He looked almost the same as before, but golden runes now covered his entire body, flooding him with tons of overwhelming power. With a single glance, both Liora and Frey understood that the young man had leapt multiple tiers at once; with Light Soul active, his power had become inscrutable.
You could say he’d turned into an anomaly like Frey Starlight .. a fighter who could output far beyond his nominal level.
As Frey stared, Liora’s words rang in his ears: "the purest, most immaculate beings." A wry smile tugged at his mouth as he remembered the other who held the second half of that power.
Even the Demon King would laugh if he heard this nonsense.
Chuckling softly, Frey stepped up to Snow. "How do you feel?"
Facing each other, Snow raised his hand for a moment and clenched his fist. Light burst from it, sending ripples of aura in every direction. Smiling quietly, he answered, "I don’t think I’ve changed that much, but... those shackles ..I don’t feel them anymore."
The chains that bound him and kept him from his full potential had vanished; the path lay clear before him. He was free of ignorance at last.
Realizing that, Frey nodded. "Then congratulations."
"My apologies, but I’ll have to cut this short .. we have no time to spare," Liora said, intent on resolving what lay before them without delay. "Since the hero now holds the most destructive form of sacred power, we begin at once .. and erase the shadow."
Frey arched a brow. "Will Snow really be able to handle that thing?"
He stripped off his upper garment, revealing skin blackened with a filthy plague that had spread its poison. "I know Snow’s grown far stronger, but to be honest... I don’t think he can deal with this," Frey said, and Snow nodded in agreement.
"That thing was planted by a Rank Four demon, wasn’t it? Even if I can use Light Soul now, that level is still..." Snow said, regret in his voice. His face looked strange with all those golden sigils, yet he was still himself.
"You won’t be the one to handle it .. I will," Liora replied, patient and clear. "I can’t destroy the shadow, but I can suppress it with my sacred power. All you’ll need to do is deliver the finishing blow."
Turning to Frey, she confirmed the plan. "I’ll need your help as well, Frey Starlight. You must restrain the shadow as much as possible .. and do not lose consciousness. We don’t know what will happen if it takes your body."
In the worst case, they would be forced to fight Frey himself, as if he were under a demon-seed’s influence.
She signaled to Uriel, and the two Saints closed in around Frey, while Snow stepped back to await the right moment. Frey shed his top as well and drew a deep breath.
"Are you ready?" Liora asked.
Frey smiled and nodded. "Hit me with your worst."
Liora nodded back and summoned her full power .. the ground trembled beneath the surge. "Uriel, I’ll be the primary support. You’ll back me from the rear. Treat this as experience to master what I taught you."
"Understood!" Uriel answered, fervent.
"Then let’s begin."
Weaving strange sigils with her hands, Liora molded her golden power into a colossal, tangible form behind her. The aura she poured into it was truly crushing.
Eyes wide, Frey stared at the vast angel unfurling at Liora’s back—six arms, and sixfold wings beating fiercely.
"Divine Lament: Crimson Benediction."
At her command, the angel lunged with incredible speed, clamping Frey in all six hands with brutal force. The pressure was titanic .. he felt he could be crushed any instant. The six hands pinned him from every side, above and below .. total confinement.
Then, without warning, the angel’s mouth opened and spewed a vast torrent of golden sacred aura that swallowed Frey whole, threatening to burn his body away.
Liora’s sacred gold made every cell in him quake; a searing agony ground his teeth together. His body trembled uncontrollably, and a strange substance began to seep from beneath his skin, trying to pry off the hands that held him.
Uriel moved at once.
"Divine Lament: Chains of Grace."
Using Liora’s very style, Uriel conjured countless golden chains that coiled around Frey like snakes, binding him fast.
Meanwhile, the column of sacred aura intensified. The pressure was so great Frey felt he might shatter at any moment .. yet at the same time, the shadow kept leaking out, tethered to him by thin strands that refused to break.
The shadow took on a strange form. The instant Frey saw it, Wisker flashed through his mind.
It looked like his own shadow .. a malign silhouette exuding a foul aura that made Frey’s heart recoil.
Who would have thought that thing had been inside him all this time?
The shadow fought savagely, trying to repel the sacred power and seize Frey’s body ..but he clung to consciousness to the end, while Liora never ceased pouring down that golden might.
The whole thing felt like a strange exorcism—one that dragged on far too long.
Liora had to keep the shadow pinned and weakened until Snow Lionheart could destroy it. That made the process slow, and no one suffered more than Frey Starlight, who had to endure everything while staying conscious.
"This cursed shadow is stronger than I thought. It’s withstood my sacred power for too long..."
Liora could have fought much longer, but the more time passed, the greater the chance Frey would collapse. Staying awake under an SSS-class onslaught while a shadow planted by someone of the same class pressed down on him .. that took a mind of steel.
Knowing that, Liora prepared to push herself past her limits .. when a pure white arc tore in from afar, a colossal slash that ripped through the shadow with shocking speed and force.
Charging in from a distance, Snow Lionheart surged forward with Vermithor in hand, his body blazing with immaculate light.
"Finishing blows aren’t the only thing I can do."
Slash!!!
"Thanks to the World Tree’s power, my aura reserves are bottomless .. and I’ll gladly dump them all on this filthy thing."
Channeling Light Soul as hard as he could, Snow hurled dozens of strikes straight into the shadow. His blows drew a far fiercer reaction than Liora’s, proof that Light Soul hit it especially hard ..and the shadow immediately turned on him.
At the same time, more chains burst forth, binding the shadow .. this time along with Frey himself.
"Keep hammering it!" Uriel shouted, struggling not to buckle under pressure far beyond her range.
Snow and Liora attacked without pause. The whole operation was chaos .. until, at some point, the shadow began to scream, a sound that threatened to tear the very air.
"Hurry up and erase this damned thing .. I’m going to explode any second!" Frey roared, the pain now unbearable, as if a thousand colossal hammers were crushing his skull.
Just when it felt it might never end, Liora shouted, "Now, Snow Lionheart! Hit it with everything you have!!"
Her senses were razor-sharp; she never missed the moments of weakness the shadow showed after such prolonged pressure.
Answering at once, Snow drew up every scrap of power his body could muster in its current state.
"I only ever saw him do it from afar... but I’m pretty sure he used it like this."
With a faint, fierce smile, Snow mimicked a peculiar stance .. the very stance Pure Vessel favored in his earliest training days in Fellwyn.
He wrapped Light Soul along Vermithor’s edge and unleashed a sweeping strike that shredded the space before him and swallowed the shadow in radiant light.
"Judgement of Light."
The blow carried a massive portion of Light Soul. Snow had copied it after seeing Pure Vessel from a distance—and since they were one and the same being, unleashing it wasn’t difficult for him, even if this was his current limit.
It was enough. The weakened shadow was engulfed, dispersed, and utterly destroyed.
The instant it vanished under Snow’s strike, Liora and Uriel released Frey .. who crashed to the ground, collapsing hard.
Snow and Uriel dashed to him at once. It wouldn’t have been surprising if Frey stayed unconscious for days after what he’d just endured .. but to their shock ..and even Liora’s, he was still awake.
"Frey... you .." Snow breathed, stunned.
Frey’s body had been scorched to a ruin by that sacred power ..like a fire that burned him while the shadow still clung to him. He looked a wreck. And yet his dark eyes remained open, unchanged.
"Finally... got rid of that damned shadow," he rasped, unable to even sit up.
Ignoring Uriel’s frantic worry, Snow let out a short laugh at the sight. "Amazing... you can still talk in that state."
Seeing Frey’s inhuman tolerance, Snow remembered what Orsted had told him .. that he would not be inferior to Frey once his true potential awakened.
Maybe I’ll reach his strength someday... but I’ll never endure even half of what he can.