Ascension Of The Villain

Vyan was on his knees.

The glow of the chandeliers above flickered faintly, as though sensing the dark magic that had surged through the Grand Hall moments ago.

His entire body convulsed violently. One of his hands clutched his chest, and the other one curled against the polished marble as if fighting some invisible chain. His breath stuttered in ragged, shallow gasps, sweat pearling down his temples. It felt like he was choking, his gut being ripped apart.

Everyone was frozen for a moment. Nobody came forward.

And then, panic erupted like wildfire.

Several nobles leapt back in terror. Whispers rose to frightened cries, and cries turned to frenzied banging on the gilded doors of the hall.

"Open the doors!"

"Let us out, or else he'll kill us all!"

"Please, please—if Grand Duke turns on us, there's no way we will survive!"

Their fear was raw, desperate. They had seen what Vyan was capable of. If Jade had truly taken control of him… they were already corpses wearing jewels.

And in the cause of it all, Jade began to laugh. Not a soft, ironic laugh. No. This was wicked, unhinged. The kind that could send chills down the spine of the most hardened war general.

"You fools," she spat, black energy slithering around her like serpents made of shadow. "It was far too easy to make him mine. He's now my puppet. My possession. My—"

She stopped.

Something felt wrong.

Her eyes narrowed.

"…Wait."

She flexed her fingers. Looked down at her green gown. Touched her chest.

"…I'm still inside my body?"

That couldn't be right. She should have been in Vyan, sporting his grieving black suit—his soul locked away, his body hers to command. And yet…

A quiet laugh echoed through the hall.

Vyan stopped trembling. The desperate grips of his fingers relaxed.

He slowly raised his head, his wine-red eyes steady and sharp—not fogged over by possession, not hollow or frenzied—but burning with clarity. With intent.

His lips curled in a calm, mocking smile. Jade flinched.

"Was my acting convincing?" he asked coolly, brushing dust from his sleeve as if he'd simply knelt to tie his shoes.

Jade's expression twisted. "What?!"

"Did you really think you could possess me that easily?" Vyan stood, his spine straightening like a drawn bowstring, his pure magic now crackling with fire-like energy, warm and red—his own. "You can try again. And again. I'll let you. But you'll never win."

Jade gritted her teeth.

"You see, dark magic can only take the mind when it's weak—when it's lost." His eyes darkened, pain flickering beneath the surface.

Dark magic could only sink its claws into the minds of the broken. Into the hearts that had caved under sorrow or madness. That was how Sienna had succeeded once before. She had slithered into his body in a moment of devastation, when his heart had been splintered and left bleeding in silence.

But not now.

"As for my mind?" He took a step forward, fire coiling around his hands like loyal hounds. "It's calm. Whole. Rational. My mind belongs to me."

This time, he had come prepared. He refused to be anybody's puppet. Not for a second.

"Vya—Lord Ashstone, did you know that she can do black magic?" Althea's voice quivered with urgency, her eyes narrowed as they flicked between Vyan and the woman cloaked in arrogance.

Vyan hummed softly, a languid, unbothered sound escaping his throat as he adjusted the glove on his right hand. "I deduced it not too long ago."

Of course, the magic circles everyone had seen in his father's memory were not related to black magic. Black mages didn't require transmutation circles, nor did the pure mages. People of Haynes didn't need it at all. They were either born with mana or… well, they went down the route of black magic. Either way, those circles must've served another, unknown purpose.

After scouring every tome, every scroll and ransacking the library of the forbidden archives to understand, he tried to figure out how mana could be transferred, manipulated, leashed to another's will. But nothing traditional explained it.

It wasn't until he flipped through a thick, worn book on the Essence of the Abyss—a cursed text most would hesitate to touch—that it finally hit him. Edgar hadn't been operating with Jade for no reason. There was a reason why he kept his second wife—the only one whom he didn't love—by his side constantly. Someone with a far blacker heart and a much keener mind. He needed her powers.

"You knew?" Iyana stepped forward, fists clenched, violet eyes flashing with annoyance. She had gotten a terrible fright just now, thinking that Vyan had truly gotten possessed. "Then why didn't you bind her with a restraining spell, idiot?" It could've been dangerous—

"Oh, I did," Vyan said with a dramatic tilt of his head. "With impressive finesse, I might add. Alas…" he sighed, placing a hand over his heart in mock grief, "turns out she's operating on a different plane of existence. My spell might as well have been a decorative ribbon."

Jade let out a cruel laugh with disdain.

"Yes, that's right," she purred, stepping forward with the grace of a predator. "Low-level spells like that one? Pathetic. They can't do shit to me. You messed with the wrong person, Grand Duke. If you had just shut your mouth and let me keep my position, I would have spared you the trouble."

Vyan's smirk returned—this time colder, sharper, deadlier.

"How could I possibly stay quiet," he said, his voice a low drawl, "when you've personally shattered every ounce of peace I ever had? That would be so unlike me."

Behind that playful exterior, he knew. He knew. The true threat had never been the emperor.

The real mastermind had always been Jade.

Edgar had merely been a puppet. A loud, pompous, self-important puppet who believed he was invincible. Even when Jade had tried to warn him about Vyan, the man had dismissed it. Thought Vyan was nothing but a harmless little kitten playing noble.

Well, the kitten had claws. Poisonous and lethal. And now, as the illusion of control slipped from Edgar's grasp, he was finally paying the price for his ignorance.

And Jade?

She was about to find out what happened to people who thought they could play god in Vyan Blake Ashstone's world.

Jade scoffed, "You have too much confidence for someone who can barely tolerate the presence of my powers."

Vyan didn't flinch, his expression unreadable for a moment. His eyes glinted with a certain amusement as he let her words linger in the air, then slowly, he gave a half-hearted shrug. "We'll see," he drawled, as though this was little more than a trivial matter.

"You'll regret those words."

Before anyone could react, Jade's smile widened.

With a fluid motion, she raised a hand, and ten demons materialized above them. Their grotesque, writhing forms loomed over the group, monstrous shadows that twisted and shifted in unnatural ways.

The air in the room thickened, heavy with the stench of decay and dark magic, making every breath feel like an assault.

The nobles, their faces pale and horrified, recoiled. Their knees trembled. A few of them instinctively backed away, and a desperate chorus of banging echoed from the doors as they scrambled to escape the nightmare unfolding before them.

The demons' presence was suffocating, a true manifestation of terror that left even the bravest among them paralyzed with fear.

Jade's voice broke the chaos once more, her tone almost mocking. "Why aren't you crumbling yet, Grand Duke? I heard you can't even stand the presence of dark magic, let alone the creatures born from darkness—the demons."

Vyan's gaze didn't waver. He barely seemed to register the terror swirling around him. Instead, his lips curled upward into a smile—small but dark, like a predator who had just cornered its prey.

He raised a single hand, fingers twitching with effortless grace, and with a snap, the doors to the Grand Hall swung open.

The nobles didn't need another invitation. They surged forward, a wave of bodies fleeing the only way they could—toward the exit, away from the creatures that made their very souls tremble. The sound of their panicked footsteps echoed through the hall, growing fainter as they vanished.

With the nobles gone, the room fell eerily silent, save for the guttural growls of the demons and the distant echoes of fleeing footsteps. Only the knights, Vyan's most loyal allies, and the enemies remained.

Vyan's smile widened slightly, the edge of it cutting sharper. "I wonder why," he responded, almost absent-mindedly, his voice like honey laced with venom.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Jade snapped. "Do you really think you can take my demons on? You'll buckle before you land a hit."

Ignoring her, Vyan's eyes flicked to Clyde, who remained unfazed by the chaos swirling around them.

"Clyde," Vyan called out. "Take Thea out of here. Our empress must be protected at all costs."

Althea, who had been quietly observing the spectacle, stood up from her throne in a swift motion. Her eyes, sharp and full of fire, met Vyan's. "I'm not going anywhere. Stop treating me like a liability," she insisted. "I can protect myself. I can even fight on my own. So don't worry about me being here. I'm not the sort of ruler who hinds behind others while they fight the battle for me. And right now, bringing these people to justice is the most crucial step for the betterment of my empire."

Vyan exhaled a long, drawn-out sigh, as if he were dealing with a particularly stubborn child. His eyes softened, just slightly, before he responded with a resigned tone. "Alright, fine. Suit yourself, Your Imperial Majesty. It's not like I can defy you. I'm only but a loyal citizen of yours now."

"I'm glad you've adjusted your mindset already," she teased.

"Well, I have known for a long time that this day would come," he shrugged.

"Why the hell are you treating me as if I'm invisible?" Jade shouted.

For some reason, Althea found it very pleasing to see Jade losing her calm. She had always been a cold, composed person, as if nothing ever fazes her. So, now, watching her lose her temper, throwing a tantrum, begging to be taken seriously by her opponent… it was all funny.

And well-deserved.

Meanwhile, Vyan decided to meet Jade's gaze, as if finally giving her the attention she had been begging for. He stood tall as the room seemed to hold its breath, waiting for the next move.