The further I walked, the more enemy hordes I encountered.
Among them, I fought several Upper Demons who appeared before me ..
the Rank 32 Upper Demon Valak,
the Rank 28 Dantalion,
and many others.
Valac wielded shadows,
while Dantalion possessed a bizarre ability that allowed him to manipulate and dominate minds.
I slaughtered them with ease ..
especially now that I fought with Black Hole Aura at all times.
To be honest, it was torture trying to maintain control over the Black Hole’s power...
but Nameless’s method was working, even if only a little.
Right now, I was burning through enormous amounts of aura,
yet I could restore about 30% of it using his technique.
It was laughably small compared to Nameless,
who could reclaim 99% of what he released.
But as a beginning... I was satisfied.
Because it meant that, unconsciously, I was already growing stronger.
As a unique anomaly, there was no reliable way to measure my power correctly.
On paper, I was SS-rank.
But when unleashing my abilities and weapons,
I reached SSS-rank...
Even if I didn’t know my exact place within that rank.
Snow Lionheart was similar in that regard ..
because he was the second coming of the Pure Vessel,
while I was the vessel of Nameless.
These factors allowed us to transcend our peers
and shatter the balance of power entirely.
My strength kept rising ..
but none of it helped me find Ada or Carmen.
And that infuriated me.
During my wanderings through the burning Empire, I encountered many survivors.
From them, I learned that the heroes of the old generation had returned, gathering and protecting a massive number of humans.
Among them, my predecessor Nova Starlight had rescued many members of the Starlight family ..
including those who had been with Ada and Carmen.
But my sister wasn’t among the survivors.
Her name ..and Carmen’s .. still appeared in red within my system interface.
So where the hell were they?
I was starting to lose my nerves and whatever calm I had left, the longer this dragged on.
But Nameless kept suppressing me every time, reminding me that anger would do nothing for me now.
He had been emotionless once, which allowed him to always make the best decisions regardless of the situation...
even if he was now stained by a portion of my own emotions.
At this point... I was genuinely starting to wonder what could have happened.
Could Ada... be in Wesker’s hands right now?
Was that why he mentioned her when Snow and I fought him?
But the more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed.
Wesker had been in the Ultras’ continent the entire time...
and I had never once sensed Ada being attacked by a demon.
I was always prepared to rush to her the moment anything happened ..
but my battle against Wesker might have delayed my reaction.
Still... what exactly happened?
While I was drowning in these questions, Nameless’s voice echoed, giving me a crucial hint.
"The one who attacked Ada Starlight was not a demon... but a human."
The moment I heard those words, my eyes widened, and I stopped running aimlessly.
"A human..."
Who would do something like this?
Someone from the Ultras?
Or ..
"A human from the Empire..."
A human... who harbored hatred toward my sister Ada ..
or toward Carmen.
Standing amidst the ruins of one of the Empire’s destroyed cities,
a realization struck me so suddenly that it snapped everything into place.
And in the blink of an eye ..
my body flared with violet light, preparing for spatial teleportation.
"I’ve found it."
Leaving a trail of stardust behind me,
I vanished from the shattered city...
and reappeared somewhere entirely different.
A familiar place ..
one I hadn’t visited in a very long time.
The moment I appeared before its gate,
I found myself quietly staring at the place that had been destroyed
by countless Ultras and demon attacks.
"The Temple..."
Its walls were the same.
Everything was the same.
And yet, it felt emptier than ever ..
a hollow land of ghosts.
Slowly, step by step, I walked inside.
Along the way I passed countless familiar places ..
the study halls, the training fields...
and the Elite Residence where I had lived for two years.
Under the wing of night, rain began to fall,
darkening the desolate land ahead of me even further.
"I never imagined I’d come back to this place... like this."
I exhaled with a bitter chuckle as a faint smirk formed on my face.
Seeing all these familiar scenes stirred memories...
but I didn’t allow myself to linger in them.
The present mattered far more.
I continued forward, descending the staircase leading somewhere entirely different ..
the underground prison beneath the Temple.
The place I had once been thrown into
when I tried to kill myself and destroy everything.
My footsteps were the only sound echoing through the silent halls.
But I wasn’t alone.
Because I already knew ..
the ones I sought were definitely here.
And after only a few more seconds, I reached my destination.
Before me appeared the last person I ever expected to be the culprit.
Deep in the Temple’s depths,
sitting before a massive iron door,
he was waiting.
His hair was pure white...
even sitting down, he looked tall—much taller than me.
He wore a long white robe and round reading glasses,
still clinging to the identity of a church that had fallen long ago.
His black eyes stared directly into mine...
before he gave me a gentle smile.
"You finally made it... Frey Starlight."
"You... Maika Starlight."
I spoke his name quietly.
I had never seen his face in person ..
but I already knew who he was, not to mention the clear resemblance to his mother.
"Carmen’s son."
This was the only child Carmen ever bore in her lifetime.
That fact alone was the one thing preventing me
from tearing his head off his shoulders on the spot.
"Where are they?"
I asked, losing patience.
He seemed to have been waiting for that exact question,
because a small smile appeared as he pushed open the door behind him.
"Right this way."
Maika gestured inward as I walked forward with heavy steps.
"Be careful. I sense a strange power on the other side."
"I know."
Nameless’s warning echoed through my mind,
but I already understood what he was referring to.
Maika was nothing more than a weak SS-rank fighter...
yet something about this place felt completely wrong.
The ominous aura I sensed here wasn’t a joke.
Slowly, my eyes began to glow with a violent light.
Once I confirmed Ada and Carmen’s condition ..
I would obliterate this place
and everyone inside it.
I had already made up my mind.
Blood would be spilled tonight.
Without question.