THE PERFECT VILLAIN: Another chance with a system
Chapter 29: Behold your reward

Chapter 29: Behold your reward

Mira woke up feeling strange. She did not recall falling asleep and yet she felt like she had slept for a long time. She walked out of her room to the dining room and Mia and Anna also walked out of their rooms. It was then she realized, they had all fallen asleep.

"Niel," she muttered out and ran to his room but to her surprise, it was empty. Mia and Anna followed behind her and when they got there they began to wonder why she had ran that fast to Niel’s room.

"Mira, are you okay?" Mia asked, still squeezing her eyes.

"Something isn’t right?!"

She blurted out and ran towards out of the house while Mia and Anna followed behind her. To their surprise, the streets were littered with limbless people, some holding their child closer as they went, others trying to help themselves.

Mia and Anna were horrified by the brutal sight of everyone mutilated in the streets. Mira began walking down the streets, looking at everyone, her face pale in disbelief. Mia and Anna held tightly to her as they walked. Soon, they saw an old man from afar—it was Sir Lance.

They ran towards him and he was bleeding on the ground outside his shop.

"Sir Lance!" Anna and Mia ran towards him and stopped a few feet away, their hands trembling in fear. Lance’s right hand and leg were chopped off. Mira got down on one knee, tears streaming down her face. "What—what happened here?"

Lance forced a smile, then he tried to speak. "It was Lady Amira. She did all of this."

Mira’s eyes widened in disbelief. "No—no, there’s no way she would do it. There’s no way she would hurt her own people."

"I saw her with my own eyes," Sir Lance muttered in pain. Mira looked around and back at him, then she immediately remembered Niel’s words:

"Whatever you do, survive. No matter how sad, or how much you lose, as long as you are alive—survive."

He knew. He knew she would do it all along. Did he put a sedative in our meals to keep us inside? That’s the only explanation for all of this.

Then she instantly remembered Luna and Amira being childhood friends. She felt like they were pieces she needed to put together. Why would Luna murder Dan? Why would Amira harm the people she had once saved? And how did Niel find out about it?

She got up and ran towards the village hall. If there was any way to find an answer to it, she must first find Niel.

Mia and Anna followed behind her, all heading to the village hall.

---

At the mountain’s cave, Amira stared at him with total disbelief. She had watched him die and buried his body but yet, there he was smiling at her. Was this resurrection or something else?

"How?" She asked, trying to sit up. "How did you survive? How are you alive?!"

"Seems even death can’t hold me, Amira." Vael took a step forward and squatted near her, his smile totally disappearing, his expression devoid of any real emotion. "I want to know two things, Amira. Tell me—why did you set me up and why did you build a monument in my name?"

Amira’s scared gaze slowly faded into guilt. She looked away from his face to the ground as her mouth began to tremble. "You were the only one. You were the only one who was upright."

Vael didn’t utter a word, his gaze still fixed on her as though he was waiting for a full explanation. She lifted her gaze to meet his for a moment only to look away again. "The four heroes had been in alliance with the demons and when the Church started closing in on us, we knew we needed someone to take the fall. It was a cruel choice but it was our only choice. After all our work, we couldn’t be remembered as the ones who betrayed humankind. It was better one than four."

She looked up to him, with tears in her eyes as her lips trembled. "I’m sorry, for everything."

Vael’s voice came out colder than he meant to. "Then why the monument? Why do these people see me as a hero?"

She paused, tears flowing from her eyes as she spoke. "Shortly after the execution, I couldn’t live with myself. Every night it was you in my head, haunting my dreams, and slowly it broke me. I knew I couldn’t change the past but—"

She paused, looking back into his eyes. "I thought—I thought maybe I could change. Maybe I could redeem myself. So I began my path to redemption."

She paused as though she was trying to catch her breath, then she continued. "Four months ago, I returned to my hometown and it was being attacked by monsters. I saved them from it and also two—three adventurers who had taken the job but were failing at it. Dan, Niel and Mira."

The tears stopped as she looked into Vael’s eyes. "I told them to keep the village safe for me and I would pay for it. They were allowed to live with my childhood friends—Luna, her sister Anna, and my sister—Mia."

"My village tried to build a statue of me as their savior and I objected. I told them to make one of you instead and told them that you were set up and that was the truth. So they did."

"Did you say who set me up?"

Vael replied instantly and Amira looked away instead. That was the confirmation he needed.

He stood up and walked towards the door, then he stopped, looking at the village from where he stood. Then Amira spoke up.

"I’m sorry. I know what I cost you. I know what I did was wrong and I cannot change it but those people are innocent. They haven’t done anything wrong. You could punish me for it all, I would give my life to pay—but don’t hurt them. Please."

Vael giggled without looking back at her. "That sounds familiar. It sounds like my pleas being read back to me."

Amira went silent. She still remembered him begging. She still had the images in her head. She looked at the ground for a moment and then at him. "What are you going to do now?"

Suddenly she recalled him shifting to her a while back. Her eyes widened in fear. "What—what did you do with my face?!"

Only then did Vael turn around, shifting into his real body—a demon. A smile appeared on his lips. "What do you think, Amira? I mutilated your people with your face. If they are going to die, let them believe they were killed by a savior."

"How could you?! Why would you?! There were kids there too!" Amira’s voice cracked with grief. But Vael simply took a step forward and replied:

"Wasn’t Claire a child too? Or didn’t my child deserve to live?"

Amira went silent, still pale with regret and grief. She knew it was all her fault but she couldn’t accept the outcome. Her voice came out smaller than she meant to. "Is there anyone left? Did anyone survive?"

"They are all still alive for now. Who knows how many would survive when I unleash my final display. By the way, Mira, Mia and Anna are unconscious from a sleeping potion, still unharmed. Though they would be waking up any moment from now, they would certainly meet the grand display. The question is—would they survive it?"

Amira’s face went pale as she pushed herself from the wall, crawling toward Vael. "What display?! What is your grand display?!"

Vael looked at her and smiled. Then he stretched his hand toward the village and muttered:

"Grand Meteor."

The sky began to split apart, the atmosphere shifting as Amira crawled forward to see. Then it came—a boulder six times the size of Velroth, wreathed in flame, descending with terrible speed upon the village below.

"No—No, you monster!" Her voice came out trembling in fear. "You monster!!!"

Vael walked to the entrance of the doorway, then turned fully facing Amira as a smile touched his lips.

"This is the monster you created. Tell me, why does it terrify you?"

Amira had no answer—only tears streaming down her face. Vael’s smile widened as he stretched his hands apart, legs joined together in a straight iconic pose. He looked toward Amira on the ground with a pitiful gaze as he muttered:

"Behold—your reward."