章 2: Game Over
BOOM!!!
On the day the seven families finally united to conquer the 64th floor, an event that was no less shocking was happening on the 10th floor.
Ironically, while the head families were fighting together as a team, their heirs were also doing the same, but not quite. Instead of fighting together, they were fighting each other.
The five heirs broke into one of the family's mansions in a rude manner. Behind them, the houseguards followed suit, wreaking havoc on anything in their path — be it a beautifully arranged vase, armor and weapon displays, and much more.
The mansion's front yard turned into a mess in an instant. But they didn't stop just there. They bestowed chaos upon the mansion along their way to reach the great hall.
Many of the staff and house guards tried to stop them but they simply could not do anything to stop the bull's rampant.
Once they reached the great hall, one of them stood daringly like a leader in front of the other heir. His eyes moved to observe the magnificently decorated hall. Closing his eyes, he sighed a breath and shouted:
"Shedever!!!"
The building tremored after receiving such a powerful, magically enhanced roar. Not only that, the windows also screamed in agony as their body broke into pieces.
"What is going on here?!"
The great door swung open, revealing two people with shocked expressions as they saw the five heirs standing in the great hall without notice.
"Julian? What are you doing here?" One of them asked.
"Don't call me by my name, you villain."
"Villain? For what reason did you call me villain?"
"Don't act like an innocent—"
Thud!
"Graaah… this is so frustrating!"
In a dark place, yet somehow, human eyes could see clearly, someone closed the book angrily. On their head, a blob of blue light that had a similar shape to a baby dragon wagged its tail.
"What is so frustrating about it?"
"All of this. I don't like how she killed me in this novel. She wrote me as though I was a useless heir of the Shedever family. A weakling who is only good at making use of his brain. I mean, I was, but still…"
The dragon-looking light rolled its eyes, if it ever had one, and flew away only to return carrying another book in its cute legs. It dropped the book over the one the frustrated person had recently closed.
"What you were reading is the old version of her novel. Go read the remake instead if you want to see how well-portrayed Sorath Shedever is compared to the old one."
Sorath Shedever. That was the name of the third-rate villain character of the book the person had read earlier. And also, he was the very same person who read that book currently, in the dark place, together with the dragon-looking light.
If he was a villain of the book, then what was he doing there? What was that dark place supposed to be? And what was that dragon-looking light sitting on his head?
Sorath stared at the book for a while before taking it and reading the title.
"What is wrong with her naming sense? "SSS-Rank Regressed Swordmaster", surely, it couldn't be lamer than that, right?"
He sighed.
"Not that I care, anyways. I'll just start reading and see what I look like in this one."
The story was told from the Protagonist's perspective. Namely, Julian Vincent, the person he hated the most in the book.
In the remake story, Sorath Sedhever was portrayed as the evillest of evils. He was the mastermind of bad things that befallen Julian Vincent, and the whole tower's society. The greatest villain of all time.
Despite that, the regressor protagonist would, of course, still crush him. This fact didn't make Sorath feel happy in the slightest. What use of a remake if he still died in the story?
Sorath pinched his nose.
"This feels like a fate."
The dragon-looking light wagged its tail up and down, approving his word.
"It is fate. Just look at her failing in the end after that much effort…"
Before them, a mental image captured a horrifying scene from a first-person perspective. The eye level. Turns out, what they saw from that screen was what the Author, or the possessor of Sorath's body, experienced in the real world at the moment.
***
Long story short, a web novel Author died from brain damage and her soul transgressed across dimensions, ending up possessing a person who lived in a modern fantasy world. Soon, she found out she had possessed a villain character in her novel who would die at the hands of the Protagonist.
She didn't want that to happen. So she tried her best to avoid the red flags by becoming the Protagonist's friend. However, in desperation for survival, she had forgotten one thing.
And that was the fact that the Protagonist was a regressed person. One who knew the future, where he knew Sorath was the mastermind behind his near-death experiences.
For five years, the Possessed Sorath had helped the Protagonist to grow stronger behind the scenes. Different from the original story, the Possessed Sorath gave the Protagonist information and gifts using a fake identity. As for herself, she lived quietly, not bothering with the other characters.
Unfortunately, as the heir to the Shedever family, the Possessed Sorath had no choice but to play the role. A fate that could not be avoided, as though someone pulled a string behind the shadows, forcing him to take a part in the story.
So, just like in the novel, she was fated to die. No matter how much she tried to avoid or become a part of the story, it would still find its way to her. Whether by coincidences, mistakes, or her guilt as a person with a compassionate heart.
"This is weird… I've never felt sympathy for other people. But for her… a normal person with no special power, died an unfortunate death and lived her second life as someone she cheered the most, yet one fated to die. Ironic, and tragic."
For a moment, there was a sad smile on Sorath's face, but he quickly diminished it as he continued:
"Trying to survive by clinging to the person I hated the most, but ended up getting betrayed just because of one mistake… That's what she got for trusting that guy."
The dragon-looking light didn't make any comment. It was too focused on watching its master's last struggle through the mental image provided inside the soul realm — the dark place they resided.
"Why are you doing this?" The sound of Possessed Sorath echoed inside the soul realm.
Not answering his question, a young man with light blond hair approached with a sword in his hand. Then he raised his sword and stabbed Possessed Sorath in the heart, penetrating and pinning him in the tree standing behind him.
"You blew up the first floor!" the young man yelled. Rage and hatred amplified his voice.
"You should know better what would happen if I didn't do that!"
The young man's stunned for a while. Putting the bad thoughts aside, he pushed his sword deeper while looking at his victim.
"How do you— never mind. I was wondering why my second life has been easy, wondering how you didn't send assassins to kill me like in the previous life. I thought you had changed due to my regression. But, thank god, you are not. Because of that, I will have no guilt in killing you for the second time, Sorath Shedever."
By the time he finished his words, the Possessed Sorath was already limping. The light in his eyes faded, and the cold won the fight against the warm to shroud his body. In his last moment, he muttered something under his breath before his life faded away.
That was the end of the Author's second life. She lived a short, yet intense life full of regret.
Inside the soul realm, Sorath Shedever and the dragon-looking light had their lips sealed. They were speechless after witnessing the end of their creator.
As the mental image showed nothing but darkness. In their eyes, a flame of revenge sparked.
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