Chapter 84: A Villain’s End

We will make the Imperial Princess the Emperor.

These were the words left by Sirbert at the start of the civil war.

Four rankers aside from Jijoncheonma.

Their goal was to elevate the weakest force, the Imperial Princess, as the victor and make Sirbert the Emperor’s closest confidant.

He must have placed someone trustworthy by the Princess’s side, so the chances have increased dramatically.

It was easy to deduce that the person Sirbert mentioned and the one seen in the City of Sauer were the same individual.

Immediately, a separate plan was devised.

The plan was to seize control of the First Prince’s legion and create a crisis in the Princess’s camp.

There was nothing difficult about it.

Releasing one charmed person would cause the enchantment to spread like a plague—that was the terrifying nature of Enthralment.

I personally cut off all information and carried out the plan.

I know.

This is something Jijoncheonma would never approve of.

‘But what else could I do?’

I had searched for him for two long years.

It was the sole purpose of my meaningless life.

I had a duty I had to fulfill.

The plan was perfect.

The Princess’s legion was thoroughly cornered, and the only way out was to break through head-on.

If there was a hidden power, it had to be revealed now.

And it had to be an overwhelming power that wouldn’t work if only half-hearted.

Imagine if Sirbert faced this situation without any preparation.

His pyrokinesis was certainly a fine skill, but not enough to win a war alone.

It might work well against many troops, but not enough to penetrate the entire elite legion and seize the prince’s head.

If Sirbert was only that strong, there was no need to mention the other rankers.

The two overwhelmingly superior people who always topped my list—only they could possibly overcome this.

I knew the position of the one ranked second, so only one remained.

The only one who could surpass this crisis was Jijoncheonma.

Dark clouds gathered.

KRAAAASH—!

A thunderclap that seemed to split the air. A blinding white flash covering the eyes.
Countless bolts of lightning overlapped endlessly.

“Cut off the prince’s head.”

It took only a few minutes from the first thunderbolt to the prince’s head falling.

“Ahh…”

I could only shudder.

“I love you, Airlights.”

‘How sweet was the fruit obtained through this process?’

Whatever the reason, wasn’t Jijoncheonma—Hio Pavlenko—whispering love to me by my side?

The embrace was warm, the whispered love incredibly gentle.

I wanted to bury myself in it for life.

“Yes! I love you too!”

The flow of memories, drifting like gentle waves, felt like it was nearing its end.

“I love you.”

Such a strong memory.

I was happy.

Because I finally seemed to understand what love was.

For some reason… it felt a little familiar, but what did it matter?

I had never been loved in my entire life.

I had never loved anyone.

Love was a void that never existed in me.

That’s why I yearned for it and wandered to satisfy it.

It became my life’s goal.

How can I describe the overwhelming feeling of that lifelong void being filled?

But it was like a pleasant dream, and before I knew it, it was time to wake up.

“I found it.”

I had finally discovered the Artifact stuck on the roof of the Gray Spire.

Suddenly, a rising anxiety.

This happiness, this sense of fulfillment, would never come back again.

I instinctively knew.

I could only know because I had watched for so long.

If Hio, who showed me love and let me experience it, left here, would he truly love me?

Would he whisper love to me again, calling my name? Would he hug me tightly and hold my hand as we walked together?

My heart sank because I knew too well that it wouldn’t happen.

He cares for everyone around him, but he never gives himself to anyone.

No matter how small the request or the promise, he throws all his strength into fulfilling it, so he cannot afford to look at just one person.

So…

“Hio Pavlenko.”

It couldn’t be helped.

“Come to me.”

This moment was the one I had dreamed of my whole life. I didn’t want to let it go.

“Tell me you love me.”

If I had known love was this sweet, If I had known how painful unrequited love could be, I never would have started.

Hio Pavlenko’s voice whispering love to me.

His gaze.

His warmth.

The street where we walked hand in hand was shrouded in mist, but it didn’t matter.

“I love you, Airlights.”

‘Was there such a happy feeling in the world?’

‘Did everyone live in such happiness?’

That’s so unfair.

I was experiencing this for the very first time in my life.

That’s why I never wanted to leave.

‘How could they love, break up, and love again so easily?’

I… was truly experiencing it for the first time…

‘…Was it really the first time?’

I don’t know.

Anyway, one thing was clear: such overwhelming fulfillment was hard to escape.

“I love you. I love you.”

That happiness lasted about three days.

And the price for those three days of love was a life.

“Now you and that wizard should actively join the battle.”

Atawolf’s words.

I put up a slight resistance, but…

“Before you leave, I will make sure to kill Hio Pavlenko.”

It was a battle I could never win.

I was prepared, but it was a predetermined tragedy.

We couldn’t send the charmed Hio into war.

If we did, we would truly be hated forever.

Love was not something allowed to me, yet I had dared to seek it.

Abandoned by my parents, a terrifying person who craved love.

The time to pay for such greed had come.

I turned back and fell into Hio’s embrace.

I had to break the Enthralment that gripped him.

He would immediately head for the Artifact, and I would lose my life at Atawolf’s hands.

Predicting that was not difficult at all.

I wasn’t afraid of death.

“You really are mean, aren’t you, Hio.”

“…Yeah.”

I spoke while holding him, but something felt strange.

My hands hugging Hio tightened.

The Head of Black Fang.

A threat befitting the worst villain.

‘How could he try to drive a wedge between us?’

“Is that even possible?”

“Yeah.”

My heart dropped.

He answered.

His words were no longer warm.

No longer sweet.

I flinched and tried to break the Enthralment, but…

It was already broken.

“Do I… love you?”

That last question was a desperate plea.

A pathetic cry for the impossible.

And the answer returned was:

“Yes. I love you.”

It was no longer sweet.

No longer warm or gentle.

I felt like I might cry but couldn’t raise my head.

Still in that state, I asked Hio: “Why didn’t you move right away? Why did you stay still?”

His reply was worry.

“You’ll die.”

Hio Pavlenko was that kind of person.

Even doing something so cruel, he was warm enough to worry about me.

“You know.”

That’s why he was someone I could never have.

“Is what I’m feeling really love?”

I asked and immediately regretted it.

‘What if he said no?’

I didn’t know what answer I would get, and that scared me more than death.

“No. You don’t have to answer.”

I slipped out of his arms and turned around.

Spouting a vow to myself like a certainty:

“This is love.”

KRAAASH—!

The thunder sounded right after.

It was obvious where Hio was headed, so I had to buy time.

「Skill – ‘Enthrall’ activated.」

With all my strength, I cast the skill towards Atawolf.

Of course, I knew it wouldn’t work.

“In the end, you make foolish choices, Airlights.”

What I needed was just a moment.

Atawolf’s gaze locked on me, his black mist about to take my life.

Just a very brief moment.

BAAM!

My body was pierced in an instant, slammed against a wall, and my consciousness blurred.

Death.

Don’t cry.

A voice suddenly echoed.

“Aren’t you crying too sadly? Don’t cry.”

“I didn’t know who it was, but was it speaking to me?”

Yes. Airlights.

That made me laugh.

I had never cried in my life, yet I was told not to cry.

They must not know I was an emotionless, terrifying person.

“Then what did I see?”

“I didn’t know what they saw or why they said that, but it was nonsense and a lost cause.”

Don’t turn away, Airlights.

You must have been in terrible pain, suffering, and loneliness, but still, don’t turn away.

“Turn away from what?”

“I couldn’t understand at all.”

“I couldn’t understand, yet strangely, my head spun.”

“Don’t abuse yourself.”

“It’s okay now.”

It’s all over.

You can stop the terrible self-hatred now.

Those words felt so warm that my dizzy head calmed down.

Open your eyes wide, don’t turn away, and look straight.

The memories you skipped.

The very bottom of the soul.

I traced back carefully to my earliest memories.

Age five.

I was crying, clutching my father’s pant leg as he beat my mother.

Then I was kicked away, and my mother rushed to wrap me in her arms.

In her embrace, I cried endlessly.

…Strange.

It was a memory I had never seen or experienced.

But it was clearly my memory.

Age eighteen.

At my mother’s funeral, I sat dazed as people whispered.

Creepy kid.

A kid without a tear.

The kid who devoured his parents.

I thought they were all right.

That was who I was.

***

Night fell.

I wandered around the empty funeral hall and headed to the bathroom.

Locked the door, closed the toilet seat, and squatted on it.

Then I began to cry loudly.

Sobbing until I nearly couldn’t breathe, fainting, then waking and crying again.

After crying all night, morning came.

I opened the bathroom door without a care and sat in front of my mother’s photo, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Then people came back and whispered again.

Creepy kid.

Psychopath.

Kid without feelings.

I thought they were right.

I truly hadn’t shed a single tear.

…That memory was very different from what I was seeing now.

After the funeral, I returned alone to an empty house.

On the dark dining table lay a cake, still wrapped.

To our beloved daughter.

A letter began with those words.

I read it, crying again.

I read every word carefully to the bottom, then went back to the top and read it all again.

Tears flowed endlessly.

Age nineteen.

I discovered the game Ventair.

I naturally got hooked.

Except for sleeping, I only stared at the monitor.

Actually, I spent more time sleeping in front of the computer than in bed.

I thought it was because the game was fun.

I had nothing else to do at home, so I remember playing the game.

Looking again carefully, that wasn’t the case.

I unconsciously avoided leaving my room.

The cake was still unopened on the table, and the letter above it remained the same.

Every trace of my mother remained in the house.

Her cooking utensils in the kitchen.

Her clothes, cosmetics, slippers.

If I stepped outside my room, I had to face all those traces.

I simply couldn’t clean them away.

All of it.

I unconsciously avoided facing reality.

I forced myself into Ventair so I wouldn’t have to face it.

If I hadn’t played Ventair… well… maybe I would have just died.

Time passed, and finally, the last memory before death.

“You know.”

I held Hio tightly and raised my head to ask with a trembling voice, “Is what I’m feeling really love?”

Tears welled in my eyes.

Hio’s pupils trembled as if startled.

He hadn’t refused to answer.

He couldn’t answer.

Maybe that’s why he instinctively turned away.

Before he grew weak-hearted, hoping I would do what I had to do.

Hoping I would fulfill it.

…Yes.

Just as my mother once told me.

Love is the feeling of caring for others, not for yourself.

I had realized that instinctively and spoke with conviction.

It was never a lie.

“This is love.”

…In truth, I had known love.

I had experienced it so much that it overflowed.

I had received such overwhelming love that I couldn’t accept losing it.

I love you, my daughter.

More than anything in this world.

Maybe the reason I searched for love was to feel it once more.

Or maybe, I just wanted to see my mother again.

I love you, Mom.

Not being able to say that might have become a deep regret, the reason I cried out for love so desperately.

“What on earth… what is this…!”

“Captain!”

“Sir Mahel! Are you alright?”

Royal Knights Damon and Melissa were the first to reach the Gray Spire, followed by a flood of others scrambling up.

All imperial forces gathered around the castle.

Atawolf and Vitalianus lay side by side, fallen.

In a corner, a woman I had never seen was buried in rubble, dead.

“Priest! Bring the priest quickly!”

“Captain! Stay conscious…!”

“What on earth happened…?”

Everyone who had reached the spire rushed to Vitalianus’s side, doing their best to tend to him anxiously.

No one.

Not a single person cared about the man pierced by a sword in the heart or the woman buried in debris.

“Clear the way!”

The Sword Saint is in critical condition!

Make way!

So Hio Pavlenko quietly stared at the two lifeless bodies.

The continent’s worst criminals.

Atawolf, Head of Black Fang, and a legendary villain.

A sociopath who drove countless people to death for his own benefit—Airlights.

Soon, the deaths of the two villains would be proclaimed to the world.

People would cheer, rejoice, and go wild.

They would say, “Finally, they’re dead. Well deserved.”

There might even be places singing songs and holding festivals.

That is usually the fate of villains.

The death of a villain was the natural order of things.

Perhaps one of the many might ask:

“How did they become villains?”

Then the other would think for a moment and answer:

“Who cares? They were obviously bad guys anyway.”

So.

“Guardian Knight… are you alright?”

That’s why.

“I’m fine.”

At least I can remember your beginning.

At least I can pity you.

“What… exactly happened?”

At least I can grieve your deaths.

“Nothing special… just the usual.”

A typical villain’s end.

[Hidden Trait: Violence is Forbidden! (Patience: 914 / 1000)]