Reincarnated as the Final Villain's Vessel

On the other side, Emeris was cornered by two people... or that was too generous a way to put it, more accurately, they were being a bit of a nuisance to her.

The moment Demir slipped away from her, heading toward Caius and Leona, she understood what he wanted, he was using them as a shield, making her wide-range attacks impossible... so of course she ran after him, only for two men to block her way.

They were no match for her, but their abilities were a pain, one of them could dissolve his body into a mist like white smoke, and the other could reflect her attacks by forming a barrier like the surface of a mirror... though the latter could barely take a single attack before it shattered.

So right now, all she felt was annoyed, not threatened, especially when she caught Demir getting his spear back.

She doubted these two could hold her off for more than two minutes... but two minutes was a lot of time, she couldn’t leave Leona alone against him or she’d end up like Garon or worse.

And Caius?... well, Caius was Caius.

She gritted her teeth as she watched him move like a rag doll whose seams were coming apart. "What a fool!"

She clicked her tongue as she waved her hands, and instead of the threads that cut through everything with perfect sharpness, a blue mist formed, made of thousands of small solid points, and like hurricane winds it rushed at the two in front of her, wrapping around them in a storm that should have shredded their bodies if not for their abilities.

And behind them more were coming at her, only for a few arrows to whistle past from behind her, when they landed on the enemies’ shields, they didn’t deflect or stop, instead, like they had endless momentum, they drove on to pierce the steel, or at least knock them off balance for a more precise shot.

Further off, closer to the edge, Izel and Ivan were facing about five or six people at once.

In front of them stone walls rose from the ground and blades of cold ice flew at them, even a few arrows came from unexpected places.

But unlike the others, these two had no offensive precision or set pattern, just explosions of flame and plasma that swept over their opponents.

Izel’s fire rose across the ground that had turned into orange magma a while ago, walls of flame climbing as if driven by an invisible wind, burning every arrow, melting the stone walls and widening the pool of lava... every piece of ice they touched turned into steam drifting into the air... and for some reason Izel was grinning so eagerly her white teeth showed.

Behind the wall of fire, careful not to get burned by his teammate who seemed very excited today, Ivan was compressing bullets of white radiance ready to explode and firing them at his opponents.

In fact, for these two their opponents weren’t visible in any way, even their voices were drowned under the explosions and the crackle of the flames... so who knows if they were really still there.

Or they did know, because the attacks were still coming.

Those weren’t the only battles, other members of their small team were spread out here and there giving support, and Garon had been dragged away from the battlefield since, luckily for him, he hadn’t been eliminated.

And on the other side Caius and Leona stood against Demir... or Leona stood, because Caius was barely there.

...

Holy hell... why is he so tall.

In my vision, warped into white and gray, Demir looked much taller than he really was.

Even the air around him felt like it was pressing down on my weak body... Leona was giving me worried looks but I could barely see her... because with the strain of the earlier clashes it felt like a fire was burning my lungs alive.

Not to mention the cold inside me, which made my essence scatter through my veins like I was an Awakened just learning to control it.

"Watch out!" Through the sharp, painful ringing in my ears came Leona’s loud, panicked voice... I didn’t even know if she meant me or was screaming at one of our allies.

I didn’t see what was coming with my eyes... but my sense did, and on pure instinct I stepped back a few paces before I felt the ground shake under my feet, and a wave of violent wind hit me and sent me flying back like a kite.

Demir was already there, his spear driven into the ground had made a crater of destruction... every swing and strike from this man felt like it weighed tons upon tons.

"Huh?.. when..." I didn’t realize how I’d ended up staring at the star-filled sky, and the bases of the higher islands.

The sharp gravel stung my back, telling me I was lying on the ground at this moment, a few meters from Demir... meters that weren’t any real distance for us.

The next moment I caught the shadow of the son of the west looming over me, he stood in front of me, his expression a mix of disdain and contempt, as he set the edge of his spear above my neck.

As for me, I could barely make out his harsh face, one that reflected the nature of the tribes of the great desert.

I felt the sharp edge of the spear touch my neck... pathetic.

Demir’s deep voice echoed without trying to hide his disdain, confirming my thought. "Pathetic."

For a moment I caught Leona rushing in from behind, then a flash of ethereal blue light, but it was too late.

The silver spear came down on my neck, and as if Demir didn’t care about me anymore either, he didn’t put much strength into it, just enough for a few drops of blood to appear on my pale skin, then a gentle white light filled my blurry sight.

Embracing my exhausted body and sending me away from the battlefield.

The painful ringing in my ears faded, while the weight of Demir’s presence lifted off my body... like a load had been taken off my chest, I felt relief for a moment... finally, it was over.

For me now it wasn’t a withdrawal but a well-earned elimination, and later I’d have a chance to take part in the second and final stage... maybe win and get the cure for my hopeless condition... but before that I have to get treated for this first.

Slowly the light around me started to fade, revealing my new surroundings, and with it a faint feeling of contempt for myself rose... but it didn’t last more than a moment.

"Wha... what is this." I thought I’d appear on the cold black stone floor of the fortress, or maybe in medical rooms fitted with beds and healers, maybe hear the sound of men’s and women’s footsteps... but now there was none of that.

Just the night sky studded with stars, and a glimpse of the full moon, hazy in my eyes.

The sand under my back was soft and comfortable, not like the sharp rocks I’d left behind... the explosions and the shouting were replaced by the faint whisper of the waves on a windless summer night, and with it the rustle of leaves in the night breeze... quiet and soothing.

It was a moment of perfect peace in the middle of an agonizing torment that was close to robbing me of consciousness. "Nice... ha... maybe... some sleep," a broken rough whisper came out of my throat.

That lasted a moment before my eyes widened with a dangerous realization.

Fuck... fuck it.

I forced myself to turn my head to the side, there a beautiful sandy beach stretched out, glittering under the full moon... and very far away, the ghost of the Hanging Islands rose into the sky like a broken column.

From this distance the giant islands looked like nothing but dots hanging randomly in the air, trying to reach the stars.

They were very far... and the fortress even farther.

"Fuck," I cursed out loud, like my throat had decided to work now.

I pushed myself, fighting the pain and bending the essence to my will, even if it meant tearing my veins.

My sense expanded hundreds of meters around me, then a kilometer, then more, until I reached my limit.

The information was overwhelming, every life small and large under that blue water or across the long stretch of forest in front of me... all of it was under my eye.

But most importantly, two souls shone near me... human, and strong.

One of them was unfamiliar, coming closer from behind the veil of trees with unhurried steps, the branches crying out under his boots, and the other... the other was familiar... someone who’d been there every day since I arrived on the island with the dark forest, watching us... or watching me?

Many times, I’d felt his gaze fixed on me, and during the battle I realized he’d been sticking close to my shadow.

And now he was standing over me.

I gritted my teeth and forced my body to move.

With my hands on the sand, I twisted myself and kicked my legs into the air to land on my feet, and backed away closer to the water behind me, and through the pain I could make out his features.

Nothing special, a man in his thirties, short gray hair and dark eyes, about my height, wearing black armor that clung to his chiseled, rugged body.

I was sure I’d seen him before at the fortress, one of the supervisors responsible for our safety.

And now he stood in front of me in this suspicious place, staring at me unhurriedly without saying a word, like he was assessing something... or waiting for something, just a calm, indifferent hum. "Hmm... he’s not here yet?" he asked, but the question seemed aimed at himself.

I thought of this too late as I pushed a thread of essence into my ring to pull out what Alicia gave me for emergencies.

But my ring didn’t respond.

My fingers refused to move and my hand... my hand wasn’t there.

A clean cut at my wrist, crimson liquid leaking from it and mixing with the sand at my feet... and my hand?

My hand was lying on the ground, and the ring with it.