Maybe I really am a Villian

Meanwhile, on the island in the Southern Ocean...

The entire island was unusually quiet. Not a single vessel was outside, and the usually lively headquarters seemed almost deserted.

The reason was simple.

Almost every vessel was currently inside the newly released virtual world, completely immersed in the game. Their consciousnesses were connected to the virtual world while their physical bodies remained safely on the island.

The same thing was happening elsewhere. Many of Asher’s other vessels were also inside the game, including the one currently staying at the Academy and those scattered across different parts of the continent.

Only one vessel was unable to join the others.

Lucifer, Asher’s vessel within the Church facility, had been left behind while the rest of the vessels immersed themselves in the newly released virtual world.

He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling with his eyes wide open.

His expression was filled with frustration as he silently cursed his situation.

While everyone else was enjoying the game...

He was trapped here.

With nothing else to do and no desire to sleep, Asher simply remained on his bed and began thinking about how he could destroy this place with only a single vessel present inside the Church facility.

As his thoughts turned toward the Church, his mind gradually drifted toward the memories he had obtained after killing Olivia, a Master-rank cultivator of the Church, nearly two months before he had joined the Academy.

It had been his first time killing someone at the Master Rank.

Olivia had been an orphan who was adopted by the Church at a young age, much like his mother. She had grown up alongside his mother, and the two of them had eventually become the closest of friends. Their relationship had remained strong even after they had entered the higher ranks of the Church, with Olivia often staying by his mother’s side.

Olivia possessed considerable talent, but compared to his mother, hers was ultimately limited. She managed to reach the Master Rank, but despite years of cultivation, she was unable to advance any further. Meanwhile, his mother continued breaking through one realm after another, eventually reaching the Grandmaster Rank and becoming a candidate for the position of Saintness.

Despite the difference in their cultivation, Olivia had never seemed to resent her. Their friendship had remained almost unchanged, and she continued to be one of the few people his mother genuinely trusted within the Church.

At least, this was what Asher had learned from Olivia’s memories. He couldn’t be certain whether every detail he had seen truly represented the whole story, but from what remained within those memories, this was the relationship Olivia had shared with his mother.

She was also one of the survivors of the war between Humans and Demons that had taken place ten years ago. According to what everyone was told, his mother had sacrificed her life during the war to protect the others while simultaneously eliminating all the demons present on that part of the battlefield.

That was the story everyone believed.

Asher, however, knew better.

The part about his mother’s "sacrifice" was nothing more than a load of bullshit.

Even though Asher had only been five years old when all of this happened, he already understood that something about the story surrounding his mother’s death didn’t add up. However, there had been no reason for him to dwell on it at that age. He was still powerless, and trying to uncover the truth without having the strength to protect himself would have been nothing more than foolishness.

He had been curious, of course. One question in particular had remained in the back of his mind: why had the Church killed his mother when she would have been far more useful alive?

Still, Asher never tried to investigate it further. Instead, he focused on becoming stronger.

Then, some rather troublesome things began happening.

There were assassination attempts against him, followed by Olivia repeatedly visiting him. Her behavior had immediately made Asher suspicious. There was no way he could simply trust her, especially when she belonged to the Church. Asher understood better than most that trusting someone solely because they appeared sincere was foolish. Circumstances could always force people to make decisions they never wanted to make.

At the time, one thought naturally crossed his mind.

’Could the Church be after me as well?’

Because of that suspicion, Asher decided to keep an eye on Olivia whenever possible. With his vessel, secretly following her was not particularly difficult.

Eventually, he discovered something.

That discovery was also what ultimately allowed him to kill Olivia and extract her memories.

After obtaining everything he needed from her memories, Asher simply abandoned the vessel where it was. Keeping Olivia’s Master-rank vessel would have been more troublesome than useful. At that time, he didn’t yet possess enough mastery to safely maintain a vessel of that level, and keeping her body in storage would have been even more foolish, since the Church could potentially trace it back to him.

Then, Asher accessed the memories of the day when the war had finally ended.

The scene within Olivia’s memories was brutal. Through her perspective, Asher found himself standing on a battlefield where the human defense line was on the verge of collapse. Countless demons were advancing toward them, while the number of human cultivators still capable of fighting had been reduced to only a fraction of what it had been at the beginning.

There were no reinforcements coming.

Among the remaining defenders were Olivia, several other Master-rank cultivators, and his mother, all of whom continued to hold their position despite the overwhelming difference in numbers. On the other side of the battlefield stood numerous Grandmaster-rank demons, their presence alone creating an oppressive atmosphere.

Then, the battle began.

His mother moved first.

Brilliant light erupted from her body as she unleashed her elemental attacks toward the approaching horde. The waves of light swept across the battlefield, instantly vaporizing countless lower-ranked demons that were caught within them, crushing their formation with overwhelming ease.

From Olivia’s memories, Asher could clearly see just how powerful his mother had been even back then.