THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 469: Slaughter in Shizclar Bay (2)

No matter how brutal the other battles in the Bay of Shizklar had seemed ..

They didn’t even come close to what was happening here.

Amid the raging sea, surrounded by the screeches of nightmare creatures being torn apart by black swords ..

Lord Starlight fought his own battle ..the one he had been waiting for all along.

Using the water beneath their feet as if it were solid ground created for them alone ..

Two dark forces clashed. Two black auras collided violently, engaging in a dizzying high-speed exchange between two monsters no human logic could describe.

Frey danced with his blades like they were extensions of his body, slicing at Gvardiol who met each strike with bare fists.

The exchange was lightning fast ..and despite its brutality, both men wore grins on their faces.

Gvardiol unleashed shadows from his body, launching them at Frey ..but the latter shredded through them effortlessly.

“You’ve broken through to SS+, then… Gvardiol, I take it your training in Hellmond paid off.”

BOOM!

Unleashing wave after wave of SSS class dark aura, Frey pressured him mercilessly, forcing Gvardiol to retreat.

“How long did you spend there this time? One year?”

BOOM!!

“Two years?!”

BOOM!!

Both the Dark Sister and Balerion tore through Gvardiol’s hardened flesh relentlessly, while the newly crowned Lord of the Ultras failed to retaliate ..his grin cracking bit by bit…

Especially when Frey revealed he knew about Hellmond, and how time passed more slowly there.

No matter how hard Gvardiol struck, he always ended up with a more mangled arm .. his blood spilling nonstop.

But the damage was still shallow for now.

“You talk a lot, Lord Starlight… I’ll admit .. you’re the strangest opponent I’ve ever fought on this planet.”

Despite the intense pressure Frey applied, Gvardiol didn’t seem particularly troubled.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself. Do you really think you can win?”

His aura swelled menacingly, and the shadows around him hardened into a black, metallic substance ..

Unnaturally dense and unbreakable.

That substance continued to take shape from within Gvardiol’s body… specifically from the black pits scattered across his flesh.

“You have no idea how terrifying this world we live in truly is… Lord Starlight, the power you take pride in is nothing but a trivial speck… compared to real power!!”

Unleashing it, Gvardiol created hundreds of black spikes from the metallic substance, hurling them at Frey.

The attack was unbelievably fast—so fast that Frey couldn’t even see it coming, let alone react in time.

As a result, he took devastating damage.

The assault was brutal… terrifying.

Dozens of bloody holes erupted across Frey’s body. One of the dark spikes even pierced his left eye, carving a bloody crater across his face.

His blood poured out in torrents as his body staggered backward.

Gvardiol burst into manic laughter, having flipped the tide with a single blow.

“You’re weaker than I thought… Lord Starlight!!! At this rate, you’ll meet the same end as that friend of yours you came to avenge!”

With Frey left broken by the strike, Gavid Lindman suddenly appeared behind him .. wielding the Aether Blade and aiming straight for his neck.

The attack came fast, and Frey looked utterly ruined.

But just as the sword neared his throat…

Gvardiol saw it.

He saw something that instantly wiped the laughter off his face.

Because even in that state, riddled with gory wounds, with one eye completely destroyed…

Even as he collapsed before Gavid’s blade, the cold smile on Frey Starlight’s face never disappeared .. it only widened, becoming more menacing.

That sight… for some reason, sent shivers down Gvardiol’s spine.

And rightfully so.

Because just before the blade could cut through Frey’s neck… time froze.

The flow of the Aether halted just inches from Frey’s face.

Time itself had been stopped ..for one second. And in that second, neither Gavid Lindman nor Gvardiol could move.

Just one second.

Yet in battles like these, a single second was fatal.

In that second of frozen time, Frey moved freely .. as if the laws of nature meant nothing to him.

Within that moment, he parried the Aether Blade with Dark Sister.

Then, with one swing of Balerion, he carved a monstrous gash across Gavid Lindman’s chest .. making the Ultras Lord collapse backward, blood pouring from his body.

And before the second ended…

Frey appeared right in front of Gvardiol. The latter could see it clearly ..

Time had stopped for his body… but not for his mind.

In that single second, the world had turned into Frey’s domain.

A realm where he could do as he pleased.

As they stared at each other .. with bloodshot eyes locking ..Gvardiol couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

Frey, his ruined left eye still dripping, looked completely calm… as if he hadn’t been injured at all.

Then, with a blindingly fast strike ..

Gvardiol felt his chest shatter as Balerion plunged deep into him.

That was the last thing Frey did before the one-second time-freeze ..his newly acquired ability, Screenshot came to an end.

As time resumed, Gavid Lindman fell backward, clutching the deep wound across his chest.

Meanwhile, Gvardiol and Frey stood facing one another.

Then, without warning, Balerion—still buried in Gvardiol’s chest—flared with a massive surge of dark aura.

A devastating burst of energy tore through Gvardiol’s body, exiting from his back and enveloping everything behind him in a curtain of darkness.

From that monstrous blast, Gvardiol coughed up a torrent of black blood and dropped to one knee before Frey, his face twisted in agony.

The Ultras Lord screamed, a tortured howl like a wounded beast experiencing a pain it had never known.

Kneeling before Frey…

The latter simply chuckled.

“You spoke of power, half-demon.”

Looking down on him as if he were nothing but an insect…

Frey yanked the blade out of Gvardiyol’s body, then shoved it into his opponent’s mouth .. gripping his face tightly.

“Let me show you something interesting.”

As if awaiting his command…

Violet flames erupted across Frey’s body, swirling around his wounds with eerie precision.

And before Gvardiol’s bewildered eyes…

Frey’s injuries vanished completely. No .. his body regenerated, even growing back a new eye to replace the one lost.

He returned to peak form .. as if he’d never been wounded at all.

“It took me eight months to attain this strength you mocked.”

Slash!