The wound across his chest refused to heal.
Even his demonic regeneration couldn’t overcome the destruction of the Black Hole Aura,
a power that surpassed even the corrupted light of his own Moonlight Blade.
Still...
V rose again, teeth clenched, and charged.
"Good," Frey said with a faint smile.
"Let’s continue, then."
Their blades collided once more,
explosions of aura erupting with every clash.
But Frey wasn’t fighting to end it quickly—
he was deliberately prolonging the battle, testing his opponent.
"The Covenant of Mirrors...
it’s said to let the user copy others’ powers," Frey said between blows.
"But that’s not quite true, is it?"
BOOOOM!
Steel met steel again as Frey continued his analysis mid-combat.
"It’s not copying," he said.
"It’s simulation. That’s a more accurate term."
V couldn’t copy true world-breaking abilities.
He could only simulate what he saw—
replicating movements, aura patterns, and styles to a degree,
but never perfectly.
"If my theory’s right..." Frey murmured, parrying another strike,
"you can’t replicate my Black Hole Aura.
But you’ll try to mimic it, won’t you?"
Their blades clashed again ..
and Frey’s grin widened.
He was right.
V’s aura was evolving,
growing darker and heavier with each exchange.
"Your Covenant is trying to keep up with me," Frey said.
"You’re simulating my Black Hole Aura itself."
With every collision, V’s aura intensified ..
his black flames burning brighter,
his power rising unnaturally fast.
Yet compared to Frey, it was still nothing.
"I wonder..." Frey whispered, smiling as their blades locked again.
"How far can you push it?
Can your imitation ever reach the real thing?
Or are you bound by your limits?"
He swung the Dark Sister again, his aura flaring violently.
"Let’s find out, V!"
And thus began one of the most spectacular duels of the entire war ..
a battle so fierce it drew every gaze on the field.
From afar, the two looked evenly matched,
their blows shaking the ground and splitting the sky.
But those like Snow Lionheart, who were close enough to sense the truth,
knew better.
Frey was overwhelmingly superior.
Even so, V’s strength was growing ..
his power surging higher with every second.
"If Frey represents 100%," Snow said quietly, watching,
"then V entered this battle at maybe 30% of that level.
But now... I’d say that percentage has risen dramatically."
It was an incredible development ..
but still not enough.
Even if V somehow reached 100%,
he still couldn’t win,
because Frey hadn’t unleashed even half of his true power.
This was a one-sided test,
and Frey was dragging it out intentionally.
Snow didn’t understand why.
If it continued like this,
Frey would start exhausting the energy he might need later.
Snow prepared to step in and end it ..but it wasn’t necessary.
As expected, V finally reached his limit.
Amid their violent clash,
his body suddenly faltered ..
his strength vanishing all at once.
Frey stopped in place, lowering his sword.
"It seems," he said quietly,
"that your time has run out."
Frey exhaled deeply, his expression one of quiet disappointment.
"You lasted nine minutes," he said flatly.
"A respectable time... but nowhere near enough to win a real battle."
Despite the words, V refused to accept defeat, his body trembling as he tried to stand.
"I haven’t lost... not yet..."
"You lost the moment this fight began," Frey replied.
"You can’t defeat me, and there’s no point denying it."
"No... not yet!"
V gritted his teeth, forcing his body to move under the unbearable pressure crushing him.
He was gambling everything—his life itself—just to gain a few more seconds in Frey Starlight’s form,
to fight until the very last breath.
Drawing out the strengthened aura within him, V unleashed all his remaining power, swinging both swords in unison.
"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow—Frey Starlight’s Style!!"
He roared, and Frey’s eyes narrowed.
He knew what was coming next ..
and it would not be something simple.
And indeed, V released the strongest attack he had ever managed to replicate.
"Nameless Judgement!!"
Not one .. but two ..
from each of his blades,
in a scene almost identical to the moment Frey had unleashed twin Nameless Judgements against Zibar.
Standing before the raging waves of aura,
the twin strikes formed a colossal cruciform explosion ..
a cross of divine destruction that threatened to consume Frey entirely.
A few seconds later, the inevitable came ..
the Nameless Judgement detonated,
its shockwave shaking the heavens themselves.
The immense explosion silenced the battlefield.
For a brief moment, the entire war halted.
All eyes turned toward the towering wave of aura,
a storm that had swallowed a vast stretch of land.
The destructive radius was immense;
many perished instantly just from being near it ..
soldiers of both the Ultras and the Empire alike.
But none of that mattered.
What mattered was Frey Starlight ..and Frey Starlight alone.
Had V done it?
Had he finally struck down the monster?
Even if Frey had survived, surely he couldn’t have come out unscathed.
That attack should’ve drained him, wounded him ..
something.
V, more than anyone, waited for the result, breathless, trembling.
Then .. he heard it.
Not a voice.
A sound.
A cold, vicious sound of steel piercing flesh.
V froze.
His body went rigid.
Slowly, he looked down ...
and saw it.
A black sword had run him through from behind,
its tip emerging from his chest, dripping with blood.
He turned his head slightly ..
and there stood Frey Starlight, completely unscathed,
his violet eyes as cold as the void.
"This is the end."
V coughed blood, the realization hitting him like a final blow.
Frey had never taken the attack.
He hadn’t even tried to block it.
Defending against something like Nameless Judgement would’ve only drained him ..
so instead, he had simply teleported, avoiding it entirely,
and reappeared behind V to finish it in a single strike.
He’d known all along that V would use Nameless Judgement.
He had been waiting ..
for that exact moment.
V’s attack was indeed powerful,
but what good is power when it never hits its mark?
And just like that...
it was over.
Frey pulled his blade free from V’s chest,
and the young warrior collapsed immediately,
his body falling lifeless to the blood-soaked ground.
The commanders of the Ultras looked on,
their eyes wide, their spirits breaking.
Their last beacon of hope ..
the boy who bore Frey’s reflection ..
was gone.
Shattered, defeated,
his mirrored light extinguished.
As V’s blood spread across the battlefield,
Frey stood silently beside him ..
expressionless, emotionless,
a figure of cold inevitability.
And with that, the beginning of the end had arrived ... the battle that would witness the fall of the Ultras’ capital...
had truly begun.