A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 203

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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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203.

Disappearing just like that?
Without revealing even a single ambition or purpose for what comes next?
I felt as though I’d awakened from a particularly unpleasant dream—disoriented and hollow.
And I wasn’t alone in this sensation.
Looking at the innocent Awakeners swept up in that madman’s obsession with love, every face bore the same expression of bewilderment and deflation.
Beneath it all lay a profound exhaustion.
Understandably so.
Nothing had been resolved, no path to resolution was visible, and our attacks proved utterly ineffective against the architect of this catastrophe.
Caught in an endless cycle of battling monsters that poured forth without reason, the warning indicators on the Magi readings were beginning to multiply, one by one.
“See? I was right, wasn’t I?”
At that moment, I turned to Serge at the sound of his voice.
Even now, the man wore a smug expression, clearly pleased that his conjecture had proven accurate.
“I don’t understand.”
I shook off his hand still wrapped around my waist.
“By your logic, His Highness got what he wanted anyway. So shouldn’t we either close the Gate again or execute the next phase of the plan?”
“Does it look like there is one? If he had the presence of mind for that, he wouldn’t have made such a mess in the first place.”
Serge answered with utter indifference.
“Look at how he fled without even collecting all the body fragments. That man has neither a plan nor the capability for one. He just acted on impulse without thinking about what comes after.”
It was a reasonably plausible assumption.
Now that I thought about it, I’d never seen or heard of Sephiroth closing the Gate again.
So he truly had done this without anticipating Count Frederick would end up in that state? Without any plan, even as the world teetered on the brink of annihilation?
I clicked my tongue at his irresponsibility, then shook my head.
How foolish of me.
To speak of responsibility to a man driven to madness was absurd.
Reflecting on it, she—the one frantically gathering what appeared to be her husband’s remains—had seemed frantic, almost panicked.
As though she’d never anticipated this outcome.
Indeed, according to the Book of Prophecy, her wish wasn’t for the world’s destruction, but for something about equality and fairness.
Precisely what, I couldn’t quite recall, but that was the gist of it.
Yet there was one flaw in Serge’s reasoning.
That Sephiroth had acted without any plan whatsoever.
Though he may not have foreseen that the husband he’d reclaimed would have his limbs severed by the Awakeners, he certainly knew the man wouldn’t cross dimensions in a normal state.
That’s why he’d been conducting those experiments all this time—extracting Awakener blood and transfusing it into the Erosion Infected.
By now, he’d likely relocated to a safe location and was devoting himself entirely to resurrecting that half-corpse.
As my thoughts reached that point—
CRRRAAAAAASH—
A deafening boom suddenly tore through the sky, as though announcing the arrival of further calamity.
Another Gate beside the Building that protruded from the Gate was being absorbed and merged together.
Like the Gate Wave beneath the Gorge, iridescent flames scattered as an enormous cavity swelled and writhed.
“Gruuuok, gruuuuuk―!”
Soon, from the abyss where the expansion was complete, pitch-black masses began pouring down.
Not monsters—they were clusters of humans, all of them.
“This is troublesome. There aren’t many monsters left now.”
Serge muttered while clicking his tongue.
Contrary to his words, monsters still swarmed across the ground.
But the monsters were helpless against the human clusters that clung to them viciously, tearing into their flesh.
If Gates continued merging and these new ones kept being added, it was clear that even the Awakeners would soon become prey.
“I’ll try to purify them.”
I spoke with a solemn expression.
“Perhaps those black masses are a Magi Barrier. Either way, while we’re purifying the Awakeners….”
“It’s useless.”
But a coldly decisive answer came back.
“What difference would it make? If another Gate merges in the meantime. Until we eliminate the source, it’s like pouring water into a bottomless pit.”
“Must you always speak like that?”
“And you forgot I told you not to get involved?”
“Are we really in a position to worry about that now? Either way, if we reduce the numbers somewhat…!”
“Do you think that’s the only building that will fall?”
He suddenly jerked his chin upward.
I reflexively followed his gaze, looking up at the sky.
Between the writhing masses of monsters, the top of the Sebit Tower still protruded, standing tall.
Despite the way he spoke, the building hadn’t budged an inch from the position where it first revealed itself, as if held back with all his might.
That’s why I didn’t immediately understand his meaning.
“With a hole that large, surely only humans would fall.”
Along with his words, thick beads of sweat trickled down the man’s sharp jawline.
My thoughts came to an abrupt halt.
Consumed by focus on the monsters, I hadn’t considered it at all.
That the Sebit Tower was only the beginning.
‘Then….’
Had Serge been holding back all this time?
Not just the Sebit Tower, but countless buildings that would come pouring down?

90%

As if to prove my point, the numbers hovering above Serge’s head surged dramatically higher in that instant.
Crunch—
He clenched his teeth.
The composed facade he’d been forcing crumbled, his face contorting in agony.
“Save your purification for a critical moment. Not for others—for yourself.”
“But I need to purify you right now.”
As I reached out, he suddenly staggered backward for some reason.
“Your Highness!”
“Listen carefully, Princess.”
Shaking his head, he spoke rapidly.
“I’m going to force that building back into the Gate and seal it shut by brute force.”
At those words, I forgot all about purification, my eyes widening until they threatened to tear.
It made no sense.
Merely containing the building demanded this much effort—if he sealed the Gate as well….
“You’ll lose control.”
“Better that way.”
He forced a smile, lifting the corners of his mouth with obvious effort.
That villainous grin of his.
“To face a madman, I’ll have to go mad myself.”
“Your Highness.”
“If all else fails, I could always embrace all those monstrous things and take us down together. One mountain crumbling is better than the world ending, wouldn’t you say?”
I stared at Serge with unfamiliar eyes.
He was speaking of sacrifice. Of his own life.
This man who had once indulged in slaughter without regard for fallen comrades was now offering his life to save the world.
The Serge I knew was nothing like this—nothing altruistic or devoted.
‘The book, no, the Book of Prophecy itself described his nature….’
As I recalled those terrifying epithets—blood-crazed slaughterer, incarnation of demons—I suddenly understood something.
Despite wielding power and occupying the Imperial Palace, he had never once refused an imperial decree.
Come to think of it, his actions differed entirely from other privileged powers and nobility I knew.
Though he seemed crude and vicious in his conduct, whenever a Gate opened in his Northern Region, he was always the first to lead the suppression.
The Emperor and nobles who had once thrust him into the jaws of death should have made him seek vengeance like Sephiroth, yet he never did.
I’d never examined him deeply before, so I hadn’t realized it.
Perhaps he had been quietly fulfilling his duty as an Awakener all along, hidden behind his sinister reputation.
“Why… why would you go so far?”
My voice emerged trembling and pathetic.
“You’re not that kind of person, Your Highness. You said you didn’t care if dimensions merged or the world fell apart. So why….”
“Who knows.”
He tilted his head askew with a crooked smile.
“Maybe because someone made such a fuss saying they didn’t need gold, treasure, or the throne?”
….
“Seems you’re hoping I’ll think a little better of you if you do this.”
His tone was carelessly indifferent yet playfully mocking, and my face crumpled in an instant.
Merely.
For such a trivial reason alone.
I couldn’t believe it, yet at the same time, it was disturbingly plausible.
My chest heaved as though I might retch.
That’s not what I want, I thought.
As if your actions would make me think kindly of you.
Do you even know why I decided to stay here in the first place?
Countless words I couldn’t even comprehend myself swirled frantically at the tip of my tongue.
Yet I couldn’t bring myself to voice a single one of them.
Even as I recognized his actions were absurd, no alternative presented itself that could stop him.
As helplessness pressed down upon my shoulders once more.
“That’s why the opportunity is now.”
“What do you—”
“You wanted to return, didn’t you? To where you originally lived.”
He spoke with an unusually cold tone, as though severing a bond.
“Hide quietly for now, then cross through the Gate when the time is right. Don’t stay here and meet a pointless death.”

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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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