THE VILLAIN'S POV Chapter 437: Despair

— Frey Starlight’s Pov —

Taking a spoonful from his bowl of spicy food, Ghost’s usually calm face visibly twisted with discomfort.

"What exactly do you people like about this stuff?"

He asked, glancing around at the old n and locals who were happily devouring the sa dish, their faces radiating pure joy.

"This is the food of real n, kid! No place here for the weak! Hahaha!!"

Shaheen laughed heartily, making his rounds between the tables, taking orders from everyone.

Even though Ghost had barely managed a single bite, Frey had already finished his entire bowl.

"You finished it that fast?"

Ghost asked in confusion, clearly baffled. He had lived a hard life, forced at tis to eat grass just to survive.

But even then, he had never tasted anything as fiery as what was now burning in his hands.

"You should’ve ordered sothing else, Ghost.

This kind of spicy food is one of a kind.

Either you fall in love with it and devour it...

or you can’t stand it and leave it untouched.

There’s no middle ground."

Frey spoke with a rare smile ..sothing he hadn’t shown in a long ti ..as he signaled for Shaheen to bring him another dish.

"Coming right up! Hahaha!

Frey, I see you still appreciate real spicy food! You have my respect!"

"Don’t underestimate , old man.

I’m tougher than you think."

"Haha! We’ll see about that!"

Shaheen disappeared into the kitchen again, while Frey and Ghost sat quietly at their table.

The atmosphere around them was loud and chaotic, like a public café watching a football match .. a sport that had vanished hundreds of years ago.

The noise was overwhelming,

but sohow, Frey found himself genuinely at ease in this environnt.

Unlike him, Ghost seed clearly annoyed,

but he chose to let Frey enjoy this rare mont of peace.

"I’m glad to see you like this again, Frey.

But I have to ask .. what do you plan to do now?"

Ghost was clearly talking about Danzo.

Hearing that, Frey lifted his head, gazing up at the sky.

"I’ll save him, Ghost.

I’ll save him."

So far,

nothing in this life had gone the way he wanted.

The world had always pushed back against everything he tried to accomplish.

Frey had never forgotten the death of Clana Starlight.

He could still rember the warmth of her body in those final monts as she died in his arms.

She hadn’t ant much to him,

and yet she had died to save him.

It felt like her life had been wasted on soone like him.

That was a burden he never wanted to carry again.

"I’ll save him... no matter what it takes."

Danzo’s fate rested entirely in his hands,

and he intended to carry that responsibility to the end.

Final Mission :

Ti Remaining: 17 Days.

...

...

...

That day, Frey visited his sick friend once again, with Ghost by his side.

Several other elite students ca to visit as well.

And by chance, Seris was there this ti, having finally finished her duties toward her family.

The princess of the Moonlight family remained as calm as ever,

but there was a clear maturity in her deanor now.

Due to the lack of church forces capable of using advanced holy power, Seris hadn’t yet recovered her severed arm,

instead using a hand crafted from pure ice.

Wearing her black coat, she nodded to Frey, and he did the sa.

After everything they had been through,

an unspoken respect had grown between them,

allowing them both to leave their hatred behind.

Whether it was Seris letting go of what Frey had once done to her,

or Frey setting aside his grudge against the Moonlight family and its tangled past.

Between them, Danzo sat quietly on his bed.

His skin looked much better than before,

but he was still pale compared to what he once was.

"I’ll be leaving now. I’ll give you so space."

Having seen Frey and Ghost arrive, Seris didn’t want to intrude, so she left quietly.

"I’m glad to see you’re still alive and well, Danzo. I wish you the best."

In response to her kind words, Danzo simply nodded.

"Thank you."

And just like that,

Seris left,

leaving only Frey and Ghost behind with Danzo.

The man spent his remaining days in complete peace, unaware of the monster lurking inside him.

...

...

...

— Frey Starlight’s pov —

Ti was slipping away fast...

Especially when you needed it most.

Barely half of the allotted ti remained before the quest’s deadline.

And I hadn’t made any progress so far .. a reality that pushed to my limits.

I gave up sleep, abandoned all comfort, and poured every second I had into the Naless’ library,

a place holding all of his knowledge and wisdom.

Searching for a solution,

I spent 23 out of every 24 hours inside that place.

Leaving the last hour for Danzo.

I visited him every day now. Our presence by his side seed to bring back a little life to him.

His body was visibly improving day by day, which made his father happy .. and filled my heart with growing unease.

As soon as my ti with him was over,

I would teleport straight back to the Shadow Sect and continue what I was doing.

The sect had grown terrifyingly massive, its size breaking beyond the limits of the Black Mountain.

Only God knew what that Engineer was trying to build there.

Ti remaining: 16 days.

...

...

...

The next day, I managed to get permission from Adam Smasher to take Danzo outside.

Danzo was using a wheelchair.

The weather had grown bitterly cold with the coming of winter, and it had been snowing and raining frequently.

Adam had wrapped his son from head to toe in warm clothes, covering him completely.

Danzo looked strange in that wheelchair of his, but I made sure not to show it on my face.

Together with Ghost, the three of us went to Shaheen’s new restaurant.

Shaheen recognized Danzo instantly—he’d often visited the old man with before—

and he handled the situation well, saying nothing about Danzo’s condition.

Instead, he tried to lift his spirits.

And I appreciated what the old man did.

Thanks to him, I saw that familiar smile on my sick friend’s face once again.

Ti remaining: 15 days.

...

...

...

The knowledge about teleportation and spatial manipulation was so vast that even after 15 days, I still hadn’t finished it.

It frustrated deeply.

Naless had sohow turned this knowledge into a world-breaking power—

allowing him to transcend the very laws of space.

He was a being capable of appearing anywhere in the world at will.

A power beyond imagination.

But because of that, I now found myself drowning in this endless field, unable to reach what I sought.

The anxiety within kept growing.

The odds were against , and the Engineer did nothing to help in my struggle.

The dark circles under my eyes had worsened, and my head throbbed constantly.

Spending 23 hours a day on this madness had drained , but I had no choice.

With each passing second,

I felt myself inching closer to collapse.

Ti remaining: 12 days.

...

...

...

The Empire was undergoing great changes.

The Iron Emperor—Sir Alon—was building a vast military force, reorganizing everything.

Anyone who saw what he was doing would know:

he was preparing for a brutal war soon to co.

The Iron Emperor wanted to et , according to what Ada told .

He had already t with all of my fellow elite classmates.

But I simply ignored his invitation.

I didn’t have the ti to waste on him.

That night,

I snuck into Danzo’s room with Sansa once darkness fell.

As soon as we arrived, Sansa let go of my hand and quietly approached the sleeping Danzo to check on him.

With a single glance, she could tell what was happening.

"This isn’t good. The Devil Seed has spread its roots completely inside him..."

The princess spoke quietly, though it was what I had feared.

"Can you suppress it?" I asked.

She nodded.

"I can. But only temporarily.

In ten days from now, I won’t be able to stop the growing power inside him anymore."

Turning to face , Sansa spoke firmly.

"If we reach that point, we’ll have to kill him, Frey."

She was blunt—and right.

But I was determined to avoid that outco at all costs.

"I’ll take responsibility for him.

So don’t take any action on your own."

I warned her firmly.

She would likely try to kill him herself, sparing from having to do it with my own hands.

I knew she would ...

I had already read those thoughts inside her mind.

And it seed like she knew that I knew.

After a long silence, she finally gave in.

"Fine. I promise I won’t do anything without your knowledge."

"Thank you..."

I thanked her with a heavy sigh.

There was much more to talk about ..

But we said nothing.

We simply left.

I hadn’t seen much of Sansa lately.

She had been busy with her own situation inside the Imperial Family ..

a family where most of them wished her dead.

She had her own problems, just as I had mine.

But we didn’t burden each other.

This ti, we fought our battles alone.

Sansa had grown incredibly strong.

So I was sure she’d find a way to deal with her situation sohow.

But that didn’t change the fact that I hadn’t done anything to help her through her struggle.

"I’m sorry... Sansa..."

Ti remaining: 10 days.

...

...

...

Three days later ..

I finally began to reach my limits.

Trapped within the endless walls of the library,

I felt an unbearable pain in my head, as if soone was forcing sothing into my brain.

Hallucinations beca frequent now ..

I could no longer tell left from right.

I was just a tiny, insignificant speck in the vast ocean of existence,

desperately trying to break through the crashing waves that swept away without rcy.

Throwing deep into the abyss.

"Gathering this much knowledge took thousands of years. What makes you think you can grasp it so quickly?"

That’s what The Engineer told once.

Naless, with all his greatness and wisdom, spent millennia to reach this point.

By what right did I think I could claim it for myself?

"Damn it all..."

I didn’t want to acquire all that knowledge—

I only wanted the smallest fraction of it.

Just enough to achieve my goal.

Let Naless, his mask, and his knowledge all burn in hell.

"Why can’t I grasp it?!"

In a hysterical fit,

I hurled the books everywhere, unable to reach what I sought.

I was still stuck on the first floor.

And beyond were countless other floors...

So piercing through the skies,

others plunging deep into the earth below.

"There’s no end to this..."

I was starting to lose them.

Danzo... and my mind.

Ti remaining: 7 days.