Life Of A Nobody - as a Villain-Chapter 462: The voice of devil
Aelthar watched Rio break down in tears, his body jerking in silent sobs _and couldn't help but feel confused.
He looked at the girl whose death the mortal was mourning so seriously, and couldn't help but frown as he noticed she was still breathing.
A frown creased his divine features. The killing strike had landed—his eyes had seen it through the fog, the blade buried deep into her chest.
By all means, she should be dead.
But she wasn't.
Not exactly.
The sword had indeed pierced where the heart should be. Yet, by a rare twist of fate—one in a million medical anomalies—this girl's heart had not been where it was supposed to be.
Instead of the left, it was slightly on the right side of her chest.
Aelthar glanced at Rio, waiting for the moment when he, too, would realize the truth. But the moment never came.
If Rio was a little bit more sane he would've remembered it, noticed it _
But in the resurgence of his trauma, he totally forgot the fact that the rare condition which caused him to kill Katherine back on earth, was the same thing which saved her life, here on Arcadia.
He just stayed on the ground, his head covered between his knees. His eyes closed as if too afraid to look up and meet her lifeless eyes or stare at her corpse even by a mistake.
Yet the memories ___ how could he control them.
His mind kept playing the scenes, reminding him of all the ways he failed her, of all the ways he hurt her - and it all just came crashing down.
Even Katherine, on the verge of collapse, felt his reaction a little too unusual and couldn't help but raise her hand towards him _ but unfortunately, even though the sword missed her heart, the blow was anything but easy.
Her blood formed a pool on the ground, and she just felt herself losing all consciousness.
But before she lost all her senses and fell into a coma, her misty eyes couldn't help but look his way once more.
That gaze _ it didn't hold any blame, anger, or the accusations or apologies - it just held peace. Or maybe even a little bit of pleasure. - Something which she herself didn't quite understand the reason for.
The sane voice in her head obviously felt confused over his reaction? But the foolish heart somehow only felt happy when she saw how much he cried for her?
She didn't remember anything of her past, but even then she 'died' with a smile.
…
While Rio, who heard the fall of Katherine's hand on the ground, couldn't help but tremble as guilt gripped his heart.
He wanted to scream. Wanted to claw at his own head, tear apart his own heart, do anything to escape the agony burning inside him.
But there was no escape.
Only the past long forgotten looping endlessly in his mind.
The sound of Katherine's final breath on Earth. – The way the light faded from her eyes. – The cold feeling of her body in his arms. – and the loud laughter of Nashi mocking his murderous nature.
…
System, who saw it's host go through this heartbreak, wanted to tell him the truth. To ease his pain, or to comfort him_ found itself being trapped and frozen in place, as the red eyes shining in the darkness of Rio's mind became even brighter.
"This is getting interesting. Don't ruin it for me." The mysterious voice echoed and the system felt all it's powers being seized. So much so that it couldn't even send a message or pop a signal out.
[Who exactly are you? What are you doing here? And most importantly, why are you doing this?] System spoke, shooting questions it had in mind for a long time, while struggling to break free from the chains. Despite knowing it was futile.
The voice, or the man _ whatever it/he was - was obviously stronger than it, at this stage.
But even then it wanted to speak, it wanted to ask _ at first those red eyes were enough to scare the system in silence, as they reminded it of the nightmare which was the Queen and her army, or the Chained Man, _ but it just couldn't take it anymore.
This creature. This entity. Who calls itself the Devil - it had been living here, sharing the same space in it's host's mind for so long _ yet never once spoke of his presence, or his purpose.
It made the system, who always prided itself on being supreme or being all knowing _ feel so weird.
Plus the most irritating thing was that 'The Being' who most definitely knew everything, chose to ignore the system's calls.
[What is your purpose here?] The system asked, not exactly expecting an answer in return.
But this time, the Devil felt happy and so he replied back.
"My purpose_ is his pain." The Devil spoke, flicking the orb of light lightly with a tip of his fingers.
And the notifications which should've reached Rio a couple of minutes ago. Stuff which the system tried so hard to hide from the devil, while talking and changing the topic in puzzles – immediately started to appear in front of Rio's eyes.
[Amelia kills the followers of Apate, earning her wrath in the process.]
[ _ threats detected on the lives of several named characters…Amelia, Rebecca, Erza, Cassie, Massie..]
[The goddess of deceit takes it upon herself to torture your sister, Amelia.]
[The secret_ is out.]
[Amy is the avatar of Gauri and is capable of wielding chaos, _ news is freely circulating amongst all the gods.]
[King Maximus agrees to let Alfred propose marriage to Amelia.]
[The plotlines related to 'coup de Blakes' and 'Reign of the sovereign' are getting pulled ahead.]
[The events for the 'fall of Ravens' are starting sooner than written.]
[The cult of Kali shows their presence ahead of time. Turning a bustling city into a dead cemetery as an offering to their bloodthirsty goddess.]
[Apollo approaches Cassandra to make her an ally.]
[Zeus sets his eyes on Amelia. Hoping to add another rare prized art in his harem.]
[Indra manifests his throne and summons his Vajra. The pieces of his plans are moving at a faster pace.]
[The World Will, takes notice of your presence, and changes her plans.]
[Several major changes across the plotlines of the 'arena battleground for avatars' detected.]
…
…
…
The notifications had no flow and were scattered across his eyes randomly, some with half explanations and some with words missing between the rows — but Rio wasn't in the right state of mind to pay it any heed.
His thoughts solely focused on the content revealed, and the consequences hinted.
The pain, the loss, the grief, the guilt_ it all started to disappear as his gaze shifted to every string of line _ and soon only the darkness in his pupils remained.
His screams turned to silence, surprising the god who was feeling a little happy seeing him suffer.
The last few minutes of him crying might have calmed the anger of Aelthar, but the rage for Rio had just begun.
He felt that the fate was mocking him.
First with Katherine, and then with Amy.
Two people whom he lost on earth, were right in front of him in Arcadia. - Yet in a cruel and twisted joke, _ he was about to lose them again.
He looked up at the skies and felt the whistling wind whispering in his ears - that no matter what he does, or how he tries - in the end, he will always fail.
And if that wasn't enough, then came the voice of darkness in his mind once more.
(I told you in the dungeon last time, that you're a failure. That all your smiles and smartness would turn to screams.)
The source of this c𝓸ntent is frёeweɓηovel.coɱ.
(You should've been colder. Done as I asked. - but instead, you let her run away, saying she needs freedom, and to step out of your shadow to properly grow.)
(Now look, what happened?)
(One, lay on the ground and the other on the torture table.)
(The only one you can rely on is me.)
(I helped you survive the dungeon. And I'll help you survive your fate too – so why not listen to me more.)
(So stop this bullshit act of being nice, and let loose your inner darkness.)
(Show this world who you really are.)
"SHUT UP!!!"
Rio roared with all his strength, his voice echoing in the silent surroundings.
His clenched fists releasing a blast of darkness which destroyed everything around him.
Leaving but a deep crater like a bomb went off.
Seeing his outburst, finally the voice shut off, but it's mission was already over.
His eyes held no sign for light anymore, what it reflected was only the darkness buried in his brain.
The Devil looked at those dark pupils and clicked his tongue in displeasure and disappointment.
"Still too short." He spoke to himself, thinking the host this time needed another push of pain to truly awaken and accept his real powers.
(But don't worry. I'll help you. After all, the more you suffer, the sooner this story ends.)
"Nothing personal."
###
Author note - The Devil _ this mfer just doesn't care. He just wants my mc to suffer in pain.
And here I thought it'd be a power up grandpa trope.
Sigh… guess, y'll just gotta have to wait till the chapters of their conversation to clear every doubt.
###
Ps if u forgot I've mentioned it before, – Rio doesn't know about the devil, to him the voice he hears now and then, is just an after effect of his broken brain and ptsd from the dungeon. - where when forced by thirst and hunger, and almost driven crazy by loneliness and hopeless struggles - his mind made a hallucinogenic persona up to keep him company and act as a source to guide him towards survival.
Whatever he didn't want to do, or didn't like to say, or feel, or think _ would all be suggested by this voice.
Be it eating the corpses of monsters and drinking their blood in the beginning, to carving pieces off of his friends and classmates corpses and turning into a cannibal in the later stage.
This darker, colder persona presented itself as his real self _ and indeed it helped him survive against the impossible odds.
But obviously after escaping the dungeon he tried to drink a dozen potions to forget everything, and ignore this voice - but after what happened with the godmother - the whispers of the voice were back.
And now, they were clearer than ever before.
