[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-villain-s-pov":3,"chapter-the-villain-s-pov-the-villain-s-pov-chapter-455":6,"glossary-terms-598":24},{"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},336542,598,"Chapter 455: The Rise of the Vanguard","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-455",455,"\u003Cp>— Frey Starlight’s Pov —\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had been a long time since I last stood before such a large crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing there, face-to-face with the Iron Emperor, Sir Alon, for the very first time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I withdrew my explosive aura, offering hollow words of apology that meant little to me .. And even less to those present, whose eyes refused to accept what they were seeing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their reactions drew a tired sigh from my lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything was unfolding exactly as I had expected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since I gained full control over my aura, I’d become capable of pulling off stunts like this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So, you say you’ve forgotten how to live among humans... what an interesting thing to hear from your mouth, Frey Starlight.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking a few steps toward me,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sir Alon unleashed his full aura and power,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Trying to reassert his dominance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The force he released made the very air tremble .. It was truly formidable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But compared to what I had displayed earlier... It felt lukewarm at best.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he saw me unaffected by his power,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A wide smile spread across Sir Alon’s face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I wonder how far your strength has grown, Lord Starlight, For you to stand so calmly before me like this.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing face to face, The tension rose as sparks of radiant light shot from his eyes,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Colliding with the violet sparks flaring from my own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you wish to know what I’m capable of,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then send me to the battlefield and watch from afar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watch as I slaughter our enemies, one by one.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At those words, Sir Alon raised an eyebrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What a bloodlust you have, Frey Starlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’ve heard that in the past few months, your hands have been stained with so much blood .. That I can’t help but be concerned about sending you to the front lines in this state.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sir Alon was trying to size me up in every way, Since this was our first direct encounter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To him, I must have looked like a monstrous force in the prime of its youth,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With unknown abilities and even more unknown motives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"There’s no need to overthink it, Iron Emperor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You, more than anyone, know that you need people like me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your eldest son once used my father to end the last war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, all you need to do is the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s why people like us exist.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mergo once said the same thing to me...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back when I fought him in the land of the Ultras.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We are monsters, born for this purpose alone.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a smile, Sir Alon nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"True enough...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he looked at me,Sir Alon recalled the legends he had once heard about my father ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Abraham Starlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Unfortunately, I never had the chance to meet your father, But I’ve heard much about him. And I suppose a part of him lives on in you—his only son.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Placing a hand on my shoulder,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sir Alon gave his final words before stepping back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’ll have your chance to spill the blood you crave, But always remember this, Frey Starlight .. Don’t let that blood consume you, And don’t lose yourself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even monsters have their limits.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a simple nod,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I agreed to his words .. Though they meant little to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed Sir Alon had already realized the truth:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That only my aura had reached the mythical SSS rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And because of that, He had instinctively lowered his guard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sharp senses indeed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’ll give him that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He figured out my true level faster than I expected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As these thoughts crossed my mind,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I glanced at my system interface to check my stats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Host Name: Frey Starlight (Dual Soul)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Class: Swordsman\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Talent: SS+\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Current Rank: S\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strength: S\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Speed: S+\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Agility: S+\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Endurance: SS-\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aura: SSS\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Magic: —\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Swordsmanship Level 7 (Max Level)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Talents:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>{Swordsmanship}, {Aura Manipulation}, {Poison Resistance}\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Combat Style:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Skills:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hawk Eyes (Rank A)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Phantom Steps (Rank A)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seduction (Rank D)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ascension (Rank S)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ignition (Rank SS)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Screenshot (Rank SS)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Abilities:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shadow Adaptation 3\u002F7\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stage One: Adapt to all combat styles, creating natural counters against any fighting technique.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stage Two: Adapt to all physical injuries, triggering rapid regeneration to heal the body automatically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stage Three: Adapt to all forms of aura, granting perfect control and absolute dominance over the surrounding aura—and the user’s own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anti-Magic Level 2\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Current Achievement Points: 1,000\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had truly come a long way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After spending all my Achievement Points to raise my Talent to SS+ and training relentlessly for eight long months, I finally broke through to S Rank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I even mastered the third stage of Shadow Adaptation, granting me absolute control over my aura.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of this, combined with the secret training techniques I discovered within Nameless’s mask.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My strength had grown immensely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At my current level, I felt confident that I could stand against any SS+ opponent—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Sir Alon himself, if it came to that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But despite how far I’d come, I was still not where I wanted to be.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still far from the level I needed to reach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The level where I could face all those entities who had marked me,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who sought to bend my fate to their will.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this world, power is everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The strong live by their own rules,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the weak... they have no choice but to crawl through life as slaves, bound by the whims of others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s why I yearned for bloodshed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why I wanted to fight again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To force myself to ascend higher, through blood and fire—through battles where life and death balanced on a knife’s edge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s why I was here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To slaughter as many of those bastards on the other side of the world as I could.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, standing here, in the hall that hosted the World Summit before the war’s official outbreak ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I took a seat among the special squad I was now a part of, Silently withdrawing from the spotlight after causing a stir.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Taking my place, I found familiar faces all around me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most notable among them was Snow Lionheart, seated to my right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s been a while, brother. You’ve changed a lot.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just from the look on his face, I could tell ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Snow was genuinely happy to see me again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\" I’m not the only one who’s changed. I assume I wasn’t the only one training.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though he hadn’t released the same overwhelming aura I did, Snow had grown tremendously since I last saw him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I figured he had fully mastered his War King Form by now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had grown far stronger than the story’s timeline should have allowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I was glad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Glad to see he had found his own path forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like I had my reasons for returning to that cursed continent, he had his own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without a word, we clasped hands, our grip firm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m relying on you there.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Same here.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1153,"2026-05-30T03:41:22.347Z","2026-06-01T04:30:12.387Z",1,"novelbin.me","7f8bf59ba41a6d2f3c34d4d66ab3f1845a5bccf8340fcc243772ced091ea1596","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-456","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-454",866,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-villain-s-pov-cover.jpg",{"terms":25,"userReplacements":26},[],{}]