A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 212

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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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212.

I’d thought about it before, but I couldn’t fathom what kind of body could end up in such a state from purification.
Count Frederick, the actual monster she’d been, had been engulfed by the same flames I’d unleashed, yet he’d simply reverted to a corpse.
Ethan on the altar was beyond question.
‘Could it be… that receiving transfusions of Awakeners’ blood was the cause?’
A single suspicion suddenly surfaced in my mind.
She had conducted biomedical experiments on Awakeners for countless centuries.
The pretext had been to restore her husband, who was once an Erosion Being, but she must have coveted their abilities in the process.
With her heart torn out and no longer capable of wielding magic, she would have needed far greater power to survive for hundreds of years.
Moreover, she was inextricably linked to the Gate.
Even the sanctuary where she hid from humans was here—the Dragon’s Lair, right in the heart of the Gate Wave.
She would naturally have been exposed to massive quantities of magical energy.
I couldn’t say by what principle she hadn’t been eroded, but over that vast span of time, the magical energy accumulated in her body layer upon layer, compounding until…
It reached that staggering figure of 999%.
‘She really is unsettling.’
At that level, it would be fair to say magical energy flowed through her veins instead of blood.
As I pieced together the rough circumstances, I understood why she’d ended up in such a state from purification.
Indeed, true to form as Ruellin’s counterpart, she’d reached the absolute pinnacle of reaping what she’d sown.
“…Ugh, c-can you… see?”
That was when it happened.
A metallic screech like that of rusted scrap iron jolted me from my reverie.
Her vocal cords were damaged as well; the voice that had once been quite elegant, befitting a noblewoman, was now grating to the ears.
Her hair was gone, her skin ravaged, her organs exposed—nothing remained intact.
Yet a single eye, her left one, remained miraculously whole, gleaming with an eerie brilliance.
“I… I won’t die.”
“…”
“Compared to what I’ve endured before… this is nothing. As long as I possess the Dragon’s heart, I am immortal…”
It was clear at a glance that her words were no lie.
Beyond the exposed ribs, a crude lump like an uncut gemstone gleamed golden-yellow, pulsing with rhythmic regularity.
In color, size, and shape, it bore no resemblance whatsoever to anything human.
‘So she was a Dragon Slayer… and by stealing the Dragon’s heart, she could open the Gate at will?’
I replied flatly.
“Seems that way.”
“For now, it… ugh… it looks like you’ve won… like this is all over, doesn’t it?”
“…”
“Don’t be mistaken! I’ll resurrect myself somehow, and I’ll kill you!”
“…”
“The Dragon’s Curse has been lifted, so now I can use magic too!”
‘What is this Dragon’s Curse nonsense?’
She asked if I could see, and I said yes—so why is she angry now?
As I shrugged my shoulders, she let out a deflating wheeze and spewed forth a torrent of curses.
“Not just you as you are now, but after you’re reincarnated. In your next life, and the one after that—I’ll hunt down every single one of you and tear you limb from limb…!”
“I’m genuinely curious about something.”
Having no patience to hear more, I cut her off coldly.
“Just how many wishes do you have?”
“…What?”
“First you said you’d resurrect Count Frederick, then you switched to being a mage and a Cult Leader. Then you talked about creating an egalitarian society, playing at being a king….”
“….”
“Now you need to hunt down my reincarnations too. Even ten bodies wouldn’t be enough for you, would they?”
“Shut, up―!”
She howled like a beast.
“I deserve to have all of it!”
“….”
“Those cursed Imperial Family bastards, those noble scum who deserve to burn to death! What did they do to me, to my husband―!”
“….”
“I will become a god. Not some pathetic throne that can be replaced at any moment….”
“….”
“I will reign as the eternal god of a Paradise where everyone lives in peace and happiness….”
First a king, now a god too.
Faced with her endless litany of desires, I shook my head in disbelief.
Having lived for centuries, I found myself wondering what had made her so insatiably greedy.
Surely at the very beginning, she had only one wish—to resurrect her husband.
‘That’s enough. This is sufficient.’
So why had all of it culminated in merging dimensions?
The answer wasn’t satisfying enough to resolve that mystery, but I turned away decisively.
‘I need to get out of here first.’
Any longer and I would collapse.
My physical condition was nothing short of catastrophic.
Whether from blood loss or the backlash of using my abilities, my stomach churned and my entire body trembled.
Of course, I had no intention of leaving Sephiroth as she was.
I would need to find a way to kill her completely, but that wasn’t my job as The Purifier.
‘Isn’t preventing the Gate from opening further already more than enough?’
When you think about it, those who cooperated with Sephiroth also bear responsibility for this mess, so they should face the consequences too.
With a cold sneer, I dragged my injured leg toward the exit.
That was the moment.
Crash!
Crack―!
“Ugh!”
A chilling sound suddenly seized my attention, pulling me to a halt.
I spun around in shock, my mouth falling open as I froze in place.
“What…”
Sephiroth, who had been sprawled on the ground, was being sucked into the gaping pages of the Book of Prophecy.
Crack, crackle—!
No, it wasn’t merely being drawn in.
She was being devoured.
Crunch, crunch.
The brittle sound of bones shattering and something gnawing echoed in relentless succession.
“No! Please, save me!”
Screech—
Her fingers scraped frantically against the floor as if resisting the pull, and she stretched her arm toward me.
But even if I rushed forward and grasped her hand, it would be futile.
In the blink of an eye, the book had already consumed Sephiroth’s lower half and was now grinding through her spine and ribs.
Crack, crackle!
A human skeleton far larger than the paper’s span—mere inches across—contorted into an impossible form as it was crushed into the pages.
“S-save me, ahhhhh…!”
Sephiroth, thrashing and pleading for my aid until the very end, was soon swallowed completely, down to the crown of her head.
Gulp!
The moment her screams cut off, the book snapped shut with a decisive thump.
The cave fell silent in an instant.
But only for a moment.
“Buurrrp!”
Suddenly, the book’s pages fluttered as it released a thunderous belch.
And then, finally, silence.
“…This is insane.”
Am I dreaming while standing?
Or is this a hallucination?
I stood frozen and dazed, barely managing to lift my hand and rub my eyes.
But the scene before me remained unchanged.
Sephiroth, vanished without a trace, and the Book of Prophecy lying solitary on the cave floor.
This was neither dream nor illusion.
‘I should just pretend I didn’t see anything and leave.’
Yet despite the overwhelming urge to flee from that grotesque tome, I found myself drawn toward it as if enchanted.
Half was curiosity, and half was to confirm whether Sephiroth was truly dead.
Of course, I had no intention whatsoever of touching that book—whether it was a grimoire or some abomination—so I stopped three paces away.
At last, I cautiously examined the cover of the book…

【How to Take Revenge on a Wicked Mage】

The title had transformed into something childish, no different from what I’d seen before.
The trace of Sephiroth’s sword strike had vanished without a trace as well.
“…I never made such a wish.”
I had begged for Sephiroth’s death, but I harbored no personal grudge against her—nothing that would drive me to swear vengeance.
If anything, it would be Ruellin outside who might feel that way.
“Why would you arbitrarily grant someone else’s wish….”
That was when it happened.
Whoosh―!
As if the book had understood my muttering, its pages turned of their own accord.
On the open page, a single sentence was written with elegant brevity.

「For the eternal rest of Sephiroth, my perpetual rival and cherished friend.」

It read like an epitaph mourning the dead.
I examined it from every angle to see if there was more, but that was all.
“I simply cannot comprehend this.”
To inscribe a eulogy for the peace of a human she had devoured—even a demon would weep at such an eccentric obsession.
“Does granting a wish and exacting its price mean something physical?”
Or could the rumor be true—that those who damage the book are killed in horrific ways?
There was no way to know the answer now.
Having accepted my defeat gracefully, I turned back and walked away.
As I entered the passage leading to the cave’s mouth, Ethan suddenly crossed my mind, but I dismissed the thought.
Besides, with this body, I couldn’t drag him along anyway, and since he had already escaped his rampage state while I was purifying Sephiroth, leaving him behind would cause no trouble.
‘He’ll crawl his way out once he wakes up.’
I muttered indifferently and crossed the passage at a leisurely pace.
Finally emerging from the cave’s entrance, my breath came easier in the cold air.
It felt as though eons had passed while I fought Sephiroth.
Yet the world outside had barely changed at all.
The same ominous, colossal Gate still hung in the sky.
The only silver lining was that the building tops jutting out so prominently were no longer visible.
‘Closing it was a failure, as expected.’
Remembering the man who had departed toward the Gate, leaving only cold words telling me to return to the original world, my heart grew heavy.
Then I shook my head vigorously.
‘Who am I to worry about anyone right now?’
The cave’s entrance, which had been noisy because of Ruellin when I entered, was now silent.
Whatever had happened, Vincent seemed to have already left after successfully subduing her.
Since I had told him to go, I felt no particular resentment.
However.
“Haah… How am I supposed to get down from here?”
Peering down the dizzying precipice below the cave entrance, my vision swam with nothing but darkness and despair.
“Edith Blake.”
Suddenly, someone called out to me from one side.
A figure emerged from behind a massive boulder beside the entrance.
“…Vincent?”

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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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