Geppetto was dead .. his body dissolved, erased by the hands of Frey Starlight.
The process was simple... too simple.
But what followed was something else entirely.
The moment Geppetto died, it felt as though the world itself shifted.
Black mist rose from his remains, a strange power flooded the air, and the change that followed was palpable .. many felt it.
Yet among them, Frey Starlight did not care.
For in that moment, he stood frozen, his eyes glowing with a violent violet light ..
a flare of the overwhelming power that had surged through him.
"Shadow Adaptation: 5/7."
His strength had risen again.
He didn’t yet understand exactly what this new phase granted him, but he knew he had taken another giant step forward .. closer to the power he had always sought.
"I need to help my father..."
He whispered, turning toward the battlefield where Abraham Starlight fought the Tenth-Rank Demon.
Their clash resembled a natural disaster .. darkness and light devouring one another.
And farther away, another catastrophe raged .. the battle between Gehrman and Wesker.
The war between the Shadow Sect and the High Demons had reached a turning point.
Whoever won today would shape the fate of humanity.
Abraham Starlight was still himself .. the monstrous prodigy of the Starlight family, the strongest human in history.
He dominated the fight against Zibar with terrifying ease.
His combat style was unique .. speed sharper than thought, skill polished to perfection.
Zibar tried to match him, swinging Katarina with demonic ferocity, but in swordsmanship alone...
Abraham was untouchable.
S L A S H !!
A surprise strike .. Abraham’s blade carved across Zibar’s chest, opening a fresh, deep wound.
Zibar staggered, enraged, retaliating with a lightning-fast strike drenched in immense aura .. but Abraham was already there, already ready, blocking effortlessly.
"Too slow."
The words were whispered into Zibar’s ear a second before Abraham’s kick launched him sliding across the battlefield, carving a trail of destruction into the earth.
Zibar regained balance barely .. only for Abraham to appear behind him like a specter.
The demon swung instinctively .. but hit nothing.
Abraham had already moved.
S L A S H !!
Another brutal wound opened across Zibar’s body before he could even breathe.
"Bastard!!"
Zibar launched a colossal aura blast shaped like a giant fist, obliterating everything in front of him ..
yet Abraham remained untouched.
"If you have a trump card, use it now ..
otherwise, you’ll die faster than you can blink."
Abraham’s voice echoed through the battlefield.
He dashed around Zibar in blinding arcs of radiant light, leaving hundreds of glowing trails circling the demon like a cage.
Zibar stood at the center .. desperate, eyes darting, trying to predict where the strike would come from.
But Abraham’s speed was inhuman.
"Trying to guess where I’ll hit you?"
His voice came from everywhere .. yet from nowhere.
"It’s pointless.
The strike is coming from all directions."
Zibar’s eyes widened in horror as hundreds of deep cuts suddenly appeared across his body .. all at the same time.
His black blood sprayed like ink across the battlefield.
Driven into panic, Zibar detonated his own aura, releasing a massive explosive wave that flung Abraham backward.
Abraham slid to a halt, planting his Light Sword into the earth to stabilize himself.
He stared silently at Zibar.
The demon was panting, trembling .. healing, but slowly.
His rage was beyond measure.
Especially now that Katarina .. his strongest defense .. was shattered by Frey’s Nameless Judgement earlier.
Zibar had lost his greatest shield.
The situation was no longer in his favor .. and the enemy before him was strong enough to kill him.
"You leave me no choice... human."
Zibar straightened, arms spread wide.
"From this point forward, I fight assuming you can kill me."
His body pulsed violently, aura distorting space itself.
Abraham narrowed his eyes .. he could feel the shift.
"Reincarnation Soul .. Release."
A gray wave burst from Zibar’s body, spreading across the world like a silent bell.
"What did you just do?"
Abraham asked, his voice sharpened.
Zibar smiled .. wide, cruel, triumphant.
"I activated my ability."
The Soul of Reincarnation.
"I am a War General of the Demon Army.
Copies of me fight across the world.
But at a moment like this .. a moment of life or death ..
I recall every copy back into myself."
His grin widened into something monstrous.
"In other words .."
Zibar shifted, aura condensing into solid force.
Two identical figures materialized beside him .. perfect clones, slightly weaker, yet terrifying.
"Two clones .. each at 80% of your power..."
Abraham muttered, measuring them instantly.
Zibar chuckled.
"Correct.
Each one holds 80% of my strength .. while I retain 100%.
Meaning..."
His tone darkened.
"...you’re effectively fighting three of me at once."
The clones moved .. one step, and Abraham was surrounded.
Zibar spoke like a judge passing sentence:
"This is Reincarnation Soul .
one of the deadliest abilities granted by the Demon King Agaroth.
They think it exists only for large-scale wars.
But it is lethal in single combat as well."
Abraham rolled his shoulders, eyes half-lidded.
"Annoying ability."
He scanned the three demons calmly.
"But weaker copies won’t save you."
Zibar smirked back .
"Heh... we’ll see about that."
Zibar looked confident .. and without further delay,
he charged alongside his clones straight toward Abraham.
From the right, from the left, and from the front ..
all three attacked simultaneously, aiming to carve through Abraham’s flesh.
But their blades cut nothing.
Abraham vanished.
Zibar and his copies chased instantly, and a high-speed battle erupted.
A streak of white light raced ahead, hunted by three darker shadows behind it ..
colliding, splitting apart, crashing through the field with violent force.
Abraham blasted one clone away again and again, but every time it re-formed and returned.
He was faster, undeniably .. but fighting from three angles at once was beginning to show its weight.
Even so, the Star of Starlight remained perfectly calm.
"Destroying these clones won’t be simple... I’ll need one of the Supreme Arts .. but the main body won’t let me get it off so easily."
Dodging Katarina’s blade, Abraham shifted his stance,
summoning a second Light Sword into his free hand.
Dual-wielding, he met the storm head-on ..
two blades flashing, parrying Zibar and his clones with relentless rhythm.
"World-breaking abilities grant overwhelming advantage in battle,"
Zibar roared, darkness cracking the air,
"and Soul Reincarnation is among the strongest ever born!"
BOOOOM!
The battlefield exploded under his aura .. crushing pressure forcing Abraham back.
"This power was granted to me by the Great King Agaroth himself!"
Zibar bellowed.
"Compared to that .. what can your pathetic ability even do?"
Steel screamed and sparks of light shattered the air ...
Abraham’s blades moving at an inhuman tempo, deflecting three swords at once.
He wounded the clones repeatedly, but he too endured cuts and slashes ..
yet not a single drop of blood fell.
Only glowing scratches danced across his aura-shrouded skin.
"You can’t defeat me! No human alive can injure one of the Ten High-Rank Demons!"
Zibar opened his jaws wide, unleashing a massive beam of aura.
His clones mirrored him instantly ..
three annihilating beams converging on Abraham at point-blank range.
For a terrifying moment, it seemed unstoppable.
But from within the storm...
a radiant barrier of pure light unfolded.
A celestial dome .. gleaming white and unbroken.
"Stardust — Abraham Starlight Style : Dawn Barrier."
Zibar recognized it instantly.
The same technique that once withstood Nameless Judgement more than once.
A defense forged to withstand even the impossible.
Abraham’s voice drifted from within .. calm, cold, absolute.
"You rely too heavily on your world-breaking power...
and that dependence will be your downfall."
Inside the barrier, he lowered his stance ..
discarding one blade, gripping the remaining sword with both hands.
"Abilities are great .. but they are not everything."
"Skill. Technique. Reading the fight .. these matter just as much."
"And you, it seems... have failed to understand that."
He inhaled once .. and the world dimmed.
Then Abraham exploded in blinding radiance.
"Stardust - Abraham Starlight Style : Purging Star."
He swung.
Reality itself split.
A colossal arc of light tore through the three beams ..
and kept going.
It sliced through Zibar .
through mountains ..
through the horizon ..
burning the sky into white fire.
Silence followed.
And then ..
Zibar’s upper half crashed to the ground.
His clones .. obliterated completely.
"W-what...?"
Blood pooled beneath him .. black, thick, unreal.
He stared upward, stunned beyond thought.
Abraham walked toward him, holding a titan-sized blade of condensed light ..
his sword swollen with borrowed power, radiant and merciless.
"It seems this is the end... High-Rank Demon."
Zibar refused to die.
From his severed torso, strings of aura lashed outward ..
dragging his upper half back into place.
His body fused .. trembling, unstable.
One knee hit the ground.
He gasped like a drowning beast.
Abraham narrowed his eyes.
"Impressive vitality. To kill you for good,
I’ll have to erase your body entirely."
"Shut up... human."
Zibar’s hand covered his face ..
his eyes flaring with murderous gray light.
"Don’t think for a moment this battle is over!"
His aura erupted .. stronger, wilder, unrestrained.
And in less than a second ..
Abraham found himself surrounded.
Not by two clones.
Not by three.
By hundreds.
A legion of Zibars .. each carrying a portion of his power.
"I hold the King’s power within me!"
"Even if it destroys me — I will NOT lose!"
He steadied himself .. sword of Katarina reforged in his grip.
Abraham summoned his Light Blade once more.
"Still relying only on your ability...?"
"Is that desperation, or stupidity?"
He looked around slowly ..
at the endless circle of clones closing in.
And then .. quietly he closed his eyes.
"So be it."
His eyes reopened .. blazing like a newborn sun.
Aura surged.
One sweep .. and dozens of clones shattered instantly.
"I’ll kill you and every copy you hide behind."
"Let’s see if your precious power can save you then."
Abraham shot forward ..
a beam of light crashing head-on into Zibar’s army.
The final phase of the battle .. had finally begun.