Even now, he still struggled to fully keep pace with everything happening around him.
After enduring a long and merciless war...
The end had finally come.
And now, all of them would part ways and walk their own separate paths from this moment onward.
"We’ll meet again sooner or later."
"The future is preparing more wars for us... wars even crueler and more savage than these."
Frey spoke, drawing every gaze toward him.
His words sounded almost like a prophecy being recited before them.
War was inevitable.
But this time, its sides remained unknown.
Who would fight whom?
Who would stand against whom?
Enemies existed everywhere.
And overnight...
The ally of today could become the enemy of tomorrow.
As everyone silently watched the final moments of Planet Earth, they found themselves hoping that when they met again...
They would still stand on the same side.
At last, the war finally ended.
The Empire emerged victorious.
And the final battle they fought with their own hands had been nothing more than the closing act of a grand tragedy.
The Ultras died.
Simon Manus, the last Hollow, perished after being forced to fight monsters far beyond his level entirely alone.
Ceres Moonlight finally claimed her revenge against Baylor after using Semiramis’s power, aided by the remaining heroes of humanity.
Gehrman’s promise from more than three hundred years ago had finally been fulfilled.
Humanity had achieved victory.
But it came at a terrible cost.
Countless lives had been lost throughout the years.
An entire planet had been shattered beyond salvation.
Even the survivors themselves had all tasted death at least once.
And so, the celebrations after victory were hollow...
Silent and empty.
No sooner had humanity won its final battle than they were told they must abandon the very world they had fought for all this time.
Many protested.
They refused to leave their homeland, terrified of the unknown awaiting them.
But they quickly surrendered after realizing the home they clung to had already been destroyed.
The Empire lay in ruins.
The continent of the Ultras had crumbled apart.
The Lands of Nightmare had been annihilated.
Even the Shadow Sect itself had not escaped Agaroth’s tyranny, reduced to scattered black metallic ruins spread across the world.
All those reasons forced them to accept reality.
They had no choice but to journey toward another unknown land...
Knowing only that other humans lived there.
Sieghart himself was a complete stranger to them.
An unfamiliar face.
Leading humanity under him would have been nearly impossible.
And so Frey and Snow personally stepped forward to guide everything alongside the familiar figures humanity already trusted.
Under Sieghart’s direction, Frey opened a long-range spatial gate leading directly toward the promised planet.
The journey became astonishingly simple.
Only a single step was needed.
"This marks the beginning of a new era for humanity... one where they finally find their place within this vast universe."
Frey stood at the forefront beside Sieghart as he spoke those words.
After learning that Frey intended to walk a separate path, many humans tried to follow him instead.
Even the fanatics who had fought beneath his banner as the Black Knights begged to accompany him.
But Frey rejected every one of them.
He ordered them to move forward and rebuild human civilization once more.
That, in his eyes, was the best way they could fight for him.
He met the remaining Elite students one final time, bringing the unconscious Dawn back to them.
Dawn was no longer the fortunate survivor he once had been.
Now...
He was nothing more than an ordinary human without any power at all.
The Last Survivor ability had vanished alongside its true owner.
The remaining Elite students were few in number, and most of them had never shared a particularly deep bond with Frey, making their final meeting somewhat dry and distant.
Ceres respected him as a warrior she could rely on.
The same went for others like Daemon and Selina...
All except Uriel Platini, whose feelings toward him went far beyond mere respect.
She even attempted to follow him, yet Frey refused, telling her that if she truly wished to reach her full potential, then she needed to walk beside Snow rather than him.
Though his tone remained gentle and considerate, Frey deliberately kept a real distance between himself and them all.
He wanted the farewell to be easier.
And for the most part...
It worked.
Except for Uriel, of course.
"Are you sure about this? That girl is deeply attached to you. She’d gladly fight for your sake."
Snow spoke after the two of them were left alone, silently watching Uriel’s departing figure fade into the distance after their meeting.
Frey smiled faintly in response.
"She carries Holy Power within her, and the source of that power originates from the Bearers of Light."
"So whether she walks beside you or Sieghart, those are the best possible paths for her."
"You’re talking as if you’re heading somewhere only demons belong," Snow replied.
Frey laughed softly.
"You’re not wrong."
"That’s exactly the kind of place I intend to go."
For the journey ahead, Frey had chosen only a limited number of people to accompany him.
The strongest warriors of the Shadow Sect...
Alongside his father Abraham, the First Author’s servant Maskith...
And Ghost Umbra.
The only true human Frey allowed to walk beside him.
"I’ll give you one final piece of advice, Snow..."
Frey’s tone turned far more serious while humanity continued stepping through the portal one after another.
"The moment you return to Duskreach, sooner or later you’ll inevitably become involved in what’s currently happening within the mysterious continent that appeared out of nowhere..."
"The strongest races are already focused on it."
Including the Bearers of Light.
"Many see it as a land of opportunity... but in truth, it’s nothing more than a gateway leading toward another hell."
"A hell far worse than any nightmare this world has ever endured."
Frey turned toward Snow and offered him a warning worth more than gold.
"That gateway will fully open in roughly one year from now."
"As for those who already entered it... they’re merely trapped inside a massive labyrinth."
Snow listened to the warning, uncertain how to respond.
He wanted to ask him...
How do you know all this?
Knowledge even those inside the continent themselves did not possess.
Yet he held the question back.
By now, mystery itself had become part of Frey’s identity.
"I’ll keep your words in mind," Snow replied with the most formal answer he could manage.
Frey smiled and gave him one final nod.
"That’ll be enough."
After that final exchange, the two remained silent for a long time, quietly watching the last remnants of humanity abandon the dying Earth.
Because of humanity’s massive numbers, the evacuation took a long time.
And yet...
To both of them, it passed far too quickly.
Especially after realizing their farewell was drawing near.
Humanity departed alongside Sieghart.
The Pantheon left with Kalameet after helping humanity during the final battle...
And at last, only the two of them remained.
"So this is goodbye," Snow said quietly.
Frey answered just as calmly.
"Yes... until the next battlefield brings us together."
"If battlefields are the only thing tying us together... then I hope I never see you again."
The two laughed softly before extending their hands and shaking them.
And with that...
Their days fighting together beneath humanity’s banner came to an end.
The next time they met...
They would no longer be Frey and Snow, students of the Temple and warriors of the Empire.
But rather...
The Lord of the Shadow Sect.
And the First Lord of Light.
Both walked their separate paths, marking the end of an era.