreating, while Frey chased after him with relentless fury, trying to land a strike .. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t touch him.
"Trying to save your friends, is that it?"
BOOM!!
Their swords clashed again and again, the battlefield echoing with the sound of metal.
Frey panted heavily, his breath ragged .. his mind unable to focus anymore.
Against Mergo ...
That strange old man who spoke so casually despite the savage exchange taking place between them.
"You seem to have a noble ambition," Mergo said calmly. "What kind of will drives a man to stand alone against a thousand, just for the sake of others?"
BOOOOM!!
Sparks of fire burst from the grinding steel—Dark Sister and Balerion surged with Frey’s power.
But every time, the Ushigatana was there to meet them.
Their hands became weapons of mass destruction, carving through the air, leaving trails of clashing aura behind them.
BOOOM!!!
Again and again, they collided—
Each trying to overpower the other.
Face-to-face.
An old man smiling...
And a blood-soaked youth who looked more monster than man.
"You intend to push through no matter the cost, don’t you?" Mergo said.
"You believe that if you give everything—absolutely everything—you might succeed."
Still smiling, Mergo slowly opened his dark eyes, revealing a terrifying glow beneath.
"How naïve you are, Frey Starlight."
SLAASH!!
From out of nowhere, Mergo unleashed dozens of slashes, ripping into Frey’s skin and exploding blood in every direction.
But he didn’t stop.
He continued the merciless onslaught.
"Do you see yourself as some kind of hero, Frey Starlight?"
With one mighty strike, Mergo sent Frey flying .. Then blinked behind him in an instant and tore through him again.
"You’re wrong, boy.
You’re nothing but a monster."
SLAASH!!
"A monster like me..."
SLAASH!!!
Drenched in his own blood, Frey was completely overpowered.
"Tell me—how can a monster who slaughtered a thousand people so easily...
Even think about saving others?"
The corpses were still scattered around them .. Rotting, desecrated, consumed by crows and decay.
"You think we’re just animals, don’t you?
Creatures waiting to be butchered by your sword, Frey Starlight?"
With brutal speed, Mergo struck Frey down to the ground and stomped on his chest with crushing force.
Lying beneath his boot, Frey’s body was torn apart, deep wounds carved into him from head to toe.
He glared up with bloodshot eyes—
As Mergo leaned in, pressing down harder.
"Just like you have something to fight for...
Each one of them did too."
The corpses littering the field weren’t savage Ultras.
They were soldiers of the Highblood—men who had lived with honor and kindness.
"You think you have the right to judge them?
To kill them so you can save your friends?
Absurd."
Mergo ground his heel harder into Frey’s chest.
"Look at them, Frey Starlight!!
You killed them!
You killed them all!!"
His voice boomed with rage as he pressed down.
"Each of them had a story waiting to be told .. And you severed their threads before they could even begin."
"Whether blessed or damned...
They died with dreams still clinging to their bones."
"How many children will grow up without their fathers because of you?"
"How many men striving for success had that very dream ripped from them?"
"Some were basking in the warmth of family...
And you ended it.
Some were learning to embrace solitude...
And you erased their existence."
"You killed them with your own hands, Frey Starlight.
So what kind of selfish arrogance makes you believe you’re worthy... To even think about saving anyone else?"
Mergo grabbed the hilt of his Ushigatana—
And drove it into Frey’s chest.
"You and I... we’re monsters."
He pulled it out .. Then stabbed him again.
"Monsters made to kill. We live to slaughter and spill blood."
He continued stabbing him—
His expression twisted and terrifying as he looked down on the bloody mess that was Frey.
"Our only purpose in this world is destruction. Until the day we die and receive our punishment.
That is the meaning of our existence.
There’s no real difference between us."
Having torn Frey apart, his blood flooding the ground—
Mergo finally stepped back, a sharp look in his eyes.
"This...
This is the world we live in, Frey Starlight."