Reincarnated as the Final Villain's Vessel

Chapter 272: A Grudge

Dana’s plan was supposed to be airtight, to succeed at least partly, enough to make the rest who’d stayed behind follow her... stop following Demir blindly and give up the old customs of the west.

The day before she’d worked on hiding her traces from that watcher up above, going around the islands and taking a path blocked from the higher islands... from Kyle’s sight.

Taking advantage of half the group staying behind her, and planting the impression that he was the target of this attack, she made him request support from his closest companions... and it worked.

At the same time, she positioned herself with her team hidden on the island closest to Ellen... Ellen who’d left only a few there, barely enough to make a difference.

Everything was smooth, exactly as she expected, they climbed the hanging bridges with the sunset, hidden by a veil of reflections while they passed through the visible paths, until they reached their target.

She was supposed to have gotten past the hardest part, and with the island almost empty, getting rid of the ones left would be easy, then Ellen would start rushing back here in a panic, bringing support with her.

Taking advantage of that, and their exposed weakness on the vine bridge since it’s the only way, they’d attack them in that exposed position while they’re hanging in the sky on a few meters of plants... it was supposed to be easy... maybe with some losses they’d kill two birds with one stone, taking this island and the other one at the isolated end.

What about support from the other places?... of course she’d thought about that.

There was one bridge connecting Ellen to the rest of Solaria, so with the place guarded, they’d be able to attack them as they rushed across the sky, and it’s obvious who’d get the upper hand.

On top of that their enemies would need time to gather and cross that distance, and that was in Dana’s favor.

At least that’s how things were supposed to go... or part of it, because there’s no truly perfect plan.

But now, everything she’d set up lost its meaning, a few minutes after they set their feet here.

When the twenty-person team looked out over this island, the first thing that met them was four Awakened... they weren’t anything special, what could they do against twenty people except hold out for half a minute.

After dropping those four, she sent two people to find the purging marker and swap it with theirs, while she and the rest split up to intercept the Solarians who’d come across the bridges.

The moment they finished with Kyle and Ellen they’d move to the other side and give full support there.... because nothing serious was supposed to happen anytime soon.

This was Dana’s plan, maybe not something great, and driven by some anger and impatience, but kind of effective... at least it was supposed to be, until that person showed up.

The path to the neighboring island was the closest, as for Ellen and Kyle they were at the other end... so they had to hurry.

And the moment they agreed to split up and each team started moving in its direction, a massive pressure dropped on them that weighed down their shoulders and pinned them in place for a moment, there some distance away a figure moved toward them under the sky decorated with the twilight of the sunset.

The strands of his golden hair looked like they were glowing under the shadows of the evening, his yellow eyes shone with a faint brightness like they were stealing all the light.

At that moment as Dana stared at the person coming closer to them her heart sank... like the air itself was rejecting her, it became hard to breathe under the pressure weighing on their shoulders.

That’s when a late realization crept into Dana, the realization that this person is on a different level from them... and he didn’t wait long to prove that every thought that came to her in that moment was right, because when he drew his sword, the battlefield twisted.

...

Elliot Sivrax, it’s not like Dana hadn’t studied her opponents and tried to learn their maximum capabilities... but out of all the delegations she ran into a problem with Solaria.

Which is the lack of any recent information on their strongest members... not because it was blocked or anything, but those six happened to disappear for a whole half year.

Then when they showed up again, they didn’t do anything... they didn’t even come to the Axis, so nobody saw their potential and their strength before the Game of Kings, only their ranks were known.

And yeah, she’d heard about Elliot’s talent before he disappeared, but he was at Rank 2 at that time... and now something completely different stood in front of her.

While everyone was shocked by his sudden appearance, without words, Elliot drew his sword wrapped in layers of bright white light and carved the air.

He didn’t say anything, not even a greeting or a threat, only the shine of his eyes spoke of his desire to crush them.

So, when he swung, the ground shattered, and space twisted, and a wave of heat spread and hit the face of the distant Dana, followed by a storm of dust and a boom that tore through the quiet of the evening.

When the light faded, she saw her companions who’d been closest to him lying on the ground, some of them holding a charred limb, another bleeding from his chest, and some of them looked like they’d passed out from the sudden attack... let alone those who’d already been eliminated.

With that simple attack, Dana lost 4 of her companions and they were moved to the fortress, and 5 others were already incapacitated, and the rest were shocked with their mouths open.

All of this happened in two seconds, from his arrival to the scene of destruction... the ground charred where his attack landed on the front lines, carving a trench several meters wide in the shape of a crescent.

Her shoulders slumped as she gripped her sword until her knuckles turned white. ’Get a grip,’ she thought, as she opened her mouth. "Everyone, get ready to fig—"

The words faded on her tongue when Elliot appeared in front of her, his shining eyes landing on her with a look that sent a chill down her spine... he’d only moved across that distance passing the rest, leaving them behind him, like they’re nothing.

Standing in front of her a few steps away, he stared at Dana for a moment assessing her, while that nice person had disappeared somewhere. "Lady Dana, it’s been a while since our last meeting."

She froze in confusion, she’d expected him to attack right away, not give a greeting like it’s an informal meeting in a public place.

She took the chance to get her stance back, the essence rushed in feeding her body, ready to use her ability at the right moment, she couldn’t beat him alone... even a fool knows this.

So, to buy a few moments for her teammates to get ready, she opened her mouth to play along. "Y... you talk like we’ve met before; do we know each other?" Her voice came out hoarse like her throat had gone dry.

Elliot nodded, his perfect eyebrows creasing into a slight frown. "We met at a party inside the capital of Auerlion, about 10 years ago, I forget what the occasion was exactly, m—"

As she noticed her companions who’d just started moving and drawing their weapons, Dana frowned at this unexpected conversation.

’Ten years?’ Of course, she wouldn’t remember this passing meeting at the age of eight... everything she knew about Elliot was from the news, so she answered honestly. "I don’t remember us meeting."

His eyebrow twitched, and a broken half-smile on his face. "You really don’t remember?"

She answered by shaking her head. "No, why, was it an important meeting for you?" For a moment something simple and childish came to her mind... maybe he’d been taken with her, because nobody could deny the beauty of this girl of the west.

When he noticed the strange look that appeared on her face, Elliot let out a long breath. "You don’t remember?... well, you and a group with you bullied me, you knocked me into the water fountain in the middle of the garden... and tried to drown me."

"Huh!?..." A sound of disbelief came out of her mouth without meaning to... and if the gravity wasn’t still pressing on her body she might have collapsed laughing right now.

But like he’d smelled that coming, Elliot pinched the bridge of his nose with a frown, realizing the embarrassment he’d just caused himself... who brings up a bullying incident the bully herself doesn’t remember.

He sighed a longer sigh than the one before. "I... no, it doesn’t matter."

While Dana was still surprised by the recovery of her bullying memories that she’d forgotten, the pressure on her shoulders multiplied several times, until her feet started sinking into the ground.

Her essence moved as the ground broke apart under Elliot. At the same time dozens of arrows arrived whistling from behind him, a huge person jumped at him with a war axe in his hand, ready to split him in two, and a girl appeared beside him with a dagger in her hand.

He wasn’t surprised, indifferently he vanished from his place like he’d never been there, leaving their eyes fixed on his afterimage.

When he appeared again his sword was already at Dana’s back, piercing her reinforced muscles without resistance, and when the feeling of pain crept into her, she was already fading and had been eliminated.

And the last thing she heard was Elliot’s words, which are obviously a lie. "This isn’t a grudge."