Chapter 495: The Distance Between Us
"Let’s begin," Frey said bluntly, summoning the Demon-Slayer—Dark Sister—and assuming his usual relaxed stance, one riddled with openings.
Yet, despite Frey declaring the start of the duel, Frost didn’t move.
He stood there, still as ice, almost as if he were waiting for something.
"Aren’t you going to use your other sword? If I’m not mistaken... you fight with two."
Frost asked calmly, noting the absence of the sword Frey had used against him in the past.
"Ah... you mean Balerion."
Frey scratched his hair with his free hand, then leaned lazily on his blade.
"Apologies, Frost. It’s not that I’m underestimating you, truly ..
I just don’t see a need to use it against you."
He paused for a second, as the two locked eyes ..
cold mist beginning to spread between them.
"Dark Sister will be enough."
As those words left his lips, the air around them grew tenser.
The soldiers surrounding the field stared in silence, sensing a strange, suffocating pressure taking hold of the arena.
Frost showed no emotion. He simply nodded.
"Understood."
That’s what he said.
But the sharp glint in his eyes told a completely different story.
No matter how much Frey denied it,
he had clearly just looked down on him.
Fighting with one sword instead of two ..it was like saying he could defeat Frost using only half of his strength.
And his casual, lazy stance?
It looked like he wasn’t even taking the fight seriously at all.
His posture was full of weak points, as if he were begging Frost to strike.
But the Lord of House Moonlight wasn’t a fool.
He knew better—he knew it was a trap. Appearances could be deceiving.
’What I want to know is... how big is the gap between us?’
That was what Frost was thinking.
He had survived by sheer luck when he was once imprisoned inside the prison Cube alongside Maekar Valerion.
That experience had stolen more than two years of his life.
Before that, he had devoted himself to training ..
Especially since the incident involving his father ..
Since that day, Frost had worked relentlessly to grow stronger ..
day and night, without rest.
That drive had allowed him to leap two entire ranks in a relatively short time.
He truly was talented.
But the one standing before him now wasn’t merely talented ..
He was a monster.
A prodigy beyond comprehension.
A miracle that appears only once in a century.
Frost wanted to measure that distance ..
the distance between himself... and the man called Frey Starlight.
And so—without warning—
Frost launched forward, shattering the ground beneath his feet as he surged ahead faster than the speed of sound.
The sheer force of his movement created a sonic boom that exploded through the air ..
and in less than a second, he was in front of Frey.
Wielding his great spear, Reimshard,
he thrust with blinding speed, aiming straight for Frey’s face.
But Frey bent backward at the last moment.. dodging the strike by a hair’s breadth.
Frost immediately vanished from sight .. reappearing behind him.
This time, he didn’t stop at a single attack ,
he unleashed a torrent of spear strikes.
So fast, it looked like he was wielding dozens of spears instead of just one.
On the other side, Frey dodged everything with terrifying precision,
his body glowing with a deep, violet aura.
"All you’re doing is running from my spear."
Frost said coldly as he channeled his aura into the weapon, Causing the air around it to freeze over.
"Fight me seriously!"
He thrust again.
But this time... the spear unleashed a monstrous blast of frost,
a massive attack that threatened to engulf Frey entirely.
Frey stared at the incoming wave ..then at the soldiers standing behind him.
They had gathered around the arena to spectate ..
which meant that if he dodged, they would be caught in the blast.
’I can evade this... but if I do, they’ll get hit.’
With a bitter smile, Frey realized what was happening.
’So you did it on purpose, huh...’
Fully aware of Frost’s intent,
Frey’s blade ignited with a surge of shadowy aura.
Then without warning .. his hand moved like a living creature, with intelligence of its own, slashing dozens—no, hundreds—of times in less than a second.
He intercepted the icy blast with ease ..
shattering it into harmless shards of frost.
But just as he neutralized the attack ..
Frost appeared right in front of him again, using the previous explosion as cover.
His spear .. now massively enlarged by his freezing aura looked less like a weapon and more like a missile made of ice.
Frey raised Dark Sister and blocked.
Metal struck metal.
The resulting clash created a high-pitched shockwave so intense
it made the surrounding soldiers clutch their ears in pain.
Frost didn’t relent .. he continued attacking without pause, While Frey remained on the defensive, parrying each strike effortlessly.
Both of them became streaks of light, dashing across the arena.
Their battle was so fast and brutal
that the sparks from every weapon clash erupted like wildfire across the field.
Frost was giving it everything he had—
it was safe to say he was fighting at full power.
As for Frey...
He remained on the defensive, calmly deflecting the relentless onslaught of spear strikes.
For a few brief seconds ..
Frey’s face showed something rare:
Surprise.
Inside those abyss-like black eyes of his,
everything was moving in slow motion.
What the soldiers couldn’t see... what they couldn’t even feel... Frey saw clearly.
His enhanced senses could pick up on the subtlest details ..
they had been sharpened long ago to exceed all natural limits.
Still watching Frost’s spear, Frey continued to block his attacks.
"Heavy."
That was Frey’s thought as he took on the full force behind the current Lord of House Moonlight’s strikes.
Frost’s spear was heavy.
Powerful.
The young lord had nearly perfected his spear style.
There were no wasted movements.
His control was impeccable.
Though Frey had parried every strike, he could feel the weight behind them with perfect clarity.
While Frost panted, fatigue beginning to creep in, Frey kept watching him a little longer ..
then stepped back lightly.
He glanced down at his sword, then toward the opponent standing across from him on the battlefield...
And finally spoke.
"Frost Moonlight... I’ll admit this much:
There was a time in your life where you gave more effort than anyone else.
I can’t begin to imagine how many hours you poured into refining your spear."
The level Frost had achieved was one many warriors would willingly give their lives to attain.
And Frost had reached it in barely two years.
His talent was undeniable.
Frey’s sincere words made Frost’s eyes widen for a moment ..
before he gripped his spear tighter and scowled.
"Are you praising me now, Lord Starlight?
Or insulting me? I honestly can’t tell."
He asked through gritted teeth.
Frey answered instantly.
"The first one.
I truly admire the distance you’ve traveled, and the level you’ve reached."
Frey was being genuine ..
but Frost didn’t like what he heard.
"I don’t want praise from you, Frey Starlight.
Especially not from you.
You’re the very monster who makes all this effort I’ve put in... all this progress I’ve made... feel meaningless."
Who was he lying to, really?
After everything he had done ..
all the training, the sacrifices, the progress...
He still hadn’t touched Frey once.
While Frost gasped for air,
Frey hadn’t shown the slightest change since the duel began.
He had blocked everything ..
making all of Frost’s efforts seem like a child’s attempt to scratch a wall of steel.
And now here he was...
praising him.
Praising what, exactly?
"This is the level I’ve reached after doing nothing but train since the last time we fought.
I... the one they called a prodigy..."
Frost’s voice grew bitter.
"But compared to you... I’m starting to wonder if I even deserve that title."
He had trained in the best environment possible, received the finest resources the Empire had to offer, and been mentored by the greatest warriors from every corner of the land.
He was the Lord of House Moonlight—blessed with status, privilege, and opportunity.
He had spared no effort.
And yet the man before him had already surpassed him .. by a terrifying margin.
If Frost was talented...
then what was Frey Starlight?
While Frost mocked himself, Frey’s expression darkened.
And for the first time since the duel began...
Frey took his first step toward his opponent.
Up until now, he had only defended.
"You’ve misunderstood, Frost Moonlight."
The moment Frey moved, A sinister pressure exploded from him ..
The full weight of his SSS-rank aura.
An overwhelming force crushed down on the entire battlefield ..
soldiers all around collapsed to their knees, unable to withstand it.
Even Frost could barely stay standing, his face frozen in horror as he stared at Frey.
Frey Starlight looked like a completely different person.
"This power you see before you...
is not something I attained through training alone."