No one knew what cards Wesker still held. Just as he had concealed the King’s Eye before, he could very well have more hidden weapons.
"The warrior of the Shadow Sect is buying you time. You must use that time to survive .. and save what can still be saved."
The voice from the crimson butterfly spoke. Foreign, and yet close.
Snow recognized her .. she was the Lightbearer from his memories. Frey felt a strange, unexplainable bond with her, so he took her words seriously .. especially since she had saved them once already.
Wesker was too occupied with Adyr to notice they had risen again. This was their one window of escape.
"But how do we survive that monster?" Frey said through clenched teeth.
The Ultras still surrounded them, and Wesker could break Adyr’s restraint at any moment.
From afar, their allies, who had sensed their presence, finally arrived.
"You’re alive!"
Dawn Polaris and Selena rushed toward them, along with the rest of the Elite Class.
Sansa and Uriel were further away, locked in harsh battles of their own .. Sansa against Beatrice, Uriel against Simon Manus and his dolls, supported only by the holy avatar she had summoned.
They were struggling.
Ghost was missing entirely, still lost near the battlefield where Adyr and Wesker clashed.
"We’re not winning this battle. Not in our current state," Frey said, fist trembling.
Their goal was no longer to defeat Wesker .. but to save what could still be saved.
Ada weighed on Frey’s mind more heavily than anything else, but right now... stabilizing this battlefield came first.
"The answer is inside you, Frey."
The voice spoke to him and Snow alone.
It pointed to the only possible path .. to survive, to make use of the time Adyr bought with his life.
Realizing this, Frey exhaled slowly. He bent down, placing both hands on the ground.
"So this was your plan all along... you damned Engineer."
He gathered his remaining power.
"Snow. Everyone. Cover me with everything you have. What I’m about to do... might be our only chance."
Frey’s eyes ignited .. deep red intertwined with violet .. as he summoned the power gifted by that woman.
"I can feel it... with this strength... I can do it."
Snow and the others didn’t yet understand what Frey intended ..
But Snow Lionheart didn’t need to.
The moment Frey asked him to protect him ..
Snow exploded in blinding radiance, entering the State of War once more.
The Anointed War State.
Standing before Frey, shield raised like a knight guarding his king, his golden eyes shone beneath his helm.
And the instant Snow released his power ..
Wesker sensed him.
A deep, vicious scowl twisted his face.
"Snow Lionheart... what is happening here?"
He was stunned to see Snow standing once again.
He had destroyed him .. without a trace of life left.
Yet the boy stood whole.
It made no sense.
Wesker hated the unknown.
He tried to move .. but Adyr struck harder, forcing him back.
"Your opponent is right here, Wesker! Where are you looking with those filthy eyes of yours?"
"Tch... you pest."
Wesker countered, while Adyr intensified his assault, fully aware that Frey was preparing to make his final move.
"I will stand as long as I must... until my Lord completes what must be done, and ends this hollow battle."
No matter the cost... the Empire could not fall today.
And Frey understood that more than anyone.
So, he placed the Nameless Mask back over his face, then slammed both hands onto the ground.
They would not win this battle. So retreat was their only option.
And to retreat... only Nameless’ abilities could carve a path out of this despair.
Gathering his strength, Frey released a terrifying surge of aura that pulsed across the battlefield.
Everyone felt it instantly.
"This is—"
"Frey!!"
Sansa turned toward him, and the others followed her gaze as glowing lines of aura formed an impossibly complex pattern across the field.
"What in the hell is that supposed to be?!"
Mergo’s expression twisted, astonished by the sheer intricacy of the formation appearing before his eyes.
"This is... spatial manipulation."
Mergo, being an expert in the field, recognized it immediately.
But the manipulation he was witnessing now was beyond anything he had ever encountered.
A power that belonged to a completely different realm of existence.
"Nameless’ dominion over space itself..."
Frey muttered, enduring the intense pressure crushing his mind and body.
What he was attempting was to save everyone in the battlefield by transporting all of them at once.
And the only safe haven left in the world... was on the other side.
At the same moment Frey began activating the technique, the same power flared far away .. within the Shadow Sect.
Thanks to what the Engineer had done long ago, the Shadow Sect had become a fortress the size of the capital Belgrad.
A fortress capable of sheltering the Empire’s surviving forces.
By using Nameless’ spatial dominion, Frey was about to teleport thousands at once and save them all.
Wesker saw it happening instantly and attempted to intervene .. but Adyr blocked him to the last breath.
"Attack him! Don’t let him complete it!!"
Wesker’s command rang like thunder, and every Ultra on the battlefield turned to Frey.
Dozens surged forward ..
But every single one of them was cut down.
The Vermithor cleaved all who approached.
Snow stood unbreakable. No one could pass him. His strength alone carved a wall before Frey, allowing him to focus without distraction.
Meanwhile, one by one, people around Frey began to vanish .. teleported away to safety.
"We will not fall today. We will live to fight another day."
As long as they lived... the war was not over. Wesker would not win.
Right now .. survival was everything.
And so, while the battlefield was engulfed in chaos and flame...
As Wesker and Adyr’s clash reached its peak...
Frey pushed Nameless’ abilities to their absolute limit to save everyone.
The war between the Empire and the Ultras had ended.
Now, the next Chapter of the War of Darkness would begin.
The cruelest, bloodiest, most decisive Chapter of all ..
The clash of legends.
Between Frey and the Shadow Sect, against Wesker and the Demon kind.
Between the heroes of the present... and the awakened champions of the past rising once more to face Geppetto and the strange monster who followed him.
This was the end of one era...
And the beginning of another.
...
...
...
Author’s Note:
We enter the final arc of the War of Darkness volume starting next Chapter.
Volume III — Final Arc: Clash of Legends.