Frey tried to pierce Zibar’s guard again and again, and again he met an iron defense that turned everything aside.
Grinding his teeth, he spread his swords wide like vast black wings.
Dark aura howled around both blades—then he carved a sign at Zibar.
"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow: Frey Starlight Style—"
Draining himself to the last drop, Frey set a calamity in motion.
"Nameless Judgement!!!"
Two Nameless Judgements .. one from Dark Sister, the other from Balerion. Twin colossal slashes that veiled the sky, crossing into a violet X that tore through the air toward Zibar.
He watched the incoming cross .. massive, violent; a power that, bolstered by Dark Ascension, truly threatened him.
He didn’t dodge. He opened his mouth to meet it.
From deep in his throat, a strange power welled up .. ashen, wreathed in lightning-like sparks. Without warning, Zibar exhaled it as a devouring beam that split the heavens and slammed into Nameless Judgement.
The collision came from another world. The violet cross bored into the roaring gray breath ..deeper, deeper until the battle became a tug of war.
From behind his technique, Frey stared across a vision both sublime and terrifying: Zibar’s ashen aura shearing apart around the arms of his Nameless Judgement. His cut was truly overwhelming .. enough that even Zibar’s breath could not stop it outright.
Then, after a harrowing struggle, everything detonated .. Zibar’s power and Frey’s alike .. like a dozen nuclear suns blooming at once.
Silence, then storm. A few seconds later, Frey staggered out of the dust, panting, eyes locked ahead to gauge his foe.
He had his answer soon enough.
Zibar strode from the blast intact, laughter knifing through the haze.
"You have grown stronger since our last meeting. I’ll grant you that."
He stood whole, save for a double gash across his chest in the shape of a cross. It was deep; black blood leaked steadily. But such wounds meant little to demons with that kind of vitality .. especially one of the Ten.
He shrugged off his black mantle, revealing the full, corded frame beneath. His fists flared once more.
"Let’s continue."
He said it simply .. and surged at Frey.
For a heartbeat, Frey froze, mind reeling to catch up.
He caught Zibar’s strike a heartbeat too late .. and paid for it.
Frey was blasted back, Zibar streaking after him at a terrifying speed.
"Come on, Starlight! Show me more!!!"
The fist of a rank-ten High Demon was heavy.
So heavy.
Heavier than anything Frey had ever taken.
A mad, crushing power .. and with it came a feeling he hadn’t tasted in a long time.
Despair.
And this was only a clone.
A clone carrying half the strength of the weakest among the Ten High Demons.
Even so, the gap was staggering.
"Ha-ha-ha! Hahahahaha!!!"
While Zibar laughed, Frey’s world reeled.
He fought like a madman, with everything he had—but apart from that one wound he’d carved earlier, it felt like he’d never touch Zibar again.
"Show me more!!!"
BOOOOOOM!!!
"Show me your strength! Show me your blood!!!"
Through Zibar’s laughter, his howls, and the echo of ruin, Frey felt his head boil.
The end was close...
...
...
...
— Frey Starlight’s POV —
I wonder... how did it come to this?
Not long ago I was sitting by a campfire, calm, with only Simon Manus on my mind.
Relaxed. Naive.
I thought I had more time.
I thought I could take things slow—build my strength step by step.
I truly believed the battle I feared was still far off.
Reality hit me in the cruelest way.
And here I am, facing Zibar, who appeared out of nowhere...
He’s strong. Too strong.
No matter what I throw at him, no matter how I cut, he withstands it all and sends back something worse.
"I have to fight..."
I whipped my blades at full power, forcing myself onward.
"I can’t fall here. I have to fight!!!" I roared, and Zibar answered, harsher still:
"Then do it!!"
BOOOOM!!!
He beat me down harder than anyone ever had. I tried to endure to the very end...
But my consciousness kept slipping with every blow.
Only my monstrous regeneration kept me in it, and still I could barely scratch him.
He shattered me again and again.
In seconds, the weight of it all crashed over me.
I watched his fist swell in my vision.
I felt his power and understood the gulf between us.
But I had to fight.
I must. I’m the strongest among the humans.
There’s no one here stronger than me. If I fall... who fights in my place?
Who survives this monster?
I’m the only one who can so ..
"I have to fight!!!!!!"
SLASH!!!!
In an instant Zibar thought he’d punched through me .. only to find his fist hitting the after-image I’d left behind.
At that same heartbeat, dozens of violet scars bloomed across his body .. my blade had already passed.
He whirled to find me at his back.
My aura seethed. My breath burned violet.
My eyes lost everything but that light, turning into twin amethysts blazing without rest.
I didn’t know what was happening to me. I knew only one thing:
I must not fall, no matter what.
So I met him again. And again. And again.
My speed and strength spiked; I’d hit my limit.
My regeneration never stopped; every vital part he destroyed a dozen times regrew each time.
And my blade... finally started to land.
The wounds were shallow .. pathetic, even.
But they landed.
I can hurt him. That’s enough to keep me moving.
Even if he destroys me a thousand times, I’ll rise again. I’ll regenerate as many times as it takes, so ..
"I won’t go down!!!"
The battle became a war of attrition, a blur of impossible trades.
Seconds passed, then minutes.
The stalemate held.
And for the first time, I saw a different look on Zibar’s face. The horrific smile was gone, replaced by an empty mask and dead eyes.
I knew that look well.
Boredom .. and disappointment.
That was what Zibar felt—and from nowhere...
His fist tunneled through, carving a crater in my chest before hurling me away.
I spat blood as aura coiled violently around the wound, trying to knit it shut.