Shadow Adaptation: 7/7
The maximum level had been reached—
the absolute apex of the world-breaking ability known as Shadow Adaptation.
An ability classified among the three strongest powers in all of history, since the dawn of time.
The seventh phase had opened ..
the most powerful stage among all seven.
But that was no longer the most important thing.
The final mission had been completed...
and the System’s boundaries had been shattered.
The System itself had become nearly meaningless, ever since Frey had begun relying entirely on his own powers for growth.
The final mission was the last directive the System ever issued .. a closing act to a strange system whose origin Frey had never been allowed to know.
The moment Frey killed Beatrice,
a strange sensation flooded him from nowhere—
as though dark chains that had bound him for countless years
had finally been broken.
It was a feeling beyond words.
Something without equal.
A sensation of freedom... of liberation.
A pure white light covered Frey’s eyes,
and his entire being fell into a perfect stillness—
as though his soul itself had left his body.
He could no longer move.
In fact, it was as if he no longer existed in the physical world at all.
The warriors of the Shadow Sect, led by Gehrman, protected his body,
giving him the space he needed to finally conclude the story of the System
and uncover the truth hidden behind it.
And so...
Frey Starlight sank deep... deeper still... into another world.
At first, there was only darkness.
A pitch-black void where nothing could be seen,
where sensation itself faded,
and even the meaning of existence began to change.
Then a single beam of light appeared—
washing over the darkness before Frey’s eyes.
The light flooded everything, illuminating the void
until sight itself became possible again.
When Frey regained awareness,
he could see his own body for the first time.
He now stood inside a vast white canvas—
an infinite expanse of nothingness.
Here, everything existed...
and at the same time, nothing did.
A place where time and space no longer functioned.
A realm with no sky...
and no ground.
For a long moment, Frey stood in awe,
unable to comprehend what was happening.
But he soon forced himself back to clarity,
refusing to be swallowed by the endless white.
Only then did he realize...
He was not alone.
Someone else had come with him.
Someone who had been standing beside him from the very beginning ..
yet Frey had failed to notice.
A man of the same height, wearing a jet-black mask.
It was Nameless.
He stared at Frey with his arms crossed,
as if he had been waiting for a long time.
"You finally came back to yourself.
I thought you’d stay trapped in this place forever."
Frey frowned.
"How long have I been frozen like that?"
Nameless shook his head.
"Who knows?
Time doesn’t exist here."
Frey paused, then regained his composure.
"Where are we?"
That was the right question.
Even Nameless—
with all his boundless knowledge—
hesitated.
"I’ve never seen this place in my life...
even though I once traveled the entire universe."
Frey narrowed his eyes and took a few steps across the white expanse.
If even Nameless could not identify this place,
then the situation was more serious than he had imagined.
But then Nameless continued, as if something had clicked.
"I regained awareness before you,
and I examined this strange realm.
I still don’t know exactly where this place exists .. but I think I understand what it is."
Frey turned to him instantly.
Nameless might actually have the answer.
He paused for a moment before speaking.
"Across different corners of our world... the physical universe...
in distant regions scattered throughout existence...
during my long journey,
I found traces of something ancient—
fragmented messages, scattered inscriptions, cryptic words.
They were chaotic, disconnected...
yet all spoke of the same thing."
Nameless’s eyes glinted.
"They all described another world—
no... not a world...
a part of our world.
A portion hidden completely from physical beings,
sealed behind a veil that cannot be pierced."
He let his gaze wander across the empty expanse.
"They called it..."
"The Aether Realm."
"The Aether Realm?" Frey repeated.
Nameless nodded.
"That’s all I know.
Somehow, after you completed the System’s final mission,
you were pulled into this realm...
and for some reason,
I was pulled in with you."
Frey nodded.
"In other words...
whatever—or whoever—brought us here
is already here...
watching us."
He turned his gaze toward the infinite white void.
And then...
A voice answered him from nothingness.
"Yes. That is correct."
The first voice arrived—ethereal, deep and soft, almost like a child’s voice.
It came from between Frey and Nameless, sending a wave of cold shivers through both of them. They leapt backward at the same time, instinctively distancing themselves from the source of the sound.
Standing side by side, Frey and Nameless stared at that... thing.
At that moment, they were likely thinking the same question.
What in hell is this thing?
The being before them was not ordinary.
Neither Frey nor Nameless could even determine whether it was truly alive. Its features were unclear, and they could not even identify its gender.
Its form... its body was pure white, identical to the white world beneath their feet.
It floated in the void, its face slightly more defined than the rest of its body.
A perfectly white face—
no hair,
no eyes,
no nose.
Only... a mouth.
A mouth curved into a strange smile.
Not kind.
Not cruel.
The only fitting description was that it was a being from an unreal world.
Frey and Nameless stared at it for several seconds, until the pale face spoke again.
"What is this? I summoned you here, yet you came with two forms..."
The childlike voice echoed as the being tilted its head and laughed softly.
"Life has not been kind to you, my dear Frey."
The entity spoke Frey’s name, making him frown and tighten his guard.
The situation was bad.
Neither Frey nor Nameless could summon even a single trace of aura here.
They were completely defenseless ..
entirely at this being’s mercy.
The entity seemed aware of their thoughts and spoke calmly.
"No need to worry. I cannot harm you, even if I wished to."
He lifted its white hand lazily.
"Aura does not function here, so attempting to use it would be pointless."
Strangely, that explanation only made the tension worse.
Being deprived of aura was something neither of them had ever experienced.
Frey was the first to speak.
"What are you? And what do you have to do with me... with us?"
He glanced at Nameless beside him.
Nameless remained silent, watching the being with full caution.
The entity smiled.
"There is no point in telling you my identity. Even if I gave you a name, you would not recognize it."
It paused for a moment before continuing.
"Because your self is distorted ..
so distorted that you have forgotten who you are...
and forgotten everyone around you."
"I don’t understand a single word of what you’re saying." Frey’s frown deepened.
The being drifted around him slowly.
"Forget me. You came here to learn the truth about the System, did you not?"
The pale face turned toward Nameless.
"I imagine our masked friend wishes to know the answer as well, correct?"
Nameless could not deny it.
Until now, Frey Starlight’s power, abilities, and even most of his fighting methods all originated from Nameless.
Everything—
except the System.