[Welco, Host, to the SSS-Rank Valley of Villey.]
[Villain Title: The Strongest Mother]
Razeal opened his eyes as the prompt echoed in his head.
His expression twitched.
"So the first villain's a woman, huh," he muttered to himself.
The na lingered in his thoughts like a puzzle.
The Strongest Mother?
He'd expected sothing more sothing terrifying or ominous maybe. The na felt... wrong. Not weak, but kinda misleading.
Strongest Mother? what does that even an?
His mind raced. Maybe sothing twisted, like Mother of Curses? Or Mother of Darkness? He'd heard nas like that in novels and movies. That would make more sense for soone SSS-Ranked Right?.
Whatever it was, it definitely is sothing of importance. One can know Many things about soone just with there tittles alone.
A cold current brushed across his face sharp and imdiate making him co out of his thoughts. Wind was like winter's breath. It cut through him, reminding him that this space wasn't like the last.
He didn't move. He just breathed calmly.
Then, slowly, he looked around as to see his surroundings first before doing anything. He needs to be aware of everything.
The world around him was dark but not the kind of darkness that swallowed light.
This was the kind that reflected it.
The entire space shimred with jagged formations crystalline and alien. Smooth and polished like black mirrors. They rose from the ground in elegant, chaotic sculptures. So curved. So twisted. So branched out like coral. But these weren't coral. They were too perfect. Too symtrical. They looked designed.
Those look almost like mirrors, he thought.
Each surface caught the pale glow of the moonlight above, casting long reflections that shifted as his gaze moved. It was as if the whole place was watching itself.
The moon itself hung impossibly high in a sky that wasn't really a sky pure black, flawless, still. Its light, cold and silver, poured down like silk. It didn't look real. It looked... placed. As if soone had carefully built this world and set that moon there just to complete the aesthetic.
It was haunting.
And beautiful.
Then he saw it.
His eyes were pulled toward the center of this frozen world like gravity itself had chosen his next focus.
A throne.
Dead center.
Elevated. Tall. Towering.
It was made of the sa black material as the rest of the world but carved. Sculpted with precision and power. Its surface was edged like blades. Tall-backed. Grand. Veins of silver ran through it, tracing lines like frozen lightning.
Almost ten feet tall.
And on it
She sat.
A woman.
She didn't move. Her posture was perfect still as death.
But Razeal saw her.
And the first word in his mind wasn't fear.
It was stunning.
Her skin was a warm, rich brown, gleaming under the moonlight with a softness that felt alive in contrast to the cold void around her. Her hair, jet black, long, and flowing like ink, frad her face and shoulders without a strand out of place.
Her dress if it could even be called that matched the throne. Black. Form-fitting. Regal. It hugged her body before falling like mist, disappearing into the dark below her feet. One leg was crossed over the other, poised in a way that was too perfect to be casual.
Her eyes were closed. Her head tilted slightly back.
Like a queen resting.
Or a weapon sheathed.
Razeal stared.
There was no aura. No pressure.
Yet just looking at her made him feel smaller.
She looks like soone who never needed to say a word to command obedience, he thought. Soone who was born above you and expected you to understand that.
Her face her expressionvwas neutral. Cold. Like a mask carved from pride.
And yet
Why does she look familiar?
His throat tightened.
Doesn't... doesn't Mother look like this?
Not in features or physically. But in expression.
That sa look.
Cold. Controlled. Above.
Expressionless but screaming, bow.
Razeal swallowed hard.
He didn't move.
"System," he said quietly, "she's not dead, right? Or is she sleeping or sothing? If I wake her... she's not gonna kill , right?"
He was joking.
Kind of.
Not really.
His nerves were screaming in the background. His pride tried to stand tall but even it didn't dare raise its voice here.
Just knowing she was one of the strongest beings reality had ever produced made his blood run colder. And she was a villain, too. One who might have murdered thousands. Millions.
Or worse.
Who knows what kind of cruel, degenerate, twisted soul lived behind that perfect exterior?
[She is already dead, Host, as are all within System Space. From the mont every Villain dies, they co here. She is Eternal.]
Razeal stared, the words sinking into him like cold rain.
Eternal, huh?
He wasn't sure whether that made her more terrifying
He blinked.
"I see..."
He wanted to ask more. Do they go insane?Stuck in this space forever don't they lose themselves? Do they rember their cris? Their deaths?
But now wasn't the ti.
Now wasn't the place.
He forced the question down, stuffed it into so corner of his brain for later.
Because right now he stood in front of a literal monster.
The kind people whispered about and dared not na.
Villains were freaks, hungry for respect.
And he needed to get so skills and training from them.
So let's not be rude. Let's behave properly.
Because what if she refused to give him anything? What if she beca directly hostile to him?
Or worse... what if she didn't even let him leave?
And more importantly, he needed to behave himself.
Of course, he couldn't forget the real reason he ca here, right?
He needed to convince this villain to teach him so overpowered skills and powers... yeah.
Yeah... that was the plan.
Only... he didn't actually have a plan.
Great.
So first? Gauge her personality. Figure out how to approach her.
Problem was, looking around gave him absolutely nothing. No clues. No signs. Not even her Tittle told him anything useful.
The only move he had now was to act respectful. Really respectful. Because if there was one thing he'd learned from all the novels he read, it was this:
Villains were freaks hungry for respect. Feed their ego, stroke their pride, and they'd do stuff just because they could.
So yeah. That was it. Play it cool. Be polite. Don't screw this up.
Because if he ca off as rude or stupid... what if she refused to train him? Or worse What if she beca directly hostile to him?
Still, curiosity gnawed at him. He couldn't help but glance around the strange space again, fixated on the one thing that stood out.
The black crystals.
They stretched endlessly in every direction. Wherever his eyes wandered, there were no edges. No horizon. No sky. No floor. Just those dark, jagged formations massive, alien, silent. As far as he could see, it was all the sa: a world of glass and silence and moonlight.
Though nervous, he looked around the space again no, not just nervous.
It was undying curiosity now.
What are these crystals?
How far do they go?
Are they everywhere?
The black crystal stretched endlessly in every direction.
Wherever his eyes wandered, he couldn't see any edges, any horizon, or even a single sign of anything else only those dark, jagged formations.
As far as he could see, it was all the sa:
A world of glass.
A world of silence.
And moonlight.
Just as Razeal was looking around sothing shifted. A presence. Cold. Heavy. Icy fingers of pressure curled through the air. And then
A voice.
Low. Magnetic. Female. It didn't echo it vibrated, like it resonated through the bones of the room itself, pressing into his skin, crawling into his ears.
"So... I am not hallucinating, then?"
The voice wrapped around him, coiling like smoke and steel. "There's truly another presence in this cursed hell..."
Razeal stiffened instantly. His blood ran cold "Shit."
He spun his head toward the throne, panic shooting through his chest like a spear.
Did she wake up?
And then he froze.
She was already awake.
There she sat, barely moving, poised like a statue etched in darkness itself. Perched on the ancient throne of that dark shiny material, her back straight, legs crossed, hands delicately placed on the armrests as if carved there by fate itself. Her eyes were already on him.
And what eyes they were.
Endless black. No shine or light. Pupils so deep and dark they looked like gateways to another realm sothing wrong.
Her gaze wasn't aggressive. It was worse it was curious. Calculating. Dissecting him layer by layer. Like she was unweaving him with a glance.
She didn't blink.
Razeal's breath caught in his throat. The weight of her stare hit him like a tidal wave. His knees almost buckled. His mind throbbed under the sudden pressure, as if so invisible force was trying to crush his thoughts. His heartbeat turned erratic. Fast. Loud. It hamred against his ribs, like it wanted to break free from his chest and flee.
He wanted to look away. He couldn't.
It felt like looking into death itself.
No... worse than death.
It was the embodint of sothing unmade Unknown. A force that had forgotten how to be human, if it ever was.
His mind scread. His body stood paralyzed.
Then
Her expression shifted.
A small tilt of her head. Her dark brows arched ever so slightly. And then
A smile.
Barely there. Just the corner of her lips twitching upward. But it radiated danger. It wasn't warmth. It was the kind of smile a predator gave when the prey stumbled right into its lair. The kind of smile you'd see just before everything ended.
Razeal's heart stuttered. His mouth went dry. Every nerve in his body scread run, but he couldn't move. He was trapped between awe and terror.
She spoke again this ti, not whispering into the space, but directly into the room. Her voice still echoed in impossible ways. A velvet blade.
"Hmm... such fragile strength. Such weak ntal walls... and yet"
Her gaze narrowed, smile sharpening.
"I cannot read his mind."
The air seed to freeze.
She leaned forward slightly, her black hair flowing like liquid shadow down her shoulders, eyes narrowing with a newfound interest. Not anger. Curiosity. Like she was looking at a puzzle she couldn't imdiately solve.
"Interesting..." she murmured.
Her words weren't aid at him. It felt more like she was thinking aloud, but sohow louder than thought more real, more physical. Each syllable pressed into the stone walls like a chisel.
"This doesn't make sense. He's too fragile. His ntal walls are Non existent. So how is his mind protected?"
She stood slowly, her movents fluid like a shadow sliding across a wall. Her gaze never left him.
"There must be soone behind this. Soone strong. Soone shielding him...?"
Her words trailed off into a murmur, but she didn't lower her voice. She didn't care if he heard. Her thoughts spilled into the room like storm clouds.
"Strange. Very strange..."
"But even if soone is shielding him... I could still kill him in an instant? If so then why would soone that strong send him here?."
She looked down at him again, that slight smirk still dancing on her lips.
"So Useless."
A pause.
"Yet here you are when all this place is surrounded by Obsidian Agony?."
Razeal clenched his fists, trying to ground himself. His legs were shaking. His thoughts were scattered. He didn't even know what he could say what he should say.
He wasn't supposed to be this weak.
Is this the power of an SSS Rank Villain?
His strength just taken away from him without even doing anything?
He looked at her, who was still leisurely sitting on the throne, now one hand holding her chin.
"System, what should I do? You never told it'd be this brutally hard to even stand just from being gazed upon by her."
[It's normal, Host. Very normal. Strong people are like this just their presence alone can shake those far weaker than them, making them feel like giving up. It's not only her, is it? Haven't you felt feelings like these before? You shouldn't be surprised, right? Maybe it'll be a good experience again. Try to learn to hold yourself together. You can't embarrass yourself every ti.] the System's voice echoed, reminding him of so deep mories.
At the System's reminder, Razeal suddenly rembered certain monts that made him clench his fists.
"Yes... but I thought those were just my emotions kicking in."
[Yes, they were too. Maybe you were just confused about it. But yes if you had learned to stay calm and composed under this kind of pressure, you might've been able to speak... or at least stand up for yourself.]
"Teach how to look into her eyes... into those eyes without feeling this disgust."
He said it in his head, feeling utterly humiliated and deeply disgusted with himself.
[Your self, your body, and your mind your consciousness is trembling. And why? Because sowhere deep in your mind, you think you are lower than her... Just believe in yourself.]
"Believe in myself?"
He didn't understand. "Believe in what?"
[Just imagine that she is an ant and you can crush her. Just look down on her, and you will.]
"What bullshit..." Razeal wanted to curse. He had been listening to the System seriously... but now?
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