I, The Villainess, Will Seduce All The Heroines Instead-Chapter 173: The Trial (30)

The faint pulse of magic rippled beneath her boots as Verena pressed forward, her heartbeat thrumming in sync with the constellation-lined walls. The air within the Labyrinth was thick, humid with astral tension, every step like wading deeper into the unknown. Vivienne trailed just behind her, her anxious footsteps nearly silent thanks to her Dreamtide magic gently dulling their presence. For once, Verena was actually grateful for the heroine’s ridiculous, oddly convenient ability.

"So... you don’t think we’re, like... gonna die horribly in here, right?" Vivienne whispered, clutching her sleeves nervously.

Verena snorted. "Define ’horribly.’ Is there a ’pleasant’ way to die in this place?"

"Ugh, you’re so reassuring."

Ahead, the corridor curved sharply, opening into a vast, circular chamber. The walls shimmered, painted in swirling constellations that pulsed like a heartbeat. In the center, the stone floor sank into a shallow basin filled with a silvery mist, glowing faintly under the magical light. It was eerily quiet.

Verena’s eyes narrowed. Her gut twisted with familiarity. "We’re not alone."

The mist stirred. From within the basin, a low, guttural growl reverberated through the chamber. Something massive shifted beneath the fog, and then—

A sleek, ethereal form lunged out. It was a beast unlike any they’d seen so far—a creature of pure, radiant twilight, its body elongated and serpentine, its glistening scales adorned with constellations that mirrored the Labyrinth’s walls. A Zodiac Beast.

But not just any beast.

"The Ophiuchus Warden..." Verena muttered, eyes wide.

The serpentine beast coiled in the mist, its piercing, intelligent eyes locking onto her. It was rare—practically myth for the Labyrinth to manifest a Zodiacal entity outside of the standard twelve. Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer, the hidden sign—Verena had read enough forbidden archives to recognize the implications.

It lunged.

Verena shoved Vivienne aside just as the beast’s jaws snapped down, swallowing her whole in a flash of starlight.

For a moment, everything went silent. Weightless. Time itself seemed to fold in on her as the world twisted.

Then—darkness.

And stillness.

Verena floated, suspended in a pocket of void space woven from celestial magic. She could feel it—this wasn’t death. It was... containment. The beast hadn’t consumed her body. It had trapped her consciousness within a pocket realm, a stagnant limbo of stillness and waiting.

Her pulse pounded in her ears. This... this was terrifyingly familiar.

Trapped. Powerless. Unable to progress, yet hyper-aware of everything slipping away outside.

Her muscles tensed as frustration bubbled to the surface. "You’ve got to be kidding me..."

She paced the nonexistent floor of the void, every step landing without sound. She could feel her connection to the Labyrinth fraying, her progress stalled—her entire team probably advancing, her rivals gaining ground—and here she was, floating uselessly in magical purgatory.

A flicker of familiar energy coiled beside her.

Saphira’s spectral form materialized—a miniature version of the snake, floating with an unimpressed stare. "Well, well. You’ve been eaten by fate again."

"Not helpful," Verena hissed.

Saphira circled lazily, tongue flicking out. "This is a test, idiot. It’s always a test. You wanna break free? Figure it out."

Verena clenched her fists. The walls of this void pulsed faintly, like the stomach lining of some cosmic beast, woven from stagnant Zodiacal magic. It wasn’t just keeping her here—it was amplifying that sickening, familiar feeling of being stuck.

But...

If this was Ophiuchus’ doing—the Serpent Bearer’s domain—it wasn’t just a prison. It was a mirror.

A test of inaction. Of fear. Of watching everything slip by while doing nothing.

"Hell no," Verena muttered under her breath. She summoned her mimicry weave, threads of stolen constellations flaring into life around her.

The void pulsed in response.

Her mimicry wasn’t perfect—but she’d practiced enough with Saphira. It was all about resonance, about weaving borrowed Zodiac threads into her own fabric. And if this space was Ophiuchus’ domain, she just needed to disrupt the resonance.

Saphira grinned approvingly. "That’s my girl."

Verena lashed out with her weave, threads of light slicing through the dark. The void quaked. Cracks splintered through the stagnant realm, faint rays of the real Labyrinth bleeding through.

With a final pulse of magic, the void shattered.

Reality slammed back into her.

Verena landed hard on the stone floor of the chamber, gasping. The Ophiuchus Warden recoiled, its serpentine body undulating with displeasure.

From the sidelines, Vivienne shrieked, "YOU’RE ALIVE! I WAS ABOUT TO HAVE A PANIC ATTACK!"

Verena staggered to her feet, eyes blazing. "Bad news, glitter-lizard. I’m not that easy to digest."

The Warden hissed, eyes narrowing.

Grinning, Verena raised her weave. "Round two."

The Ophiuchus Warden’s serpentine form recoiled, its starlit scales pulsing with displeasure, yet its eyes gleamed with something dangerously close to amusement—as if the beast appreciated the struggle. Its forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air thick with residual astral energy, before it coiled back in preparation to strike again.

"W-Wait, are we fighting that?!" Vivienne’s voice cracked behind Verena, the girl practically glued to the wall with wide, horrified eyes.

"Oh no," Verena muttered, cracking her neck. "I’m fighting that. You’re staying over there, being my emotional support or... whatever your heroine trait is supposed to be."

Before Vivienne could argue, the Warden lunged.

Verena moved, her mimicry weave snapping to life, threads of borrowed constellations flaring like molten wire around her. She pivoted on instinct, ducking beneath the creature’s striking maw, the gust of its breath sending her cloak whipping back. Its fangs cracked the stone floor where she’d stood a second ago, fissures spiderwebbing across the tiles.

Her heart thundered against her ribs, but her grin only widened.

"Come on, pretty boy, I’ve been stuck too long to roll over now."

The Warden hissed—a sound threaded with something ancient and knowing—before its body dissolved into wisps of astral smoke. It reformed above her, coiled along the chamber’s ceiling like a living constellation.

Verena clicked her tongue. "Cheater."

Saphira’s voice echoed faintly in her head. "It’s a cosmic serpent. What, you expected a fair fistfight?"

Fair point.

Drawing a deep breath, Verena pushed her mimicry harder, threads of Leo and Aries energy warping around her hands—a patchwork construct of aggression and fire, stolen but effective. She launched a whip of flame upward, chasing the serpent’s ethereal tail.

It dodged, but not without consequence. Her flames licked the ceiling, forcing the mist-shrouded serpent lower.

Vivienne shrieked as the beast dipped toward her. "VERENA!"

"I KNOW, I KNOW!" Verena cursed, sprinting to intercept.

The serpent lashed out, its sleek body cracking like a whip. Verena dove beneath it, rolling and grabbing Vivienne roughly by the wrist, yanking her out of the way. They tumbled together, crashing behind a fallen column.

Vivienne clung to her like a terrified barnacle. "I hate this trial!"

"Welcome to my life," Verena huffed, peeking over the rubble.

The Warden hovered mid-air, coiled but watchful now, studying them with unsettling intelligence. Its form pulsed faintly, the constellation markings across its body shimmering—shifting.

Recognition clicked in Verena’s mind.

"It’s mimicking me..." she whispered.

Vivienne blinked. "W-What?"

"It’s not just a Zodiac Beast. It’s an Ophiuchus construct. It copies. It traps." Verena’s pulse spiked with adrenaline, realization dawning like cold water down her back. "It swallowed me to test stagnation, and now it’s copying my weave."

The serpent’s body rippled again—the fiery threads of her borrowed Aries-Leo magic now gleamed faintly along its scales.

Vivienne gawked. "That’s illegal!"

"Tell that to the Labyrinth."

Verena clenched her fists. If it could copy her, brute force wouldn’t work—it’d mirror every spell she threw. But maybe... maybe she didn’t need to out-muscle it.

Her eyes darted to Vivienne.

Illusion. Emotion. Dreamtide.

A stupid, ridiculous plan formed in her mind.

She grinned.

"Vivienne, you want to help?"

"I—wait, seriously? You trust me with that? I thought you hated me!"

"I do," Verena deadpanned. "But I hate dying more."

Vivienne pouted but nodded, her expression firming with determination.

"Cast your Dreamtide. Make me... gone. Hide me, distort me, whatever your cutesy magic does. Just for a second."

Vivienne’s eyes shimmered with resolve. Her Natal Weave flared to life, delicate strands of Dreamtide illusion weaving around Verena in a soft, iridescent glow. The air thickened, reality bending subtly. To the naked eye, Verena vanished entirely.

The serpent hesitated, its head tilting in confusion, searching the space where Verena had stood. It hissed low, circling warily.

A breath passed.

Verena struck from behind, her mimicry flaring—not as fire this time, but as borrowed Cancerian water magic, coalescing into a freezing spear.

It sank into the serpent’s exposed flank.

The Zodiac Beast roared, its body rippling violently as the illusion snapped apart. Astral energy exploded outward, the room shuddering under the force.

The serpent recoiled, its form destabilizing, constellations flickering wildly along its scales. It twisted one final time before dissolving into motes of starlight, leaving behind only a faint echo of its hiss.

Verena straightened, panting, eyes wide.

They won.

Beside her, Vivienne gasped. "I... I actually helped?"

Verena smirked, ruffling the girl’s hair. "Don’t get cocky, but yeah. You’re less useless now."

Vivienne beamed, cheeks flushed with pride.

The chamber quieted, the mist fading. A new path revealed itself at the far end—an archway pulsing with soft, inviting light.

Verena exhaled, heart still racing. "Let’s go."

Vivienne skipped ahead, and for once... Verena allowed herself a small, relieved laugh.

The trials weren’t over.

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