I Got Reincarnated as the Game's Villain

"Sley… Sley… wake up… SLEY! Don't joke with me now… I said wake up!" Wide-eyed, Ellie vigorously shook the bloodied and lifeless body of Masely.

"Please… please, you can't die… I order you to get up!" Ellie, her words breaking into sobs, stared at the unresponsive body of one of the very few people she could truly call a friend. "Please… I… I beg you…" She cradled her head and bit her lip until blood dripped out. "Don't leave… don't…"

Sprawled about were what Amael would most definitely describe as ryquins—about five of them—but they were all dead.

"KRESHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A screech reached her ears, and she turned to find another of those creatures—the very one responsible for all this. The very creature that had led to the death of her dear friend.

"You… I will kill you… I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks as a bow, seemingly carved from a branch, materialized in her palm.

She then carefully placed Sley's body on the ground and stood up, pulling the string as arrows made purely of mana appeared. She drew the string taut, her entire focus on the ryquin as it sped forward in a blur.

*Whoop!*

She let the arrows sail free, but as they reached the creature, it vanished.

"Tsk," she clicked her tongue, already expecting such an act. The creature, as she now knew, had an absurd speed bordering on the impossible. It was as though it vanished whenever it ran.

However… this time…

"KREESH!"

…The creature was out of luck.

The moment she heard that sound, her instincts flared, and she instantly reached for her hidden weapon—a dagger—and drove it straight into the head of the ryquin.

"KREESH!" It thrashed about, but she held firm, her mana roaring up as her strength amplified threefold, and the dagger slid straight through the creature's skull.

"Haah… haa… haa," she panted, feeling the adrenaline recede, followed by the temporary boost she had received from Masely before her death.

"Haah… Sley," she muttered, then crawled back to her friend, who was now dead.

She felt so weak and powerless… so stupid.

If only she hadn't been so stubborn, if only she had listened to her father, if only she hadn't ventured to the Azure Empire in the first place, if only she hadn't seen that boy, if only she hadn't gotten ahead of herself, if only she hadn't lost herself in greed and an endless quest to surpass and kill that… foolish prince!

It was all because of him; it was all Esmeris's fault. She hadn't always been this hateful. She hadn't always been… this... Way. But she remembered it clearly… what changed her so much.... that day he rejected her.

It was the day after he was discovered to also possibly be one of the prophesied avatars of the celestial gods. She remembered how many royal houses tried to establish connections with the Tallen family back then. He became one of the most important people of the empire in a matter of days, and that was when her father, the emperor, thought to engage her to him. After all, there was nothing wrong with securing a good relationship with someone who would likely be an avatar. But on the day it was arranged, when her father—whom she already despised for what he did to her mother—tried to sell her off in marriage, that was the day when Silver finally broke her.

As if being used as a political tool wasn't painful enough, he rejected her right there in front of the most important households and even called her disgusting. He destroyed her pride that day, a day she would never forget.

That was why she became so fixated on him… she wanted to grow so powerful that she could pull him down from that high pedestal he placed himself on. But in doing so, she had lost one of the true friends she ever had. Probably the only one she could ever be free with. All for what? All to stop the bastard from attaining the chronos lock.

"Haaah," she sighed again, closing her eyes as she recalled how it had come to this. How her best friend had sacrificed herself to save her. How… she had killed someone who only wanted the best for her.

"I will kill him… I SWEAR I WILL KILL HIM!" she cried out, her heart promising vengeance. She would make them all pay. She would make them all suffer. It didn't matter who it was—Silver, her so-called father—she would make their lives miserable for making hers this way, for stripping her of all the joy she should have had.

For making her existence such a hateful one.

"KREEEEEEEEESH!" She heard it but didn't need to turn to know what it was.

She was at her limits already. It was a miracle she had even survived this long.

So… she closed her eyes…

…perhaps this was truly her end.

But then…

"KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" She heard it again, but this time it was more of a pained scream.

She turned around and found a bloodied young man, with gray-white hair and hollow heterochromatic eyes—one blue, one purple. Though he looked different from what she remembered…

…she knew who he was.

"You… IT'S YOU! YOU CAUSED ALL THIS!" she cried, gazing at Amael, who had a katana driven through the creature's skull.

Even with her cries and curses, he didn't respond.

He just stood there, staring at the creature, his expression cold as ice.

"I… I WILL KILL YOU!" Ellie cried, her bow manifesting once more. Though she was exhausted beyond measure, her mana reserves nearly depleted, she didn't care.

There was a chance the constant strain would lead to a mana pool combustion, but she still didn't care… she wanted him dead… she would do anything to see him dead. After all, he was one of the reasons everything ended this way, if not the main reason. It was a selfish thought, considering she had forced him here, but at this moment, clouded by hatred, rationality had abandoned her. She didn't care.

However, the moment the arrow left her bow and headed straight for him… something strange happened.

The arrow suddenly split in two and flew past him… and she didn't see him move at all.

'What… just happened?' she thought, unable to comprehend.

However, she dismissed it and pulled the string again, arrows of mana materializing.

She then…

…dashed forward.

*Whoop!*

She released the string, letting the arrows tear through the air straight toward him… however…

… *boom!*

She suddenly found herself smashed through the trunk of a tree.

"ARCK!" She coughed blood, but before she could react, she felt a hand grip her neck. She looked up to find Amael's expressionless face staring back at her. His hand tightened around her throat as if he intended to choke her.

"Let… go!" she gasped, forcing her mana to amplify her strength and managed to kick him off her.

Fortunately… it worked.

"HAH… AHA… HAA…" She panted, clutching her reddened neck, glaring at him.

"I… will kill you… I promise you!" she cried, gritting her teeth as she looked around for her bow. Then, she finally heard him speak.

"Looking for this?" His voice was cold, filled with an emotion she couldn't quite decipher.

She turned to him, and there…

…she saw him stepping on her bow.

"HA!" She gasped as he applied more pressure to it.

"Wait… please, don't break it! It's… the only thing I have of her!" she begged, remembering her mother who had died when she was very young.

However…

Amael didn't stop…

…instead, he pressed harder…

…and then…

*Thwack!*

It snapped in two before her very eyes.

She looked up and all she could see was his indifferent, uncaring gaze…

…filled with as much hatred as hers, if not more.

"YOU… YOU… AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" And then…

…it happened.

Amael frowned, watching her undergo a second awakening.

"What the hell?" he muttered, frowning deeper, as she had never undergone this in the game, and if she did, it wasn't supposed to be this early.

But as her mana flared, causing even the trees and surroundings to tremble…

…Amael moved.

*Boom!*

He struck her straight in the stomach, and she collapsed, her eyes wide open as she lost consciousness.

"I would have killed you if I didn't need all the LP I can get," he said, slinging her over his shoulder and beginning to walk. However…

"Huh?" he frowned as he sensed something moving in the shadows, so fast that he couldn't trace it.

Then, out of nowhere, a figure made entirely of darkness appeared before him.

"…The seal… it's weakened. What have you done?" he heard a gruff voice say, and suddenly, figures surrounded him from all sides.

"Sigh… I hate this fucking world," he muttered, gripping the hilt of his katana.

"Which of you is coming first?" he asked, with no regard for his life, the girl over his shoulder, or even theirs.

"Such arrogance," the voice replied, but then a grin crept over its face, "...bring her to me, and cripple him," it commanded, and then…

.... They all moved.