Becoming the Dark Lord [LitRPG]

Angie had two problems.

The lich.

And Jonathan.

Charlie faced the lich head-on, sword in hand, while rain hammered down over the forest. Lightning crawled through the dark clouds, flashing across the soaked battlefield in brief, violent bursts. But the lich wasn’t just some old mage hiding behind spells. He had strength. Skill. And he still had something up his sleeve.

Charlie’s blade came down hard, but the lich raised one arm and deflected the strike like it was barely more than a test.

“This is what magic and strength look like together,” he said, his dry voice thick with satisfaction.

At the same time, the lich was holding off Angie’s lightning clone while continuing his summons. Angie, meanwhile, was too busy keeping the black knights from reaching Charlie. They were zombies wrapped in heavy armor, empty eyes glowing beneath their helms. The closer they got to the lich, the higher their levels climbed, as if his very presence empowered them with some kind of special buff.

Angie’s spear crackled with thunder. She spun, slipped through one knight’s guard, and drove the weapon clean through his armor.

[You have slain a Death Knight - Lvl 78]

The problem was how many there were. There were too many. Way too many. Angie advanced, retreated, cut off paths, and dropped the undead before they could reach Charlie. Every second lost was an opening for the lich, and the damned thing seemed to know it.

“I should’ve sent you back to Earth, Jonathan!” the lich shouted in the middle of the fight.

Jonathan was on the ground, trapped inside a barrier the lich himself had summoned to protect him.

“Let me out of here, Tobias!” Jonathan roared, pounding against the magical prison.

The lich floated above them. Rainwater ran down his bones and robes as several cannonballs appeared around him, suspended in midair.

“You thought I was fragile?” He laughed. “Looks can be deceiving.”

The cannonballs turned dark gray, started spinning, then caught fire. Then they dropped like meteors. Angie dodged one, then another, trying to push forward through the bombardment. She leapt, spread her wings, and shot toward the lich, but he raised a barrier in front of her. Her spear slammed into the shield with a burst of light and thunder.

“Even my blacksmith profession is built for combat,” the lich said, laughing.

Angie pulled back through the air. Her blue valkyrie streaked forward like a bolt of lightning, attacking the lich and shattering the barriers he recreated every second. Still, the cannonballs kept falling, blowing apart the ground, splitting trees, and throwing mud and smoke in every direction.

Angie landed beside Charlie for a moment.

“It’s those black spheres,” Charlie said, never taking her eyes off the lich.

“Don’t worry, Charlie. I’ve got a plan.”

Her eyes flicked once toward Jonathan’s barrier.

“But give it everything you’ve got. Don’t hold anything back. At this rate, we’ll never reach Lord Luke.”

The two of them charged together. The lich raised a hand toward the sky. The air trembled. Two massive cannons materialized beside him, floating like enchanted weapons of war. Dark metal covered in rune-like engravings flared with a sinister glow.

“Death Is a Consequence,” the lich intoned.

The cannonballs slid into the cannons one by one, pulled by telekinesis.

His profession is the source, Angie realized. That’s where these skills are coming from.

The cannons fired. The shots screamed through the air, shining like white stars. Angie and Charlie dodged by inches. The trees behind them vanished in a bright, brutal explosion that swallowed everything in light.

“I’m not in the Reaper Court for nothing,” the lich said. “I’m a living weapon of war.”

He reloaded the cannons with telekinesis and aimed at them again. Angie and Charlie split apart at the last instant. The ground exploded where they’d been standing. At the same time, the lich kept controlling the ordinary cannonballs, hurling them like a rain of burning metal.

Then Angie threw her spear. A cannonball slammed into her before she could finish the throw. It struck her body and sent her flying. Right after that, one of the explosive shots came straight for her. The valkyrie appeared in midair and shoved her out of its path, taking the hit instead. Everything went white.

“Angie!” Charlie screamed.

Angie was hurled through the forest. She snapped branches, tore through wet leaves, and landed far away, rolling through the mud. For a few seconds, she lay still, hearing only her own blood pounding in her ears and feeling something warm run down the side of her head.

“Angelica.”

A figure came running through the trees. Jonathan. He held the axe in both hands.

Angie lifted her gaze, still dazed, and stared at him.

“I thought you were dead,” he said, breathless. “I don’t know what the hell Luke did to you, but I’m going to fix it. Even if it hurts, I’m making you my Angelica again. I don’t care how much you scream.”

Jonathan pointed the axe at her. “I’ll rip those wings off first. You’re not running away from me anymore, Angelica.”

“Is that... really you, Jonathan?” Angie asked, her voice weak. “You’re different.”

She lifted a hand to her head and let out a low groan. “It hurts, Jonathan… please.”

“Stop messing with me, you fake.” He brought the blade close to her neck. “Don’t play with me anymore.”

Angie coughed, closing her eyes for a moment. “I was in the square near Bastion when I saw you standing there.”

“Stop.”

“It’s true. You were scared. You’d just arrived. A newcomer in the tutorial. Still afraid, still confused about what was happening. Before you could scare yourself even worse by reading the quest, I walked up and talked to you.”

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She coughed again. “Do you remember, Jonathan? Do you remember that day?”

His axe wavered.

“That tone... that softness...” Jonathan swallowed hard. “Is it you? Are you back, Angelica?”

He lowered the axe.

“You can’t go near Luke, Jonathan,” Angie said. “He’s evil. I have to obey, or he’ll punish me again.”

“What?” His expression twisted. “What are you talking about, Angelica? What did that bastard do to you?”

“He... he...” Her voice faded.

Then Angie raised her hand. Jonathan realized one second too late. A [Light Ball] exploded against his chest.

He staggered back, screaming in pain. “You bitch! It burns!”

In the same instant, Angie’s spear flew back into her hand, pulled by magnetism. She caught it tight and drove the point into Jonathan’s stomach.

“Oh, Jonathan… Jonathan.” Angie started laughing. Low at first. Then with delight. “Luring you over here worked. So did breaking that barrier for you. You have no idea how badly I’ve wanted this, Jonathan. Ever since that day you almost got my lord trapped in the tutorial.”

She twisted the spear inside him and activated [Radiant Drill]. The tip became a golden drill, burning through Jonathan’s undead flesh while he howled and tried to pull away. He fired a bullet of blood at her, then charged with the axe. Angie dodged easily and used the shaft of her spear to knock him down into the mud.

“Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan.” She walked over to him, smiling. “Finally. After all this time, now you’re mine.”

“You’re not my Angelica.”

“Your Angelica?”

Angie laughed. Then she threw her head back and cackled. It was cruel, sharp, a kind of cruelty she hid even from Luke.

“I belong to one person, Jonathan. And it sure as hell isn’t you.”

He tried to attack her again. Angie raised a barrier, blocked the blow, and answered with another [Light Ball].

“He’s incredible, Jonathan. My lord is incredible. I love every part of him. Since the first time I saw him. Since that tutorial. Since our fight.” Her voice trembled with ecstasy, not fear. “I’ve been watching him ever since. I watched that tiny little creature defy death again and again. Every time the world tried to crush him, he found a way out. A way to grow. A way to win. A way to become more. I’m the Devourer of Knowledge. I seek to understand everything. How could I not be captivated by him?”

She brought a hand to her throat, then to her chest, breathing like she was praying.

“Millennia trapped in those chains. Millennia. How could I not be enchanted by that little creature?”

Jonathan tried to crawl away. “Whore!”

Angie struck him with the spear, making him collapse again. “You may be a pathetic undead, but walking around with that hole torn through your body can’t be good for you.”

She pinned him with the spear and discharged electricity. Jonathan convulsed on his knees.

“Don’t interrupt my worship, Jonathan,” Angie said, suddenly serious.

The discharge intensified. Jonathan spat dark blood. Angie pulled the spear free and placed it against his neck.

“I know how Vampiric Regeneration works, Jonathan.”

The strike was clean. His head fell into the mud. His body dropped a moment later. Slowly, the head began to roll, trying to reconnect with the torso while Jonathan writhed in agony. Angie stepped on his head, stopping it from crawling any farther.

“Millennia trapped in that place. One day at a time, like a statue, being corroded alive by Divine Corruption.” The humor drained from her voice. It went low and heavy. “Do you know what it’s like to suffer while being devoured every single day, Jonathan? You don’t. You have no idea what that does to your head.”

She crushed his head into the mud.

“But he healed me. He gave me a new body. How could I not love him? How could I not worship him? How could I not want to be part of him?”

Angie cackled as she stomped on Jonathan’s body, tearing open the damage she’d already done.

“That’s why I want to kill you, Jonathan. You and everyone else who gets in his way. I don’t care about anything. Not about anyone in this world or any other. It’s in my nature. My species looks down on everything.”

She paused for a moment. Her cheeks flushed, as if some childish embarrassment had cut through her madness.

“Except what we admire. And I admire him. That’s why I want everyone to worship him.”

“You... crazy... bitch,” Jonathan managed. “You’re not... Angelica.”

“No. I’m not.”

Uriel burst out laughing. “I’m just as insane as that archangel. I’m only better at keeping it under control.”

She pointed the spear at his face. “So, Jonathan, when you die, I want you to imagine everything I’ll live through at Luke’s side. Imagine every moment. Every laugh. Every night I’m with him. Not you. Everything you’ll never have.”

“BITCH! YOU FUCKING BITCH!”

Angie drove the spear into Jonathan’s face. Her expression snapped back to normal. Her face went still, and she was Angie again.

“Not bad. I made it pretty damn traumatic for him, considering how little time I had to torture him.”

She flicked Jonathan’s disgusting blood off the spear.

“Ars.”

“Yes, my mistress,” the spear answered.

“I don’t need to remind you not to tell anyone what happened here, right? Not even my lord.”

“I won’t, my mistress. I am loyal to you.”

“Good.”

A red glow pulsed from Jonathan’s hand.

Angie stopped smiling. “Hm...”

She spotted a red ring gleaming on his finger. The next instant, the ring slipped off on its own and shot through the forest at high speed, flying away.

Angie looked toward the battle. “Charlie needs me.”

She spread her four wings and flew. When she arrived, she saw the lich holding the red ring. The same one that had escaped Jonathan’s finger.

“No,” he murmured. His fingers closed around the ring. “You killed him.”

A massive purple aura swelled around the lich. Angie felt something carve through her mind, like claws scraping across her thoughts. A psychic attack, heavy enough to make her grind her teeth.

“MY LIFE’S WORK!”

Dozens of cannonballs appeared in the air, all wreathed in fire. Angie took the adrenaline drug Luke had left with her and injected it into her neck. The effect detonated inside her. Strength flooded her body, along with a burning sensation that spread across her skin.

She charged. Her spear was swallowed by [Radiant Drill].

[Berserker Valkyrie I activated]

Angie flew straight at the lich, dodging cannonballs by inches.

[Radiant Wingguard activated]

Golden mana structures wrapped around two of her four wings like shining legs, driving her forward. She attacked. Lost in his fury, the lich conjured barrier after barrier. Angie drilled through one. Then another. And another.

Cannonballs hammered into her as she flew, tearing through her defense and breaking parts of her body, but she didn’t stop. Pain didn’t matter anymore.

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!” the lich roared.

The two cannons fired at her. Angie formed a dome in the air. The explosion swallowed her, but even through the light and impact, she kept moving forward. The two of them pushed against each other. The lich held the barrier with everything he had while Angie screamed and drove the radiant drill into the shield. More cannonballs struck her. The barrier cracked. The air shook.

Then everything shattered. One second was enough. Charlie appeared like a red blur and drove her sword into the lich’s chest. The creature was hurled backward. At the same time, the barrier shut down completely, and the cannonballs dropped to the ground, inert.

Angie landed badly, using the spear to keep herself from falling. One of her wings was broken. Her entire body ached from the explosions. Even so, healing magic was already beginning to work.

“We did it,” Angie said, breathing hard.

Charlie stood still, frozen.

“What is it, Charlie?”

She crouched and picked up the red ring lying on the ground. A harsh cough came from ahead. The lich began to rise.

“Charlie, focus!”

A cannonball fired at Charlie. Angie stepped in front of her and knocked it aside with the spear, skidding backward from the impact.

“Charlie!”

But Charlie seemed to be in a trance. Without answering, she slipped the ring onto her finger. The gem shone a deep, vivid red.

“No... impossible,” the lich said, stunned.

Another shot came. Angie threw herself in front of Charlie again, but this time the explosion hurled her into the trees.

The lich began to levitate.

“You’re a vampire of that bloodline.” He laughed. “What is Jonathan compared to you? Compared to your potential? You can keep the ring. But you’re coming with me.”

Charlie pressed both hands to her ears, pain twisting through her, and dropped to her knees.

“It hurt Jonathan too when he bonded with the ring,” the lich continued, drawing closer. “Even more with you being from that bloodline. You’re going to be my golden ticket. You’ll tell me where you and the others live, or I’ll kill you right—”

His words died halfway through. Charlie struck him with a quick slash of her sword.

Angie, who already had her spear ready to throw, froze for an instant.

“You scared the hell out of me, Charlie,” she said, lowering the weapon. “I thought something had happened.”

Charlie let go of the sword and stared at the ring on her finger. “Who... are you?”

“Charlie? Are you okay?”

She lifted her face. For a heartbeat, even the rain seemed to quiet.

“I am Charlotte.”

Suddenly, the thunder overhead grew louder.

Then the tsunami came.

The wave slammed into Charlie head-on. Angie spread her three remaining wings and beat them with everything she had, trying to escape, but the mass of water surged forward like an unavoidable wall, crushing trees and swallowing the forest.

“I’m sorry, my lord.”

And then it swallowed her.

[Congratulations on completing the Event!]