THE VILLAIN'S POV Chapter 704: Footsteps in a Fallen Kingdom (2)

Upon witnessing my unwavering determination, Snow lowered his eyes and let out a soft, cynical laugh.

"You’ve always been such a bastard, Frey.

It doesn't shock me that you're prepared to desert us all for the sake of your sister.

That is simply your nature."

He took a step toward me.

A brief thought crossed my mind...

Would he attempt to block my path?

If he chose to interfere, the situation would become messy.

His power had reached a level where he could now face me on equal ground.

I prepared to draw my blade...

However, I hesitated at the final moment.

There was no sign of aggression.

No intent to kill.

No surging aura.

With empty hands, Snow merely approached me with a calm expression.

What was his goal—?

The answer arrived the instant he reached me.

His fist tightened...

And he delivered a direct punch to my face.

It was a sudden, savage strike that came out of nowhere.

The force sent me reeling back several meters, a burning sensation erupting across my right cheek from the impact.

It was a purely physical blow.

No aura was used.

Nothing mystical involved.

Despite that...

It hurt like hell.

I landed on my back, staring blankly at the sky above.

Snow walked forward again, coming to a halt right beside me.

"Frey... the things you have endured have left deep wounds within you.

You constantly try to handle everything by yourself, without even realizing you're doing it.

And I can't help but despise your selfishness for that."

He exhaled a frustrated sigh and sat down calmly next to me.

"Who told you I was going to stop you, you moron?

...I only wanted to assist you."

My eyes widened as the realization finally hit me.

I shifted my gaze toward him.

"Why didn't you just ask me to join you?

If we head out together, our odds of success will be much higher...

And we will be able to come back alive.

Together."

"..."

So that was the source of Snow's irritation.

He never intended to stand in my way.

His only desire was to accompany me...

To help me rescue Ada.

Thinking back on it... it should have been obvious.

We had been comrades in arms for so long that he could read my mind before I even spoke.

Naturally, he knew I would go after Ada.

Of course he wanted to offer his support...

But blinded by my own warped personality, I failed to see it...

That wretched instinct to depend only on myself, a habit forged by my past life...

Experience had taught me a single lesson:

In the end, I could only rely on my own power.

Regardless of how many companions stood by my side,

I always finished the journey alone.

That had been the reality for Frey Starlight from the moment I woke up in this world.

But Snow...

Snow was an exception.

He was the one individual who remained at my side...

Through every trial.

Even when facing Wesker.

He was different.

Slowly, I pushed myself up to sit beside him.

"I apologize...

It seems the ghosts of my past still have a tight grip on me."

I forced a faint smile in his direction.

"I will try to change that mindset moving forward...

But I am going to be selfish one last time.

I'm asking you to let me handle this alone.

Just for this once."

I stood up, forcing a choice upon him that he didn't want to make.

"Your presence is required here.

For our comrades, for those who survived...

You are the only person whose strength I can trust completely if something goes wrong."

The Shadow Sect could not be fully relied upon.

The human forces were far too fragile.

Snow was the only one I could entrust with such a heavy burden.

"Stay here.

Lead them.

Ensure their survival."

Snow looked up at me, his jaw set firmly.

"The enemy we face is too powerful, Frey...

You won't be able to claim victory by yourself."

My words didn't convince Snow.

He was well aware of the terrifying strength of our adversaries.

In response, I could only offer a small, confident smile.

"Do not worry. I am not by myself this time."

As those words escaped my lips, Snow froze for a split second.

A violet shadow shimmered behind me for a fleeting moment...

The faint outline of a man wearing a mask of black metal...

A presence so majestic and heavy it could only belong to a sovereign.

"I will return, no matter the price.

Until then, I am leaving everything in your care."

A wave of deep purple aura washed over me as I prepared for teleportation.

Snow let out another weary sigh... still full of doubt.

But seeing my resolve, he stopped trying to hold me back.

"Make sure you rescue your sister and come back in one piece.

We will be waiting for your return."

I gave a nod, and in the following instant, I vanished from the Shadow Sect, leaving him and the others behind.

---

...

For a long time, Snow stood there, fixated on the spot where I had been.

Eventually, he turned his head toward a patch of deep shadow.

"Do you really intend to hide there until the very end without saying a word?

Sansa..."

His face was expressionless, his voice devoid of warmth.

From the darkness he indicated, the shadows began to swirl...

And within seconds, Sansa stepped out from the void, fully transformed into her demonic form.

"He is gone.

It's too late to say anything to him now..." Snow remarked, to which Sansa gave a slight shake of her head.

"It is alright.

I wouldn't have been of any use to him... not with the strength I have now."

Snow did not argue.

Sansa’s demonic power was certainly formidable...

But it was still significantly below his own, and far beneath Frey’s.

Nevertheless, Snow was certain of one thing:

Sansa possessed the ability to move Frey’s heart far more than he ever could.

That fact alone made her existence vital—critically so.

"He knew you were lurking there.

His senses are much more acute than mine."

If Snow had detected her, then Frey had undoubtedly known she was there from the start.

He had simply chosen to ignore her until he left.

"I am well aware of that..." Sansa answered, her face vacant as she clenched her fist tightly.

"One day... I will be able to walk up to him just like you did.

Not today, but eventually... I definitely will."

Snow didn't reply.

He only gave a soft chuckle.

Unlike Snow, Sansa had hesitated—

Because she felt weak, unable to support Frey in the way Snow could.

But she made a silent promise to herself:

To grow strong enough to stand by Frey's side one day.

Strong enough to fight alongside him.

Strong enough to reach out to him, just as Snow had done today...

Instead of hiding away in the darkness, useless and paralyzed.

She knew exactly what she required.

Power.

Nothing else mattered.

Recognizing this, Snow laughed softly before turning away.

"The two of you...

You really are cut from the same cloth."

---

...

---

— Frey Starlight’s POV —

In an instant, my feet touched the soil of the Empire once again.

I had arrived in the Starlight Region...

But it bore no resemblance to the place I knew.

Fire.

Debris.

Total devastation everywhere I looked.

"It looks like a massive conflict occurred here..."

Judging solely by the scale of the ruin, it was obvious that a catastrophic event had taken place.

I wondered for a second what kind of titans had clashed with such intensity...

But there was no time to linger.

My priority was locating Ada, and nothing else.

I sprinted deeper into the heart of the region.

"Release your aura and prepare for combat.

A formidable foe is nearby."

The voice of Nameless resonated suddenly in my mind.

I already suspected this level of ruin didn't come from a minor skirmish...

But the fact that Nameless himself noted the strength of the perpetrator only increased my anxiety.

Could it be... one of the Ten Upper Demons?

That was my initial suspicion... they were the pinnacle of power, after all.

Nameless perceived my thoughts clearly, yet he offered no reply.

He remained quiet.

Because he already knew my assumption was wrong.

The person responsible for this carnage was not a demon.

It was a human.

He could sense it from the lingering remnants of aura... a feat I wasn't yet capable of.

From those traces alone, a specific identity occurred to him regarding the culprit...

But he decided to keep that information to himself.

Clueless to all of this, I kept pushing forward into the region, praying that Ada was still safe.