THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 682: Under the Crimson Sky (2)

It was surreal.

Unthinkable.

How had joy turned to terror?

How had victory become despair?

Wesker’s third eye witnessed everything .. and his expression twisted into one of ecstasy. ”Ah... yes,” he murmured, as the symphony of explosions and screams played like music in his ears. ”This is it. This is what I wanted to see... what I wanted to hear!

Ahahahahaha!”

His laughter filled the sky, as he clashed with Frey and Snow from opposite sides.

These were the moments Wesker lived for .. the point when mortals reached the peak of their joy, convinced that they had triumphed... only for him to strike, and turn that joy into tragedy.

That was his greatest pleasure .. the sadistic delight of Wesker, the Fourth Seat of the Upper Demons.

While humans died in droves, the three continued to battle in the air, locked in a hopeless struggle.

Even together, Frey and Snow found no advantage.

When Frey’s Dark Sister clashed against Wesker’s bare hand, he realized .. the gulf between them was immeasurable.

Wesker’s power was monstrous.

The sheer difference left Frey burning with frustration. ”You were there from the beginning,” Frey roared, slashing furiously, tearing through the sky with waves of Black Hole Aura. ”You stood beside me .. watched me .. through those cursed eyes of yours!”

The heavens shook under his assault, but Wesker met it with ease. ”You could’ve killed me anytime you wanted!

So why?! Why now .. of all times?!”

Frey’s fury boiled over, his mind unable to comprehend the demon’s intent.

Wesker had been Aegon.

Meaning, he had always been there .. in the temple, during the hunt, throughout the war .. even before that.

There were times Frey had fought Aegon directly, times the prince had genuinely tried to kill him, and moments when he’d feigned weakness, so convincing that Frey had believed he could end him with ease.

But the reality was far different.

And the question now burned in Frey’s mind .. ”Why?!”

Why would a demon of Wesker’s caliber go to such lengths to play this masquerade?

Aegon ..the ambitious prince who had deceived the world into believing he sought the throne for humanity’s sake.

Wesker .. the vile trickster demon whose true motives no one could grasp.

Who would ever believe the two were one and the same?

The thought alone gave Frey a pounding headache.

And Wesker only laughed harder, as though this revelation had been what he’d been waiting for all along. ”Oh, my dear Frey... what nonsense are you babbling now?”

He swatted Snow aside with a wave of crushing aura, then seized Frey by the throat with one hand.

From Wesker’s body, black tendrils erupted, wrapping around the Dark Sister, sealing it in a web of demonic energy.

In the demon’s grasp, Frey found himself powerless. ”Who ever said I wanted to kill you, Frey?”

Wesker’s third eye gleamed ominously as he leaned closer. ”The goal was never to kill you.

You must not die .. no matter what it costs.”

Still gripping him, Wesker began to crush Frey’s body, fracturing bone after bone— but without delivering the killing blow.

Frey didn’t understand.

He didn’t know that the demons were keeping him alive for a reason.

And that reason .. was burning within Wesker’s mind.

Long ago, Nameless had done the impossible.

Through manipulation of souls, he had managed to seal the spirit of Agaroth himself.

In that domain between life and death,

Nameless stood above even the Demon King.

But Agaroth’s soul was too immense, too overwhelming .. there was no vessel in existence that could contain it.

That was why Nameless turned Helmond, the world of demons itself, into a vessel for Agaroth.

From that day on, the Demon King could never leave Helmond again.

Nameless hadn’t sealed Agaroth’s power .. he had sealed his entire existence within that cursed planet.

Yet the seal, strangely, began to weaken .. the more Frey Starlight became like Nameless, and the more he drew upon the latter’s forbidden powers.

In other words .. the key to breaking the seal... was Frey Starlight himself. ”You can’t defeat me, Frey— not even with your little Lightbearer friend,”

Wesker said, his voice dripping with mockery, as a black mist spiraled outward from his hand, engulfing Snow Lionheart.

The fog coiled around Snow like living smoke, devouring him from all sides. ”The odds aren’t in your favor, Frey.

Your friends could die any second now...

Why don’t you try saving them?”

Wesker laughed, his twisted grin widening as his aura surged through Frey’s body like poison.

Frey’s veins bulged; his eyes and mouth bled under the crushing pressure. ”I know this isn’t all you’ve got!” Wesker snarled, tightening his grip around Frey’s skull. ”I know there’s more—deeper inside you!”

The air trembled.

The void itself shook under the demon’s power. ”Come on! Bring it out! Show me that power!

Just like you did against Zibar!”

He was forcing him .. forcing Frey to enter that state again.

The state where Nameless took control.

That alone confirmed the truth ..

Wesker had been watching from the shadows the entire time.

He had seen the battle against Zibar in full.

The demon’s true goal wasn’t to kill Frey .. but to push him .. to make him unleash more and more of the buried power sleeping within.

And that was exactly what he was doing now .. backing Frey, and all of humanity, into a hopeless corner.

Trapped in Wesker’s iron grip,

Frey’s eyes flared with violet light.

The Dark Sister erupted, releasing an overwhelming surge of aura that shattered the demon’s hold.

Frey broke free.

The moment he did, he gathered every ounce of power left in his body and unleashed it all at once. ”Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow ..

Frey Starlight’s style...

Nameless Judgement!”

The sky exploded.

Frey’s Nameless Judgement, fused with the Black Hole Aura and the twin force of his blades, swallowed Wesker whole .. the same catastrophic power that once split the moon apart.

The blast tore through the heavens, turning the crimson sky to violet, obliterating every celestial sphere Wesker had conjured.

The world shook as bolts of violet lightning raged across the sky, consuming everything in their wake.

Then, from amidst the chaos,

Frey fell toward the ground .. gasping, trembling, trying to hold himself together.

Wesker’s residual aura still ate away at his flesh, refusing to fade.

The injuries were brutal, his body scorched and bleeding, yet not a single wound regenerated.

Even for him, that attack had been costly.

It was the only way to break free of the demon’s grasp.

Raising his head toward the violet-stained sky,

Frey steadied his breath, knowing all too well that the blast hadn’t been enough to kill Wesker.

And his fear was confirmed .. when the demon’s voice spread across the ruined heavens once again. ”That’s not what I wanted to see.”

The sound of Wesker’s voice reverberated through the air, followed by a tremor that tore the sky apart.

The aura clouds that had blanketed the heavens were ripped open, replaced by a new, sinister radiance .. a scarlet aura, taking the form of an enormous red eye gazing down upon the world.

Beneath it, Wesker hovered calmly, his body torn and half-destroyed by Frey’s devastating strike.

But the giant eye turned .. its gaze fixed upon him .. and in moments, the demon’s shredded form regenerated, the wounds closing as though they had never existed.

Wesker returned to perfection .. smiling, flawless, reborn. ”If you won’t release more of Nameless’s power... then don’t blame me for what happens next.”

He laughed, stretching out his hand toward the battlefield below .. toward the Imperial soldiers still clashing with the remnants of the Ultras.

An instant later, a blinding explosion erupted.

Entire regiments were vaporized by a single flick of Wesker’s finger.

He was toying with them .. using their lives as mere pawns to torment Frey into breaking his limits.

It was now undeniable .. even with Snow beside him,

Frey could not defeat the Fourth Seat.

The gap between them was unfathomable.

In that battlefield drowned in chaos and blood, there was nothing left... but despair.

Watching from afar, his wrinkled hand clutching a half-empty flask,

Lord Mergo exhaled heavily. ”So this is the bitter truth, Frey Starlight...” he muttered. ”There is no hope for humanity... not against monsters like that.”

He took another slow drink, his voice breaking with weary resignation. ”You should have accepted my offer, boy... instead of letting this tragedy unfold.”

The old lord had known all along.

He’d seen this coming .. the demon’s fangs had been waiting from the very start. ”If there truly are gods in this world...”

Mergo whispered, gazing up at the crimson sky, ”...then may they have mercy on us .. for the future is black, and filled with nothing but darkness.”