THE VILLAIN'S POV

Blattier gathered his full power, ready for whatever Frey would hurl at him. There's no reason to fear him, he assured himself. Even with his tricks, he can't erase the difference in tiers. The SSS rank isn't something you beat with gimmicks. Frey is no exception.

That was how it should have gone.

In the blink of an eye, Frey vanished and reappeared right in front of him—an untraceable instant teleport, face-to-face. Wreathed in that eerie violet aura, Frey Starlight struck with both blades, unleashing everything his state would allow.

Blattier answered with a lightspeed thrust of his spear—and moments later, the two powers collided, igniting a roar of auras more dreadful than any before. Light wrestled with darkness as they locked into a tug-of-war, each trying to crush the other with raw force—an exchange whose caliber sat squarely at SSS.

Those long seconds felt like hours. Then everyone on the island heard it—the savage rip of cutting power.

Slash!!!

Blattier couldn't believe it until Frey slid past him, piercing his guard to appear behind his back. A vast, X-shaped gash opened across Blattier's chest.

Feeling the blood-wet wound from that last exchange, he realized he'd lost the aura struggle. For the first time since the battle began, darkness had smothered light, and Frey's blade had reached him—his first clean hit since Nameless Judgement.

'Did I just lose a straight contest of power?!'

Refusing to accept it, Blattier flared even more aura and whirled on Frey.

"Light Artillery!!"

He fired an overwhelming shell of pure light, a blast meant to swallow Frey and everything around him.

Frey answered instantly, whipping his swords with absolute force.

"Ten thousands Steps of Shadow: Black Severer!"

Two ebon arcs carved into the oncoming barrage. Bracing through the deluge, Frey drove forward again, intent on cutting deeper this time.

BOOM!!!

Steel met spear once more, their blows trading at speeds beyond human comprehension. In this new state, Frey blazed like a star—outshining even Blattier's light—yet that very power gnawed at him from within.

Dark Ascension was tearing his body apart; Shadow Adaptation was knitting it back together at the same pace, a civil war inside his flesh that kept him from focusing perfectly on the fight.

'My body could eject me from this form any minute. I have to end this—now.'

His thoughts raced as he kept pressing. Flawed and incomplete as it was, the ability had done its job: it let Frey Starlight temporarily stand on equal ground with his foe.

It made him the exception—let him chase a miracle—and break the rule.

Frey's blade was breaking through to Blattier with every exchange.

Blattier landed blows of his own, but that didn't change the simple fact: the fight had tipped into the unknown—no one could tell who would come out on top now.

"Don't get conceited, Frey Starlight! You are not my equal in any sense!" Blattier roared, shaking the ground with a colossal surge of light.

Frey met the wave head-on, carving through it with his swords.

"Ten thousand Steps of Shadow: Black Meteor."

Shadow aura threaded between the particles of light, and Frey's blades smashed into the spear again, leaving a deep mark.

He had no luxury to answer Blattier's taunts; every shred of focus was locked on maintaining his new form for as long as possible.

'Damn it… this cursed state is draining nearly all of my concentration just to hold it together—I can barely focus on the fight…'

BOOM!

'Like this, I can't fire any Supreme Art. I'll be forced to rely on the foundational forms of Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow…'

A fresh spike of pain hammered behind his eyes. That was why he hadn't unleashed any grand techniques against Blattier so far.

Dark Ascension let him output, miraculously, something comparable to an SSS combatant's raw might—enough to withstand Blattier and even cut him.

But to finish the high priest, Frey needed a single, overwhelming strike—something that would erase Blattier outright. Surface wounds would never be enough.

The ordinary forms of Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow couldn't do that. So Frey pushed himself harder, reaching for something greater.

A single annihilating blow to wipe his enemy from existence.

Strike after strike, he parried everything Blattier hurled at him while gathering power, waiting for the one opening.

The battlefield became an ocean of detonating aura; nothing about the fight was readable anymore.

Blattier slipped into absolute frenzy, the millions of souls inside him howling as he wrenched out every shred of the power gifted to him. He was a natural disaster, flooding the world with light in his bid to kill his foe.

Frey endured the deluge. Dim as he looked beside Blattier's radiance, he still turned back that aggression with ruthless efficiency.

"What are you, Frey Starlight?! Are you telling me you alone can manifest power equal to millions of souls?!" Blattier raged, fraying as Frey survived everything he threw.

Frey Starlight's gifts had always defied reason—but Blattier had never imagined they would let his opponent reach the same plane.

It was nonsense. This was SSS.

Frey didn't stop there. He answered in a voice that cut deeper than Blattier's.

"Equal? No… I'll surpass it!!"

He chased the moment, hemming Blattier in beneath a torrent of blows that finally tore open the high priest's guard.

Face-to-face, Frey gambled everything on the next attack.

He knew he couldn't hold this state much longer. He would stake it all on one last strike.

The only technique in my arsenal that can end Blattier outright is Nameless Judgement—nothing else. If I unleash it in this state, it'll be far stronger than before…

Nameless Judgement under Dark Ascension.

Together, the result wouldn't be hard to imagine: catastrophic power, enough to crush even Blattier.

That was the bet Frey Starlight made.

I've already exceeded my limit and used it three times. Under normal circumstances, I can't fire Nameless Judgement again. But like this… I feel like I can do anything!

He pressed harder, step by step cutting through the light and erasing the distance.

Blattier tried everything to stop him; Frey bore it all down to the final breath.

"I can do it!" he roared with everything he had, overwhelming his foe. "I'll end this—here and now!"

Face-to-face with Blattier, Frey Starlight poured everything into Balerion, the Black Terror, preparing to unleash his strongest strike.

His battle cry split the air—and dread needled the high priest's heart—as Frey hewed downward in a vertical cut meant to finish it all.

The peak of his power, the pinnacle of his craft ..focused into a single final blow.