The Villain's Story

‘Why won’t this thing die?’

Edward asked that question many times before this, He had been broken down and beaten to a point he was unrecognizable. Just a struggling, piece of flesh clad in golden flames that desperately tried to repair him. Emma was long gone, after a few more attempts with her, she had been priority target number 3 after Alan and Kazikato.

The fragment was far from a mindless monster, it was intelligent to a shocking degree. Thankfully, most of that intelligence faded into madness when it laid eyes on Alan and Kazikato, especially Alan.

Being the spawn of the being that killed the original Kizmal really messed with the fragment’s mind, and it showed intelligence rarely… unfortunately, it almost always tried to eliminate Emma within the first five minutes. At first, they had thought she had just been unlucky, to be hit with the most lightning bolts and eviscerating light, but the damn thing was targeting his sister.

And he was powerless to do anything, He hadn’t even managed to destroy a single heart this time, His body refused to follow his command whenever he was near that Giant. As if dying brutally eight times was not enough.

Hell, he was dying right now. He already couldn’t see, the lightning rained on him, and he was soon to perish. His flames were trying desperately to keep him alive, but why was he even doing it?

He didn’t know, maybe he was clinging to the small chance Alan would come and heal him, and then he could fight again. But it was probably useless. He swears he saw Alan die, or at least come close to dying the moment before his eyes melted.

“…”

The pain was probably immense, but his mind was numb, there was only one question rampant.

‘Why won’t you die?’

The thunder roared, as it singlehandedly overpowered everyone else. The ice, the meteors, the aura of death, the darkness, the knight riding a spirit, everyone was slowly dying, painfully, once more.

Alexander was still furiously hacking at the neck of the colossal titan, its blood consumed him with every slash, but it was useless. It was like trying to bring down a mountain with an axe, and this mountain fought back every second.

“…”

He couldn’t scream, but he was so, so glad when he felt his flames dying out. His aura had run out, and he would die soon enough. He promised himself he would sleep for a long time after his death. He didn’t have any idea of challenging this thing more. The previous eight attempts had exhausted him physically, mentally, and spiritually. He truly wished to die for real now.

He wanted to eat something that wouldn’t make him vomit again. He knew the food Alice cooked was amazing, but it had been a long time since they had that, everyone else was a paltry cook in comparison.

He had learnt a valuable lesson to never let Kazikato cook… he would fight this giant to make sure that couldn’t happen.

He was simply tired, and when his golden flames finally succumbed to the storm outside and the turmoil within, an eviscerating beam of light annihilated him, as the corpse of a dragon fell beside him.

Kazikato, in pieces, lost the light in his eyes for the eight time as he also died, returning to the platform. A singular bolt of lightning got past Sabrina’s defenses, and that was all it took to disrupt her focus, allowing a thousand more to follow. Olivia had managed to destroy a heart, but the blood had rushed forth, drowning her and melting her body before she could utter a scream. With her death, Abalak disappeared as well, just before he could destroy another heart.

Alexander was swatted like a fly, his body crushed to a bloody pulp when he was enraged and focused only on cutting Kizmal’s neck. Only Alan was left, his lower jaw was gone, and an eye had been ‘pushed’ in by Kizmal’s fingers. The thunder roared in the distance, but his he had given up on regenerating his ears long ago. His aura reserves had long run out, and he was using mana to fuel his bloodline.

His jaw was regenerating, but at a slow pace. Bites were out of the option for now, but what else could he do? The giant, the colossus that was the fragment of Kizmal walked towards him slowly, as if it was gloating. Alan struggled to stay afloat, he was tired as well.

“Why won’t you die, you fuck…”

He muttered, but he was unsure if the thing could even understand him. Alan coughed up blood and cancelled his dragon form, and a hideous form was revealed.

A body missing a few pieces of it, his jaw, parts of his abdomen and even his left shoulder, there was a gaping hole in both of his legs. He sealed it with mana. His feet were bent at odd angles, and his fingers were numb. Alan slowly fell down, soon plummeting towards the ground with a tired gaze. But in the end, as Kizmal’s arm moved towards him, to spare him from the peaceful death of falling from this height… He moved.

He cursed, like a frenzied beast, and activated his Draconian transformation, but it was paltry, pathetic.

A weak set of wings that could not even make him soar, only barely float, enough to land on Kizmal’s arms, weak, almost rotting scales that fell off with every step he took as he raced to the top. A mad look on his face, screaming and coughing blood. The storm focused on him, and he faced lightning bolt after lightning bolt.

An eviscerating beam of light emerged, and took half his body with it, his right arm and leg were gone, with a significant proportion in between. And even though he was alive, with his guts, flesh and muscles hanging by threads, he gave up.

Alan slowly succumbed to the electric field, the lightning bolts, Kizmal’s crazed laugh and the triumphant roar of thunder that he felt in his mind and soul.

As his last embers of life faded, his tired, dead eyes stuck onto a single skill in his status.

[Skill: Possession.]

[Would you like to use Possession?]

[Yes/No]

If he had his right hand, he would have done it. He didn’t care for rules anymore. He couldn’t give a damn if this was cheating or not… He was just so tired.

‘Die… please.’

He was begging for this thing to finally succumb, and not gloat at all their efforts to kill it. He had lost count of how many hearts of this thing they had destroyed.

There was an only earnest wish.

‘Just die… Die, die…’

And then, he returned to the platform as well, as the final thunderbolt turned him to dust. The colossus was left alone, amidst his own lightning and thunder as his figure turned to dust, returning to the ground below, to emerge again when the cohort dared to challenge him again.

The colossus had emerged victorious every time.

*******

Alan knew he was back in the platform, he knew the texture of the bone beneath, the skeleton of Kizmal, but he didn’t open his eyes. He was parched, tired, and most importantly, hopeless. He honestly thought he had to resort to [Possession] to defeat Kizmal now. And perhaps it was.

Aranus could kill that fragment with but a thought, or the slightest movement in his pinky if he was serious. The gap between his S-rank self and the near epic being was immense, but the gap between Aranus and the fragment was even greater. It had been so long since he had used possession.

The last time he tried it, he had a crude metal arrow the width of his shoulder pierce his chest, disrupting the skill. He could also try to go into ‘Enlightenment’ again. But he had no idea how too.

Alexander had already tested it, and even with his excellent control, he attacked Alan and Kazikato if they got too close. Enlightenment was something best used in a one versus one or one versus many. If your allies were there as well, you would not be able to differentiate from friend or foe.

Everyone else was simply someone you had to kill. Even if Alan had figured out how to go into Enlightenment on command, he would not enter it for fear he annihilated his party before Kizmal.

When he was deeply considering possession. He felt someone sit on top of his body, and grab his shoulders firmly. The hands were soft, and smelled nice, so he already knew who it was.

“WE CAN DO IT.”

“?”

But the vigor was unfamiliar. Sabrina wasn’t like this, certainly not after their recent experiences.

“WE CAN DO IT, ALAN!”

He opened his eyes, to find her with wide open eyes and a wild smile on her face. She retracted one arm and pointed to Alice as she declared.

“THE FUCK IS WEAK TO FIRE!”

Alice was finally awake, after two weeks, and she brought good information.