[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-villain-s-pov":3,"chapter-the-villain-s-pov-the-villain-s-pov-chapter-435":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","THE VILLAIN'S POV",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},336722,598,"Chapter 435: A familiar face (1)","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-435",435,"\u003Cp>— Frey Starlight’s Pov —\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leaning against the wall of a dim alleyway, Ghost and I stood out to every passerby.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This place was as rundown as you’d expect from one of Belgrad’s poorest districts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, this was where the Shadow Court had chosen to abandon Ghost’s mother.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Court was always searching for the most efficient ways to create assassins, arranging calculated breeding to pass down nothing but genetics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a result, all of Ghost’s siblings shared the same father—Mist Umbra—but were born of different mothers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And once the mothers had fulfilled their sole purpose ..giving birth ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Court discarded them, stripping the children of any trace of affection or warmth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was how they raised cold-blooded killers, molded solely for death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for Ghost, it was far worse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t just lose his friends at the Court—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He lost his siblings, one after another.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The last one was Atlas Umbra, who died right before his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And yet, Ghost didn’t seem affected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had simply grown used to it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a harsh reality for the silent assassin, But it was what shaped him into the man he was now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His resilience and composure in the face of such darkness were, in their own way, admirable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s what made him so sharp ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Always aware of the smallest details.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that sharpness had led him to ask about Danzo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What made you ask that question?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I turned the question back on him, and he replied calmly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It was obvious, watching you. Every time you looked at him, there was regret in your eyes. It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At first, I thought you were just mourning what happened to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when your sadness lingered for too long, I realized something far bigger was happening... something none of us knew about.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had figured all that out through observation alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he waited for the right moment to ask ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A moment that came the second I appeared in front of him from thin air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You really are sharp...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I said, gazing up at the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Much like Sansa, he’d read me perfectly, even though I thought I was hiding it well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Staring at Ghost, I wondered if I should tell him the truth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There wasn’t much an assassin like him could do to help me save Danzo...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If anything, he’d be more suited to killing him .. And that was exactly what I was trying so hard to avoid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Ghost was Danzo’s friend too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though they fought often, the bond between them was real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In our bleak little circle, Danzo was the only source of energy and life ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That made him special, in his own way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ghost deserved to know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And after all, he had accompanied me once on my journey to Londor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What if I told you there’s a demon living inside him, Ghost?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I dropped the words suddenly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ghost’s eyes widened for a moment, but he quickly regained his calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What are you talking about?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s a Devil Seed.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And in that moment, I began explaining everything to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The truth of the malicious demonic entity dwelling inside our crippled, sick friend .. And that soon, that demon would emerge, threatening everyone around him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ghost listened silently to the entire story, saying nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I could see his expression shift as I gave him more and more details.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re telling me... a demon like that is inside him, and not even Saint Candidate Uriel noticed?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You could say... he will become the demon himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s not a separate being inside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This level of fusion can’t be detected, not even by holy power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All anyone can do is fight him when the time comes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The cursed one who invented the Devil Seed made it so perfect, so seamless, that it fully merged with the host’s body ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Making it impossible to detect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t get it, Frey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If even Uriel couldn’t sense it, how did you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a fair question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I couldn’t blame Ghost for not being satisfied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, my reaction had been far worse when I first saw the system’s final quest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let’s just say... I have my own ways.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I answered briefly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I couldn’t tell him about the system—not yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So I had no choice but to leave it at that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether he believed me or not, I couldn’t blame him either way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ghost, as always, was unreadable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His face gave nothing away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even his reply was short.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I see.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was all he said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then, silence filled the space between us.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took his time thinking, glancing at me every so often.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His eyes fell on the dark circles beneath mine, on the exhaustion written all over my body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, remembering all the madness we’d gone through together,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ghost made his decision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He chose to believe me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was certain of it ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because I had caught a glimpse of his thoughts, Using the third-person perspective ability.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So what do we do, then? How can we save him?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He asked directly, wanting to help.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But unfortunately, this was something only I could accomplish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m working on it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I went on to tell Ghost about the Nameless Mask, and how the way to save Danzo was hidden somewhere inside it...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t grasp it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m the only one who can save him, Ghost. No one else.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His fate rested entirely in my hands ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and the weight of it was crushing me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As we walked side by side, we kept talking about it for a while longer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How’s Danzo been lately?\" I asked, since it had been a while since I last saw him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He’s still broken. Honestly, I can’t get used to this new, quiet Danzo.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was nothing like the energetic Danzo we used to know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, he was far too quiet, looking tired most of the time, unable to walk properly...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a ghost of his former self.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he ever wanted to fight again, there was no hope left in his human body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Humans simply couldn’t repair shattered aura pathways.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But staying alive this way was still far better than dying in the form of a demon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That thought had haunted me lately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the same went for Ghost, who couldn’t do anything to help this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wanted to visit Danzo again ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>maybe seeing him would push me to search even harder in that cursed library Nameless had built.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, out of nowhere,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I heard a sound I hadn’t heard in a very long time...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>coming from my stomach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ah...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was rare...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To feel hunger in this mutated body of mine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re hungry?\" Ghost asked, and I replied,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I suppose so.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you counted all the days I spent in the Ultrass Continent, plus the days after our return and my time in the Shadow Sect...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You could say I had gone nearly a whole month without eating anything, surviving on barely a few hours of sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had pushed my body far beyond its limits ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I should’ve died long ago if I were still a normal human.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the only thing it left me with was some hunger growls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What a cursed body...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I muttered with a tired smile.\u003C\u002Fp>",1229,"2026-05-30T03:41:22.346Z","2026-06-01T04:30:12.387Z",1,"novelbin.me","1296246c193d4ed690c35faf1ca4878cfdb95ed5f5fe4ca825a349aa8a613ac7","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-436","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-434",866,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-villain-s-pov-cover.jpg"]