Reincarnated as the Final Villain's Vessel

Chapter 271: The shame of losing

Kneeling in front of Theo, his ghostly blade was still there in my chest, sending an unbearable cold feeling, like thousands of icy needles being driven into my heart all at once.

When he picked up my own sword to stab me with it, I thought it was the end, the essence had stopped responding to me, and my ability had stopped working.

The red lines on his face told of his bad state, apparently this ability wasn’t easy to use, so there were some consequences to it... but for me, all that was left was a body that couldn’t even move.

So, when he stabbed toward me, stating his apology like he really felt guilty, I didn’t do anything... I couldn’t do anything.

But the sharp edge stopped millimeters from my chest where a faint ethereal glow shone... its color was blue, and I recognized it immediately.

Theo obviously hadn’t expected that, his eyes widened in realization and his mouth opened in disbelief, his voice hoarse and tired. "Fuck!"

Without delay, he let go of my sword aimed at my chest and it dropped to the ground, then in one quick movement he pulled the ghostly blade out of my chest all at once.

The feeling that came from that was like your heart being cut with a blade of ice, but dozens of times worse, the pain left my body paralyzed in place... and at that moment I could barely make out what was happening in front of me with my blurry vision.

A thin line like a spider’s web passed in front of my face where Theo’s hand was stretched out, holding the sword’s grip, if he hadn’t pulled back in time his arm would’ve been resting on the ground beside my weapon.

His blue eyes wandered to somewhere behind me, and his expression twisted in horror while he clenched his jaw like he was forcing his body to pull back... and he was.

Because the next moment a thread passed by my right side a hair away from splitting me in two, but of course it wasn’t targeting me, but Theo who put all his effort into escaping its path.

It took him a moment to get out of the attack’s path clumsily, then the next moment the space around him twisted into a mist before he disappeared behind the veil of his illusions.

But of course, he was still here somewhere, I didn’t feel him because my ability was inactive, but this was the logical conclusion I’d reached in this state of mine.

Suddenly silver strands swept across the space in front of me and filled my sight, swaying with the air before they settled on the girl’s back.

Emeris glanced at me over her shoulder, her eyes shining with a hint of faint blue, then without words she raised her hand toward the stretch of trees.

Hundreds of long threads formed, shining in the darkness and merging together into a wide web, then at her command they moved forward.

They passed through the black trunks like they were nothing as they ground up the dark wood, even the leaves that ring like bells tore and fell.

A muffled sound echoed, like walls made of wooden bricks collapsing on top of each other... exactly what’s happening to many of the trees now.

"Haaah." A deep breath tore through my chest, the air coming back into my lungs.

Even though she caused more destruction than Theo and I did, there was no trace of him at all.

While Emeris was sweeping the forest to find the person hiding behind the illusions, I felt the warmth finally coming back to my limbs.

After a few moments, she finally stopped, the sound of falling wood echoed for a while after the blue threads disappeared, then when the place went silent, Emeris let out a breath. "Damn it, he escaped too."

With me getting the ability to move my limbs again, Emeris turned to me fully, scanning me for a moment with searching, heavy looks, or I don’t know?

She tilted her head and her hair fell to the side in silver lines shining in the darkness, then she reached her hand toward me as she leaned forward a little.

"Are you okay?" Her tone was quiet and soft like her face.

I stared at that palm for a moment, before I took it, and she wrapped her fingers around my hand and pulled me up to my feet.

My legs trembled a little, but I gritted my teeth and forced my body to respond... it had been disappointing me a lot these days... a lot.

And now I almost lost if Emeris hadn’t saved me, and that alone made my guts twist with frustration.

Yeah, my ignorance of Theo’s other ability was what got me into this state, if I’d known I would’ve dodged that attack easily... but that wasn’t an excuse for anything, just words to bandage this shameful feeling.

"Caius, hey... are you okay now?" Emeris’s soft voice crept into my ears, only then did I notice she was still holding my hand... she didn’t look like she was planning to let it go anytime soon.

She came closer to stand inches away from me, I was taller than her, she barely reached my shoulder, so she had to lean forward to see my face.

I blinked for a moment before I answered, my voice came out hoarse, and quiet. "Y... yeah. I’m fine."

Even though I said that I wasn’t fine... the cold, disgusting feeling in my chest was still there, even if it was less now.

In the reflection of her gray eyes, I saw my pale face, like I’m a corpse that rose from the grave... yeah, damn pathetic.

And unlike me Emeris looked completely fine, if we ignore some dust on her armor and her messy hair... she looks like someone out for a run in the public park.

I took another breath, trying to hold back the dizziness and the edges of my vision that were still blurry. "The others, go help them." My voice was barely steady this time.

But instead of doing what I asked, she stood up straight which widened the distance between us a little. "I did, the fight there is already over. They’re resting now and bandaging their injuries, or what’s left of them at least."

I scowled, that’s when I noticed the sounds of fighting weren’t there anymore, I glanced behind me... where many of the giant trees lay on the ground, and among the chaos I could see a glimpse of the camp.

Yeah, there was no fighting, and that confused me for a moment... and what brought her here at this time. "How?"

Like she noticed my confusion, Emeris hurried to explain. "We got attacked too, maybe a little before you but by Luminar and specifically that annoying one, so after some chatting with her that went on for ten minutes or I don’t know, I slapped her ass... or specifically kicked it, and before I could finish her, she escaped."

She clicked her tongue with obvious disappointment. "After that I helped my team get rid of those little bugs, that was much easier, unfortunately we’d already lost half of us, and after I saw the distress call Ivan sent, I came running here... I passed through that chaotic battlefield, and slapped a few of them off guard, the fight was about to end anyway... then you know."

Well, it wasn’t the best explanation I’ve heard... half the credit goes to Ivan and the other half to Emeris, and it made sense that she could arrive in time, after all the running speed of Rank 4 wasn’t a joke... crossing this distance in a few minutes was an easy thing... of course because the islands had become empty of monsters, and she doesn’t have to account for the others.

Her slender fingers pressed on my hand, as she smiled like a little cat, giving me demanding looks. "Don’t I deserve some praise, you know, I ran the whole way there and saved you from a stab in the heart... come on."

I smiled, the uncomfortable cold feeling in my chest, still settled there.

...

"How?" A rough whisper echoed, audible only to its owner.

Under the evening sky, Dana stood, gripping her sword in her hand until her knuckles turned white.

Her shoulders slumped weakly as she stared at her companions in front of her, half of them already on the ground, and the other half barely keeping themselves upright.

In front of them was only one person.