Villain: The Play of Destiny

"I will kill you!"

Yexuan bellowed as he smashed his fist into the ground, creating a small crater. And then he slumped on the ground, wincing a little at the injuries he had suffered at the hands of Samrath.

He tried to calm himself down, having already destroyed his immediate surroundings in his fit of rage, but no matter how hard he tried, he kept feeling more and more restless. And his only way of getting rid of this restlessness was to force himself to get mad.

The dream he just had before waking up made him question a lot of things as well. It was a distant memory, and it came with its own set of doubts, fears, and a sense of helplessness.

Even though he had not seen the face of the chestnut-haired girl as she was wearing a Magical veil, Yexuan knew that she was undoubtedly Zoey Alvarez, Keith's lover in this timeline.

The more he thought over things, the more terrified he became, and in the end, he could not deny the possibility that the Heavens had been played at the hands of the Evil God.

Amelia was likely never working against him, which would explain why she never outrightly went to war against him or fought with him.

However, he had seen it with his eyes and knew how benevolent and just Empress she was. And he doubted that it was all pretence.

It could not be faked...

Yexuan knew that he was clenching on the sand a little too hard, but he hoped and prayed that Amelia would be separating her ways from Keith in the future.

Because if she did not do it, they would all be doomed.

She was the reason why so many Worlds in the Heaven Realm survived and managed to stay free of the Rule of Darkness. If it was not for her, so many more lives would have been lost, and even the Immortal Realm would have not survived.

Yexuan knew that this Timeline was a lot different than the one he remembered, but his instincts were telling him that Keith was still his enemy and the same Evil God who would stop at nothing short of realising all his atrociously ambitious goals.

And then there was the fact that he was again losing everything at his hands.

"Damn, you!" He cried again and then the rage bubbled up. "I will not let you succeed..." He consoled himself, but even he found his words a little ridiculous.

Then again, did he have another option? No.

He had to stop the Evil God's rise. He had this responsibility on his shoulders. He had to avenge all his fallen comrades, sister, and his adopted children...

His cloudy thoughts came to a halt when he suddenly realised that they were all alive and would be born again in this Timeline. Whom exactly was he avenging when they had not even died yet?

Yexuan frowned a little as placed his hand on his forehead, finding it quite warm.

Fever was not rare for Aurors, but it was not common either. Every time it caught you, it was either a good thing or a very bad thing, and in either case, it was always intense.

His mind was playing games with him, and Yexuan decided to lie down on the ground and close his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts.

Again, his attempt to clear his mind was futile.

He had worked so hard, and took so many risks to target those Solanari and Mondini Aurors in the last few months. He spent so much effort in refining their blood to create the materials that he ended up using to deal with Samrath.

They were some of the life-saving cards that he had created, and in the end, he wasted them all.

His plan was impeccable, and he had taken every precaution possible.

There was the Illusion Array, not perfect, but very effective by the standards of this world.

He even created a Formation to isolate the sounds and created another Formation that fried up the electronic devices. He even went as far as to use everything he had on him to create a Barrier, just so it could give him enough time to escape if anything unexpected happened.

And everything failed.

The moment he was about to end that irritatingly righteous boy's life, the barrier shattered, the Formations stopped working, and Keith's presence washed over the area, locking him in his place.

He tried to step forward and force his way to whisk Samrath away with him, but the pressure was just too great. It was as if the entire sky was pressing on him. And then he sensed Keith approach the area.

There was just no time, and he ran as soon as he managed to free himself from the invisible bindings.

He sensed Keith arrive right next to Samrath right before he forcefully used the Steele of Time & Space to teleport a safe distance away. It sucked all of his remaining Mana, and he fell unconscious after jumping into the lake and entering this place inside the Steele.

Yeuxan fearfully raised his head and looked at the Sky, calling out to the Steele of Time & Space, and it responded soon enough as he saw a transparent screen manifest in the sky.

On it, he saw what was happening outside on Gaia.

Surrounded by water, he saw the underwater flora and fauna as peaceful as ever, and looking at the surface, he found that the sky was a little dark.

He frowned as he realised that he had jumped a little too deep in haste, and even with his heightened sense of sight, he could not see clearly what was out there and if there was any danger.

Everything was peaceful, almost deceptively peaceful.

Did he manage to teleport out of Keith's perceptive domain?

He frowned a little, trying to figure out how far exactly he had teleported, but his mind was in chaos back then and blanking out, so he could not be sure.

Perhaps he did manage to escape? He hoped and then took a deep breath to calm himself down.

Yexuan decided to keep the screen active to keep an eye on what was happening on Gaia.

He planned on staying inside the Steele for a while, letting the fever pass and his injuries heal. He needed to think of another way to gain strength as well...

Suddenly, he felt his bodily heat rising, and he sensed the blood in his veins growing very excited. Soon a rejuvenating feeling washed over him, making him groan in pleasure, and then it was followed by an unimaginable pain that made him scream his life out.

However, there was a maniacal grin plastered on his face as he bore through this phenomenon, knowing well that it was a sign that his body was assimilating more of the Divine Dragon's Heart's Blood.

Finally, something welcoming was happening to him. And it was likely because he had experienced a life-and-death battle against Samrath.

The sudden rise in the boy's strength was something he had never expected, and for a moment, he feared that he would lose his life.

Had he been any normal Auror, he would have definitely died under Samrath's last assault.

No, he would still have been mortally wounded if he did not possess the Steele of Time & Space.

Just the memory of it was terrifying enough, and it was soon accompanied by the lament that he had failed to get his hands on that powerful treasure that was the root of Samrath's strength.

It was an exceptional treasure, brimming with the purest vitality, a reflection of the Law of Life, and it was without a doubt an Immortal or Divine-Ranked Treasure.

"Damn it!" He cursed again, realising that the treasure was now likely in Keith's hand.

To deal with the unimaginable pain his body was in right now, he distracted his mind by thinking over everything that happened to him since his arrival in this Timeline.

In the end, he refused to believe that Keith's arrival at the most significant moment of his battle with Samrath was just a mere coincidence.

A coincidence was a frightening thought.

If it was really a coincidence and Keith managed to break through all Formations and the Barrier that he had created without any preparation, that too in an instant, it meant that he was immensely strong. He could even be in the Middle or Late Stages of the Nine Martial Realms, and Yexuan knew that he stood no chance against someone like that in this world.

He even cursed Erebus to have left his legacy in the hands of someone so evil as Keith, and then his hatred and envy for all those insufferable Inheritors of Gods manifested again.

It was just not fair...

One might have realised it was how things worked after living such a long life, but it seemed like he was going through very drastic changes, both mentally and physically, and it was just as if he was a kid again.

And it was not far from the truth.

He was like an infant Dragon, who would need a long long time to become wise again.

Did he plan it all?

The sudden question froze Yexuan, and he felt chills run up his spine at the mere thought of it.

Did Keith already have his eyes on Samrath's treasure?

Yexuan could not help but tremble in fear.

Someone as special as Samrath was Destined for Greatness, and in his long life, he had never seen or heard of him. And it could mean that he had died long ago, possibly at the hands of the Evil God...

His restlessness and fear aggravated his state of mind and pain, and even tears started leaking out of his eyes.

He was too hasty...

Yexuan realised it now, but it was already too late...

"Alana..." As his fever rose, he felt dazed, and in his stupor, he called out his sister's name. "I will find you... promise..."

It was not long before he lost his consciousness again.