For the Young Villain’s Happy Ending - Chapter 135
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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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Chapter 135
“My friend has an absolutely terrible temper when she’s woken from sleep. If you just rouse her carelessly, she’ll throw such a fit that the entire Continent will be ground to dust before it even has a chance to shatter.”
From the moment I realized Simona intended to awaken the Dragon to destroy the Continent, there was no time to hesitate.
Raina Hart teleported directly to where Rare was, alongside Kevenriak Heteroven.
Fortunately, there was no need to search for where Simona Asperada was located.
“You’re late?”
Simona greeted them as though she had been waiting, welcoming their teleportation. The Dark Mage in her robes stood with her back to the enormous Great Pit left behind when Tunchar vanished.
That same location from fourteen years ago, when Raina Hart first met Person in this world. Raina Hart and Kevenriak Heteroven faced her across a distance of roughly ten meters.
Beneath the hood’s edge, a beauty mark became visible. Simona’s cheerful voice flowed forth.
“I almost woke the Dragon just now. I was so bored.”
“Almost? That sounds as though you have some other plan.”
“Did it sound that way? You’re quite perceptive.”
At Raina Hart’s words, Simona’s eyes crinkled with amusement.
Just then, clouds drifted overhead. From the shadowed earth below, a thick black arm thrust upward and pressed against the ground. It was a shadow controlled by dark magic. But before the shadow could pull the rest of its body free, Kevenriak Heteroven’s magic scattered it like dust.
“Your nephew is quite heartless, isn’t he?”
At the sound of Kevenriak Heteroven being addressed, Raina Hart’s eyes twitched.
She knew what Simona had done in the original story. How dare she speak of him as her nephew.
“Oh, what a shame. It takes one soul to create a single shadow. It couldn’t even move before it was obliterated.”
Simona’s tone as she lamented this seemed utterly repugnant. Raina Hart asked.
“…Did that shadow that just vanished have a sense of self?”
“A sense of self? Why would it have that? Oh, are you feeling sorry for the shadow? Even if I use souls as material, it makes no difference. It’s just like one of my magical tools. Like that necklace you made.”
“Then why do you lament the shadow’s destruction?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I went through the trouble of creating it, and now it’s gone without even being used.”
“….”
There was no need to hear more. If I left Simona Asperada alive, there would only be new victims. Just as I was about to move my hand to attack Simona immediately, Kevenriak Heteroven gently wrapped his arm around my shoulder and whispered.
“Raina.”
In that moment, I wondered if Kevenriak might be concerned about Simona Asperada.
He fundamentally lacked interest in people, yet that didn’t mean he was ignorant of compassion. The Kevenriak I knew had always been that way.
‘I hate to admit it, but Simona is probably Keri’s only remaining blood relative.’
So even if he felt a fleeting moment of pity toward his aunt, I could understand it. But dealing with Simona was an entirely different matter.
I could not afford even a shred of sympathy toward the architect of the Continent’s destruction.
“Keri, I’m sorry, but I—”
“May I kill her?”
My brief hesitation proved meaningless. Those blue eyes fixed upon Simona with an icy gaze. Blood ties had never mattered to him from the start.
Simona Asperada was nothing more than an enemy I had died by once—utterly unforgivable.
“How crude. Discussing who to kill right in front of the person in question.”
Simona spoke with brazen composure. The unusually dark and massive shadow that had always lingered beside her like an aide was nowhere to be seen.
I whispered to Kevenriak.
“Be careful. That’s not her true body.”
A signal that I was handing over the prey. I stepped back while Kevenriak moved forward.
“Will my nephew kill me? How honored I am to face the Emperor himself.”
“….”
“Though you’ll have to overcome me first.”
With those words, the shadow of Kevenriak rose to its feet. The Emperor’s magic struck at the half-risen shadow, but it was different from the shadow that had vanished like dust before.
Crash!
A magical shield. The shadow blocked the seventh-circle attack with its own magic.
“…Target replication magic.”
It was the same as the shadows I had faced against the Disciples. A shadow that grew stronger the more powerful its opponent—now fully risen, it bore an exact resemblance to Kevenriak.
“Can you… possibly… defeat me…?”
The shadow spoke haltingly.
“My, speaking for the first time. Is it because my master is so strong?”
Sharp water arrows flew at Simona in an instant as she marveled. It was Kevenriak’s doing. The Dark Mage’s body, with one corner of his mouth raised, crumbled like black liquid in a heartbeat, and the abandoned robe lay scattered like laundry, riddled with holes.
Kevenriak and Raina Hart extended their mana into the earth. Then I felt mana leaking from one side.
“Keri.”
“Yes, the shadow is using my mana.”
That was the insidious nature of dark magic—maintaining spells using the target’s mana rather than the Dark Mage’s own.
“I’ll handle the search. Keri, it would be better to eliminate the shadow first.”
Kevenriak nodded, then entered the massive Great Pit where Tunchar had vanished. As the shadows, now three in number, chased after Kevenriak and blocked his path, he erected a barrier around the pit like a great semicircle placed on top. It was to keep Raina Hart unaffected by the battle.
“Can we…”
“Defeat you…”
“Alone…?”
The shadows spoke, and Kevenriak attacked without a word. From that moment, seventh-circle spells clashed violently within the barrier.
Boom!
Screech!
Whistle!
Fierce vortices erupted, lightning struck, and tempests raged. Like a natural disaster wrought by an angry god to judge mankind. The end of the world seemed contained within that barrier. Yet it touched Raina Hart outside not at all.
[This is brutal. Will this wake the Dragon?]
“…If thrashing about on the ground had awakened him, it would have happened centuries ago.”
[You’re answering me? I thought you’d attack me immediately.]
“You’re not the main body.”
Raina Hart gazed down at Simona, concealed within her own shadow.
The dark magic Simona wielded—target duplication—was only possible against those of equal or lower circles.
But she couldn’t perfectly replicate the highest-tier mage, so she was pushing through with sheer numbers instead.
In fact, one shadow had just vanished in Kevenriak Heteroven’s flames moments ago.
The shadows moved using the target’s mana, but their creation depended on the caster’s capacity.
Seeing that their numbers weren’t increasing again, the shadows that had appeared so far represented the maximum Simona could duplicate with her dark magic.
It was only a matter of time before Kevenriak Heteroven emerged victorious.
Raina Hart’s mana had already spread across the ground wide enough to blanket an entire city. She sensed the shadows within it, but couldn’t determine which one was Simona Asperada’s true body.
“…A second life?”
At Raina Hart’s question, raucous laughter erupted from within the shadows.
[I never thought you’d say something like that to me. You know what, Raina Hart? Want to hear my story? It’s quite amusing.]
Raina Hart offered no response. Simona, as if she’d never intended to seek consent in the first place, continued with what she had to say.
[There was an elder in our village who was over a hundred years old. His prophecies were remarkably accurate, so every child of the Shaaten Tribe received a prophecy from him at least once. Do you know what prophecy he gave when I was seven?]
“….”
[He said I would die with my heart pierced by a sword.]
Simona’s voice turned cold.
“…So you died once like that?”
[That’s right. Who do you think did it?]
“That’s right. Who do you think did it?”
Raina Hart looked at her shadow spreading wide in all directions beneath her feet and thought. The culprit who killed the Black Curtain. That wasn’t information she knew.
“Who is it?”
As if to warn against any reckless tricks, Raina Hart’s magic extinguished the growing shadow. Raina Hart’s shadow returned to its original size. From within it came Simona’s sorrowful exclamation.
“…What are you—”
[I can just replenish the missing shadows.]
“I can always fill in the missing shadows again.”
To fill the soul, it meant sacrificing a victim. Raina moved the magical power she had extended to the surface to detect Simona. Except for the direction where Kevenriak was, the vast land began to tremble.
Crash!
The shadows that had been lurking emerged as they tried to flee the ground, but they writhed and dissipated like water droplets scattered into the air by a towering wave.
Though they were beings without self, they were crafted primarily from human souls—victims of Simona Asperada. I could not allow her to create such entities at her whim any longer.
‘Where is she?’
Raina Hart furrowed her brow. The Dark Mage’s true body, hidden somewhere. If I could find it, then I could kill Simona….
[Ah, right. My death. It wasn’t my fault. There was one variable in the plan. How was I supposed to know that someone with such a faint presence, like an extra, would be so strong?]
“What—”
Kevenriak Heteroven, having dealt with the final shadow, dispelled the barrier. It was the moment he was hastily casting teleportation to bring Raina to his side as the ground trembled in an ominous sight.
[I’ve thought of a way to confine you. Raina Hart.]
Faster than the speed at which magical light gathered, the shadow transformed into a colossal curtain and draped itself over Raina’s head.
Was she truly trying to imprison me in mere shadow? It was a pathetic attack. But at Simona’s following words, Raina’s body went rigid.
[What do you think I’ll do if you erase my shadows?]
“….”
[Stay still. If you don’t touch my shadows, I won’t covet any new souls either.]
The curtain engulfed Raina in an instant. Beyond the veil, Kevenriak’s cry—almost a scream—calling her name pierced through.
[This time too, go ahead and try to save the continent.]
With Simona’s mocking laughter fading, the space around Raina, now shrouded in darkness, fell silent. For about ten seconds.
“Kehehehe. I understand! Now I understand everything!”
A frivolous laugh echoed from within Raina’s clothes. The Grimoire of Magic, bursting from the subspace pouch, fluttered its pages with a giggle, rippling its red bookmark, then suddenly shrieked.
“Kyeek! What is this filthy place! There’s not a single usable soul here!”
“Zikhard?”
“M-Master!? Why are you in such a place… no, wait.”
Zikhard reflexively flattened himself upon seeing Raina, then, surveying his own condition, grinned wickedly.
Zikhard
: The Grimoire of Magic created by ■■■■
All the knowledge of the world….
…(omitted)…
※ ‘Pandora’s Box (temporary name)’ opened state
※ Subordination Potion effect in progress (Subordinate: Raina Hart (Ando Hwa))
“Why are you in a place like this? Ando Hwa?”
“…What?”
The pages of the Grimoire of Magic flipped rapidly before coming to a halt. Letters began to materialize across the blank expanse of the open pages.
「Go forth and witness the vast world!」
The colossal text swallowed Raina into the Grimoire of Magic.
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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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