The Villain's Story

Chapter 359 [359] Trial of Faith[2]

[Your Story.]

The words echoed in Elijahʼs mind, the screams…the clashing of weapons…and the ʼroar.ʼ

All of them echoed in his mind and he buckled to his knees.

[A tragic story.]

The metallic voice of the tower echoed once again…It gave Elijah a massive headache.

”Agh!”

He fell to his knees, on the dead land before…

[To fail, and fail…every single time.]

The blood from the corpses seeped out and formed a sea, every corpse disappeared and only Elijah was left in the sea of blood.

[So much blood spilled, so many lives lost…entire worlds reduced to ash…the light from entire galaxies extinguished…In this never ending battle.]

Elijah struggled to stand, the voice of the tower only increased in his head and the pain intensified.

”What…are you talking about?”

He barely managed to say those words…What was the tower getting at? What was this trial?

What…was this sea?

[Your story.]

It repeated the words again. The blood from the sea formed tendrils and grabbed his head. Elijah tried his best to resist but it was all for naught, he was unable to do anything as the tendrils dragged him below the blood sea.

But instead of drowning…Elijah was met with another familiar sight.

*CLANG*

The clash of a spear and a sword, a clash between a demon and an angel.

He had seen this sight once…in his dream.

[Your neverending battles.]

The battle between the demonic being covered in full black, menacing armor and wielding a spear that was truly vile and a Heavenly Angel with an infinite number of wings in full white, archaic armor, wielding a sword as white as milk.

*CLANG!*

They fought on a battlefield filled with corpses of dragons. This was once a thriving city, a city once called the Capital of Dragons, the only city that was never invaded…because who would dare to? Which being was foolish and reckless enough to invade the Capital of Dragons, Dragonia?

There was only one being…but he was not foolish nor was he reckless.

He was a monster, a monster even Dragonia could do nothing against.

Not even Celestia.

*CLANG*

The classes continued, every time their weapons clashed, vibrations traveled throughout the ruined citadel.

Elijah struggled to look at the battle…he knew the outcome of this futile struggle

Evil would prevail…that demonic being would win.

[Countless battles…An effort that was truly worth praise.]

The words of the Tower echoed.

*CLANG*

*CLANG*

[A battle that happened multiple times…Your effort was commendable…You tried…but.]

A wave of blood washed over him, Elijah opened his eyes again to find another depressing sight.

[Was it worth it?]

Amidst the ruins of a once-thriving city, a somber tableau of celestial tragedy and infernal triumph unfolds. The sun, a pale and distant orb, casts feeble rays that shimmer across the desolation. The sky above is a canvas of ashen gray, a stark contrast to the vibrant heavens that the angelic being once called home. Blood was everywhere, not a single corner of the city lay void of it…

The fallen angel, once a paragon of grace and radiance, lies broken against a jagged, crumbled wall. Its once-glorious armor, intricately designed and adorned with divine symbols, is now rent asunder, battered by the chaos that has swept through Dragonia. The shimmering filigree that once adorned its wings, now twisted and torn, bears testament to the struggle that unfolded.

Elijahʼs face contorted in despair…But he was forced to live this scene again.

Multiple wings, once an emblem of ethereal power and majesty, now lie limp and shattered, their iridescent feathers marred by the cruel hand of fate. Some are almost completely severed, the delicate appendages now mere remnants of the celestial strength they once held. Others are partially mangled, bearing evidence of a fierce struggle before the final blow was struck, a futile struggle. That had the same ending throughout multiple iterations…Never changing.

In the heart of the angelʼs chest, a malevolent artifact of darkness pierces through, a demonic, black dragonic spear. Its wickedly jagged tip emerges from the back, a cruel parody of the divine light that once radiated from the angelʼs heart. The spear seems to pulse with otherworldly energy, the malefic aura it exudes contrasting starkly with the angelʼs former aura of purity. It was the vilest spear to exist, exuding an aura so vile the angelʼs divinity faded away. The celestial beingʼs serene countenance was marred by the agony of its final moments, the glorious armor that once shielded it now a shattered shell, the wings that once carried it across the heavens now crushed and broken. From the gaps of the helmet, orange hair escaped.

[Was it worth it?]

It asked again.

The once-bustling Dragonia had been transformed into a haunting backdrop of destruction. Towers and buildings stand as crumbling skeletons, their architecture now reduced to jagged remnants. Smoke and dust mingle in the air, lending an eerie haze to the scene and casting long, haunting shadows that dance across the ruined landscape.

Corpses of its inhabitants littered the city like plastic. Mighty dragons, who were hegemons…fell.

The angel, representing heavenʼs might, its last struggle. A beacon.

But even then…

[Was it worth it?]

It asked yet again.

[When the outcome was destined to never change?]

”...”

Elijah fell silent…A myriad of emotions welled up inside him…he…he…

Didnʼt know what to say…he didnʼt know what to feel.

The blood swallowed him again…and his world was gone, it disappeared.

Along with Elijah.

”..!”

The tendrils of blood swallowed him whole, and the sea which was shallow before…drowned Elijah, the tendrils dragged him into the bloody depths.

”UMPH!HMPH!”

He tried to resist but could do nothing. He saw the corpses inside the sea yet again.

The number was uncountable.

”UMPH!!!!”

He struggled to breathe, he struggled to move…he struggled to do anything…but be dragged to the bottom, filled with corpses, he could do nothing but become one of them, countless times.

His struggle stopped, and the restless sea turned tranquil, a tranquility devoid of any trace of Elijahʼs fierce trial.

The towerʼs mechanical voice echoed yet again.

[Was it worth it?]

It asked the same question, once again.

The tranquil sea of blood turned restless.