Extra's POV: My Obsessive Villainous Fiancee Is The Game's Final Boss

"Thank you, Chosen Thalen." The Bishop nodded to the man as he collected the parchment. The man bowed before returning to his place at the wall.

Ren was already cataloging the positions of all the Chosen in the room, trying to gauge the levels of the resonance loops they were building and deciding who to take out first.

The Bishop turned to the aspirants with the parchment held in both hands, raising it to his face with a solemn expression.

The murmurs that previously filled the room faded into tense silence as the other Chosen stationed along the walls stood straighter, unmoving, their eyes fixed ahead.

"We shall begin the headcount." The Bishop announced grandly.

He looked down to read the parchment, opened his mouth, and froze.

There was a few seconds of silence before the aspirants burst into hushed whispers, trying to figure out what was going on.

The Bishop stood there as still as a statue, still staring down at the parchment.

A deep frown appeared on Ren's face. Something felt wrong. Deeply and irreversibly wrong.

Without warning, the Bishop raised one hand and snapped his fingers, his resonance activating. A wave of heat burst through the air, and the parchment in his hands erupted in flames.

The aspirants gasped in shock, the murmurs rising as the list turned to ash between the Bishop's fingers. He let the cinders drift to the floor, not even blinking at the fire that was now crawling up his forearms.

Around the chapel, every Chosen present took one step forward.

Then, as one, they began to speak.

"From bark to blood, from root to breath, may the Shivering Tree see my truth." Their voices overlapped, eerie and rhythmic. There was not a single iota of emotion in their voice. Just ice cold words.

Ren's heart pounded. What are they doing?

The Bishop reached into his robes and drew a ceremonial knife. Without hesitation, he dragged it across his own arm, slicing deep. Blood poured freely down his skin, but his face remained blank, entranced, as if nothing was going on. The fire kept crawling up his arm to his shoulder.

"From pain we rise, from loyalty we die, and in death we shall be remembered."

Each of the Chosen mirrored him with their own blades, opening skin, cutting arms, legs, some even their faces. Their voices continued to chant louder in unison.

Lilith's hand slid to Ren's and he glanced at her to see her watching the Bishop, a dark cruel smile on her face.

His eyes widened in realization. "Lilith!" He hissed. "What did you do?"

Around them, the aspirants began to panic. Some gasped, and a few backed away from the altar as blood flowed down the steps.

"I might have peeked into one of the tomes in the room of records." Lilith chuckled like the scene in front of them was particularly funny. "And in the process, I might have found an old Creation Church death pact."

She turned to look at Ren, her crimson eyes gleaming. "Something that would be plausible for them to do without outside interference. Something that no one would suspect us for. After all, they killed themselves in front of witnesses."

She blinked, looking shyly up at him through her eyelashes. "I did well, right?"

Ren glanced at the Chosen around them.

They didn't stop.

They cut deeper, their blood soaking into the floor.

It was either him or them. This was no place for emotions like sympathy or notions like mercy.

"Yes." He turned back to Lilith, a smile on his face. She might have used Soul Dominion but this time, it was worth it. "You did good." He patted her hair and she drew closer to him.

They both turned to watch as the Bishop's voice rose above the others. "To offer loyal death is to know the reward of the Creator!"

The others echoed the words like a final chorus. Their eyes were glassy, expressions vacant.

Then, as one, they plunged their blades into their hearts.

Bodies collapsed to the floor like felled trees. The Bishop's body fell last, a serene smile frozen on his face as he joined the dead.

There was a beat of silence. Then, screams filled the air.

Ren caught the sight of a tiny thread of soul energy sneaking back into the ground. That was when he realized how Lilith had done it.

She'd sent threads of soul energy into the ground, connecting it straight to the feet of the Chosen and the Bishop. And just like that, she seized control of their soul, making them do whatever she wanted. All without them being aware that they were being controlled by her.

It was scary. And genius.

Any time he seemed to have forgotten just how powerful Lilith was, situations like these would arrive just to show him that he really was engaged to the Third Great Calamity.

When she'd stitched his soul back in his body, bringing him back to life.

When she'd fought the Dryad of the Green Tree, even while sick and weakened it enough for his father to kill it.

And now.

If not for the price that came with using Soul Dominion, the Red Plague would already have been razed off the face of the earth. As much as he'd like to see Lilith at her most powerful, it just wasn't worth it.

"What's going on here?!" He looked up as the other Chosen finally arrived in the chapel, probably drawn there by the screams of some of the aspirants.

They took one quick look at the dead bodies and immediately, they turned to the aspirants. "What happened here?"

Ren and Lilith joined the group, hovering at the back as they gave their report. It wouldn't do to stand out. Not when they just overcame a potential crisis.

He looked around them at the crowd of Chosen that had gathered around the room. Their problem now was the original copy of the lists. If they could get their hands on it, they'll be able to get away scot free.

But with all the Chosen roaming, he doubted they'll be able to get to Archivist Davien before they're found out.

And Lilith's soul control needed an active thread to work. But the one she'd just done had already sapped some of her emotions. He could see it in her eyes.

All he could do now was to watch and pray. Watch and pray no one finds out.