The Villain's Story

“What kind of project?”

The supreme being asked, whilst the Serpent stood up, fixing his clothes and organizing his tie, He provoked the Shade King.

“Why don’t you go to your big brother and ask? His eyes possess quite the annoying ability.”

Kulak circled the serpent, his eyes glued to the figure of the man, as he thought of so many things. His sword dissolved into a tide of shadows, sinking into the ground and becoming a part of him.

“Why do you want me to go to Valus?”

Valus, the supreme dragon of Darkness, had a special set of Dragon Eyes, one more potent than any other. All [Dragon Eyes] could differentiate between a lie and the truth, see through illusions and whatnot; however, even such an ability had its limit in the higher echelon of powers.

However, the Supreme Dragon of Darkness possessed [Dragon Eyes] that were far superior in this regard compared to any other dragon. He was able to see the truth, regardless of the circumstances. No amount of trickery would work against the Dragon of Darkness, and thus, he was the one existence that James tried to avoid.

Kulak was well aware of this. Valus was the one dragon the Serpent avoided at all costs, but on the other hand, Lanesha was the one dragon that the Serpent met the most.

Lanesha chose to be his guardian dragon after all, she was to him what Suleras was to Aranus, or Agri was to Elijah. A guardian dragon that bestowed both power and knowledge on the one they deemed worthy.

By this point, he knew his little sister and the man in front of him were already in cahoots with one another; he had already realized that the entire succession was something James had planned.

Lanesha and James wanted the individual known as Alan Peccator to be affiliated with the House of Death. James wanted him to have Ariel’s authority, though he did wonder why.

He already had the bloodline of the Phoenix, unrealized, it may be, as well as the Lineage of Death, Ariel’s lineage that would grant him the power of Death. This entire trial of death thing was a setup.

A setup to get the other dragons of the house of death to recognize Alan, but Kulak was still confused. He knew his mother knew of the entire thing, and this was probably suggested by Lanesha.

His mother could give her authority to Alan whenever she wanted, These different trials were for Alan to meet him and Valus. Ariel went along with it because her only remaining daughter had asked of it. The loss of Shi, the Supreme Dragon of Death, had hit her hard, so much so that she went with Lanesha’s request.

“Too much thinking is bad for you, you know?”

Kulak was knocked out of his thoughts by James’ words and let out a small laugh.

“Funny, to think you’re the one saying that.”

“It may be. But honestly, you’re taking quite a long time to figure it out.

Let me put it this way, I already succeeded, the fact that you came here is proof I won.”

“Won what?”

“I did it, Kulak. I did the one thing even ‘it’ couldn’t do. I did it. My project was a success, everything that is happening right now… is just filler.”

Kulak raised his brows.

“I did what nothing could do. Everything here is proof. I just need what I made to realize what he really is. This is something that would come sooner or later, but why not give the kid a boost?”

“A boost? You placed seals on him to limit him.”

“Those? Ah, right, they are a fail-safe, so to speak. The crystal is one as well. Listen, you’re curious as to what he is, aren’t you? Even Ariel doesn’t know what Alan really is; what she saw was just one part of him.”

“So what is he?”

“Bring him to Valus, and all this jumble would make sense. Everything would make sense.”

“…”

Kulak dissolved into a stream of shadows and left the realm of the soul, leaving James alone in the dark space.

“… Wow.”

The man was surprised, even confused. He hadn’t expected the Supreme of Shadows, the King of the Shade, to agree so easily. He had thought he would be needed to convince more…

“I guess the blunt force method does work.”

James let out a sigh and summoned a chair to sit on. He gazed at the black star in the sky and said.

“Worked well, don’t you think?”

There would be no response; there hadn’t been one for a while. Aranus wouldn’t respond unless Alan Peccator activated [Possession]. He would always be stuck in a state of sleep. He had been through a lot, after all.

“It’ll be done soon, soon…”

James let out a deep sigh this time, and took off his mask, crushing it with his hands. It crumbled like sand and fell into the dark void. James watched it crumble with his tired eyes.

There were dark circles right beneath, normally never seen because he always had the mask on. In the realm of Alan’s soul, he could choose any appearance he wanted, and as such, he could reconstruct his face.

He couldn’t do this normally; [Dominatus] granted him the privilege to do so, but every time he did it, he was letting the skill dominate his existence further. Alan’s soul realm was special.

It had to be, considering what he had to do to make it. Nonetheless, everything was slowly coming to fruition.

He constructed a mirror in the space, and stared at his beautiful visage. He was always handsome, but before his features could fully bloom, a disastrous event had ruined them.

James marvelled at his face for a while, before turning his gaze lower, towards his neck, where a tinge of blue energy was present. It was close, his existence being devoured by the skill known as [Dominatus].

It was only natural; he had been becoming more and more ‘hostile’ as the iterations went by, perfecting Alan Peccator to be what he is.

“Just a few steps left, all for you too, you know? Such a pain in the ass.”

He destroyed the mirror and leaned further into the chair, staring at the black star above as his eyes slowly closed shut.

“I need some sleep, too. Goodnight, you and you.”

But just as he closed his eyes, he felt something break, turning over the Blue Star with A Golden core, he sighed.

“… Fucking Kulak, of course he did something.”

He extended his fingers, and from each a thin thread of emerald energy flew out and entered the Blue Star with a Golden Core.

“… Guess no one wants me to rest…”