I Am The Game's Villain

Chapter 763: The Dragon of the Apocalypse

”I found the Aithra,” Nihil said.

”...!”

A-Nihil’s eyes went wide. Her lips parted, then closed. Then parted again. She looked, for just a moment, in disbelief.

She wished she would never heard of that word ever again and just think of it as nightmarish myth.

Several seconds passed before she found her voice.

”Where?”

”On Earth,” Nihil replied. ”Lord Elohim found him.” He paused for just a heartbeat. ”And he is also the Avatar of Samael’s Sin of Wrath.”

The silence that followed was somehow louder than anything that had come before it.

A-Nihil’s jaw went completely slack. She stared at her husband with an expression of pure shock.

The Aithra had been found. That alone was earth-shattering.

But the Aithra was also the Avatar of Samael’s Wrath?

Both of those things.

In the same body.

At the same time.

”He needs to be killed immediately,” A-Nihil blurted out. The shock hadn’t even fully faded and she was already reaching conclusions, already moving toward action with the kind of ruthless decisions-making that defined her.

”He is a child,” Nihil said patiently, as if he’d expected exactly this response. ”And Princess Harivel knows him as well, she may have actually discovered him even before us.”

Whatever remaining composure A-Nihil had been clinging to evaporated instantly.

”Harivel?” The name came out wrapped in barely restrained contempt. She looked at Nihil like he’d said something genuinely offensive. ”The treacherous Khaos Princess? She has betrayed us time and time again, husband, and you are still extending her your trust and esteem?” Disbelief colored every word. ”After everything she has done?”

”Listen to me—” Nihil began.

”At Samael’s insurgence, she sided with Samael.” A-Nihil wasn’t interested in being interrupted. The words came pouring out of her with the force of something that had been building for a very long time. ”And despite Lord Eden forgiving her for that, giving her a new name, Jophiel, a new identity, a clean slate, forgiving her sins entirely, she turned around and disobeyed again at Lucifer’s rebellion. The same mistake twice, Nihil. How many times must someone betray before we stop making excuses for them?”

Nihil let her finish before replying calmly.

”And she paid the price for it. A long term imprisonment, we handled it. Justice was served.” He held A-Nihil’s burning gaze. ”And you cannot truly blame her for wanting to help Lucifer. He was her Astra. They were close before he lost his mind entirely. What she felt for him wasn’t treachery, it was loyalty to someone she loved. That is... a complicated thing to punish without nuance.”

”Complicated?” A-Nihil’s eyes narrowed dangerously. ”She is dangerous, Nihil. As dangerous as Nemesis. And how did she even manage to reach that world to begin with? She should be under seal, completely locked down, no way out, no ability to act or interfere with anything.”

”Harivel and Nemesis are Khaos Princesses,” Nihil said. ”You cannot seal a Khaos Princess and genuinely expect her to stay imprisoned forever. It’s simply not how their nature works and they have many allies.” He paused, letting that sink in before continuing. ”But here is the thing you’re overlooking, she may have broken free at any point and simply vanished. Run. Disappeared entirely to somewhere we could never find her. She didn’t.” His voice softened slightly. ”She stayed. She endured the imprisonment. She learned from it.”

”Learned?” A-Nihil’s voice rose incredulous. ”Nihil, haven’t we said those exact words before? Haven’t we all believed the same thing, even after what happened with Samael? Look at how that turned out.” She shook her head. ”Forgiveness and second chances are what we offered him. And then third chances. And then we stopped counting.”

Nihil was quiet for a moment.

”I understand your wariness,” he said finally. ”Truly, I do.” He met her eyes. ”But listen to what you’re actually proposing, killing him solves nothing. We found the Aithra and Wrath housed in the same body, in the same person, at the same time. Do you understand how extraordinarily rare that is? How significant?” His voice gained intensity. ”And you want to kill him and gamble on where they’ll end up next? Because that is exactly what will happen. They won’t simply cease to exist, the Aithra will migrate. Wrath will migrate. And by whatever dangerous luck, both could end up in the body of someone far more dangerous than an innocent child who currently knows absolutely nothing about either of them. Right now however they are dormant. Unawakened. Sitting quietly inside a child on a world without any kind of mana or energy, in a peaceful existence that keeps both powers completely suppressed. That is not a problem, A-Nihil. That is actually the best possible situation we could have hoped for.”

Silence fell over them.

A-Nihil didn’t reply immediately. She stood there, expression tight and conflicted.

And the thing was... he was right.

The Aithra was spoken as legends, the force that would bring an end to their entire era, the harbinger of a turning point that none of them could fully predict or prevent. Her first response had been elimination. Remove the threat before it could become one.

But killing the vessel solved nothing. The Aithra wasn’t a power that could be destroyed, it would simply find a new host, just as Wrath would. And the next host might not be a child on a quiet world without mana. The next host could be anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances. Someone already powerful. Someone already dangerous. Someone with knowledge and intent and the will to use both.

Whereas right now, in this child who knew nothing, there was control. Or at least, the possibility of it.

”I don’t trust Harivel,” A-Nihil said at last, her voice quieter now. ”Regardless of your reasoning for the boy, and fine, yes, I concede the point, why is she keeping such close watch over the Aithra and the Vessel of Wrath? Shouldn’t that in itself be alarming enough to act on? Her interest alone in him should be raising every warning sign we have.” Her eyes sharpened. ”We should ensure she is incapable of interfering further. Hold her down, restrain her ability to reach him, make certain she cannot influence what happens. Whatever privileges her status as a Khaos Princess affords her, I don’t care, Nihil. Not about this. The stakes are too high.”

She meant every word. Titles and statuses had limits, and A-Nihil had long since reached the edge of hers where Harivel was concerned.

”I have come to an arrangement with Harivel,” Nihil said.

”An arrangement?” A-Nihil articulated as she repeated.

”She will help watch over the boy,” Nihil nodded. ”But if we make any attempt to use him, to control him, to manipulate his path in any way, she’s made her position very clear. She will do everything within her considerable power to awaken the Aithra herself and ensure the Prophecy comes to pass.”

”Are we now taking orders from her?” A-Nihil’s anger rose quickly. ”Allowing someone who has betrayed us repeatedly to set the terms of an arrangement? Lord Eden would never have agreed to this. He would never—”

”I spoke with him,” Nihil said simply. ”He agreed.”

A-Nihil stopped mid-breath.

”His Majesty... did?” The words came out small and surprised.

She’d been certain Eden, of all people, would have been even more vehement about eliminating the Aithra.

She stared her Nihil’s face for a long moment. Then a tired, knowing look she sighed.

”I suppose, as always, your remarkable talent for words and negotiation has worked its magic once again, Husband,” she said. ”I find myself regretting those talents are rarely turned in our favor.”

”I serve Eden,” Nihil replied quietly. ”Everything I do is in service of making things right, for him, for all of us.”

A-Nihil regarded him with that same tired expression. ”You are still holding onto that hope, aren’t you? That vain, stubborn hope that Samael can somehow be reformed. Brought back to our side.” She shook her head slowly. ”It will never happen, Nihil. That door closed a very long time ago.”

”You are being too negative, as always,” Nihil replied, and a small wry smile touched the corner of his lips.

”I am being realistic,” A-Nihil said. ”I worry, Nihil. I worry about us, about this world, about what is coming.” She paused. ”About our daughter.”

”Our daughter is safe,” Nihil replied.

”She has been close to Samael, and that terrifies me more than you seem to appreciate.” A-Nihil’s eyes searched his face for some sign that he truly understood. ”You may be underestimating her, even now. She was born of us, yes, but she rules over Fate and Prophecy itself. The things she sees, the things she sets in motion, we don’t always know the full picture of what she’s doing or why. It might be willingly or not.”

”Everything will be fine. I will not allow the Aithra to step into this world awakened and uncontrolled, by any means necessary. But right now, our concern shouldn’t be a dormant power sleeping inside an oblivious child on a quiet world.” His expression hardened slightly. ”Our real threats are Samael and Lucifer. Samael and Nemesis who want us all destroyed. Lucifer who is already recovering to steal Eden’s throne and Realm from beneath him.”

And he wasn’t wrong about that either. As much as the Aithra inspired an instinctive dread in all of them, it remained, at its core a myth.

In the last ten thousand years alone, the Aithra had certainly appeared, and disappeared, and appeared again in new vessels. Cycling through existences without ever truly awakening. And in all that time, nothing had come of it. The world had continued. The balance had held.

So naturally, Eden and the others had long since shifted their focus toward the threats that were active.

Looking them directly in the eye rather than sleeping peacefully in a child’s body on a world without mana.

The Aithra was terrifying in theory. Samael and Lucifer were terrifying right now.

A-Nihil was quiet for a moment but her expression had definitely turned less hostile. Then she crossed the space between them until she stood close to Nihil, looking up at him with an expression that had softened considerably.

”I know you still feel that guilt,” she said quietly. ”That unnecessary, stubborn guilt you’ve carried for so long when it comes to Samael. Whatever friend he was to you once, that man is gone, Nihil. What remains in his place doesn’t carry those memories the same way you do. He will never forgive any of us.” She held his gaze seriously. ”He will never forgive you especially. You know that.”

”I do not expect his forgiveness,” Nihil replied. ”What I wish for, what I still believe is possible is to see the three sons of Ymir united again. The way they once were. The way they were meant to be.”

A-Nihil was silent for a long moment. Then, softly she spoke. ”The All-Mother perhaps entrusted this world to the wrong sons. His Majesty Eden has been the only one who has truly answered her demands. The only one who has tried to honor what she built.”

”No.” Nihil shook his head. ”Ymir did exactly the right thing. If Samael and Lucifer have turned down the wrong path, then the fault lies with us, with those of us who were created specifically to support and guide them. We failed in that duty. The responsibility belongs to us before it belongs to them.”

A-Nihil’s expression twisted hearing that. ”The Altara were meant to support them, yes,” she said slowly. ”But the choices of who served as their Altara—those were mistakes, Husband. Choosing Nemesis for Samael, choosing Harivel for Lucifer.” She let that hang for a moment. ”There were better options. There were always better options.”

Nihil’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly, clearly sensing exactly where this was heading. ”I sincerely hope you are not about to suggest Merithra or Anasthara.”

”No, but if for instance, Princess Raphiel and Princess Enigma had been chosen instead—”

”Ymir chose Nemesis and Harivel for reasons that were her own, Aniha.” He called her stopping her immediately.

A-Nihil pressed her lips together in tight, silent discontent.

She respected Ymir deeply, profoundly, in a way that was almost devotional. The All-Mother had been wisdom and love and divine purpose made manifest. But surely even the greatest of beings could make choices that led to unforeseen consequences? Couldn’t there have been better matches? Couldn’t things have gone differently?

”And yet look where we are now, Husband,” she said at last, unable to let it go entirely. ”Two of Ymir’s own Kings are our enemies. The Khaos Princesses have never been so fractured and divided. Our Realm is tipping toward an era of chaos that none of us fully know how to stop. How did we get here from that moment, from those three sons kneeling before their mother with such purpose in their eyes?”

”Then it is our duty to restore order from the chaos,” Nihil said simply.

A-Nihil sighed.

She really envied his positivity.

That might be also why Eden appreciated him that much.

”Yes,” she said softly, a small smile finding its way onto her lips despite everything. ”It is.”

And then she was gone, vanishing cleanly between one breath and the next, leaving only silence in her wake.

Nihil stood alone in the stillness for a moment. Then, slowly, he raised his hand.

An image materialized in the air before him. The image was crisp and clear, a young boy going about his ordinary, oblivious life. Dark hair and bright green eyes.

”The Fated Dragon of the Apocalypse,” he whispered at last. ”The Aithra.” His eyes traced the boy’s features, so young, so completely unaware. ”Fated to shatter the throne of the Ymir Kings, their legacy reduced to dust. Bound to bend the will of the Chaosborn Princesses, their defiance silenced by the chains of his destiny.””

In the image, the boy moved through his day with the easy, carelessness of the child he was.. He turned a corner, and there was a young girl there, blind.

The boy approached her without hesitation.

Nihil watched.

”Is that what you will eventually do, Nyrel?”