"Umm… why so suddenly?" Razeal asked, eyes narrowing. "Didn't you just reject me?"
His voice was laced with suspicion. A moment ago, she was throwing him out like trash now she suddenly had something to offer?
The shift was too quick. Too unnatural.
That smile on her face… it wasn't just creepy.
It was the kind of grin a villain wore right before they ruined someone's life.
Twisted. Sadistic. Inevitable.
"What could I even do to you?" she shrugged, the smirk never fading. "You can't die here, right? You'd just revive… over and over again. So why so scared?"
Razeal clenched his jaw.
She wasn't wrong.
"And believe me," she added, voice light as silk yet sharp as razors, "if it really works out... it'll be very advantageous for you."
Razeal's gaze darkened.
"What do you mean if it works out...?"
"You're not planning to run some experiment on me and just call it teaching, are you?" he asked, stepping back not in fear, but in wary respect.
He called out mentally, eyes flicking to the void beyond.
"System. What is she planning?"
[I have no idea, Host. This entity's behavior falls outside all recorded functions.]
Tch. Useless, Razeal cursed under his breath.
Still… he paused.
Even if she did experiment on him what's the worst that could happen?
It's not like he'd die. Not permanently. And even if he did…
So what?
What mattered was power. Right now, he was weak so weak it was laughable. At the bottom rung of every category that mattered. No skills. No techniques. No resources.
He needed something. Anything.
Fast.
The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He had an ultimate dark affinity, unmatched potential, the mind of a tactician yet he was crawling in the dirt because there was nothing in his arsenal worth using.
As for pain?
Please.
He had known pain longer than he had known peace. Screaming? He doubted his body remembered how.
In the end, this was a win-win.
After all, trying to reason with villains was a joke. He hadn't even said anything earlier he had just thought about walking away and she had already turned him down for that.
She rejected him over a passing thought.
So petty it's comical.
And if the other villains were all like this? Arrogant, whimsical, self-obsessed? Then it might take him eternity to find one who would actually help him.
So screw it.
Let's go with it.
Whatever happens, he'll deal with it.
Pain? Suffering? If that's the price for unlocking an SSS-ranked villain's knowledge
Then so be it.
Just as that resolution settled in his heart, her voice cut through his thoughts.
"How about this," she said suddenly, voice laced with something mischievous.
"Let me show you something. If you can break it" she snapped her fingers "I'll teach you my strongest, ultimate technique."
Razeal's breath caught.
"But if you fail..."
Her grin widened.
"You'll have to go through that experiment."
She said it like a joke. Like a game. As if she were playing with a toy she knew would break.
"For you," she added "it's advantageous either way. And for me... it'll be a little fun time."
Her eyes sparkled like a cat staring at a mouse with broken legs.
Razeal's throat tightened.
Ultimate technique…
He gulped.
Wasn't that all he needed?
If he had that paired with his dark genius, his cursed affinity he could become unmatched.
Super OP.
A Villain that could crush anyone.
No matter how hard it was to learn, he would learn it. Because the problem had never been his talent it was always the lack of skills and piwers he could learn.
He'd been starving for power while sitting in a desert of mediocrity.
This… could change everything.
"Will you… really?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
But greed had already bloomed in his expression.
His eyes burned with desire, his lips twitching with the weight of a thousand hungry thoughts.
Saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth, and he quickly wiped it with the back of his sleeve.
The image of that smug protagonist flashed in his mind. Aeron. That righteous clown. If Razeal got that skill… he'd wipe the floor with him.
And those women too. Maybe then they'd realize how badly they'd misjudged him No not them fuck them he doesn't care.
Shameless?
Maybe.
But no one would know.
And even if they did who cares?
[Cough… host, manners.]
The system's voice buzzed in his mind, trying to act like a half-baked etiquette coach.
Razeal ignored it completely.
"I promise. Of course, I do," he replied aloud with a slight nod his tone low, almost too casual.
But then her expression darkened, just slightly. The glint in her eyes grew sharp and cold.
"I want more than words," she said. "I want you to promise on the name of this space… that no matter what happens, you cannot leave this dimension before my experiment is complete. You will not back out. You will not reject it. Not for any reason."
Her tone was suddenly very serious, devoid of earlier playfulness. There was something in her stare a silent glimmer of authority and disgust, as if she were looking at a vulgar, uncultured brat who didn't deserve her time but had amused her just enough to play with.
'Tch… she's really taking me for some illiterate monkey,' Razeal clicked his tongue inwardly.
But he didn't argue.
He coughed once, lightly, then straightened his posture. "I'll see. First show me what I'm supposed to break," he said cautiously, narrowing his eyes.
What if she asked him to break a mountain or some other absurdity?
"Of course~" she said sweetly then suddenly snapped her fingers.
A mischievous spark danced in her eyes.
Snap
At once, a strange movement caught Razeal's attention. A black, shiny big stone resting harmlessly near his foot shivered, shifting unnaturally as if it had turned into some viscous liquid.
Huh? That wasn't there before…
It began to melt… no, transform, bubbling like tar but shimmering like polished onyx.
The black liquid floated upward, coiling through the air like a sentient stream of oil, and stopped just before Razeal's face. He instinctively tensed but remained still eyes locked on it, calm but ready.
What is this…?
Then, right before his eyes, the black liquid began shifting again this time solidifying at an alarming pace.
Three seconds. That's all it took.
In less than a blink, the liquid formed into two sleek black metallic poles, each about four feet tall and ten meters apart from one another, now standing on either side of him like twin sentinels.
Razeal blinked, glancing left and right.
He stood squarely between them.
It feels like she's about to tie a ribbon between them and ask me to cut it like it's some ceremony…
As if on cue, she tilted her head and said with an unreadable smile
"Cut it."
"Huh? Cut what?" Razeal frowned, confused, glancing at both poles. "These two poles?"
She didn't answer with words.
Instead, she raised her eyebrows, gesturing slightly.
Then, with a soft smirk, she added, "Can't you see it? The thread between them?"
"…Thread?" Razeal echoed, his brow furrowing.
He narrowed his gaze, scanning the space between the two poles carefully. At first, he saw nothing. But as he blinked, focusing intently he caught it.
A single, impossibly thin line of black, stretched taut between the two poles.
Hair-thin. Almost invisible.
"…You mean this?" he asked, raising a finger toward it. "This thread?"
She nodded, still smiling. "Yes. That. Break it. And I'll keep my word."
"…Hmph." Razeal exhaled slowly, already sensing something wasn't right.
"Hmm, to make it easier for you," she added playfully, "how about I make it a thousand times thinner?"
"…What?"
Before he could object, the black matelic thread shimmeredbthen began rapidly thinning.
Right in front of his eyes, the metallic line seemed to dissolve into non-existence. By the time it stopped… it was gone.
He couldn't see a damn thing.
"System…" Razeal growled inwardly. "Is she screwing with me?"
[I do not believe so, Host. If she's swearing on. People of her caliber have no reason to bluff, and certainly not to someone like you.]
…That last part was unnecessary, Razeal thought with a twitch in his brow.
But he didn't argue.
She hadn't moved. Just stood there, waiting.
'Is this even possible…? What kind of joke is this? Break something I can't even see? And she thinks I'll believe she'll give me her ultimate technique just like that?'
"Are you sure?" he asked aloud, still watching her. His voice now steady, cold.
"Of course, kid." She gave him a sideways glance. "But don't forget what you promised. You agree, and I'll give you my technique if you succeed. If not…"
"…Then you'll experiment on me," Razeal finished her sentence, his voice dry.
He could feel it.
This was a trap.
A challenge layered in cruelty.
A joke only villains would laugh at.
And yet…
Even though every warning bell in his brain screamed to step back, he nodded.
He didn't care anymore. Suspicious intentions? Fine.
If it meant power real power then he'd see this through to the end.
No matter what.
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