THE VILLAIN'S POV Chapter 711: A Spark Before the Collapse (2)

“Expose your true nature… to the entire world.”

Those very colors..

the ones destined to become her funeral shroud.

Maika remained entirely certain of who Carmen truly was:

Self-serving.

Cruel.

A woman who existed only for her own sake..

that conviction was etched into every fiber of his soul.

His perspective had been forged by years of agony,

years of being cast aside,

and years of a hatred so profound it had warped him into a monster.

To his mind, his whole existence served as evidence—

Carmen Starlight cared for nothing but herself.

Frey witnessed this clearly…

and once more, he cursed the heavens for the twisted manner in which everything was turned against him.

“Observe carefully, Maika Starlight..

this is the final sight you will ever behold.”

Frey’s tone was hushed and freezing.

Maika could feel Frey’s boiling rage..

yet something felt wrong.

Where was the hopelessness?

Where was the descent into lunacy?

Ada was on the verge of death..

and Frey cherished his sister above all else.

Her loss should have shattered his mind completely.

Instead, he stayed composed.

Furious—certainly.

Repulsed—without a doubt.

But he was controlled.

Why?

Maika couldn't find the answer.

His focus shifted back to the trial,

where Carmen now stood directly before Ada.

The elder woman and the young girl exchanged a silent gaze…

one long second followed another…

Until a mere minute remained on the countdown.

Only then did Carmen break the silence.

“Ada… look at me.

Look at yourself.

Look at the predicament we find ourselves in.”

She reached out, gently stroking Ada’s hair.

“The world we inhabit… is governed by strength.

Nothing else carries weight.

Regardless of your talent or your intellect…

you will reach nothing without power.”

“That is the truth life forced me to learn.”

Had Ada possessed power like the other Great Clan heads…

Maika would have never captured her.

Had Ada been as formidable as her brother Frey…

this tragedy would never have unfolded.

“No one can remain by your side to shield you forever, Ada.

You must depend on yourself.. on your own inner strength.”

“You will find allies.. and that is beneficial.

You will face enemies.. and that is merely the natural order.

You will endure suffering, time and again… but keep this in mind, Ada:

your strength alone determines your fate.

Discard your vulnerability, open your eyes to the reality of the world…

because your time is running out.”

Carmen spoke with a soft voice, and a faint, tender smile touched her lips.

“As for me… my remaining time is much shorter than yours.

Haha… I am truly sorry, Ada.

I am… sorry.”

In that heartbeat,

Ada grasped the truth.

“C–Carmen… what are you—”

But the moment had already passed.

In a flash,

Carmen’s arm erupted with a brilliant radiance..

..and an explosion rocked the arena as crimson spray covered everything.

Ada’s reaction was too slow.

However, Frey and Maika saw the act with perfect clarity.

Carmen had thrust her hand into her own chest..

plunging it deep,

obliterating her own heart.

Blood splattered across Ada’s face and clothes as Carmen collapsed, the red tide flowing rapidly and staining the ground.

For a brief moment,

Ada stood paralyzed before Carmen’s failing body.

A sharp intake of breath left her lips.

“Huh?”

A small gasp escaped.. one that betrayed her total failure to comprehend what had occurred.

Then, the timer froze.

The trial concluded, revealing a solitary truth:

Carmen Starlight… was the one who had been executed. By her own hand.

“No… Carmen… Carmen… why… for my sake… why!!”

Ada fell over Carmen’s cold body, her wail echoing through the entire room—a cry saturated with sorrow and agonizing grief.

For the first time, Ada experienced a sliver of Frey’s torment.

The misery of watching a life extinguished for your own sake.

Carmen had perished so Ada could endure… but Ada realized she would never know peace again.

The burden of that sacrificed soul would haunt her forever.

Frey understood that better than anyone.

From the start, he hadn't feared for Ada’s life.. not even for a second.

He was certain Carmen would never hurt her.

Carmen loved them both profoundly, and she had been prepared to sacrifice herself for them long ago.

Frey’s trust in her never wavered, even after discovering what she had done to her own son…

Nevertheless, her passing left a deep mark upon him.

Not as deep as the scar it left on Ada.

But Carmen was important.. she was family.

And that was why the fury within him began to howl like a gale.

Across the way, Maika stood rooted to the spot, unable to process what he had witnessed.

The selfish woman he had loathed for so many years had just given up her life…

For another person.

She, of all people… died for someone else?

That simple reality broke something inside his mind.

“No… don’t toy with me, you bastards!!! Stand up, you damn whore! Wake up!! You—of all people—you die for someone else?!”

“Don’t mock me!!!”

He surged forward in a rage, his aura exploding violently and shattering the glass wall that kept them from Ada and Carmen.

Nothing he saw brought him satisfaction.

Nothing made sense.

He charged toward Ada and the corpse she held.. but he failed to realize how miserable he appeared.

The instant he took a step, his frame locked up.. and a massive wave of dark stellar aura engulfed him, hoisting him into the air.

In the blink of an eye, he was dangling from Frey’s grip.

Frey held him effortlessly with a single hand.

“I told you, didn’t I? I told you… your end would come very soon.”

In that instant… Frey no longer seemed human.

He appeared as a reaper ready to harvest a wretched soul.

His power was so absolute that Maika could not even flinch.

Meanwhile, Ada finally noticed her brother after he revealed himself.

“…Frey…”

Seeing him there.. drenched in tears and Carmen’s blood.. she understood he had seen it all.

That realization only made her fractured heart throb with more pain.

She had never wanted him to endure this agony.

Yet she had forced him to live through it once more.

Then, something impossible took place—

“Frey…”

It was Carmen’s voice.

Carmen, sprawled on the floor with her chest torn open, was clinging to the last fragments of her life.

She looked directly at Frey.. at the young man clutching her only son by the throat.

The son who represented her greatest failure.

Her unpardonable sin.

She had provided that boy with nothing but hopelessness… pain… and spite.

She knew this. She accepted it.

She offered no apology.

But with the very last breath she possessed, she spoke to Frey.

“Please… let him… let him live…”

Those were her final words.

Carmen’s dying wish…

was merely for her son to be spared.

He had committed countless sins…

But she desired for him to at least survive.. not perish because of her.

So she pleaded with Frey in her final moment.

Frey heard her clearly.

He knew these were the last words he would ever receive from Carmen.. the woman who had stood by him for years, protecting him time and again.

He gazed at her for a heartbeat.

Then, he looked back at Maika.

“No.”

That was his singular reply.

Frigid. Final.

Before Maika could even draw air, Frey crushed his skull.. reducing his head to pulp right before the mother who died at that exact moment.

Slowly, Frey let the body fall to the floor.

Silence filled the chamber.

The only remaining sound… was the muffled crying of Ada.

Frey turned toward his sister, his face completely empty.

“I can’t believe… I’m beginning to get used to this…”

His voice sounded mechanical.. devoid of life.

After so many waves of despair, trauma, and loss… Frey had become hollow.

Carmen’s passing pained him.

But it was merely another scar on a body already covered in them.

At this stage… even agony had lost its significance.

He looked at Ada.

She looked back at him.

Neither knew what words to speak.

Neither knew what action to take.

The heavy pressure of the moment weighed on Frey’s chest.

It weighed on his mind.

It weighed on everything.

His expression shifted.. from emptiness… to sorrow… to grief…

And then..

shock.

His eyes snapped wide.

His jaw dropped.

His foot struck the floor..

as Nameless’s warning thundered in his mind.

In the following instant, Frey disappeared at the speed of light.

He materialized right in front of Ada, seizing her and shielding her with his entire frame..

He pulled her into a desperate embrace.

Ada blinked in confusion, unable to comprehend why..

But then..

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!*

In a flash, the world turned white.

A cataclysmic explosion consumed their surroundings..

wiping the temple from existence in a single, ruinous strike.

That day… in that very heartbeat…

The temple was destroyed.

A solitary, overwhelming strike had targeted Frey’s location.. and that attack signaled the start of the war.