[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-villain-s-pov":3,"chapter-the-villain-s-pov-the-villain-s-pov-chapter-520":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},337073,598,"Chapter 520: Ten Thousand Steps Into Madness (4)","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-520",520,"\u003Cp>With a savage roar, Iris threw a punch that materialized into a colossal flaming fist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It shot forth with terrifying speed, crashing into V and burying him deep into the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Milena Maiden,\" Iris called out, \"I’ll deal with his flames. Don’t hesitate—kill him with your next strike!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She gave a sharp nod.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as they exchanged glances, V burst out of the crater, targeting them both.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Milena immediately closed the distance at sonic speed, clashing with him in a frenzy of sword strikes. Their blades moved so fast, they left afterimages behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>V’s body spewed black fire without pause, but Iris was there to intercept and contain it all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While V was distracted fighting Milena, Iris suddenly appeared on his right and delivered a blazing punch straight to his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The blow sent V flying ..only to be stopped cold by Milena, who slashed his chest with a swift stroke from her extending claymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He’s tough!\" she muttered, the strange black armor dulling the blow’s impact.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then don’t stop! Let’s crush him with everything we’ve got!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a red meteor, Iris dove in, unleashing a relentless flurry of strikes upon V.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the front and rear, V was completely surrounded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He tried to react, but a piercing sonic wave suddenly struck his ears, scattering his thoughts into disarray.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Empire’s mages had begun chanting spells, while soldiers tightened the perimeter around the battlefield.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no escape for V...caught between two SS rank monsters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His blood spilled. His bones shattered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>V’s mind went blank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At this rate... I’ll fail...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He would fail again. And this time, he wouldn’t be the only one to die—all the other rats would perish too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mind raced, desperate to find a way to survive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moonlight Blade couldn’t save him—Milena had a legendary weapon of her own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His black fire was neutralized by Iris. Even the Berserk State didn’t give him the upper hand ..his opponents were monsters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His armor held up, but it was slowly cracking. Their attacks were getting through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All his power... felt utterly meaningless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this rate, death was inevitable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet for some reason, his mind didn’t formulate a strategy ..it wandered into old memories, fragments that never left him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was a saying among the Ultras. One known by all who belonged to that brutal world:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Heroes aren’t born out of nothing in the Ultras ..they are forged.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They weren’t chosen by some divine being. They weren’t like the Empire’s champions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the Ultras, heroes were made from zero.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the rat pit... a rat would one day become a hero. And that was V.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had always been thrown into the pit, ever since he was a child.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thrown in with monsters of every kind, locked in until only one remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the one rat that survived... was always V.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every time Gavid Lindman came to inspect the pit, he’d find V ..still breathing ..surrounded by corpses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why did V fight with such ferocity? Why did he always struggle to survive?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why didn’t he just die and end his suffering?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because he has a reason.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sitting beside Mergo, Gavid raised a glass of wine ..poured by the drunken old man himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Lindman, did you send your dog to die?\" Mergo asked as they both looked up at the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gavid smiled absentmindedly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Maybe he really will die this time.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing that, Mergo laughed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Maybe? You really think he has a chance?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He doesn’t have a chance... but he has a reason to live. Everything that boy lives for... is right here in my hands.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lindman stated with certainty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He doesn’t have the right to die. Not yet.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You seem to be placing a lot of hope in him,\" Mergo said, puzzled by Lindman’s words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You don’t know what that boy is capable of. V is the pinnacle of our kind ..of the Ultras. No one like him has emerged in three full centuries.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It’s easy for you to say that, considering you’re his mentor,\" Mergo muttered, sighing, but Lindman chuckled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mentor? What nonsense. I’ve never taught that boy anything.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...What?\" Mergo blinked in confusion, while Lindman smiled, eyes drifting toward the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"He learned my style on his own. I simply let him see it once... and he mastered it. That’s the kind of monster he is...one who will either die today or awaken and show this world a new kind of horror.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this world, nothing mattered but strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no place for the weak. No place for cowards. No place for those who refused to fight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, trapped between two monsters, V felt death crawling toward him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His head was on fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter what he did, he couldn’t turn the tide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Iris and Melina were tearing him apart mercilessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Why...?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bleeding profusely beneath his broken armor, V staggered as the thought echoed in his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Why can’t I defeat them?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’I made a pact with one of the strongest demons... I trained, survived monsters of every kind... they called me the greatest hero in the history of the Ultras... and yet I still lose. I keep failing!’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’m going to fail again... and if I fail, everyone else dies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the other weaker rats..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>every one of them...would die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone had placed their hopes on him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re the hero, V. You’re our best. You’re the strongest. We’re counting on you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heavy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was all so heavy. Every single burden thrown onto his back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Do this. Do that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everything he had done until now was fulfilling someone else’s desires.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And now, he was dying doing just that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All that strength he’d built... was meaningless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>WHY?!!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>V screamed, unleashing everything he had. But despite his desperate struggle—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His enemies completely overwhelmed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the end, he simply wasn’t that kind of monster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As his final moments neared, V trembled, remembering a feeling he hadn’t felt in a very long time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m going to die... and so will the others because of me...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We’re all going to die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With trembling limbs, shattered armor, and eyes crying blood ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>V could barely stand against the merciless onslaught of his foes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With chattering teeth and a terror that gripped his soul ...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>V wept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We’re going to die. We’re going to die. We’re going to die. We’re going to die. We’re going to die. We’re going to die...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m going to die...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not because it was his choice ..but because it was theirs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His strength wasn’t enough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m not that kind of monster...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his final moments, he realized how weak he truly was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melina’s claymore was a breath away from severing his neck. Iris’s fist, a heartbeat from piercing his chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And in that final moment ..V remembered only one thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid all the fear and dread of death ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A single sentence resurfaced in his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Go ..and don’t come back until you’ve become a monster on par with Frey Starlight.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s what Lindman had told him. Words that echoed in V’s ears over and over again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ah... I get it now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With lifeless eyes, no one could tell what he was seeing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>V gripped his sword tighter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"All I have to do... is become Frey Starlight.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then ..everything would be alright.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he were Frey, neither of those two would have ever trapped him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That kind of strength... that’s what he needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He finally understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And in that moment—V vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Between Iris and Melina, he completely disappeared without a trace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Neither of them even understood how he moved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Far off in the battlefield, he reappeared ..his hand reaching down to pick up a second sword from the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A completely ordinary sword, now held in his left hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His Moonlight Sword, in his right.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn’t done anything... just picked up another blade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But somehow... his aura changed completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To veterans like Iris and Melina, who were finely attuned to such shifts ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"His gait... his expression... his presence... everything’s different.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What... just happened?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even his very presence had changed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t something that should have been possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That stance ..they had seen it before, both of them ..but neither wanted to believe it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then, V moved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow – Supreme art: Eternal Blackout.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a single motion of his blades—everything around him was severed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thousands of dark slashes erupted from his body, consuming the battlefield in a merciless wave of destruction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melina and Iris immediately fell back, their faces frozen in shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But V had already appeared between them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That speed...!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow – Eternal Darkness\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>BOOOOM!!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a deafening explosion, V unleashed a flurry of lightning-fast strikes that overwhelmed his enemies completely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His blades became heavier, faster...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His style transformed. His entire form of combat .. it all shifted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had become something else entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Frey Starlight...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had always been their ally. That’s why they never truly considered it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But how terrifying...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To imagine Frey as the enemy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Crush him! Use everything you’ve got!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Iris roared, launching forward with all his might, followed by Melina in perfect sync.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both lunged to end V before he escalated any further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But they froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They froze the moment they saw the stance he assumed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Augmenting his depleted aura with black flames drawn from his demonic pact—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>V prepared to unleash the one attack that would make them regret stepping anywhere near him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow: Frey Starlight’s Style—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Evade it! NOW!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Iris shouted ..but it was already too late.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Nameless Judgement.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that moment ..everything went dark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gates of hell flung open, and a roaring torrent of black fire swallowed everything in its path.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The attack didn’t just consume Iris and Melina..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It kept going ..ripping through ranks of the imperial army like a tidal wave of damnation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A calamity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A massacre that turned the battlefield into a living inferno.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In less than a second, thousands were incinerated ..mercilessly erased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And there ..within the storm of black fire, death, and ruin..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Walked a single youth, wielding twin blades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sword he had borrowed had shattered under the force of the blow, so V replaced it..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His right hand still held the Moonlight Sword, and in his left...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He now gripped a golden claymore—taken from Melina’s corpse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There, in the heart of that cursed inferno...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The most terrifying monster among the Ultras had awakened his true potential.\u003C\u002Fp>",1733,"2026-05-30T03:41:39.413Z","2026-06-01T04:30:13.202Z",1,"novelbin.me","970fac14c8da40972eca2746fc322f8bb9ae6c8ec6e41c5badb4de86ce87646d","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-521","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-519",866,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-villain-s-pov-cover.jpg"]