A World Where You All Are The Villains - Chapter 90

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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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90.

Everything unfolded in a single blink—a catastrophe no one could prevent.
Like a natural disaster beyond mortal intervention.
“You sinners have no right to possess The Purifier.”
The Deer-Masked Maid intoned flatly.
As expected, she was a woman.
Her voice was thin and delicate, barely raised above a whisper.
Yet somehow her words rang with crystalline clarity and terrible precision.
Ssshhh….
Crimson blood bloomed across the white robes she wore.
It was flowing from Ruellin’s chest.
“….”
Whether the blade had pierced her heart exactly, she didn’t even twitch.
For a brief moment, the world fell silent as if time itself had frozen.
Perhaps the shock was so profound that we all—myself included—had turned to ice.
No howling wind, no screams, no sound of shattering objects.
Nothing but absolute silence.
It was broken by Vincent—the only one who had turned his back to the scene.
“What… what…”
His concentration had been entirely devoted to controlling his ability, so he reacted a beat too late to what was happening behind him.
Upon seeing Ruellin cradled quietly in the Deer-Masked Maid’s embrace with a blade lodged in her chest, his eyes widened slowly.
“…Ruellin―!”
He immediately lunged toward the Deer-Masked Maid.
But.
Whoooooosh―!
The moment his foot left the ground, a violent gust tore through.
The instant Vincent ceased using his ability, the Gate greedily inhaled its prey as if it had been waiting.
“Ugh!”
Whoosh!
Before his outstretched hand could reach the Deer-Masked Maid, his body was violently hurled backward.
“Hah….”
My vision blurred momentarily, but fortunately I remained unharmed.
Serge held me firmly, still maintaining his telekinetic grip.
But the others were not so fortunate.
“Gah!”
“Ahhh!”
Whoosh!
People who had barely caught their breath thanks to Vincent were dragged back into the void without so much as a handhold.
Dylan was among them.
The Gate, now gaping open in an elliptical shape too wide to be called a mere rift.
Its suction force had grown incomparably stronger than before.
“Damn it…!”
Vincent, being pulled at high speed, finally crashed to the ground just before tumbling over the Observation Deck’s railing.
Whoosh!
At that same moment, the savage wind that had been raging suddenly stilled.
It seemed Vincent had activated his ability once more.
He landed with a rolling technique and staggered to his feet.
Then he bellowed.
“Damn it, why aren’t you attacking already, you bastards―!”
The Nobility, who had been dazed from being swept up in the tempest, suddenly snapped back to attention.
“Hyaaaaaah!”
“Die―!”
Three or four men standing relatively close to the Deer-Masked Maid rushed forward first.
They appeared to be close-range ability users.
“Ugh!”
“Gah!”
Crack!
Yet just two steps away from the Deer-Masked Maid, they suddenly collided with something invisible and were violently repelled.
Boom― Crash!
Like popcorn kernels bursting, they were sent flying and crashed helplessly onto the bare ground.
Screams and groans of pain erupted from their injuries.
But no one had the capacity to tend to them.
“What… what is this…!”
“What is it? A barrier?”
“Forget it, just kill her and figure it out later!”
Led by someone’s cry, the Awakeners launched their assault all at once.
All manner of abilities poured forth toward the Deer-Masked Maid.
Light, darkness, water, earth, ice, fire, poison, lightning, explosions.
Along with countless other physical, mental, and spatial abilities that cascaded down in an instant.
Boom! Crash! Rummmble―!
With deafening explosions, the area around the Deer-Masked Maid was instantly engulfed in flames and murky smoke.
The view was obscured, and her form became invisible.
Because of this, there was no way to tell if the attacks were landing.
Then Serge muttered quietly.
“…Abilities don’t work on her.”
I flinched in surprise and looked up at him.
He too was in the midst of attacking the Deer-Masked Maid, his dark eyes gleaming with sharp intensity.
“Y-your abilities don’t work on it? Why…?”
“Beats me. This is a first for me too.”
Serge shrugged his shoulders.
He promptly averted his gaze from the Deer-Masked Maid without hesitation.
It seemed he’d decided that using his abilities further would be pointless.
I stared at him with unfamiliar bewilderment.
The Princess had been murdered.
And he encountered an enemy his abilities couldn’t touch—yet he seemed utterly unbothered?
Unlike me, reeling from shock and confusion, his expression remained unchanged.
If anything, his eyes sparkled with interest, as though he were genuinely enjoying this situation.
Much like when he’d released the Erosion Infected from their cages at the Sephiroth Sect Base while intoxicated not long ago.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
He seemed puzzled by my stunned stare.
Sensing my gaze, he suddenly leaned his head toward me.
With our faces so close our noses nearly touched, he whispered in a low, husky voice.
“…Am I really that handsome?”
“…”
“Tsk, don’t fall too hard for me. I’m the lover of all mankind, so marriage is still a bit difficult. I’ll only accept the Princess’s affection.”
My face twisted mercilessly at those words.
‘…Is he insane?’
Of course, I’d already experienced more than enough proof of his madness.
But there’s a time and place for everything—and this wasn’t it!
To snap him back to reality, I grabbed his cravat with both hands and yanked it hard.
“Ugh!”
He groaned as his throat constricted.
Yet even then, his babbling mouth showed no signs of stopping.
“See, your tastes really are unique.”
“Please, just…”
Shut up.
Swallowing curses I couldn’t bring myself to voice, I released the cravat and flung it away.
Then I turned my head toward the Deer-Masked Maid, turning my back on him.
“But why did you end up with rumors involving someone like Leandro? That brat doesn’t have the capacity to handle the Princess’s temperament…”
He continued muttering after that, but I gritted my teeth and ignored him.
His unchanged attitude even in this urgent situation sent my stress skyrocketing.
Yet on the other hand, thanks to him, the shock was beginning to fade slightly.
When I witnessed Ruellin being stabbed earlier, I’d felt as though all the blood in my body was draining away.
Was it because this was my first time witnessing someone’s death?
Or was it because the dead person was the Princess?
I didn’t know.
Even before possessing this body, when I read the novel, I hadn’t particularly liked her.
After directly confronting his unhinged state today, I despised him even more.
‘Still, I hadn’t wished for his death…’
So what in the world was going to happen to this cursed novel?
My mind churned with unease, as though I were walking through fog where I couldn’t see even a step ahead.
Yet one thing had become clear.
‘Male Lead 4 does not love the female lead.’
This was a development that had already gone wrong long before I possessed this body.
Even as I felt lost about how this damned novel would unfold, that fact brought something akin to inexplicable relief.
It was strange.
Was it comforting that at least one of the male leads didn’t treat me as a villain?
Or perhaps…
Boom! Crash! Rumble!
That was when it happened.
The barrage of attacks that had been raining down finally ceased.
Hisssss…
The smoke that had engulfed the Deer-Masked Maid slowly dispersed.
I’d already heard it from Serge, but I still harbored a secret hope that she was dead.
S-rank Awakeners—all the male leads gathered in one place.
And that wasn’t even counting the elite high-rank Awakeners who unleashed their assault simultaneously.
It was equivalent to the entire military force of this nation.
Despite possessing enough power to subjugate three or four Gates without issue, if she hadn’t died…
‘Does that even make sense?’
It was hard to believe.
No matter how absurd this novel was, there couldn’t be an enemy the male leads couldn’t defeat?
Then.
Finally, the thick smoke that had obscured my vision completely cleared, and the scene beyond slowly came into view.
Defying everyone’s expectation that she would vanish without a trace, a black silhouette stood perfectly upright.
The Deer-Masked Maid, who had taken the combined assault of every Awakener head-on, was remarkably…
Unscathed.
Even the corpse of Ruellin she cradled in her arms.
As I examined the figure who appeared unchanged from before the onslaught, my eyes suddenly widened.
There was something that had changed…
After all.
Above the protruding deer antlers.

999%

A bizarre number I’d never seen before gleamed above the Deer-Masked Maid’s head.

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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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