Chapter 371: A Final Farewell (2)

Frey, barely able to see straight—

Didn’t notice a thing.

All his focus was on escape.

Even after slaughtering most of the puppets, New ones continued to emerge from nowhere, eager to tear him apart.

Running like a madman, carrying Clana in his arms .

Frey finally reached the edge of the city, just meters from safety.

At that moment—

The loudspeakers scattered across the city crackled to life once more, and Frey heard that voice.

"In such a rush, Lord Starlight? Where are you off to?"

Frey glanced over his shoulder.

And there, standing on top of a building that had survived the carnage—

Was Simon Manus.

Smiling.

By his side stood a strange puppet—

Radiating pressure so strong that Frey felt it from afar.

And all around them..

More and more puppets began to rise again.

Shattered limbs fused back together, forming new dolls—

All of them staring at Frey with glowing red eyes.

"It’s rather rude to leave when the party’s not over yet, don’t you think?"

"..."

Frey said nothing.

He was too exhausted to entertain this madness any longer.

He turned his back and kept walking.

"At the very least, won’t you tell me what you thought of the gift I went through so much trouble to prepare? Kikiki!"

Simon laughed maniacally.

And Frey ..

Suddenly realized something was wrong.

"Frey!!"

Clana’s voice pulled him back.

She had slipped from his arms, falling to the ground in terror.

"What’s happening to me?!"

Clutching herself tightly,

Clana trembled—

Horrified by the changes she was feeling.

Frey reached for her—

Only to freeze in place when he saw what was happening.

Underneath Clana’s now pale, almost ghostly skin—

Her veins began to glow with a strange blue light.

A foreign substance was crawling through her body ..

Spreading slowly.

Taking her over.

"Frey..."

She collapsed into his arms, and he held her tightly.

Clinging to him with all her strength—

Tears finally fell from Clana’s eyes.

She couldn’t hold it in anymore.

"I don’t want to die... Frey."

"I don’t want to die..."

Hearing the whisper in his ear—

Frey didn’t know what to say.

After enduring so much, Fighting like a madman, Giving everything he had...

Frey’s consciousness was fading.

The only things he could hear—

Were Clana’s sobs, and the heavy stomps of the dolls closing in.

"I don’t want to die... Frey."

Still clinging to her tightly—

His face twisted with pain,

Frey finally managed to speak.

"You’ll be fine... I’m here."

He didn’t know what else to say.

he spoke the first words that might bring Clana even a small measure of comfort.

Those words were the only thing he could offer her in that moment.

Frey had already resolved to protect her until the very end...

No matter the cost.

He was ready to push his body beyond its limits.

From a distance, Simon Manus continued to laugh. Then, shaking his head with false sympathy, he muttered:

"Frey Starlight... how pitiful."

This was the world he lived in.

"Not everything we want is meant to be."

Clana eventually went silent—

Her trembling stopped.

But for some reason...

Her last words echoed in his mind ..

"I don’t want to die."

At that moment,

The world around him went still—eerily quiet.

Then he felt something welling up in his chest.

Something... hot.

When he placed his hand over it to understand what it was—

Frey found blood.

Dripping without end.

He looked down ..

And his face began to empty.

"Clana..."

That wasn’t Clana.

It was something else.

A puppet made to look like her—

Its arm had transformed into a massive blade that now pierced through his chest and out his back.

The heat surged up his throat ..

Then through his mouth ..

And he coughed up blood without realizing.

Staring into the red, glowing eyes of the puppet that had once looked like Clana—

Frey asked himself:

"What was I fighting for?"

Why had he bled so much?

All that struggle...

All that brutal fighting...

For what?

All this time—he had buried his emotions.

Ever since those endless training cycles had broken him down again and again...

But now ..

For the first time in a long while..

Frey’s expression crumbled.

Looking up at the sky, he questioned the suffering he’d endured—

"Why?"

The puppet-Clana pulled its blade out of his chest.

Frey dropped to his knees, blood streaming from his mouth as he stared at the person he had wanted to protect...

Now raising a blade to his throat.

And behind them..

The army of puppets.

Simon Manus laughing.

The world collapsing.

Frey finally realized—

His struggle had led him only to more pain.

"Ah... what’s the point?"

The puppet-Clana raised her sword—

Ready to decapitate him and end his life.

But then ..

A surge of aura blasted her backward with immense force.

Struggling to regain her footing, the puppet looked at Frey—

His body glowing with an intense violet light.

The pressure of his aura ..

Even Simon Manus was stunned.

"He can still release this much power? Even with a hole in his chest?!"

Broken body.

A gaping wound.

Frey chuckled bitterly, his eyes heavy with exhaustion.

"Unlucky for you... my aura pool is SSS rank."

If they thought it would end this way—

They were wrong.

Raising his swords with the last of his strength..

Frey poured out every last drop of his dark aura into one final, desperate attack.

"Ignition."

In that instant ..

The violet light of his Ignition was the only color in the world.

A massive explosion erupted outward—

Swallowing everything.

Clana.

The puppets.

Even Simon Manus, who quickly hid behind the strange puppet at his side.

If there was any place in Puppet City still standing—

It no longer existed after Frey’s final strike.

The explosion raged for nearly a full minute, Devouring everything in its path.

And through it all—

Frey’s eyes never left the puppet-Clana, who was reduced to dust in the aura storm.

Closing his eyes ..

He accepted the truth.

That this was the end of the girl who had walked beside him for so long.

"Goodbye... Clana."

...

...

...

When the blast finally ceased—

Simon Manus stepped out from behind the puppet that had shielded him,

Staring at the enormous crater left behind by Frey Starlight’s final attack.

All the remaining puppets had been destroyed.

He stood alone—

With only one puppet left at his side.

But Frey Starlight ..

Was nowhere to be seen.

A wicked grin spread across Simon’s face.

"With wounds like that... he not only launched that attack—he escaped too?!"

He had thought it was over.

But Frey Starlight had gotten away.

Again.

And now ..

Simon understood just how dangerous that boy truly was.

"Very good... Frey Starlight."

One thing was certain.

That monster of a boy—

Would be back.