I Am The Game's Villain

Chapter 715: [Blood Moon War] [56] Edward VS Rucain

I had made it—barely, but in time.

”I’m here, Alicia,” I whispered, sliding an arm around her waist and pulling her close.

Her body trembled against mine. She was in a terrible state—blood streaked down her face, mixing with tears until it was impossible to tell one from the other.

”S–Senior...” Her voice trembled, and she clutched my arm, burying her face against the cold plates of my black armor. ”B... Beth, she is...”

The words never fully came. They broke apart in her throat, strangled by grief.

I lowered my hand gently, cradling the back of her head, guiding her to rest against my chest. My grip tightened, protective.

But then my eyes caught the sight of her right wrist, twisted and broken, and something black stirred deep inside me. My gaze hardened, turning colder.

I looked past her—toward Amaya.

She floated above the battlefield, summoning monstrosities from the space: grotesque giants with endless, unblinking eyes. Her expression was twisted, not with sadistic joy, but with something else—ecstasy. It wasn’t the delight of killing that consumed her, but the rapture of vengeance. Every movement screamed of her hatred for Sancta Vedelia, hatred carried not just from this life but burned into her soul across countless incarnations.

She wasn’t just fighting.

She was exorcising centuries of torment she had endured.

And if she kept going... she’d destroy everything.

But first—Rucain.

I turned my head slightly, catching his eyes as he rose to his feet. His face darkened as he looked at me.

”Go back to Viessa’s side,” I told Alicia quietly, keeping my hand soflty on her. ”Get your wrist healed.”

Her eyes widened, brimming with protest. ”B–But—”

”Go,” I interrupted, softer this time. ”I’ll bring Elizabeth back with me. I promise.”

For a moment she hesitated but finally, with a pained nod, she pulled away and ran, stumbling toward safety.

Only when she was gone did Rucain’s voice cut the air.

”You finally came, Mael.” He smiled faintly, though there was no warmth in it. ”I thought you wouldn’t. Destiny, it seems, doesn’t let us avoid each other.” His eyes narrowed. ”But this time will be different. You’ll die here. By my hand.”

I sighed slowly and reached behind me.

”No,” I said.

In one fluid motion, I drew Trinity Nihil.

The gleaming blade caught Rucain’s eye, his expression sharpening. For once, he looked serious.

”A Holy Sword of Eden...” He muttered, his voice edged with disdain. ”Even so, you can’t win. I’m stronger than you. You’re weaker than the previous Mael. I’m curious... how far do you think you’ll get befor—”

-BAM!

His words died in his throat as my fist collided with his raised arm.

-CRACK!

The sound of bone snapping rang out. Mana rippled violently from the impact, shaking the ground beneath us.

Rucain’s eyes widened. He snarled, summoning a crimson lance into his free hand.

-BOOOOM!

Before he could strike, mana exploded from my body in a surge of purple light, a storm that tore through the ground and roared toward the heavens. The blast hurled him backward, sliding across the broken earth until he managed to steady himself.

He looked at me in shock.

”You... you’ve grown much stronger. No, this is... something else.” His eyes flickered with unease. ”You’re ascending to a higher state of power.”

I didn’t answer. My grip tightened on Trinity Nihil. My breathing slowed.

And then—I called Wrath.

-CRACK!

The air itself fractured, as though rejecting the power I was about to unleash. The moment Wrath touched Trinity Nihil, a violent resistance surged through me. The sword recoiled against my will, sparks of mana crackling as the two forces clashed.

The Holy Sword of Nihil despised Wrath. It always had. Forcing them together had nearly destroyed me before—my arm had burned as if I’d thrust it into molten iron.

But this time... this time was different.

I forced Wrath deeper into the blade, pushing past the resistance, ignoring the searing rejection. The air screamed as cracks spiderwebbed around the weapon, reality itself seemed to be protesting against what I was attempting.

Trinity Nihil had been forged by Samael Eveningstar himself, and he had crafted it to reject the Sins—especially Wrath. To wield it as I did now was to defy not only the blade’s purpose, but its very existence.

And I intended to break it to wield it at its full extent.

I raised Trinity Nihil in a clean arc, the blade humming as if protesting my grip.

”Stop resisting already,” I said, and forced more of Wrath into the sword.

-BOOOOM!

The holy blade flared one last time in struggle, its glow erupting into a blinding, pure white brilliance—an act of desperation. But it was too late.

Darkness bled into the light.

A blot of ink spread across the radiant steel, thin at first, then writhing, twisting, devouring every corner of its purity. White drowned under black. What had once been sacred now shone with an unholy gleam—no longer Trinity Nihil, but something far darker, a vessel consumed by Wrath itself.

The sword pulsed with a corrupted heartbeat, a sinister glow of black and violet radiating from its edge.

I swung it once.

-BOOOOOM!

The air split open, cracking like glass. A torrent of Wrath burst forth from the blade, roaring in blackish-purple arcs, warping the space around me.

It won’t hold long but it will be enough.

Rucain froze, his face twisted with disbelief. ”What... what did you do...?”

I didn’t bother to answer. My boot slammed into the ground and I shot forward, speed tearing at my body as I closed the distance. Even I was surprised at how fast I moved.

Rucain reacted instantly, his crimson blade slashing toward me at lightning speed. The strike was faster than thought—faster than most mortals could even perceive. A Demigod’s speed, impossible to follow.

But now—

Now that I had ascended to the Ninth Ascension, I could track it. Barely.

The blade grazed me, a sting carving across my cheek, warm blood trailing down. But I had dodged it.

His form blurred—suddenly he was right in front of me, reaching out a hand toward my face.

-BOOOOM!

The ground shattered beneath me as Wrath erupted violently from my body, a storm of purple aura forcing him to recoil, leaping back with narrowed eyes.

I didn’t give him time. I lunged forward, raising the corrupted Trinity Nihil.

”Sin of Wrath.”

The tip of the blade pulsed. Purple lightning crackled, swirling into a violent knot of energy. A sphere of Wrath began to form, small at first—unstable, humming with destruction.

Rucain sneered, eyes sharpening. ”Do you think I’ll just stand and watch, Mael?”

With a sharp motion, he summoned a dozen crimson spears of blood, each one humming with killing intent. They surrounded me, hanging in the air for a single heartbeat—then shot forward all at once.

I didn’t flinch and stopped.

With a thought, mirrors appeared around me, countless reflections blooming into existence. The crimson lances pierced into one, only to vanish and reappear in another, bouncing endlessly between mirrors, colliding with each other in a chaotic chain of detonations.

-CRACKLE!

The Wrath sphere grew larger in Trinity Nihil’s tip, swelling to the size of a basketball, its surface warping and splitting the air around it.

Rucain wasn’t done. With a roar, he conjured a massive crimson sword and charged head-on, unwilling to rely on distance any longer.

I lifted my free hand calmly.

”Anathemas.”

-BOOOOM!

Purple fire erupted around me, coiling upward in a violent spiral, swallowing the battlefield in a vortex of purple flames.

But Rucain did not hesitate. He burst through the firestorm, his crimson blade slicing a path clean through the inferno.

”You think this will stop me?” He spat.

His sword descended.

I raised my arm, coating it in a dense fusion of Ruah and Wrath.

The impact thundered through the battlefield as his sword struck my bare hand.

And stopped.

Rucain’s eyes widened in disbelief.

I squeezed, fingers closing around the edge of his blade, holding it still. Sparks hissed where Wrath burned against the crimson steel.

”I just ascended to the Ninth Ascension,” I said. ”Adrenaline and Ascension’s rush flood my veins. It won’t last long... but long enough.” My grip tightened, veins glowing purple beneath my skin. ”Long enough to rival a Demigod like you... and kill you.”

Rucain’s face twisted with rage. He released a violent surge of mana, a tidal wave of force that exploded outward. The ground split. The very air warped. His power expanded into a suffocating zone, a field of crushing pressure centered on us.

The flames of Vysindra around me bent, flickering, and one by one began to extinguish under his oppressive mana.

I coated Trinity Nihil in the storming essence of Wrath and released the sphere.

-BOOOOM!

The explosion was deafening. A shockwave tore across the battlefield, rippling outward from the corrupted blade. The sheer force of it blasted Rucain off balance, forcing him to skid backward through the dirt as he raised an arm to shield himself.

When the dust settled, his face twisted. He lowered his arm—and his eyes widened. The skin was charred, blood running down where Wrath had burned through him, leaving his flesh raw and blistered.

”You—”

He didn’t finish.

I was already in front of him.

Trinity Nihil howled as I swung it downward.

-BOOOOOOM!!!

The strike missed by a hair, Rucain twisting aside at the last instant, but the wave of Wrath unleashed from the blade annihilated everything in its path. The ground ahead was obliterated, reduced to a smoldering trench that stretched far into the distance, glowing with black-violet lightning. The air itself seemed to groan, torn apart by the sheer destructive force.

Pain shot through me with each swing, sharp and merciless. My right arm screamed, bones creaking, cracking under the unnatural pressure of forcing Wrath through a sword that was never meant to carry it. The agony lanced deep into muscle and marrow, threatening to tear the limb apart.

But I didn’t stop.

I gritted my teeth and pressed forward, chasing Rucain as he leapt back, putting distance between us.

”Is that... the Sin of Wrath?” He asked, his voice strained, eyes narrowing as he tried to read me.

But he did not step forward. He wasn’t a fool. He had seen what Trinity Nihil had become, what Wrath had twisted it into. Even as a Demigod, he knew the price of meeting its edge.

Instead, he raised his hand.

The air around me shrieked as hundreds of crimson blades burst into existence, each one forged from his blood, glimmering like liquid rubies in the fractured light. With a sharp gesture, he sent them forward—arrows of death streaking at me with impossible speed.

I moved before thought. Trinity Nihil screamed in my grip as I swung.

-BOOOOM!

The first wave of blood-blades collided with the black sword. Wrath tore through them, devouring their substance in a violent clash of purple sparks. More followed, raining down from every direction.

I growled, twisting on instinct. I swung again, and again. Every strike shattered crimson, leaving trails of corrupted fire across the sky.

But Rucain wasn’t stopping. His figure blurred, faster than I could track, faster than thought. Each time I raised my blade to block, another crimson spear arced toward me from behind, above, beneath. He was pressing me, drowning me in his power.

The ground trembled beneath my feet. My muscles screamed. My arm burned. Still—I didn’t stop.

I called on the mirrors.

Dozens of glass-like surfaces erupted into the air around me. Like before blood spears plunged into one mirror, only to vanish and reappear at impossible angles, colliding with others, shattering in midair. The battlefield twisted into a labyrinth of reflections.

Rucain clicked his tongue, glaring. His attacks ricocheted, losing precision.

That was my opening.

I thrust out my other hand. ”Vysindra!”

Purple fire erupted around me, surging outward in a roaring tide. The flames coiled like living serpents, wrapping around the mirrors, feeding into them. The battlefield bloomed into a kaleidoscope of burning glass, each reflection carrying endless waves of fire that multiplied themselves in an infinite storm.

-CRACKLE!!!

”What the hell is that?!” Rucain looked around caught off guard by the scale of my attack as he was being attacked from all sides.

Rucain cursed and swept his massive crimson blade, cleaving through walls of fire. The heat licked at him, searing his flesh, leaving trails of smoke along his skin even as he pressed forward. He was still stronger. Still faster. Still a Demigod.

Every swing of Trinity Nihil shook me, my bones splintering with the strain, but the sword howled louder, Wrath pouring out in ascension of destruction. Each clash left the battlefield scarred, gouges of blackness and purple fire searing themselves into the earth.

Rucain refused to meet my sword. He darted back, sideways, above, unleashing a storm of crimson blades instead. I cut them down, counter after counter, sparks of blood and Wrath filling the air until it was hard to tell which storm belonged to him and which to me.

-BOOOOM!!!

The world blurred. Flames, glass, blood, and Wrath all merged into one violent chaos. The ground shook beneath us, mirrors cracked and shattered, purple fire roared.

I was really fighting on instincts right now otherwise I might die unless Nemes intervened at the perfect timing.

But I pressed on, fueled by the rush of Ascension, fueled by Wrath..

At last, our eyes locked again in the chaos.

”You should not exist!” Rucain roared, as he swung his massive crimson sword downward, releasing a flood of blood-born power.

I raised Trinity Nihil, both hands gripping its corrupted hilt, Wrath shrieking through me. The black blade caught the crimson tide.

-BOOOOOOOM!!!

The clash shook the ground around.

The shockwave tore apart the ground, ripping fissures deep into the battlefield. Fire and blood surged upward, devouring the air. Mirrors shattered like glass stars. Flames of Vysindra erupted into towering spires, reaching toward the sky.

And above it all, the corrupted Trinity Nihil gleamed black and purple, cutting through crimson with a roar that drowned even the giant monsters’ roars around.

When the light finally began to fade, the battlefield was unrecognizable—scorched earth stretching endlessly, rivers of purple fire burning where stone had once been, the air heavy with smoke and the lingering crackles of Wrath.

”If you think...”

Rucain spoke.

My chest heaved as I forced air into my lungs.

I looked ahead.

Rucain stood across from me, his form battered. Blood dripped from countless wounds, his white hair now ragged and drenched in sweat. One of his arms was gone, severed at the elbow, blood painting his side. And yet—his wounds were already knitting shut. The flesh crawled unnaturally as regeneration took hold.

-CRACK!

”Ugh!” I gritted my teeth, biting down hard as pain lanced through me. Something inside my arm snapped further—I could feel bone grinding. My grip on Trinity Nihil was pure will now, my body screaming to let go.

But I didn’t.

”If you think...” His voice trembled with fury. ”If you think I’ll get killed by you—again!”

-BOOOOM!!!

A torrent of crimson erupted from Rucain’s body, the pressure alone sending shockwaves outward. The ground quaked, air warped, the sheer weight of it slamming into me and throwing me back several meters. I raised an arm to shield my face, sliding across scorched earth until I managed to dig in my heels and stop.

That monster...

Behind him, a colossal aura manifested—crimson, hulking, grotesque in its shape. Its presence radiated fear, like the shadow of a god. And then it merged with him, swallowing him whole.

Crimson horns burst from his forehead. Veins of scarlet fire crawled up his arms, his chest, his face, covering his body like glowing cracks in shattered stone. His entire form pulsed with murderous power.

Whatever attack he was preparing... if it landed, even with blackened Trinity Nihil, I would die.

But I had no intention of losing.

I forced my trembling hands to lift the corrupted sword one last time, raising it before me. Then—I let it go.

The blade sank into the earth with a heavy stab, its black fire hissing across the ground.

Rucain’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

”Sin of Sloth,” I whispered.

His entire body froze mid-step.

”...!”

The effect was deadly. I saw it ripple through him—his movements slowed, his mana flows choking as though a thousand invisible chains had wrapped around him, severing connections within his own body.

”I–Impossible...” His voice cracked. Even then, even as his power unraveled, he still pushed forward. His will was monstrous. His body lurched into motion again, accelerating toward me, desperate to kill me before the shutdown completed.

I didn’t move.

Instead, I summoned Khryselakatos. With a sharp pull, I drew the shimmering string.

Dozens upon dozens of amber arrows formed at once, streaks of burning light that rained forward in a volley.

-BOOOM!

-BOOOM!!

Each arrow struck Rucain, detonating in explosions of heat and force. The blasts shredded flesh, tore his body open again and again. And yet he ignored it. His regeneration fought furiously, closing the wounds as fast as they opened. His horns flickered, his aura thinned, his mana bled away—but still, he pushed forward.

His face twisted with rage and desperation, his body collapsing even as it kept moving.

I pulled the string again, harder this time, pouring everything into it. My vision blurred from the strain. Wrath bled into the arrow, turning its amber glow into a deep, crackling purple. The shaft pulsed, vibrating with.

”Sin of Wrath,” I whispered.

The arrow expanded, thickening into a monstrous spear of black-purple energy.

I released.

The arrow tore through the air. It struck dead center, piercing Rucain’s chest with an earth-shattering impact.

”—Agh...”

A strangled sound escaped him as his body jolted backward, crimson aura collapsing around him. His legs faltered, stumbling. His horns shattered into dust, his veins of crimson fire extinguished. The glow left his eyes.

He couldn’t move anymore.

Inside him, Wrath spread like wildfire, devouring everything from within. And with his body already crippled by Sloth, he had no defense, no chance to resist.

The two Sins tore him apart in harmony—Sloth severing his flows, Wrath burning what remained.

These two Sins together... were death itself.

I stood there, chest rising and falling violently, my arm trembling as though it might break apart at any moment. The corrupted glow of Trinity Nihil still pulsed faintly at my side.

And before me, Rucain’s figure shook, broken, as he fell on his knees.

I stepped closer, slow—too slow for the kind of monster he’d been a moment ago, but enough to make my steps count.

”H—How?” Rucain coughed, eyes glassy. ”I am a Demigod. I should be immune.”

He sounded small, ridiculous even, a Demigod reduced to breathing and surprise. Even the Sin of Sloth had struggled against him—there was a yawning gap of power between us not long ago. I felt it in every splintering bone and burning vein. Still, something in him was failing.

”Alicia.” I said it.

His head snapped up to me.

”She was the Vampire Witch,” I kept my voice cold. ”You drank her blood—didn’t you? You never noticed because your strikes were blood-born. But I used Blood Arts too.”

He blinked, confusion flaring into dawning horror.

”Blood Arts...” He echoed, stumbling over it.

I didn’t expect the lessons James shoved at me to be useful in a duel with a Demigod. I certainly didn’t expect Alicia—merged with that witch, soaked in vampiric knowledge—to become my secret weapon. But the blood she shared with me had teeth: techniques that cut through the usual rules. A Blood Art tempered by her memory, tuned to tear where normal force could not.

While he flailed against the obvious—my flames, the mirrors—he hadn’t noticed the real blade slipping between his ribs: knowledge. The mirrors had been more than mirrors; they were a trap. Fire and glass fused into a living kaleidoscope that shattered his senses. Reflections multiplied and rebounded; paths of vision folded back on themselves until his eyes couldn’t tell which mirror led where. His attacks lost their origin, his blood-spears struck emptiness, and Rucain—used to overwhelming, frontal force—found himself stumbling blind in a maze of his own making.

”Do you think I would have come unprepared against you?” I asked him.

I played countless scenarios in my head to bring this guy down. He was a Demigod after all.

Rucain hacked up blood and laughed, a bitter, broken sound. ”Ah... Mael... he fought and overpowered me, but you—” His cold expression broke into a ragged chuckle of failure.

I closed the last distance without hurry.

I looked down at him and felt no triumph, only the cold satisfaction of work finished.

”Who do you take orders from?” I asked.

Rucain spat.

”You’re going to die, Mael,” he said, voice thin but venomous, full of hatred. ”My Lord will—”

”Your Lord will die like you. If he bothers me.” The answer slipped out quieter than I intended, but it landed.

He fixed me with a look full of hate. ”I think I hate you more than your previous self.”

”Last words, Rucain?” I asked.

”Go to hell—”

-Spurt!

His sentence choked off into a spurt of red.

His head came off in a spray that splattered the scorched earth.

I lifted that head with my right hand, edge of sanity trimming thin. For a single absurd second I found myself noting the way his eyes still tried to argue with the end, how the mouth still shaped threats.

”Anathemas Fire,” I whispered.

Purple flame licked his severed head—Vysindra’s fire, wrath and cleansing braided into one. The purple tongue of flame hungrily consumed skin, hair, bone. Flesh blackened, then turned flakes of ash that scattered in a breeze.

When the last ember guttered, nothing remained but a small pile of gray and the faint curl of smoke.