THE VILLAIN'S POV

— Frey Starlight's POV —

When I stood before the Ultras army, I thought I'd feel a storm of emotions.

Fear—from an army that embodied the full might of the Ultras.

Regret—over the suicidal decision I had just made.

Terror—at the unknown fate I was about to march into.

But to my surprise… I didn't feel any of that.

Despite the overwhelming number of enemies—foes unlike any I had ever faced—my mind was calm, my senses sharper than ever.

A blazing fire surged in my chest.

Anticipation.

A thrill that set my blood alight as I took that first step into the unknown.

The step that might finally sever the threads of fate wound around this body… a body that was never truly mine to begin with.

I knew the odds of dying were high—but I didn't care.

I wanted this.

To die, maybe.

But only after taking as many of those bastards with me as I could.

With every ounce of strength my body could muster, I lunged toward the witch who had ambushed us before.

Beatrice.

That was her name.

I'd never heard it before, but that didn't matter.

I intended to kill her in a single blow.

With Dark Sister in hand, I surged forward at full speed, aiming straight for her neck.

Beatrice didn't flinch. That calm smile never left her face. She didn't move an inch.

Then, just before my blade could connect, space itself shattered between us .. as if the air had turned to glass and cracked apart.

"So much bloodlust… You really intend to face us all alone?"

She laughed, unfazed.

I didn't waste time responding. I slashed at her immediately with Balerion.

My blade passed cleanly through her body, slicing her in half.

But it was only smoke.

Her slender form dispersed into a cloud of white mist, vanishing before my eyes.

The real Beatrice reappeared below, clapping her hands in amusement.

"So strong… and so young. How delightful."

Whoosh!

Like a black arrow, I lunged again, closing the distance with terrifying speed.

Beatrice, now holding her black wand once more, simply whispered:

"Bind him for me."

In an instant, dozens of golden chains wrapped around me, locking me in place.

"Where the hell did these chains come from?!"

I was stunned ... I hadn't even sensed them until it was too late.

"You're quite rude, Frey Starlight. Trying to carve up a beautiful lady like me."

She raised her wand again and spoke sweetly:

"Rip him apart for me."

Without warning, countless blades and spears appeared midair, surrounding me on all sides.

They shot forward, aiming to pierce and shred me to pieces.

In response, I unleashed my aura at full force—obliterating the golden chains—and deflected every single weapon with a barrage of sword strikes so fast they were invisible to the naked eye.

I had barely repelled her attack when she summoned something else—a massive mirror appeared right in front of me.

"Look closely… Frey Starlight."

Beatrice spoke while holding the mirror from behind.

Inside the tall, rectangular frame… my reflection began to take shape.

"Your face, your body… your soul."

Her smile widened.

And then my eyes opened wide in shock.

The mirror cracked.

A hand emerged from it—one holding a black sword.

"Kill him for me."

The mirror shattered completely, and from its shards stepped out my reflection—a perfect copy, except for the lifeless look in its eyes.

It vanished for a moment… then reappeared right in front of me, swinging its swords.

Boom!!

Our blades clashed.

Once.

Twice.

Then dozens of black slashes followed as we exchanged attacks in a whirlwind of violence.

What shocked me most was how flawlessly the clone mimicked my abilities.

"What's wrong? Struggling against your own self?"

Beatrice called out, watching from a distance with a smirk, fueling my frustration.

Worse still… the clone was matching me blow for blow.

Enraged, I abruptly increased my speed, slipping past the clone in a flash and setting my sights on Beatrice.

"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow: Black Star!"

I summoned a massive amount of dark aura and released a beam of pure shadow—one powerful enough to consume her entirely.

But she didn't even move.

Instead, she calmly raised her wand.

"Stop this attack for me."

BOOM!!

The darkness exploded, engulfing her completely ... shattering everything in the surrounding area.

But she emerged from the darkness unscathed, a strange sphere-shaped barrier surrounding her completely.

A shield strong enough to neutralize my full-powered strike.

There was no time to be impressed—my damn clone lunged at me again, relentless in its pursuit.

Engaged in this vicious duel, a question echoed in my mind:

"How is she doing this?"

Beatrice's abilities were overwhelming—manifesting out of nowhere, one after the other.

To achieve something of this magnitude required an absurd amount of aura.

It made me wonder…

Just how powerful was this witch named Beatrice?

Where was all this power coming from?

As if reading my thoughts, Beatrice answered herself.

"Confused, aren't you?"

With another flick of her wand… she distorted reality once more.

"Kill him for me."

With that command, dozens of pale white ghosts took form .. each one a twisted version of Beatrice herself.

They shrieked with lunatic laughter as they dove toward me all at once.

BOOM!!

At the same time, my clone kept pressuring me with relentless strikes, pushing me into a corner.

"This is real magic, Frey Starlight."

Explosions erupted everywhere as both the ghosts and the clone tried to tear me apart.

"Phenomena that human minds were never meant to comprehend."

BOOM!

One of the ghosts exploded in my face the moment I slashed it, sending me flying across the ground.

But the attacks didn't stop.

"If you can understand my magic… then is it even magic anymore?"

On one side, the clone wielded my skills with perfect form.

On the other, the ghosts acted like walking time bombs.

And amidst that chaos, amidst the ever-shifting battlefield beneath my feet… a realization struck me:

"Why aren't they attacking?"

I glanced toward the Ultras army that continued to pressure me with their overwhelming aura.

All those Lords… all those monstrous Hollows…

Not a single one of them had moved.

I had been holding back—saving my strength—thinking the real fight hadn't started yet.

But now?

It had been far too long since the battle began.

And they were still just watching.

Were they toying with me?

Giving me time before they tore me apart?

Or… were they standing aside out of respect for the witch who engaged me?

BOOM!!!

Beatrice's onslaught continued without pause. I had only been defending—unable to go on the offensive.

Caught in a storm of dust and exploding aura, I narrowed my eyes at the Ultras army.

"I came here for a battle of life and death..."

The ground trembled beneath me, reacting to the surge of aura that flooded out of my body.

And for the first time in this battle, Beatrice's expression changed.

"To shatter the threads of fate that bind me... Do you dare retreat from me now?"

There was no point in delaying this any longer.

"Blood Form."

Without warning, I unleashed the strongest state of Balerion, amplifying it even further using Dark Sister.

The force that erupted from this combination sent a massive wave of aura in all directions, blasting back both the clone and the surrounding ghosts.

"Out of my way!"

My swords moved at inhuman speed, creating afterimages as I unleashed dozens of black slashes—cutting the clone to pieces and triggering the detonation of every remaining ghost.

All of it unfolded under the eyes of the astonished witch.

"This aura… He's at the level of an SS ranked Awakened!"

Ignoring her words—and riding the momentum—

I leapt forward in a single motion, instantly closing the distance to the Ultras army…

"If you won't come to me… then I'll come to you!"

My blades ignited with a surge of dark aura that billowed upward, shrouding a huge part of the sky.

"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow: Infinite Darkness!"

With a dual slash, the wave of dark aura tore through the entire Ultras army ... shredding everything beneath it.

I had poured my full strength into that attack… aura strong enough to threaten even an SS rank warrior and force them to take me seriously.

I waited for their response.

But the reaction I expected… never came.

Instead, what happened was something I couldn't have imagined.

The Lords of the Ultras.

The monstrous Hollows that had been exerting crushing pressure since the beginning of the battle…

They all shattered into pieces the moment the attack touched them.

Eyes wide open, I stared at the army reduced to dust .. nothing left but ash and a crater of destruction left by my assault.

The very army that once made me tremble.

The same force that drove us to scatter across the continent in desperation...

Had been completely obliterated.

And then came the sound…

The hysterical laughter of a mad witch who had completely lost her mind.

"hehe .. hehehehehehehehe..."

I slowly turned toward Beatrice, who was laughing uncontrollably ... arms wrapped around her body, her face flushed red.

"What the hell is that twisted laugh for?"

"Ah, forgive me, forgive me… I just couldn't resist the look on your face. Shocking, isn't it?"

"What is the meaning of this?"

I asked, my voice seething with anger.

Was it all fake? The Ultras army? The Lords? The Hollows?!

"I know what you're thinking, Frey Starlight—and yes, you're right. It was all an illusion."

"Impossible!"

I shouted without thinking.

Not for a second had I suspected that everything I saw was fake. It didn't make sense.

That crushing pressure we all felt earlier… it wasn't imaginary. It was real.

Even Phoenix, with his heightened senses, felt it. That's why he decided to retreat.

"It's called magic, dear Frey. Just magic."

"What are you talking about?"

Still smiling, Beatrice raised her delicate hand, pulling back the sleeve of her elegant dress to reveal her pale skin.

With a touch of her aura, that flawless skin vanished—replaced by a hideous, scarred hand etched with dozens of strange runes and overlapping magic circles layered on top of one another.

"Magic is nothing but tricks we sorcerers cast to distort reality. You don't know how easy it is to manipulate human senses, Frey Starlight."

She blew out a puff of cold air. The moment it touched my face, I felt a chill brush my skin.

Then, she blew again—but this time, it was warm. I could feel the heat from her breath.

"See? Just like that."

With a flick of her wand, a shimmering sphere of pure aura formed around her.

"Illusion isn't limited to what you see. It goes much deeper than that. All I had to do was tamper with your senses—make you believe you were being attacked by an army of Ultras."

"That alone was enough to trigger your contingency plan and force your little team to scatter on their own. Hehehehe… You're more naïve than I thought, dear elites."

Beatrice's words left me speechless.

She had manipulated us with surgical precision.

She knew every step of our plan—down to the emergency teleportation strategy.

"That's impossible."

For her to know that… there could only be one explanation.

Beatrice, this mysterious witch I knew nothing about…

Had been watching us from the beginning.

She pulled our strings, made us dance to her rhythm, and drove us to separate across the continent of the Ultras…

All of that with nothing but illusions and a few spells.

It was at that moment I realized—

This witch was dangerous.

"You…"

With a terrifying thirst for blood, I unleashed my full killing intent.

"You're going to die here!"

I couldn't let a monster like her continue to exist ..

Not after witnessing what she was capable of.

Beatrice, still smiling darkly, twirled her wand in the air.

"The only one dying today… is you, Lord Starlight."