A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 14
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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14.
Eston’s face was completely blackened with blood, and she appeared to have received a tremendous shock upon seeing her reflection in the mirror.
Unlike yesterday, she made no attempt at self-healing, nor did she even pinch her nose.
Shock and fear pooled in her eyes.
I silently handed her a handkerchief.
“….”
Only then did Eston come to her senses and accept the handkerchief from me, immediately pressing it to her nose to stanch the bleeding.
But the blood would not stop easily.
The small white handkerchief began to turn black within moments.
“Will you… report this to the Security Bureau?”
Whether she knew it or not, Eston uttered words utterly useless in the present situation.
“My younger brother… had a fit and bit two villagers.”
“….”
“My lady!”
It was then.
Thud!
“I’ll do whatever you ask. I’ll do anything you command… please, just don’t report this!”
Eston suddenly dropped to her knees at my feet and began to plead.
I gazed down at her quietly for a moment before answering.
“Even if I don’t report you, I cannot hide your rampage.”
“Without me, my brother will burn to death in Count Frederick’s hands…!”
Count Frederick?
I faltered for a moment at the familiar name I seemed to have heard before.
But I could only shake it off immediately.
Drip, drip….
Eston’s blood, unable to be absorbed by the handkerchief now completely darkened, spilled across the floor.
And at that same moment.
“Wicked people. Wretched bastards…! When did they ever kneel and beg me to save their families….”
“….”
“How could they condemn my brother just for biting someone! How could they…!”
Eston had suddenly begun to mutter incomprehensible words, her eyes losing focus.
Hallucinations, delusions.
Abnormal anger and stress manifesting from them.
These were the classic symptoms of a rampage precursor.
I checked the numbers above Eston’s head and calmly soothed her.
“Eston, compose yourself.”
“Why did I even bother helping while being corrupted by demonic energy? I should have just left them to die. If only I hadn’t wasted my healing power on those people, I could have saved Theo.”
“Eston.”
“Theo is the only family I have left… Why did another Gate open? Wasn’t it enough that it took Mom and Dad?”
No matter how many times I tried to reach her, it was futile.
She had already bowed her head, trembling violently.
Thud!
The hand pressed against her nose fell limply downward.
Along with it, the handkerchief now blackened dropped to the floor with a wet sound.
Drip… drip, drip.
Dark crimson blood poured down like a faucet had been turned on.
‘Damn it.’
I bit my lip, watching Eston intently.
I’d only meant to give her a slight warning.
It seemed I’d touched a nerve I shouldn’t have.
“Why do I have to keep suffering? I want it to stop now. Just because I’m an Awakener doesn’t mean my abilities are limitless!”
“I know. I promise I won’t report it. So please stop, Eston.”
“Ah, my head hurts… Everyone, please be quiet, I’m begging you!”
“Eston!”
“Why do you keep tormenting me like this! Why, why, why―!”
Eston had reached the point of clawing at her own head with both hands, screaming wildly.
‘At this rate, she’ll go berserk!’
I glanced anxiously at the door.
Whether the Butler heard the commotion and came with others, or didn’t come at all—both were problems.
‘Everyone might find out that I’m a Purifier.’
Of course, that was assuming I could actually use my abilities.
If I couldn’t…
‘I’d be dead meat!’
If I couldn’t purify Eston’s demonic energy, there was no way to stop a berserk Awakener.
True, with Ethan, an S-rank Awakener, in this house, the damage would be less severe than in other cases…
But I, standing right in front of Eston, would definitely die.
“…?”
As I thought that far, I suddenly realized the surroundings had become eerily quiet.
I turned to look at Eston urgently.
“M-Miss…”
She had stopped screaming and was staring up at me blankly.
Her pupils were dilated wide, darkened completely black.
With thin black veins spreading across her face, especially around her eyes, Eston looked like something from a nightmare.
Moreover, black liquid was streaming not just from her nose, but from her eyes as well.
There was no denying it—she was completely corrupted by demonic energy, a true berserk Awakener.
‘This is the first time I’ve seen it up close like this, not in photos or videos…’
Why do people say that when you panic too much, your sense of reality becomes distant?
I stood there speechless, staring at her in bewilderment.
“R-run… escape…! Gah—!”
Eston cried out through gritted teeth, clinging to the last shreds of reason.
And then.
97%
98%
99%
The numbers hovering above her head began climbing at a terrifying rate.
“This can’t be happening!”
Dying in a rampage the moment I possessed this body? That’s absolutely not happening!
‘Damn it, why am I facing this trial instead of the female lead…!’
Just then, Eston let out a grotesque moan and slowly began to rise.
“Nngh… gah, kraaagh… ugh!”
“Your voice is too loud, I’m telling you!”
I winced and reached out, clamping her mouth shut with my hand.
And then I whispered the final word.
“Purification.”
In that instant, a bizarre sensation surged through my entire body as blood rushed toward my hand, and my palm grew scorching hot.
Whoooosh—!
From the point where I touched Eston, a cool breeze erupted alongside an explosion of verdant light.
Gooooooh…
I watched as black miasma rose from Eston’s face like heat shimmer, as though I were absorbing all the mana directly into my body.
In exchange, the green radiance pouring from my hand gently enveloped her form.
The stench of rotting food and the forest scent of phytoncides alternated in my nostrils.
“Urgh, ugh…”
My head spun, and my stomach churned violently.
I gagged and squeezed my eyes shut.
Honestly, I wasn’t confident.
Whether I could even use the Purification ability.
Or whether, even if I could, I’d actually manage to stop an Awakened One’s rampage.
The female lead’s wondrous S-rank Purification ability as described in the novel.
Compared to that, my ability was so pathetically meager it was embarrassing to even call it “Purification.”
No matter how much I trained, I could barely manage to clean a single book.
All I’d hoped for in that moment was to delay Eston’s rampage, even if only briefly.
Just a few minutes—or even a few seconds.
‘Please, just give me time to escape…!’
But then.
99%
95%
87%
The moment I forced my eyes open to confirm the numbers.
What reflected in my gaze was, astonishingly, a figure plummeting in real time.
“…Huh?”
Even as dizziness crashed over me, I couldn’t suppress my bewilderment.
“This is… actually working?”
I couldn’t believe it.
That my purification ability—no, that Eston’s body, despite being an unawakened vessel, could wield such formidable power.
‘Possessed a body and became an S-rank awakened one? Or is the reborn villain an S-rank purifier or something like that…?’
Titles that would fit perfectly in a modern story flickered through my mind as I let out hollow laughs in succession.
“Heh, ugh, cough….”
Fortunately, Eston began stabilizing rapidly.
The black blood pouring from her eyes, nose, and mouth ceased, and the black veins that had erupted across her face gradually subsided.
‘Whether I should be pleased about this or not….’
And still bewildered, I could only stare down at the top of her head.
82%
76%
71%
The rampage index, which had plummeted in an instant, now hovered dangerously close to 70%.
Whoosh—!
I forcibly pulled my hand away from Eston’s mouth.
This was sufficient to suppress the rampage, and besides, the dizziness surging through me had become unbearable—I could no longer maintain my composure.
Even after I removed my hand, the green light continued to pour forth for some time.
It seemed I still couldn’t properly control this ability.
“Gasp… huff…”
I exhaled in ragged breaths, staring down at her with bewilderment,
Thud—
A dull sound echoed through the chamber.
It was the sound of Eston, who had finally lost consciousness, collapsing.
With the turbulent mana subsiding, her face appeared far more peaceful than before, when it had been twisted in agony.
“Seriously… what a mess this is.”
I swept back my disheveled hair roughly and exhaled an exasperated sigh.
The small room had become an absolute disaster.
A healer who had come to cure her employer only to collapse herself, and dark, viscous liquid smeared across the floor in various places…
‘At least it’s only on my hands, not anywhere else.’
That was when it happened.
Knock, knock, knock!
“Miss! It’s me! Is something the matter? I heard a loud noise…!”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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