Maybe I really am a Villian

If Asher compared his mother’s strength to No. 1, whom he had fought before, the difference was almost impossible to ignore. In terms of control and sheer firepower, No. 1 seemed almost like a child compared to her. Asher was certain that if he had fought his mother using the same sixty Master-rank vessels he had used against No. 1, he would have been completely overwhelmed and destroyed without any doubt.

This realization also gave Asher a clearer understanding of the true gap between Grandmasters. Reaching the Grandmaster Rank did not mean that every Grandmaster possessed the same level of strength. The truly talented ones were in an entirely different league from ordinary Grandmasters like No. 1.

People such as the heads of the Noble Houses and the higher-ranking members of the Church were likely far stronger than what Asher had previously imagined.

The battle continued.

Then, Asher’s mother finally summoned her Domain.

From that moment onward, Olivia could no longer see what was happening inside it. Her vision was completely blocked as the entire battlefield was suddenly enveloped by a massive barrier of light. The barrier covered the entire area, isolating everything within it and preventing anyone from escaping.

Olivia could only stand outside and wait.

After what felt like a long time, the Domain finally disappeared.

What appeared before her left her completely speechless.

Asher’s mother was still standing in the middle of the battlefield. There wasn’t a single serious injury visible on her body, although she was clearly exhausted after the battle.

But the battlefield itself had been completely transformed.

Corpses of demons covered the ground as far as the eye could see.

And among them...

Were the corpses of every Grandmaster-rank demon that had been present on the battlefield.

After the battle had ended, Olivia slowly approached Asher’s mother. Her heart was filled with conflict, guilt, and hesitation. Then, without warning, she attacked her and stabbed toward her heart.

However, Asher’s mother noticed the attack at the last moment and easily blocked it. She looked at Olivia with confusion rather than anger and simply asked,

"Why?"

Olivia was filled with dread and guilt. She had expected the attack to end everything, but she had failed to deliver the final blow. She was just about to apologize when a sudden disturbance came from the distant battlefield.

Six more demons had appeared.

Three were Immortal-rank, while the other three were Grandmaster-rank.

Asher’s mother immediately turned her attention toward them. She looked at Olivia and calmly said,

"We’ll talk about this later."

Then she headed toward the six demons.

The battle that followed was far more difficult than the previous one. Despite her overwhelming strength, Asher’s mother couldn’t easily deal with the three Immortal-rank demons. She was gradually pushed back, and eventually, she made her decision.

She chose to sacrifice her life.

With the final attack she could unleash, she managed to kill all three Immortal-rank demons. However, the three Grandmaster-rank demons managed to escape before she could finish them.

Olivia could only watch everything happen before her eyes.

Tears slowly began falling from her eyes.

She hadn’t even been able to apologize.

And then, almost cruelly, reinforcements finally arrived.

They came at the perfect moment—after the battle had already ended and there were no enemies left for them to fight.

Olivia could only stand there in silence, watching the place where her closest friend had fallen.

Asher, who had been observing these memories, couldn’t help but mutter inwardly,

’No matter how many times I see these memories, they’re still a load of bullshit.’

He already knew that the final part of these memories had been altered. They weren’t even real memories, but memories that had been implanted into Olivia’s mind. The terrifying part was that Olivia herself had never realized that they were false, not even until the moment of her death.

Because of that, Asher had no idea what had truly happened at the end of the war.

The only things he could confirm were that three Immortal-rank demons had died, three Grandmaster-rank demons had escaped, and his mother had died.

But what had actually happened between those events...

That was still a question Asher had never been able to answer.

The only interesting thing Asher had discovered from Olivia’s memories, and perhaps the biggest question he still had about the Church, was that Olivia had been ordered to kill his mother because of some kind of prophecy.

What that prophecy actually was, Asher had no idea. Olivia had never been told the details, and even she seemed to know very little about it.

At first, Olivia had refused to carry out the order. However, the Church eventually blackmailed her into doing it.

Whenever Asher thought about what the Church had used to blackmail her, he couldn’t help but think,

’How foolish can she be? Making such stupid decisions that could affect her entire life.’

But then Asher remembered something else.

He had also been able to kill Olivia precisely because of those foolish decisions she had made.

’Well... if she hadn’t made those decisions, I probably wouldn’t have been able to kill her either.’

There was also another question that had always bothered Asher.

’Why did the person who altered Olivia’s memories even leave those memories behind?’

Asher could think of only one possible answer, although he had no way of knowing whether it was actually correct.

Perhaps the person who had altered Olivia’s memories deliberately left behind the memories of her attempting to betray his mother.

Maybe they wanted Olivia to spend the rest of her life carrying that guilt, believing that she had betrayed the person closest to her and then wasn’t even able to apologise for it.

Asher then thought for a moment before a faint smile appeared on his face.

’But I eventually gave her freedom from that life of guilt. I really am kind.’

He paused.

A moment later, another thought crossed his mind.

’Dying by the hand of the person she loved, while believing until her final breath that he had betrayed her... without even knowing that person was already dead.’

Asher fell silent for a moment before muttering to himself,

"I really am Kind to have given her such a death."