Rise Of The Villain : In a World Ruled By Anomalies

Athena’s condition worsened with every passing second. Her body trembled violently, and her breathing had become so weak that Arthur could barely hear it. Even her spiritual aura was beginning to fade.

Arthur did not hesitate any longer. He quickly moved beside her and caught her upper body before she could collapse completely. One arm wrapped around her back, supporting her shoulders and keeping her upright. Athena weakly opened her eyes and looked at him through her fading consciousness.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice barely audible. "Just focus on giving me your life essence."

Arthur looked at her with a firm expression. "This is taking too long. You can yell at me later. First, I’m saving you."

Athena’s eyes widened.

Arthur pulled her slightly closer, making sure she could remain upright against him. Then he leaned toward her and kissed her.

For an instant, the entire world became silent.

Their lips met, and at the same moment, the sun and moon symbols on their wrists erupted with blinding light. A massive surge of spiritual energy exploded through the training facility, golden and pale-blue light intertwining around them like two enormous currents.

Arthur immediately felt something being pulled directly from his soul.

His life essence.

It flowed out of him like an invisible river, passing through the strange connection between them and entering Athena’s body. Arthur’s face gradually became pale as his strength disappeared with every passing second.

But Athena began to recover.

The black veins spreading across her skin stopped moving. The darkness within her spiritual pathways began to retreat, while color slowly returned to her face. Her breathing stabilized, and her spiritual energy, which had been violently fluctuating moments ago, gradually became calm.

Then the System’s voice suddenly echoed inside Arthur’s mind.

[ Host. ]

[ Use your bloodline. ]

Arthur’s eyes widened.

[ The black energy you are seeing is not Athena’s spiritual energy. ]

[ It is a curse. ]

[ The curse was created by a spirit. ]

[ You possess the Origin Spirit Bloodline. ]

[ You can devour it. ]

Arthur’s consciousness suddenly blurred.

The training facility vanished.

───────────────

Arthur found himself standing in an endless wasteland. The sky above him was broken apart by enormous cracks, revealing an endless abyss beyond it. The ground was covered in ash, while dead trees stretched across the horizon, their twisted branches resembling skeletal hands.

There was no wind. No sound. No life.

Only an overwhelming sensation of death.

Arthur slowly raised his head.

At the center of the wasteland stood a figure made entirely from darkness. It had no face, no eyes, and no recognizable body. It was simply a towering mass of black energy shaped vaguely like a humanoid creature.

Its presence alone caused the surrounding space to distort.

Arthur immediately understood what he was looking at.

This was the curse.

The entity slowly tilted its head toward him.

"She will die."

Its voice echoed from every direction.

"It is futile."

Arthur’s expression hardened.

The creature raised one hand, and the darkness beneath its feet spread outward like an endless ocean.

"She was never meant to survive. All half-bloods deserve to die."

The moment those words left its mouth, the wasteland exploded.

Countless black tendrils shot toward Arthur from every direction. Arthur immediately moved, twisting his body away from the first attack before jumping over a second. A third tendril tore through the ground where he had been standing only an instant earlier.

More followed.

Dozens.

Then hundreds.

They moved like living creatures, changing direction in midair and relentlessly pursuing him.

Arthur’s crimson eyes narrowed as he continued dodging. "So this is supposed to be a spiritual space..."

He glanced at the black tendril that had nearly struck him.

A thought suddenly crossed his mind.

If this is inside Athena’s soul... can I actually take physical damage here?

He didn’t know.

And that uncertainty made the situation far more dangerous.

Arthur had no idea what would happen if he were seriously injured inside this place. Would his physical body outside be affected? Could his soul be damaged? Or could he actually die here?

He couldn’t afford to find out.

Another black tendril suddenly appeared behind him.

Arthur sensed it at the last possible moment and threw himself sideways.

The tendril slammed into the ground.

BOOM!

The impact sent a shockwave through the wasteland.

Arthur stared at the enormous crater left behind.

His expression became serious.

Yeah... I’m not going to test that.

He raised his hand.

[ Origin spirit Bloodline is in effect. ]

CRACK!

Crimson energy erupted from Arthur’s body.

A massive wave of blood-red power spread across the wasteland, tearing through the incoming tendrils and blasting them apart.

For a brief moment, everything became still.

But the darkness immediately regenerated.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed.

"So that’s how it works."

The curse wasn’t relying on a normal physical body. It had merged itself with the surrounding spiritual energy, allowing it to regenerate every time Arthur destroyed one of its manifestations.

Destroying the darkness wasn’t enough.

He needed to restrain the source.

Arthur slammed his palm against the ground.

"Then I’ll pull you out."

BOOM!

The earth shattered beneath him.

Blood-red chains erupted from the ash, shooting toward the dark entity from every direction. One after another, they wrapped around the creature’s limbs.

The curse tried to escape, but golden spiritual threads suddenly appeared between the chains, connecting them together and forming a massive sealing formation.

The creature slammed against the barrier.

BOOM!

The entire wasteland shook.

"NO!"

For the first time, fear entered its voice.

The chains tightened around its arms, then its torso, and finally its legs. The creature violently struggled against them, causing waves of black energy to explode across the battlefield.

The golden threads began to flicker.

One chain snapped.

Then another.

Arthur’s expression became serious.

The curse was stronger than he had expected.

The entire formation was beginning to collapse.

The creature suddenly laughed.

"You cannot consume me!"

Arthur wiped the thin line of blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Who said I was going to consume you yet?"

His crimson eyes flashed.

The chains suddenly changed.

Instead of merely restraining the curse, they began pulling the black energy out of its body.

The creature screamed.

Black energy poured from it like smoke being ripped from a burning corpse.

Arthur’s Origin Spirit Bloodline activated.

The moment the cursed energy touched him, it vanished.

One fragment.

Then another.

Then thousands.

Every piece of cursed energy that entered Arthur was broken down and absorbed by his bloodline.

The creature’s enormous form began shrinking.

"No!"

Its voice became distorted.

"It cannot be..."

Arthur continued walking toward it as the chains dragged more and more darkness from its body.

The curse desperately launched another attack.

A gigantic black spear materialized above Arthur and crashed downward with enough force to split the wasteland.

Arthur looked up.

For a moment, he considered dodging.

Then he raised one hand.

The spear struck his palm.

CRACK!

The weapon shattered into countless fragments of darkness.

Arthur stared at his hand.

Not even a scratch.

His crimson eyes became colder.

"So that’s the difference."

He looked toward the trembling curse.

"Your power means nothing against mine."

The curse froze.

"Only the Spirit King possesses the power to do this..."

Its voice trembled.

"You... what are you?"

Arthur’s expression became cold.

"Fuck the Spirit King."

The crimson energy around him surged violently.

The chains tightened.

"If you survive, tell him never to touch her again."

The remaining darkness began breaking apart.

Arthur’s voice echoed throughout the dead wasteland.

"She belongs to me now."

For several seconds, the curse remained completely silent.

Then it began laughing.

A twisted, manic laugh echoed across the wasteland.

"He already knows about you."

Arthur’s eyes narrowed.

"He will come for you."

The remaining darkness violently surged against the chains.

"You will die a dog’s death."

Arthur simply raised his hand.

A massive pool of crimson blood energy rose from the broken ground and surrounded the curse from every direction.

The creature’s laughter abruptly stopped.

The blood swallowed it whole.

Its screams echoed once.

Then twice.

Then they disappeared entirely.

The black energy vanished.

The wasteland became completely silent.

Arthur lowered his hand and stared at the empty space where the curse had once stood.

"Now that is settled."

His consciousness blurred once more.

───────────────

Arthur slowly broke the kiss.

Athena’s breathing was stable now, and the darkness within her body was completely gone.

Arthur remained beside her, one arm still supporting her upper back.

He looked at her with an exhausted expression.

"You really are a troublesome woman. Enjoying yourself at a time like this."

Athena’s eyes widened.

Before she could respond, Arthur’s body suddenly swayed.

The enormous transfer of life essence, combined with devouring the curse itself, had drained him completely.

His vision darkened.

His eyes slowly closed.

His head fell forward against Athena.

Arthur lost consciousness with a faint smile on his face.

Athena stared down at him for several seconds without saying anything.

Then a soft smile appeared on her lips.

"I belong to you now, huh? If anyone else had said that to me, I would’ve killed them on the spot...."

Her voice was quiet, almost gentle.

She gently stroked Arthur’s dark hair as the ruined training facility remained silent around them.

Dust slowly settled onto the shattered floor.

And on their wrists, the sun and moon symbols continued to glow faintly.