I Have 10,000 SSS Rank Villains In My System Space

Chapter 498: Do It

"You are from the Rock family, are you not?" Razeal asked after studying the man for a few moments. He had already recognized several signs. The long yellow hair was the most obvious, but the shape of the damaged armor, the heavy shoulder guards, and the rough mountain-like patterns carved along its surface were all connected to the Rock family.

Even the man’s broad body and thick arms carried the physical traits their bloodline was known for. Razeal crossed one leg over the other again, making himself comfortable as though the answer did not matter much. The yellow-haired man remained silent. His breathing grew heavier, and his bloodshot eyes stayed fixed upon Razeal with barely controlled hatred.

He tried to move his arms once more, but Zero and Blitz held him without effort. Neither assassin looked at him. Neither showed anger or satisfaction. They simply restrained him as though he were an object that had been ordered not to move.

"You must be his brother, then," Razeal continued calmly. "Or perhaps his son?" He rested one elbow against the throne and tilted his head slightly. "The man I killed."

The prisoner’s face changed at once. Whatever little control he had been forcing upon himself completely broke.

"You KILLLEDDD my BrOtherrr!" he yelled, his voice cracking beneath the rage pouring from his throat. His eyes turned even redder, and the veins along his neck rose as he tried to throw himself toward the throne. Zero and Blitz pulled him back before he could take even half a step. He continued struggling wildly, no longer caring that escape was impossible. "You butchered him! You.."

Before he could finish, Viper moved. His body barely seemed to shift. He turned one leg and drove his boot directly into the prisoner’s stomach with a sharp, brutal strike. A heavy sound echoed through the throne room. The yellow-haired man’s eyes widened, and all the air left his body at once.

"Blurgghh!" A mouthful of blood sprayed from his lips as his knees collapsed beneath him. Zero and Blitz did not release his arms, forcing him to remain kneeling instead of falling backward. The man bent forward between them and began coughing violently, each breath bringing more blood into his mouth. Viper lowered his foot and straightened again, returning both hands behind his back as though nothing had happened.

The soldiers standing along the walls watched silently. Lady Nyssa’s eyes moved briefly toward Viper before returning to the prisoner. No one questioned the strike. The man had been brought before the king as a possible assassin, yet he had still shouted and tried to move toward the throne. In another court, he might already have been cut apart by royal guards.

"Hmm," Razeal murmured without much reaction. He looked down at the coughing man with a strange expression, more confused than angered.

"So what? You came here for revenge?" he asked.

"To kill me?" The question sounded almost insulting in its calmness. Razeal genuinely could not understand the thought behind it. This man was only an early-stage Great Saint. Razeal had openly defeated a Supreme being, saved the kingdom, destroyed forces capable of wiping out the kingdom..

Yet this man had still secretly approached the royal castle alone, apparently believing he could reach the throne and kill him? Was he truly that foolish, or had grief broken whatever reason he once possessed?

Razeal shifted his gaze toward Viper.

"He came alone?" he asked, still trying to understand whether there was more behind this. Perhaps an army was hidden nearby. Perhaps another faction had sent him as a distraction. Perhaps the Rock family had prepared some larger plan. Coming alone seemed too stupid to be real.

"Yes," Viper answered simply. He gave the smallest shrug, making it clear that he had searched and found no one else nearby.

"So he is just crazy?" Razeal muttered. He rubbed his chin with one finger and looked down at the prisoner again. The yellow-haired man remained on his knees, coughing and trying to breathe while blood dripped onto the floor beneath him. Lady Nyssa stood silently to the side, the report book still held against her body. She looked at the restrained man and slowly shook her head with a tired sigh. She understood grief. Losing a brother could make even intelligent people act without thought. But there was a difference between seeking revenge and walking directly into certain death. Whatever this man had expected to achieve, it had clearly ended before he even reached the castle walls.

"All right," Razeal finally said, losing interest. He waved one hand carelessly.

"Take him away and kill him i guess..." There was no anger in his voice, no desire to question the prisoner further, and no excitement over the execution. To Razeal, the matter already seemed finished. A man had come to kill him, failed, and now would die. There was nothing more worth thinking about.

Viper though did not immediately turn around.

Instead, he brought one hand forward and touched the dark ring upon his finger. A faint movement of space appeared around it, and a large circular object suddenly emerged into his palm. It was nearly the size of a watermelon, round but not perfectly smooth, with a surface that looked like black stone mixed with metal. Strange lines ran across it in uneven circles, almost like cracks, though a faint dark glow moved beneath them from time to time.

The object looked heavy, yet Viper held it in one hand without difficulty. The moment it appeared, the yellow-haired man’s coughing stopped. His head snapped upward, and little panic entered his eyes for the first time. He pulled violently against Zero and Blitz, far harder than before, but their grips only tightened.

"I can kill him," Viper said, raising the dark core slightly so Razeal could see it clearly.

"But before that, I found something suspicious." His eyes moved briefly toward the kneeling prisoner.

"I do not know what this item is. But.. When we tried to restrain him, he took it out and attempted to do something with it." Viper’s voice remained cold, but the fact that he had brought it directly before Razeal showed that he considered it dangerous.

"Zero stopped his hand before he could activate it. Blitz destroyed the flow of energy around him. After that, we sealed the object and brought both of them here."

Razeal’s earlier boredom disappeared. He leaned forward upon the throne, his crimson gaze narrowing as he studied the strange dark core in Viper’s hand. Lady Nyssa also turned toward it, and the moment she saw the faint lines moving beneath its surface, her expression became far more serious. A strange pressure seemed to pulse from the object, weak but deeply unpleasant, as though something inside it was sleeping and waiting for the smallest chance to wake.

The yellow-haired man lowered his head again, but it was too late. Everyone had already seen his reaction.

Whatever he had carried into the capital, it had not been meant only for Razeal.

And suddenly, his foolish attempt at revenge no longer looked quite so foolish.

"Huh?" Razeal, who had already lost interest in the captured man and was prepared to have him taken away and killed, suddenly turned his attention toward the strange object resting in Viper’s hand. The relaxed expression on his face disappeared almost instantly. His crimson eyes narrowed by instinct as he leaned slightly forward upon the throne, staring at the dark circular core more carefully.

The moment Viper had taken it out, Razeal had felt something familiarity..

The object was large, almost the size of a watermelon, covered in dark uneven lines that looked like cracks but were actually channels through which enormous amounts of power could move. Even while sealed, a faint pressure spread from it, making the air around Viper’s hand feel heavier.

Before he could say anything, Lady Nyssa Veyra Sol’s furious voice suddenly tore through the throne room.

"A monster core," she shouted, her usual calmness completely breaking.

"A Supreme-rank Monsters monster core!" Her voice shook as she spoke, not from fear for herself, but from the full horror of what she was seeing. Her eyes widened for one brief moment before becoming dangerously sharp, and then she turned toward the kneeling yellow-haired man with such intense killing intent that several soldiers standing along the walls instinctively tightened their grips around their weapons.

The report book in her hand nearly slipped as her fingers trembled around its cover. She understood at once. She had seen records of similar methods before, hidden in old military documents and secret reports passed between great houses. Enemy kingdoms, rebel groups, and terrorists had sometimes used monster cores as weapons by forcing the power inside them to become unstable.

Normally, they used much smaller cores. Even then, the damage could destroy streets, military camps, or entire estates. But this was not a small core. This belonged to a monster of the Supreme rank.

"He did not come here to kill only you," Nyssa said suddenly, her voice dropping into an eerie coldness as she looked toward Razeal before turning back to the prisoner.

"He wanted to use this core.. intending to make it unstable and detonate it in the middle of the capital...." The words came out slowly, each one filled with restrained fury and disgust. Her face had gone pale, but her eyes burned.

"A core of this rank... If its power is released without control, it will tear through everything around it. The castle, the streets, the walls, the houses, the people..." Her voice tightened as she forced herself to continue.

"It would have turned half the kingdom’s capital into dust." The final words echoed through the throne room, leaving behind a silence so complete that it felt almost unnatural.

No one moved. No one breathed loudly. Even the soldiers who had been standing in perfect formation now looked toward the object in Viper’s hand with open horror.

Only moments ago, it had seemed like a strange weapon or perhaps some hidden treasure. Now they understood that they had been standing only a few steps away from enough power to erase everything they knew.

Zero and Blitz, who had remained completely expressionless until now, both paused. Their eyes shifted toward the core at the same time. Neither assassin released the prisoner’s arms, but the pressure of their grips clearly increased. They had stopped the man before he could activate it, yet only now did they fully understand what they had prevented.

Viper also looked down at the object in his hand. His eyes narrowed slowly, and then he turned his head toward the kneeling man. The coldness in his gaze changed.

Until now, he had treated the prisoner as a foolish Great Saint who had come seeking revenge and failed. But this was not merely revenge. The man had not intended to strike Razeal directly and accept his death. He had intended to murder everyone around him. Servants. Guards. Nobles. Merchants. Women. Children. Families who had nothing to do with his brother’s death. He had been willing to destroy the capital simply for the chance that Razeal might be caught in the blast.

For someone like Viper, who had spent his life killing carefully and following precise orders, such uncontrolled slaughter was not strength. It was filth.

"I see," Razeal whispered from the throne. His crimson eyes flickered with a dangerous light as he stared at the prisoner. He had already reached the same conclusion before Nyssa fully explained it. The size of the core, the way the man had hidden his aura, the direction in which he had approached the castle, and the fact that he had come alone all of it now made sense. He had never expected to escape. He had never expected to defeat Razeal in a direct fight. His plan had been to get as close to the royal castle as possible, release the core’s power, and die together with everyone in the blast. The foolishness Razeal had seen before was no longer foolishness. It was preparation for mass murder.

Nyssa’s entire body trembled as she stared at the man. She had spent years protecting this kingdom through politics, negotiations, secrets, and careful alliances. She had seen cruelty before.

Yet this was different. This was not an attack against soldiers or a royal bloodline. This was an attempt to erase the capital itself. Hundreds of thousands of people could have died. Men returning from work. Mothers carrying children. Old people inside their homes. The wounded still recovering from the recent destruction.

People Razeal had only just saved lifes of could have been killed again before they even understood what happened. It was genocide, nothing less. The thought made Nyssa’s stomach twist. How could anyone dare bring such a thing into the heart of her kingdom? How could revenge against one man turn into a desire to murder everyone?

As the prisoner felt the eyes upon him, filled with disgust, judgment, hatred, and pure killing intent, his bloody lips slowly curved upward. Instead of fear, something twisted and satisfied appeared upon his bruised face. He raised his head little by little, ignoring the blood still dripping from his mouth, until his eyes met Razeal’s gaze upon the throne. Then he began laughing.

"Hahahaha..." The sound came out rough at first because of the damage to his stomach, but it quickly grew louder and more broken.

"You are lucky.. You know that?" he said, forcing the words out between breaths. "If only I had not been so worried about making sure I hit you hard enough..." His smile widened, madness filling his bloodshot eyes.

"I would have made you regret itttt.. I would have made you watch everything disappear." He laughed again, throwing his head back as much as Zero and Blitz’s grip allowed. "Hahahaha!"

The soldiers stared at him in disbelief. Nyssa’s expression became even colder. Viper’s fingers slowly tightened around the core. The man looked around at them with complete contempt.

"What are you all looking at?" he yelled. "What are you going to do? Kill me?" Another laugh burst from him.

"Come on, then! Do it!" He had already accepted death before entering the capital. He had come here expecting to die, and the only thing truly troubling him was that he had failed to activate the core. He did not fear execution. He did not want to beg, explain, or ask for mercy. He only wanted to deny them the satisfaction of seeing him break.

Viper’s eyes narrowed into thin, dangerous lines. With one smooth movement, his free hand reached beneath his clothing and pulled out a dark dagger. The blade caught the light for only a second before he turned it downward toward the kneeling prisoner. His expression remained calm, but the disgust inside him was clear now.

People like this man were the kind Viper hated most. Not warriors. Not assassins. Not even ordinary murderers. A killer should know who he intended to kill. A man willing to erase an entire city for revenge was nothing more than a rabid beast wearing human skin.

The prisoner saw the dagger and smiled even wider. There was no fear in his face. He stared at Viper as though inviting him to try, as though even torture would be another victory because it would prove they had been angered by him. Viper took one step forward.

"Don’t," Razeal said.

His voice was calm, but it stopped Viper immediately. The dagger remained in his hand as he turned his head slightly toward the throne. Razeal’s eyes stayed fixed upon the prisoner, though his expression was thoughtful rather than angry.

Viper glanced down at the man again before explaining. "His body has been severed from every mortal sensation," he said.

"Pain. Touch. Heat. Cold. Even the instincts attached to the soul appear to have been blocked through some unknown secret method." He returned the dagger to his side, though he did not put it away yet.

"I do not know what technique was used, but he clearly prepared it before coming here. He expected to be captured if the plan failed." Viper’s voice remained cold and practical. "If you are planning to torture him, no torment will reach him now. His body may be damaged, but he will not truly feel it. Killing him would be the best choice."

The prisoner’s smile remained upon his face as he knelt between Zero and Blitz, blood covering his teeth, looking almost proud of the preparation he had made. He believed he had removed the final weapon they could use against him. He had failed to destroy the capital, but at least they would not hear him scream.

But Razeal slowly shook his head. "No," he said, his voice calm enough that for a moment no one understood what he was refusing. His crimson eyes remained fixed upon the yellow-haired man kneeling before the throne, while his expression showed no anger, no disgust, and not even the slightest interest in torture.

"Not about that." Viper’s dagger paused in his hand. Lady Nyssa’s brows tightened. Zero and Blitz remained behind the prisoner, still holding both of his arms in their unbreakable grips. Then Razeal leaned back slightly against the golden throne and gave an order so unexpected that the entire hall seemed to stop breathing.

"Release him." For several seconds, no one moved. The words had been clear, but they were so unreasonable that everyone almost believed they had heard them wrongly. Lady Nyssa turned her head sharply toward the throne. The soldiers along the walls stared forward without daring to react, yet confusion immediately passed through their faces. Even Viper, who followed Razeal’s commands without question almost every time, looked genuinely taken aback.

"Hm?" he murmured, glancing up toward Razeal again. Behind the prisoner, Zero and Blitz also shifted their eyes toward the king. They did not loosen their hands. Their expressions remained hidden beneath their masks, but the small pause in their movements was enough to show that they were confused as well. This was not some harmless criminal being released. The man before them had entered the center of the capital carrying a Supreme-rank monster core with the intention of making it unstable and destroying everything around him. If that plan had succeeded, countless people would have died. Yet Razeal was now telling them to let him go.

Viper looked at Razeal for another moment, searching his face for any sign that this was a test, a trap, or perhaps some hidden command he was expected to understand. But Razeal’s face remained unreadable. He did not explain himself. He did not repeat the order. He simply continued looking down at the prisoner as though the decision was perfectly reasonable. Viper finally turned his head toward Zero and Blitz and gave them a small nod.

"Let him go," he ordered. Both assassins hesitated for the briefest moment before obeying. Their hands opened at the same time, and the iron pressure around the yellow-haired man’s arms suddenly disappeared. The prisoner almost fell forward from the unexpected freedom. His shoulders moved instinctively, and he quickly pulled both arms back toward himself, rubbing one wrist against the other even though he could no longer feel pain or touch properly.

The crazed smile that had been stretched across his bloody face slowly faded. A deep frown appeared in its place. He looked first toward Zero, then Blitz, then Viper, expecting one of them to strike him down the moment he moved. But none did. They simply stepped half a pace away and remained standing behind him.

The yellow-haired man slowly raised his head toward Razeal. Confusion replaced the madness in his eyes. What is he planning? he wondered. He could not understand it. Razeal had no reason to release him. Perhaps this was some cruel game. Perhaps he wanted him to believe he was free before killing him.

Maybe he wanted to see him make another attempt so he could humiliate him further? The prisoner searched Razeal’s face for an answer, but found nothing. Razeal only watched him from above, seated comfortably upon the throne with one leg resting over the other. Then he spoke again.

"Return his monster core as well, Viper."

This time, the silence that followed was even heavier.

"Your Majesty?" Lady Nyssa said loudly before she could stop herself. Her controlled expression broke completely as she looked up at Razeal. There was no careful respect in her voice now, only pure disbelief.

"What are you doing?" The question escaped her because she genuinely could not understand him anymore. Releasing the man was already dangerous enough, but returning the Supreme monster core was something far worse. That object was not merely a weapon. It was enough power to erase a great part of the capital.

Even if Razeal believed he could survive the explosion, what about everyone else? The servants, guards, nobles, soldiers, and countless civilians living beyond the castle walls? One mistake would turn the kingdom into a graveyard.

Viper remained still for a moment, the huge dark core resting in his hand.

"Hm?" he said again, this time his confusion far clearer. He looked at the object, then at the prisoner, and finally back toward Razeal. Still, he did not refuse. An order was an order. Viper turned around and extended the hand holding the core toward the yellow-haired man.

"Here," he said coldly. His voice carried no approval, only obedience.

"Your Majesty, what are you doing?" Lady Nyssa asked again, louder this time. Her fingers tightened around the report book until the leather cover bent beneath her grip.

"That thing could destroy the capital." She took one step toward the throne, her face filled with disbelief and growing fear. But Razeal ignored her completely. He did not even turn his eyes in her direction. His gaze remained fixed upon the yellow-haired man.

The prisoner stared at the core being offered back to him. His eyes moved between Viper’s hand and Razeal’s face. He did not reach for it immediately.

For the first time since entering the throne room, real hesitation appeared in him. This was what he had wanted. This was the weapon he had carried into the capital. Yet now that it was being returned so freely, every instinct inside him warned that something was wrong. He slowly stretched one hand forward, then stopped just before touching it.

No one moved. Viper did not pull the core away. Zero and Blitz did not reach for their weapons. The soldiers remained silent. Razeal did not attack. The man finally took the Supreme-rank monster core into both hands. Its dark surface rested against his palms, and the enormous power hidden inside it answered faintly to his touch. He had successfully taken it back.

That only made him more confused.

The atmosphere inside the throne room changed at once. The hall felt colder, darker, and heavier. Everyone could sense the danger inside the object now that it was back in the hands of the man who had intended to use it. Several soldiers unconsciously shifted their feet.

One tightened both hands around his spear until his knuckles turned pale. Lady Nyssa’s breathing became shallow. Viper remained standing close enough to move at any moment, but he did not interfere. The yellow-haired man looked around at every face in the hall. He saw fear, suspicion, anger, and disbelief. Yet no one stopped him. He lowered his eyes toward the core, then raised them toward Razeal again.

"Go on," Razeal said.

His voice travelled through the throne room with calm, terrifying clarity.

"You have it now." Razeal rested one elbow against the arm of the throne and placed his closed fist beneath his chin, looking down at the man with almost bored interest. "Do it."

The entire hall became eerily silent.

"What?" Lady Nyssa’s voice rose sharply. She stared at Razeal as though he had completely lost his mind. This time, even the soldiers could not hide their reactions. Several turned their eyes toward one another. Zero and Blitz remained still, but the focus in their gazes sharpened. Viper slowly looked back toward Razeal, waiting for some hidden signal that never came.

The prisoner’s grip tightened around the core.

"What?" he asked, his voice lower now. The wild confidence he had shown before was gone. "Really?" He stared upward, trying to see through Razeal’s expression. "You will let me use it?"

"Yes," Razeal answered with a small nod. "Go on." He looked almost uninterested, as though the man were being invited to perform some simple trick rather than destroy the capital. "Use it."

The yellow-haired man’s confusion quickly turned into anger. His brows twisted, and his bloody lips pulled back.

"What are you planning?" he demanded. "You think I will fall into whatever game you are playing?" His voice grew louder. "You think I am stupid?"

"No," Razeal replied calmly. "I am not playing." His crimson eyes remained steady. "I am serious." He shifted his chin slightly upon his fist.

"You can go ahead and do it. I give you my word that no one will stop you." He glanced briefly toward Viper, Zero, and Blitz. "No one."

The assassins remained silent, but the order was clear. They would not interfere unless Razeal changed his command.

The prisoner looked down at the core again. The dark lines across its surface seemed to pulse faintly, waiting for him to pour energy into them. He had planned this moment countless times in last two days. He had imagined slipping into the capital, reaching the royal castle, releasing the core, and watching everything disappear together with him. He had accepted death. He had cut away pain. He had prepared his body and soul so no torture could break him. Yet now, standing freely inside the throne room with the weapon returned to his hands, he could not move.

Razeal watched the hesitation appear and slowly deepen.

"Go on," he repeated, his voice quiet but pressing. "Do what you came here to do."

No one in the hall made a sound.

The man’s fingers trembled around the core.

Razeal’s expression did not change.

"Do it."

——