THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 728: Shadow Sect vs the High Demons (10)

Slowly... father and son walked together, one step after another.

Abraham supported his son’s body, helping him move as they headed toward the other member of their family .. the girl who had lost her sense of reality after everything she had witnessed recently.

Frey was in a strange state. His body felt far heavier than before, as if it no longer truly belonged to him.

Frey Starlight had always been a walking mass of chaos .. a body containing a terrifying number of abilities and lethal weapons, capable of destroying the entire world if necessary. The split moon in the sky was proof enough of that.

But now... Frey felt that chaos swelling within him, surpassing the limits he had imposed on himself .. making him, for the first time, truly afraid.

Shadow Adaptation: 6/7

Just that alone .. and despite not yet fully understanding what he had gained ..Frey was terrified of that overwhelming power. It didn’t feel like something anyone could truly control.

Yet Nameless had once done exactly that... and had even grasped power far greater and more absolute.

And so Frey resolved to do the same.

For survival’s sake .. and for the sake of protecting the family that had finally returned to him.

Exhausted, Frey turned his gaze toward his father—Abraham.

Abraham had wrapped his arm around Frey’s back, supporting him. His hand was warm .. proof that Abraham was alive. The dead never carried such warmth.

His arm was firm and steady—proof that he was a man one could rely on. A man who possessed great strength, strength he himself had forged to protect and find his family.

Staring at Abraham, Frey realized that his father resembled him greatly .. so much so that he felt more like an older version of Frey than his father.

Perhaps the only difference between them was Frey’s white hair, which he had gained after being prematurely aged by the immense pressure he had endured in life. In contrast, Abraham still possessed the long black hair of the Starlight bloodline—the place where everything had begun.

In those brief moments, Frey recalled the memories his father had once shared with him .. how he had struggled for many years, battered by this merciless world.

Frey’s eyes reddened.

He felt happy .. because his father had returned.

And at the same time... he felt sorrow.

Sorrow, because his father was now forced to walk through this hell with him once more, after everything he had already endured.

His emotions clashed violently .. but Frey didn’t cry.

Or rather... he couldn’t.

It was as if his tears had long since dried up.

So instead of crying, Frey laughed loudly.

”I feel... like I’m dreaming. You’re here, Father. You’re alive—because the dead don’t give off this kind of warmth.”

Hearing that, Abraham narrowed his eyes and glanced at his son, before looking ahead again.

”I don’t fully understand my current state. I’ve been through too much, and I no longer know how the living are supposed to feel... but at the very least—yes. I am alive, my son.”

Frey nodded.

”This is really strange... Meeting you again was always one of my greatest wishes. Yet now, all I can wonder is—am I truly dreaming? Or is this a nightmare?”

As Frey spoke, a massive explosion shook the sky, forcing both him and Abraham to lift their heads at the same time.

The sky was truly terrifying now .. split completely in two. One half was pitch-black, the other sky-blue, reflecting the titanic clash of auras raging above.

Gehrman was still fighting Wesker.

And the intensity of their battle far surpassed anything the father and son had faced before.

”Life has become an endless nightmare... Every time we defeat our enemies, someone stronger appears immediately after. This relentless cycle of battle is destined to continue—until the day the final enemy descends upon us.”

”The true nightmare.”

”As long as the Demon King remains alive... this will never end.”

And the nightmare... would continue.

Abraham didn’t fully grasp the Demon King’s true power, but his clashes with beings like Wesker and Zibar were enough to give him a rough idea. If the fourth and tenth ranks were this monstrous, then their king could only be something far more terrifying.

Frey didn’t want his father to walk this long road again—to fight merciless enemies over and over.

And yet... he was happy to have him by his side once more.

That, too, was selfishness.

But Abraham never saw it that way.

”Whether this is a dream or a nightmare... each of us chooses whether to live it or not. And I made my choice long ago, my son—the moment I opened my eyes in this world.”

”I devoted my entire life to my family. To finding you. To protecting you. And I intend to do so until the very end—until death, and even beyond death.”

Nothing had changed in Abraham Starlight’s heart.

If anything, he was more determined than ever now that both his son and daughter stood before him once more.

The son from a previous life.

And the daughter from this one.

Even after death, Abraham Starlight never betrayed himself .. never betrayed his oath. He was ready to continue until the very end.

”You don’t need to feel guilty toward me. I choose my own path freely.”

Frey said nothing more.

He had no right to interfere with his father’s decision .. especially when faced with such unwavering resolve.

If anything, it only deepened Frey’s admiration for him.

Because remaining faithful to the same principle for an entire life—and beyond it—was never easy.

To the point where even death itself had failed to sway him.

At the same time, Frey found himself wondering ..

Do I truly have the freedom to choose, the way my father did?

Abraham had chosen this path of his own will—but what about Frey?

Was his current struggle the result of his own choice?

Or was it a fate, a road he had been forced to walk against his will?

Frey pondered the question for a while... but he gave himself no answer.

He did not want to acknowledge it—because the moment he did, he felt as though something inside him would collapse.

Forcing himself to push those thoughts aside, Frey finally reached his sister together with his father.

Ada was still there, sitting on the ground, protected by a transparent barrier of incomprehensible power.

An aura radiated from the strange object she held in her hands.

That barrier had been strong enough to protect her from Rank-13 demon Geppetto earlier.

Yet it allowed both Abraham and Frey to pass through .. as if it recognized them in some way.

Crossing the barrier brought relief to both Abraham and Frey, who had feared they might not be able to reach Ada.

She clearly did not look well at all.