Chapter 660: Frey and Snow vs Everyone
He wasnât wrong. Frey Starlight had defeated a copy of Zibar that wielded half his true power .. comparable to a Stage Two apex in SSS .. without having even broken into SSS himself.
When Snow felt Freyâs aura that day, he knew that even after finding his own pathâand gaining both the world-breaking Light Spirit and the sacred golden aura .. he was still weaker.
Three paths:
The human path.
The demonic path.
And the path of the greatest Lightbearer of all.
Even with all three, he was still beneath Frey.
That only deepened Snowâs certainty about his enigmatic friend.
âIf I .. who am supposed to be the Pure Vessel himself ..am still below you, Frey, then whatever sleeps in your depths is something far greater.â
Thinking of his friend, Snow smiled wide.
âI canât stay behind forever, can I?â
Evelyn arched a brow. âWhat are you talking about?â
âNothing⊠Just talking to myself. I think itâs time to end this farce.â
As he said itâŠ
Snow raised his handâand Evelynâs face darkened at once.
In that hand, Vermithor manifested out of nothing, blazing with aura.
In the same breath, Snow shattered the blood-binding around his arm and unleashed a razor pillar of force that ripped across the chamber, tearing Evelynâs chest open and hurling her into the stone behind her.
The strike caught her clean; she hadnât defended in time.
âAh⊠youâre tougher than I thought. I was hoping to cut you in half with that,â Snow laughed, easing himself free by degrees.
The Blood Queen struggled upright. âHowâŠ?â
âHow did I do it? Is that what you want to know?â
Snow flicked his tongue over blood-wet lips. âYou shouldnât have kissed me. By doing that, you let me eat your flesh. And as you can seeââ
âI can turn the human flesh I eat into power.â
Evelynâs expression curdled. âCannibalâŠâ
It was the cannibalsâ way of growing stronger .. one of the foulest paths of all. Who would have imagined the Empireâs shining hero would use it?
Bound so completely by her bloodcraft, Snow couldnât assume the Anointed War State or use his power freely. He needed another way to scrape together strength .. and that way was to eat human flesh.
Even so, what heâd taken from Evelyn was barely enough for a single strike .. not quite sufficient to finish her.
Snow was still weakened. She hurried to rouse her Blood Aura and clamp down on him again ..
But as she did, Snow smiled in her face.
âToo late, Blood Queen. Heâs already here.â
At that very instant, a violet flare split the chamber, right between Evelyn and Snow ..
And from nothing, a figure stepped in and flipped the board.
SLASH!!!
With a motion so fast the Blood Queen couldnât even register it, he cleaved her without mercyâFrey Starlight had finally arrived.
Seeing him, Snow let out a breath. âTook you long enough, you bastard.â
Frey dropped Evelyn with a single blow, blindsiding her with the fused power of Balerion and Dark Sister. Then he turned to Snow.
âYouâre the one at fault. I could only jump in the moment you used your aura.â
While waiting on Snow, Frey had discovered something annoying: his third-person player pov wouldnât lock on if the target was unable to use aura at all. That was why he hadnât been able to pinpoint Snow and teleport to him sooner.
Shrugging off his black cloak, Frey tossed it to the naked Snow. âFor now, heal up .. and letâs get out of this hellhole.â
One glance around made his lip curl. Heâd walked into the den of one of the foulest Hollows.
Evelyn lay a short distance away, body half-severed .. yet she laughed when her eyes found Frey.
âLaughing in that state⊠sheâs completely insane,â Snow muttered, stepping to Freyâs side.
âLetâs finish her and go,â Frey said, not eager to linger.
But Evelyn kept laughing, staring at Frey with a strange light in her eyes. âAmazing⊠Truly amazing,â she breathed. âYou actually came .. just like that witch said.â
Those last words landed out of nowhere, and both Snow and Frey frowned.
Frey froze as multiple explosive auras flared to life on every side .. signatures that had been smothered under some kind of veil, now suddenly revealed. At the same time Evelynâs body liquefied into blood and seeped down the cracks in the floor.
It all happened in an instant. Within seconds, their sharpened senses caught a voice:
âTen Thousand Steps of Shadow: Frey Starlight StyleâŠâ
Snow shot Frey a lookâbut it wasnât him. Which meant ..
âNameless Judgement.â
The moment the name rang out, everything went black. Ravenous black fire surged, swallowing the site whole.
And the truth snapped into focus: Evelyn had lied. This place was no secret at all .. it sat inside one of the Highblood cities, now encircled by thousands of Ultras, with the masked âVâ at their head. He had triggered the blast .. and the arcane artillery followed, spewing devastation until the entire district was a single crater of ruin.
Ultras troops massed along the rim. Most of the big names were thereâHollows and Lords alike. âDid we get them?â a soldier asked, hopeful.
He fell silent as a murderous intent crawled out from beneath the smoking rubble.
The debris detonated upward. Two figures rose from the blast.
Freyâs clothes were shredded, his torso bare; Snow was in similar shape. Both had been caught by the last strike, but most of the damage had been blunted .. thanks to Frey.
With Dark Sister fused into Balerion in his left hand, Freyâs eyes burned violet as he fixed on the distant V. Brushing black fire from his skin, he growled, âYou call that Nameless Judgement? Huh .. what a joke .. â
He set his stance and held out a hand to Snow. Snow took it at once as Frey pushed a heavy surge of aura into him.
âAfter my fight with Zibar, my reserves still arenât full,â Frey said. âYouâll have to make do with that.â
âI burned a lot in my last battle too,â Snow answered, âbut this will be enough.â
Together they advanced into the deathtrap the Ultras had laid.
Freyâs gaze swept the enemy line. Most of their main pieces were on the board .. Lords and Hollows both, with Beatrice and the demon Beleth holding the rear.
âLooks like they want to end the war here,â Frey said.
âThen letâs grant them that,â Snow replied.
Retreat wasnât an option; Beatrice had raised a barrier the moment Frey arrived, blocking long-range teleportation. In other words ..
Fighting was the only choice.
And in this battle, it felt as if the fate of the war between the Empire and the Ultras would finally be decided .. an ending about to be written.