THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 588: The Shattered Judgement (2)

Blattier couldn’t stop him. The aura Frey had gathered made the high priest’s heart sink, recognizing the disaster about to befall him.

Even with all those countless sacrificed souls, the specter of defeat still clung to Blattier—and for a heartbeat, fear tangled his thoughts. He, the supposed superior in every way, found himself under Frey Starlight’s mercy.

But reality was different.

Grinding himself past the brink, wrestling through blinding pain, Frey unleashed it a fourth time:

“Ten thousand Steps of Shadow: Frey Starlight Style…”

“Nameless Judgement!!!”

A strike greater than any before—enough to rattle the world itself.

A stroke that set death’s shadow upon Blattier and made terror seize him, if only for an instant.

An attack like that would erase him from existence ..that much was almost certain.

That blow would, in all likelihood, end the battle. That was what should have happened.

But fate had other ideas, and in the end… the unimaginable occurred.

Frey Starlight was a heartbeat away from unleashing the greatest Nameless Judgement of his life. The instant he raised his sword toward Blattier to hurl it at him…

Time stalled for a breath, and Frey felt his reality flip upside down.

His vision went scarlet, and a horrific scene followed: blood burst in torrents from his eyes, his nose, and his mouth.

His muscles convulsed grotesquely, and his skin cracked like a stone statue shattered by brutal force.

Frey Starlight crashed toward the ground as Dark Sister slipped from his hand, while Balerion remained bound to him—yet that blade now weighed a ton to the broken Frey, who had collapsed worse than ever before.

Eyes wide open, Frey stared at the ground beneath him, unable to comprehend what had just happened to him.

He felt his body being torn apart without end, pain flooding him like hell itself—a hell unlike anything he had ever known.

This was the price of trying to mimic a power beyond his understanding—a technique unfinished—and on top of that, forcing himself past his limit to unleash Nameless Judgement for the fourth time.

Frey had put too much faith in his body and its regeneration, pushing far, far past the boundary—past the point of no return.

His opponent was SSS-class, and the damage that opponent had inflicted was unlike anything Frey had experienced in his entire life.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Frey spat blood, his expression darkening.

Only a few seconds and a single strike had stood between him and annihilating his foe. If he had executed it properly, he might have won the battle.

But his body failed before he could.

Frey clenched his teeth, trying to rise and make another attempt—

—but the slightest movement in his current state sent every fiber of his being trembling with agony beyond human endurance. That was from a tiny motion, let alone fighting.

Blattier, standing before him, had also lost his senses for a few seconds. Even he had envisioned himself being hit by that attack; the aura he felt at the end was terrifying.

Terrifying enough to freeze him where he stood for a time, before his eyes returned to Frey, now kneeling before him.

From the very start, Blattier had never once felt he could lose. He had controlled the fight from the beginning and had many chances to destroy Frey.

One could even say he’d drawn the battle out on purpose, using his opponent to push himself toward even greater power.

If that proved anything, it was that Blattier was far stronger than Frey.

And yet, at the end of the battle—for the first time ..

Blattier felt the specter of death draw near. The possibility of defeat, which hadn’t existed at all, suddenly stood so close that Blattier froze for long seconds, unable to process what had happened.

But luck still favored him. Even after his opponent had revealed one impossible power after another ..

.. powers that defied logic and shattered limits ..Frey still could not defeat him.

Frey collapsed completely before delivering the finishing blow, and that put him back under Blattier’s mercy.

Blattier kept silent for a while, staring at his opponent with eyes that held a tangle of complicated emotions. As for Frey ..

his body trembled, losing a frightening amount of blood as he tried to stand.

To no avail.

Frey cursed again and again, refusing to accept the result.

“One attack!! All that stood between me and beating him was a single attack!! You could’ve fallen after that—damn you!”

He cursed with all his heart, but in this state, there was nothing he could do.

Before him, Blattier lifted his great spear, aiming to end him.

He said nothing. He refused to speak to him.

After what he had seen, the Bishop knew Frey Starlight was not someone who should be left alive—not for even a second.

Who knew when he might unveil yet another power beyond comprehension? There was nothing to do but kill him.

Frey’s regeneration had halted after all the strain he’d endured. Taking a hit in this condition would be a true catastrophe—one that could cost him his life.

Frey knew that—and so did Blattier.

Around them, the island—vast and immense—had become nothing but a ruined land choked with rubble.

It was no longer a paradise. And just as Blattier moved in to finish Frey ..

a pillar of light descended, swallowing both Blattier and Frey alike, shaking the island yet again.

“Grand Cosmos Formation!!”

At the last possible moment, Snow Lionheart intervened, unleashing his strongest strike at Blattier while grabbing Frey’s body to pull him out of danger at once.

Everything that had happened made him realize this level was far beyond him for now, but there was nothing he could do except hope the Grand Cosmos Formation would be enough to stall Blattier long enough to save Frey.

He used Void Step, trying to flee ..

—but a strange wave of light wrapped around his body and halted him mid-air.

“Where do you think you’re going, Snow Lionheart?”

With his palm raised toward him, Blattier stepped out of the pillar of light wrought by the Grand Cosmos Formation unscathed, untouched by Snow’s attack.

Snow pushed the War King’s Form to its very limit, barely breaking the shackles of light Blattier had placed on him, then stood at the fore with Frey behind him.

“Run, Snow… You’re no match for him,” Frey said hoarsely, trying to stem the horrifying bleeding.

Snow lifted Vermithor, facing Blattier— a monster with one foot already in SSS-class.

“I know he’s far stronger than me ..and I know I have no chance of beating him. But what choice did you leave me, damn it?! I can’t just let you die here!” He leveled his blade at Blattier.

Snow didn’t know what he should do. He had leapt into the fray without thinking when he saw Frey on the verge of death.

But once he arrived, he understood how little he could actually accomplish in a field like this.

Blattier had suffered a great deal of damage fighting Frey, yet even so… he remained an SSS-class monster who could crush the likes of Snow with ease.

Between a collapsed Frey and a Snow who had just set foot on the battlefield,

both now stood at the mercy of the man backed by 35 million souls.

“I no longer care, bearer of Vermithor—whether you’re an envoy of the Lord of Light or anything else. Here and now, both you and Frey Starlight will die.”

Determined to put an end to their lives, Blattier struck with all his might—letting the shadow of death sweep over both Frey and Snow, bringing them closer to their end than ever before.