THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 487: A Game Set in Shadows (2)

It happened in less than a breath.

In a single breath, Zibar appeared right before them, reaching out toward Frey’s face.

The demon moved with terrifying speed ..

A speed that few in the world could even perceive.

But Frey did.

At the very last moment .. before Zibar’s hand reached him ..

Frey unleashed a vertical slash at the speed of light, A devastating strike forged from every part of him.

Every cell in his body, every muscle, every drop of his aura ..

While provoking them, he’d already been preparing for it.

His strongest attack ..

The peak of his limits ..

Everything he had, in a single blow.

“Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow: Frey Starlight’s Style – Nameless Judgement.”

That was Frey’s pinnacle.

A strike that released a massive beam of violet aura that threatened to swallow the world whole.

The pressure was insane.

And this time…

The blow carried even more power than the one he had unleashed back in Shizclar Bay.

Ghost was certain of that.

He had witnessed it himself, after all.

Frey’s strike erased the gate entirely, along with both Zibar and Geppetto, swallowing them within its vast reach .

And it kept going, Continuing forward until it devoured the sky itself.

All the Ultras nearby saw it clearly ..

And could do nothing but stare in dread.

It held enough power to kill any one of them.

But… even against a force like that…

The great demon Zibar didn’t even flinch.

He stood exactly where he was, as everything around him was obliterated.

Geppetto, too, had formed some sort of strange shield around himself to survive.

But unlike him, Zibar took it head-on ..

With his body.

Frey didn’t seem surprised, And Ghost could only stare in shock from behind.

True, Zibar hadn’t moved an inch…

But a deep, vertical cut had clearly appeared on the right side of his chest.

A long wound, leaking black blood that dripped onto the earth beneath him.

With his filthy fingers, Zibar touched the wound.

He showed no particular reaction .

Simply stared at the blood…

Then looked back at Frey.

“Not bad.”

That was all Zibar said.

His honest opinion of the strike he had just endured.

Frey’s peak ..

His ultimate attack ..

All of it summarized in two cold, dry words.

“Not bad, huh?”

Frey laughed, then sighed in annoyance.

He’d kind of expected this,

But it still pissed him off.

So that was the worth of all his struggle?

Just those bland words…

And a few drops of blood.

“You managed to wound me, Frey Starlight,” Zibar said.

“So let me reward you with something worthy of your efforts.”

Unlike Geppetto, Zibar was impossible to read.

He was one of the Ten High Demons—

And those ten were unlike all the rest.

“You were half right in your earlier guess.

Yes, we’re here for the war, just as you said.

But we won’t be joining it now…

We won’t interfere in any way.

In other words…

The day you see us on the battlefield will come .. But not yet.”

Between humanity and their first true clash with the ones seated in the top ten…

Only time stood in between.

But how much time?

Days? Weeks? Months? Years?

It was impossible to say.

But one thing was certain…

The time they had been granted… wasn’t long.

“That’s the reason we won’t kill you both right now,” Zibar said.

“And the reason I came here as a clone ..

Not in my true body.”

Hearing those last words…

For the first time…

Frey’s eyes widened.

Then, he calmed.

“So that’s how it is.”

He muttered.

Realizing…

That the one he had just wounded…

Wasn’t even the real body.

At that moment, Frey began to grasp the true scale of the monsters he had aimed to one day defeat.

He was finally starting to measure the distance between him and that unreachable ceiling…

And what a vast distance it was.

“I look forward to our next meeting… on the battlefield.”

As his body lit up with a blinding purple light, Frey wrapped both himself and Ghost in his aura, activating his teleportation ability.

From the beginning, he had been preparing an escape route for himself and his friend. But transporting two people at once required time .. which was exactly why Frey had baited his opponents earlier, buying enough time to complete the process.

But in the end, his efforts were meaningless.

Zibar had never intended to kill him in the first place.

Instead, he had cleverly tested Frey’s limits without ever truly harming him.

Even someone like Zibar wouldn’t dare disobey the orders.

This was the only way.

Their eyes met .. a gaze sharp enough to pierce through steel ..

And then, Frey and Ghost vanished from the platform, leaving the high-ranking demons behind.

Whether it was Frey, or Zibar…

Both of them were looking forward to it ..

That inevitable battle in the near future.

“…Good grief~

Can’t the two of you ever show up without destroying my precious gateway every single time?”

While Zibar and Geppetto remained fixated on the spot where Frey and Ghost had disappeared…

A third demon made her entrance behind them.

Wearing her elegant black dress and a witch’s hat, she finally arrived.

Zibar barely acknowledged her, but Geppetto s eyes lit up the moment he saw her.

He darted toward her at lightning speed, joy radiating from his face.

“Beatrice!!! I missed you so much! Beatooo!!”

Judging by his reaction, Beatrice had clearly anticipated this and opened her arms wide, welcoming Geppetto with a warm embrace.

Zibar could only sigh as he watched the scene unfold.

Geppetto … despite his true nature now looked like a teenager no older than fourteen, while Beatrice appeared as a graceful and dignified lady.

Their embrace resembled that of a mother holding her child, or an older sister comforting her beloved little brother.

“You’re still as troublesome as ever, Geppetto.”

“No way, Beato! Zibar was the rude one this time! He wouldn’t even talk to me, even though he’s only three ranks above me! Isn’t that just disrespectful?!”

Geppetto kept whining, while Beatrice calmly ran her fingers through his gray hair.

“Yes… That’s certainly rude.”

With a faint smile, Beatrice raised her head to meet Zibar’s gaze.

He returned the look with a nod.

“It’s good to see you well, Lord Zibar.”

“My apologies about the gateway. We weren’t the ones who blew it up, anyway.”

The magical portal .. one that enabled travel across vast distances between planets .. wasn’t easy to create.

It had required a witch of Beatrice’s caliber in the first place.

But Frey had obliterated it with his previous attack.

Now that Beatrice had joined them, there were three high-ranking demons of Wesker’s black faction gathered in one place.

And the dynamic between them was… strange.

Even though Geppetto was far more powerful than Beatrice, he clung to her like a child.

As for Zibar, he treated the woman before him with sincere respect.

It was clear that Beatrice’s status was deeply rooted within the ranks of the demons ..

Not just due to her power, but because of many other factors as well.

“What do you think of him, Lord Zibar?”

She asked.

Zibar took a few seconds before answering.

“He’s… different from the rest of the humans. That much is clear.

But I have yet to see anything that truly makes him worthy of Wesker’s attention.”

Frey had knowledge he shouldn’t possess. His power was immense by human standards ..

But still far too little in Zibar’s eyes.

He didn’t yet see what made this young man special…

But he had piqued his interest enough.

“I’ll find the answer… when we face each other once again.”

Zibar said, as he touched the wound Frey had left on his body.

And just like that ..

The wound vanished entirely without a trace.

Beatrice nodded lightly.

“I hope you continue to stay dormant until the right time comes, Lord Zibar.

I may not know our lord’s true intentions, but I’m sure you understand them better than I do.”

She wasn’t wrong.

And Zibar didn’t seem to object.

“Though we’re both part of the Ten Great Demons, I’ve never once understood what Wesker is thinking.

Even though I’m older, he climbed the ranks faster than anyone in history…”

Except for Crimson — the Red Moon — Wesker had been the fastest demon to ever rise through the ranks.

That alone made him worthy of being the king’s Eye.

“Forgive my rudeness, Lord Zibar… but do you have any idea where he is now?”

Wesker had never once shown himself ..

Not even to Beatrice, who had set up the entire Witch’s Game for him.

He only ever contacted her through his shadow.

For someone on Beatrice’s level, locating him was simply impossible.

But she still held on to a faint hope ..

Because Zibar might be strong enough to even stand against Wesker.

Zibar, however, shook his head.

“Even my real body would struggle to track Wesker down, let alone a weak clone like this.”

“I see.”

Beatrice looked somewhat disappointed, though she didn’t let it show.

Wesker hadn’t bothered to appear ..

Even with beings like Zibar present.

Whatever the Rank 4 Demon was planning…

He was pouring all of his time and energy into it .. So much so that he no longer cared about his own faction.

“He’ll come to us when the time is right.

So there’s no need to rush things, Beatrice.”

As he walked past her, leaving her to comfort Gibetto, Zibar left the area.

The witch nodded, fully trusting his words.

“In that case…

Let’s keep playing the game…

Just a little longer, shall we?”