Never Die Villain

Thinking he was about to do something reckless, Vera had followed after Ilya.

However, she had still been a step too late, as by the time she arrived, Ilya had already been swallowed by the Crimson Lily before anyone could even comprehend what had happened.

"...How troublesome."

Distortions came in countless forms, each governed by its own set of rules that rarely made sense to anyone but themselves.

Once born, they stuck to those rules with an obsessive rigidity, as though reality itself had been rewritten around an obsession that refused to let go.

Naturally, no two Distortions were ever truly alike. They all had their own routines, compulsions, and interpretations of reality.

"...Heh."

Fortunately, this Distortion had no desire to spread beyond the Crimson Lily itself. It had remained strangely discreet, so much so that even the regular patrons outside failed to realize the brothel they had visited time and time again had already become the Distortion itself.

Those who never stepped inside remained blissfully unaware.

And those who did...

——Ahhhh! What is this...!

...Never lived to tell the tale.

"...."

Fearlessly, Vera crossed the threshold of the Crimson Lily and walked into the Distortion itself, as though the countless lives it had already claimed meant nothing to her so long as the boy inside had yet to become one of them.

Whoosh——!

And with no more effort than it took to flick a lighter, Vera reduced the Crimson Lily to ashes.

* * *

"Ugh..."

Ilya slowly opened his eyes, only for the scent of tobacco to greet him before a cloud of cigarette smoke was deliberately blown to his face.

Vera was crouching before him while he sat slumped against a wall, a half-finished cigarette between her fingers as though she had been waiting for him to wake up.

Ilya tried to push himself upright, but before he could even lift himself from the ground, Vera seized him by the collar and slammed him against the wall before grabbing a fistful of his hair and wrenching his head upward until their eyes met.

"Explain yourself."

"...Senior."

"You knew your friend was going to become a Distortion, didn’t you?"

"...."

Vera tightened her grip, forcing another pained grunt from him, yet she showed no intention of letting go until she had an answer.

"Ugh... I thought she might have..."

"And that somehow justified throwing your own life away?" Vera cut him off before he could continue. "Who gave you the right to decide that your life was worth spending there? Who told you that you were allowed to die alongside her?"

"...Senior, I—"

"I don’t care what excuse you’ve prepared."

Her fingers tightened once more before she released his hair, only to seize him by the collar instead and drag him closer until barely a breath remained between them.

"I’ve spent weeks keeping you alive, and this is how you repay me? By deciding on your own that dying there was somehow acceptable?"

"...."

"What should I do with you?" Vera said, the corner of her lips curving into a smile. "Should I lock you in a basement? Chain you to your bed? Because if that’s what it takes to stop you from throwing your life away the next time your conscience gets the better of you, don’t think for a second that I won’t."

"...."

"I thought I made myself perfectly clear, Ilya Belozersky. You don’t get to decide when you die."

Her grip finally loosened.

"You either die as a Fallen Wizard..."

Her thumb traced lightly across his neck.

"...Or you die by my hand."

She released him completely, and with nothing left to keep him upright, Ilya slowly slid down the wall until he came to rest on the floor once more.

"And until one of those two things happens, your life belongs to me. So the next time you decide to play the martyr, remember that you’re gambling with something that isn’t yours to throw away anymore."

Silence fell between them before Ilya finally lowered his gaze.

"...Senior, this was the second case." His voice came out hoarse. "People are somehow... turning into Distortions now..."

"And that’s what you’re worried about? Look at your arm."

"...."

Ilya looked at his arm.

The frost coating his arm had long since disappeared, yet the damage it had left behind remained. His skin had turned a deep purplish black, while the flesh itself had already begun showing signs of dying after being deprived of blood for far too long.

Had the frostbite spread any further before Vera arrived, it would not have ended with a single arm.

"The tissue is already dying," Vera said. "At this point, amputation is your best option. If you wait any longer, it’ll only spread."

"...."

Not even the slightest sign of panic crossed Ilya’s face.

"...Heh." Another laugh escaped Vera’s lips. "You really had made up your mind to die, hadn’t you?"

Without waiting for an answer, Vera crouched before him once more and shoved her thumb into his mouth.

"Suck."

"...."

"Like you’re sucking on a cigarette."

"...."

Ilya immediately did as he was told.

The moment he wrapped his lips around her thumb, warmth flowed into him in an instant, spreading from his mouth throughout the rest of his body until the chilling cold that had settled deep within his bones slowly pushed back.

Color gradually returned to his arm as the purplish black receded little by little, while the numbness weighing down his legs slowly gave way to pins and needles so intense they bordered on painful, making him realize only then that he had been unable to feel them at all.

"...."

There was no mistaking it.

The warmth flowing through his body was identical to the medicine Vera had given. It did not take Ilya long to realize what that medicine truly was... or rather, exactly where it had come from.

"Nnh..."

Suddenly, Vera shut one eye.

"...."

Only then did Ilya notice the faint burn spreading across her forearm, the skin blackening for the briefest of moments before the wound disappeared as though it had never existed.

Vera calmly pulled her sleeve over it before he could get a better look.

"Senior, you—"

"Eyes up here."

Vera looked at him in silence for a long moment before speaking once more.

"Do you understand now, Ilya?"

"...Yes."

"Good."

She tapped the center of his chest with her finger.

"In your frozen world, I’m the only remedy."