Chapter 437: Despair
— Frey Starlight’s Pov —
Taking a spoonful from his bowl of spicy food, Ghost’s usually calm face visibly twisted with discomfort.
"What exactly do you people like about this stuff?"
He asked, glancing around at the old men and locals who were happily devouring the same dish, their faces radiating pure joy.
"This is the food of real men, kid! No place here for the weak! Hahaha!!"
Shaheen laughed heartily, making his rounds between the tables, taking orders from everyone.
Even though Ghost had barely managed a single bite, Frey had already finished his entire bowl.
"You finished it that fast?"
Ghost asked in confusion, clearly baffled. He had lived a hard life, forced at times to eat grass just to survive.
But even then, he had never tasted anything as fiery as what was now burning in his hands.
"You should’ve ordered something else, Ghost.
This kind of spicy food is one of a kind.
Either you fall in love with it and devour it...
or you can’t stand it and leave it untouched.
There’s no middle ground."
Frey spoke with a rare smile ..something he hadn’t shown in a long time ..as he signaled for Shaheen to bring him another dish.
"Coming right up! Hahaha!
Frey, I see you still appreciate real spicy food! You have my respect!"
"Don’t underestimate me, old man.
I’m tougher than you think."
"Haha! We’ll see about that!"
Shaheen disappeared into the kitchen again, while Frey and Ghost sat quietly at their table.
The atmosphere around them was loud and chaotic, like a public café watching a football match .. a sport that had vanished hundreds of years ago.
The noise was overwhelming,
but somehow, Frey found himself genuinely at ease in this environment.
Unlike him, Ghost seemed clearly annoyed,
but he chose to let Frey enjoy this rare moment of peace.
"I’m glad to see you like this again, Frey.
But I have to ask .. what do you plan to do now?"
Ghost was clearly talking about Danzo.
Hearing that, Frey lifted his head, gazing up at the sky.
"I’ll save him, Ghost.
I’ll save him."
So far,
nothing in this life had gone the way he wanted.
The world had always pushed back against everything he tried to accomplish.
Frey had never forgotten the death of Clana Starlight.
He could still remember the warmth of her body in those final moments as she died in his arms.
She hadn’t meant much to him,
and yet she had died to save him.
It felt like her life had been wasted on someone like him.
That was a burden he never wanted to carry again.
"I’ll save him... no matter what it takes."
Danzo’s fate rested entirely in his hands,
and he intended to carry that responsibility to the end.
Final Mission :
Time Remaining: 17 Days.
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That day, Frey visited his sick friend once again, with Ghost by his side.
Several other elite students came to visit as well.
And by chance, Seris was there this time, having finally finished her duties toward her family.
The princess of the Moonlight family remained as calm as ever,
but there was a clear maturity in her demeanor now.
Due to the lack of church forces capable of using advanced holy power, Seris hadn’t yet recovered her severed arm,
instead using a hand crafted from pure ice.
Wearing her black coat, she nodded to Frey, and he did the same.
After everything they had been through,
an unspoken respect had grown between them,
allowing them both to leave their hatred behind.
Whether it was Seris letting go of what Frey had once done to her,
or Frey setting aside his grudge against the Moonlight family and its tangled past.
Between them, Danzo sat quietly on his bed.
His skin looked much better than before,
but he was still pale compared to what he once was.
"I’ll be leaving now. I’ll give you some space."
Having seen Frey and Ghost arrive, Seris didn’t want to intrude, so she left quietly.
"I’m glad to see you’re still alive and well, Danzo. I wish you the best."
In response to her kind words, Danzo simply nodded.
"Thank you."
And just like that,
Seris left,
leaving only Frey and Ghost behind with Danzo.
The man spent his remaining days in complete peace, unaware of the monster lurking inside him.
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— Frey Starlight’s pov —
Time was slipping away fast...
Especially when you needed it most.
Barely half of the allotted time remained before the quest’s deadline.
And I hadn’t made any progress so far .. a reality that pushed me to my limits.
I gave up sleep, abandoned all comfort, and poured every second I had into the Nameless’ library,
a place holding all of his knowledge and wisdom.
Searching for a solution,
I spent 23 out of every 24 hours inside that place.
Leaving the last hour for Danzo.
I visited him every day now. Our presence by his side seemed to bring back a little life to him.
His body was visibly improving day by day, which made his father happy .. and filled my heart with growing unease.
As soon as my time with him was over,
I would teleport straight back to the Shadow Sect and continue what I was doing.
The sect had grown terrifyingly massive, its size breaking beyond the limits of the Black Mountain.
Only God knew what that Engineer was trying to build there.
Time remaining: 16 days.
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The next day, I managed to get permission from Adam Smasher to take Danzo outside.
Danzo was using a wheelchair.
The weather had grown bitterly cold with the coming of winter, and it had been snowing and raining frequently.
Adam had wrapped his son from head to toe in warm clothes, covering him completely.
Danzo looked strange in that wheelchair of his, but I made sure not to show it on my face.
Together with Ghost, the three of us went to Shaheen’s new restaurant.
Shaheen recognized Danzo instantly—he’d often visited the old man with me before—
and he handled the situation well, saying nothing about Danzo’s condition.
Instead, he tried to lift his spirits.
And I appreciated what the old man did.
Thanks to him, I saw that familiar smile on my sick friend’s face once again.
Time remaining: 15 days.
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The knowledge about teleportation and spatial manipulation was so vast that even after 15 days, I still hadn’t finished it.
It frustrated me deeply.
Nameless had somehow turned this knowledge into a world-breaking power—
allowing him to transcend the very laws of space.
He was a being capable of appearing anywhere in the world at will.
A power beyond imagination.
But because of that, I now found myself drowning in this endless field, unable to reach what I sought.
The anxiety within me kept growing.
The odds were against me, and the Engineer did nothing to help me in my struggle.
The dark circles under my eyes had worsened, and my head throbbed constantly.
Spending 23 hours a day on this madness had drained me, but I had no choice.
With each passing second,
I felt myself inching closer to collapse.
Time remaining: 12 days.
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The Empire was undergoing great changes.
The Iron Emperor—Sir Alon—was building a vast military force, reorganizing everything.
Anyone who saw what he was doing would know:
he was preparing for a brutal war soon to come.
The Iron Emperor wanted to meet me, according to what Ada told me.
He had already met with all of my fellow elite classmates.
But I simply ignored his invitation.
I didn’t have the time to waste on him.
That night,
I snuck into Danzo’s room with Sansa once darkness fell.
As soon as we arrived, Sansa let go of my hand and quietly approached the sleeping Danzo to check on him.
With a single glance, she could tell what was happening.
"This isn’t good. The Devil Seed has spread its roots completely inside him..."
The princess spoke quietly, though it was what I had feared.
"Can you suppress it?" I asked.
She nodded.
"I can. But only temporarily.
In ten days from now, I won’t be able to stop the growing power inside him anymore."
Turning to face me, Sansa spoke firmly.
"If we reach that point, we’ll have to kill him, Frey."
She was blunt—and right.
But I was determined to avoid that outcome at all costs.
"I’ll take responsibility for him.
So don’t take any action on your own."
I warned her firmly.
She would likely try to kill him herself, sparing me from having to do it with my own hands.
I knew she would ...
I had already read those thoughts inside her mind.
And it seemed like she knew that I knew.
After a long silence, she finally gave in.
"Fine. I promise I won’t do anything without your knowledge."
"Thank you..."
I thanked her with a heavy sigh.
There was much more to talk about ..
But we said nothing.
We simply left.
I hadn’t seen much of Sansa lately.
She had been busy with her own situation inside the Imperial Family ..
a family where most of them wished her dead.
She had her own problems, just as I had mine.
But we didn’t burden each other.
This time, we fought our battles alone.
Sansa had grown incredibly strong.
So I was sure she’d find a way to deal with her situation somehow.
But that didn’t change the fact that I hadn’t done anything to help her through her struggle.
"I’m sorry... Sansa..."
Time remaining: 10 days.
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Three days later ..
I finally began to reach my limits.
Trapped within the endless walls of the library,
I felt an unbearable pain in my head, as if someone was forcing something into my brain.
Hallucinations became frequent now ..
I could no longer tell left from right.
I was just a tiny, insignificant speck in the vast ocean of existence,
desperately trying to break through the crashing waves that swept me away without mercy.
Throwing me deep into the abyss.
"Gathering this much knowledge took thousands of years. What makes you think you can grasp it so quickly?"
That’s what The Engineer told me once.
Nameless, with all his greatness and wisdom, spent millennia to reach this point.
By what right did I think I could claim it for myself?
"Damn it all..."
I didn’t want to acquire all that knowledge—
I only wanted the smallest fraction of it.
Just enough to achieve my goal.
Let Nameless, his mask, and his knowledge all burn in hell.
"Why can’t I grasp it?!"
In a hysterical fit,
I hurled the books everywhere, unable to reach what I sought.
I was still stuck on the first floor.
And beyond me were countless other floors...
Some piercing through the skies,
others plunging deep into the earth below.
"There’s no end to this..."
I was starting to lose them.
Danzo... and my mind.
Time remaining: 7 days.