Reincarnated in a novel: I am the villain!

With the end of that battle, the smoke from the battle still curled into the bruised purple sky of Layer 4.

Damien stood on the edge of the Black Bridge, wiping a smudge of dirt rom his gloved hand.

Around him, the Vane soldiers were regrouping, but there was no cheering.

The victory against Warlord Gorr felt less like a triumph and more like a reprieve.

"You don’t look like people who just won a battle," Damien noted, his voice distorted by the mask.

Captain Vesper walked up to him. The Knight Commander’s silver armor was scorched, and his helmet was removed, revealing a pale face with sharp features and eyes that glowed with a faint, crimson luminescence.

"What we won was but a skirmish, Baron," Vesper said, his voice grim.

He looked out toward the grey horizon where the Iron-Blood territory began.

"Truth be told, there’s still a mountain to clim."

Damien followed his gaze. The landscape beyond the bridge was a desolate expanse of jagged metal shards jutting from the earth like broken teeth.

"Warlord Gorr was indeed nuisance," Vesper admitted, kicking a piece of the destroyed mech.

"But he was just a finger. The hand... that is a different matter."