The Villain's Story

Chapter 862: Let there be light.

The island held the only sources of light that existed in the world, in the form of spells and specially crafted lamps. However, even these failed to resist the darkness fully and were suppressed by the world. Light was something foreign to the world of Nocturnum.

Not a single resident had seen a bright light in this world, not even from the greatest spells or magecraft. Not a single one. The Darkness that the world was composed of suppressed it all.

The Darkness reigned supreme, no matter what. Nothing had been able to challenge it, and nothing dared to. However, what was in front of Lirkis was the exact opposite. For the first time in history, something dared to challenge the Black Sea.

His eyes stung, his body felt weird, and all of his senses went off the charts as he saw it forming on the distant horizon.

"That’s impossible."

Despite how surprised he was, his voice denied any of it. He spoke with certainty, for that had been drilled into him since his birth. Fourteen hundred and seventy-seven years of life. From F-rank to Legendary, but he had never even thought something like this was possible because it was supposed to be that way.

"That... that..."

But soon enough, his certainty vanished, replaced by pure disbelief.

In the far distance, in the middle of the Black Sea, he saw a blue light begin to surface, tearing apart the calm sea and asserting dominance. It was small, but all of a sudden.

It became a beacon, a pillar of blue light visible to all on the Island. Lirkis almost went blind; the small dot of light he had seen had expanded faster than his senses could adapt. The result of encountering such a bright light after spending a decade or two in the darkness.

He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and braced his feet, but he was being pushed back, slowly but surely. Setting the pain in his retinas aside, he roused his mana and focused it on his eyes, enabling him to see once more.

But when he finally regained his vision, he noticed the strangest and the most heaven-defying of things. The pillar of light was still there.

But the Sea wasn’t. The port was dry.

-----

He didn’t know what was happening, but strangely enough, he could see and feel something once again. Slowly, Alan opened his eyes, only to see nothing but darkness all around him. He could see his own hands and feet, his own body, but nothing else.

Could he even see? Or was this just a figment of his imagination? He didn’t know, but he was glad he had regained something at least. However, before he could truly figure out what was happening, a light appeared before him.

He looked up, only to see a visage of himself, composed of nothing but blue light that flickered like a fire.

Both of them spoke at once.

’Find it.’

Both of them were one being.

’Find the answer.’

They walked towards one another, every step in sync, every breath like the other, and every thought the same as well.

The fire merged with the body, and the body became one with the flame, and Alan Peccator heard it.

The roar of mana colliding against mana, a battle of two behemoths of unfathomable size and power, a tide of still darkness against a beacon of rising light. He heard the mana clash, and soon enough.

He could smell it; he could smell the sweet scent of Darkness mana and the overpowering scent of his own mana. And then, he could taste them.

Then, he regained his sense of touch. In the midst of this mana clash, Alan Peccator could feel everything around him once more, his mana against the Black Sea’s, he could feel the chill, the pain. He could feel everything once more.

Next, he could see it. His body floating in the middle of a pillar of light, He could see the Black Sea at the edges, fighting against his mana. The clash was fierce, bloody, and desperate from the side of the Black Sea.

But it wasn’t enough, Alan knew there was still one thing he was missing. He had regained all of his senses but one. The most important sense was still gone.

’Come on... Come to me.’

He called out to it, beckoning it to come back. He wanted to feel it course through his body once again, and it answered. His sense of mana came back.

A wide smile appeared on his face as he roused the mana both within and outside his body to gather at one point. The pillar of white light receded and condensed itself into a ball.

For the first time in his life, Alan Peccator used [Dominatus], and even though he did not understand the specifics of his skill... What it could exactly do or could not do, he did not care.

He simply used it as he wished. He gathered it at one point, and when it had finally reached the breaking point. He let it out.

His skill spread out a wave, beating back the black sea, practically eviscerating as Alan fell to the ground. His knees dug into the wet ground, and a hearty laugh escaped his mouth.

"Ha, Hahah!"

His head rose with glee, pushing his hair back with his hand. Alan looked all around, but he didn’t see a single speck of water, or rather, Darkness mana.

All of it was gone, and his own reserves were pretty empty. Nevertheless, he felt revitalized as he stood up.

He never knew how good it would be to feel again! To see! To hear! To taste and smell! He never noticed how good it actually felt.

However, his happiness was cut short as he heard the sound of wings flapping, the feeling of air pushing down on his being. Alan raised one eye, and chuckled.

"Shit."

Above him, hundreds of dragons of various sizes and types stared at him. The young ones glared, while the older, bigger dragons wore an amused, but concerned gaze. Alan stared at Dragons of Darkness and gulped.

"So, ugh, where’s your boss?"