I Reincarnated as the Villain… But the Hero is My Brother

Smoke still hung in the air.

I stood on the ramparts, my fingers twitching near the hilt of Vowbreaker, staring down at the man I used to call family.

Theren Seraphis.

He stood calm, almost amused, as soldiers burned and panicked around him. His white armor was untouched. His blade — a slender rapier with veins of gold — dripped with silver fire.

I had seen him once as Kael. A distant cousin with a perfect smile and a perfect record.

The kind of noble born into a golden cradle — never hungry, never beaten, never afraid.

Now?

He looked like a god that had clawed his way into the story just to break it.

"Crimson Sovereign!" he called up, his voice unnaturally clear. "It's been too long. Should I kneel now, or wait until I've finished killing your guards?"

Selira stood beside me, bow already drawn. "Say the word."

"No," I said quietly.

"Why not? He's asking for it."

"He wants attention. He's provoking us."

She snorted. "It's working."

I raised my voice.

"Theren. What are you doing here?"

He tilted his head. "Same as you, cousin. Breaking expectations."

"I thought you were loyal to the Empire."

"I am the Empire," he replied, spreading his arms. "Didn't you hear? The prophecy is outdated. We're writing a new one now."

The system buzzed again.

[Warning: Rival Path Diverging]

Theren Seraphis has declared himself a Catalyst.

Faction Alignment: None

New Objective Unlocked: Determine Theren's True Purpose

Risk Level: Severe

Catalyst?

That wasn't a role in the prophecy.

It wasn't Hero.

It wasn't Villain.

It wasn't even a support class.

It was something new.

Something unstable.

"Don't come any closer," I warned.

Theren smiled wider. "Or what? You'll strike me down like you did our ancestors?"

He was baiting me.

Trying to push me into acting like the monster the world believed I was.

But I wasn't Lucien.

Not completely.

"I don't want to fight you," I said.

"Good," he said, grinning. "Because you won't get the chance."

A flash of light burst beneath his feet — not from magic, but from a gate rune carved into the dirt. Teleportation.

Selira cursed and fired — but the arrow passed through smoke.

Too slow.

He vanished.

We ran down to the courtyard. Half the guards were dead. The other half were silent — confused, shaken.

Among the wreckage, a symbol had been burned into the stone:

A crown of thorns, split by lightning.

Selira stared at it. "That wasn't his crest before."

I nodded. "It is now."

We were back in the war room within the hour.

I drew the crest on the obsidian table and watched as the system flickered — then shifted.

A hidden message appeared across the surface:

Path Fragment Identified: The Third Crown

Origin: UNKNOWN

Consequence: Balance Collapse

Associated Entity: "The Shardwatcher"

My heart skipped.

The Shardwatcher.

The thing Haleth told me I had to find… before it found us.

Theren wasn't just here to burn bridges.

He was reaching into something deeper.

Selira threw her dagger into the map table, frustration boiling over.

"So what now?" she asked. "We chase your god-complex cousin into a cursed wasteland and hope the thing he's awakening doesn't eat us all first?"

I stared at the flame on the blade of Vowbreaker. It shimmered again — and in its reflection, I saw not Lucien's face… but Kael's.

My real face.

I made my choice.

"We leave tonight," I said. "Tell the Bone Legion to prepare. We're going to the Hollow Verge."

The Hollow Verge wasn't on most maps.

That was the first warning.

It had been swallowed by a magical event during the first cycle — a time rupture sealed in silence. No birds flew overhead. No echoes returned when you shouted. Time didn't move there the same way it did in the rest of the world.

Some called it the World's Scar.

Others simply called it "No Return."

And tonight, we were marching straight into it.

We left the fortress under cover of darkness.

The Bone Legion — eighty-two of them now — moved silently, bones painted with black war runes. Selira rode at my left on a nightdrake, her face drawn and ready.

Even she looked nervous.

"Last chance to turn around," she said flatly, eyes scanning the road ahead.

"I've already died once," I muttered. "You think I'm scared of fog?"

"No," she said, almost smiling. "I think you're addicted to it."

We crossed the Ashen Hills and reached the border of the Verge by nightfall.

The land dipped there — not like a valley, but like the world itself had caved in.

Trees were twisted into knots. The sky was always dark, even when the moon rose. The grass had turned to brittle crystal. The air buzzed with whispers — just low enough to make you think it was in your head.

But the worst part?

There were no stars above the Hollow Verge.

Just void.

Like the sky had forgotten how to shine.

I held up my hand and the army stopped.

The Bone Legion knelt in silence, awaiting my signal.

Selira dismounted beside me, staring into the dark.

"You still sure the Shardwatcher is here?"

"I'm not sure of anything," I admitted. "But Theren is ahead of us now. If he finds it first—"

A shriek cut the sky.

Everyone looked up.

But it wasn't from above.

It came from beneath us.

The ground cracked.

And then—

Hands.

Hundreds of bone-white hands shot up through the black soil, clawing at armor, faces, boots. Not undead — not like my Legion.

These things screamed in reverse.

Time-warped souls.

"DEFENSIVE FORMATION!" I roared.

The Bone Legion moved instantly, forming a jagged half-circle around the core party. Selira already had twin daggers out, slashing at a floating, half-formed face stitched with clocks.

I activated the system:

⚔️ [Skill: Chrono Disruption] – ACTIVE

⚔️ [Weapon Sync: Vowbreaker] – Linked]

My blade lit up — and when I swung, the creatures slowed.

Not just in movement.

In existence.

One charged straight at me — shrieking backward, its jaw unhinging into numbers.

I met it with a clean strike to the chest.

Vowbreaker didn't just cut its body.

It severed its timeline.

The creature burst into static and vanished.

Not dead — never born.

Selira ducked beside me, her eyes wide.

"That was new," she breathed.

"Yeah," I said, panting. "Sword's got tricks."

"Good. We're going to need all of them."

We fought for what felt like hours.

When the dust cleared, we'd lost ten Bone soldiers and one scout from the southern watch.

I stood over the dying man — his skin cracking like dry porcelain.

Before he passed, he grabbed my arm and gasped:

"The shard… is awake…"

The system buzzed.

⚠️ Path Shift Detected

The Shardwatcher has begun to stir.

❗Race: First Contact – 72 hours remaining

⚔️ Competing Parties:

– Crimson Sovereign

– Theren Seraphis

– Unknown Third Entity (proximity: close)

My blood ran cold.

A third entity?

Selira stepped beside me, reading the system message as it hovered.

"Third party?" she asked. "Not Theren. Not you. Then—"

A voice spoke behind us.

"I believe you're talking about me."

We spun.

A figure stood just beyond the last line of bone soldiers — barefoot, hooded, smiling like sin.

Not glowing. Not monstrous. Just… off.

As if the world had trouble remembering him even while he was still standing there.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

The figure laughed softly. "They used to call me a Prophet. Before they ripped out my name."

He pulled back his hood.

My heart stopped.

It was me.

My exact face.

Down to the scar on the brow — the one I got during my first week in this world.

[System Error]

Duplicate Identity Detected

Soul Clash Incoming.

I stared at him — at me — standing just a few paces away.

Same height. Same voice. Same scar.

But his eyes…

His eyes were wrong.

Not crimson like Lucien's. Not even brown like Kael's old self.

They were glass — like mirrors filled with whispers.

"You're not me," I growled.

He tilted his head. "Aren't I? You died once. Came here. Replaced someone. So did I. The system just forgot to tell you… there was another candidate."

Selira raised a dagger. "If you're him, then who the hell is this guy?"

[System Clash Imminent]

Two soul signatures detected within identical vessel frames.

Synchronization impossible.

❗Stability compromised.

Recommended Action: Eliminate Duplicate.

My vision swam.

I suddenly felt dizzy — like reality was being pulled in two directions.

My body wasn't sure who it belonged to anymore.

The impostor stepped forward.

"I don't want your throne," he said calmly. "I want your ending."

My fingers tightened on Vowbreaker.

"You were sent here," I muttered. "Just like me."

"Not sent. Left behind," he whispered. "I came during the first cycle. I've been trapped in this world for centuries. Every loop, I died early. Every loop, they erased me. But this time, I woke up first."

Selira's eyes narrowed.

"He's not a Catalyst," she muttered. "He's a shadow state. A rejected soul — still anchored to the system."

"Exactly," the clone said. "I'm not a prophecy… I'm a correction."

⚠️ [Soul Clash Initiated]

Primary Vessel: Kael/Lucien

Secondary Vessel: Rejected Instance / Echo-001

Combat Locked.

Winner Retains Body. Loser… Erased.

He smiled as the system pulled us inward — into a mental battlefield of fire and memory.

Selira was gone.

The Verge faded.

Suddenly, I was standing in a mirror version of Lucien's throne room — black flames licking the sky, swords suspended midair, broken thrones in a ring around us.

He stood across from me, pulling a copy of my sword from thin air.

"Welcome to the part of yourself that wants to die," he said.

And then he attacked.

Steel met steel.

He was fast — too fast.

Every move I made, he matched.

Every scar I had, he knew.

Because he was me.

I blocked. Parried. Ducked. Rolled.

But my strikes weren't landing.

He laughed between blows.

"You're not built for this, Kael. You were never meant to carry this much weight."

I let the next hit come closer.

Let him talk.

Let him overextend.

And then I whispered:

"Good thing I'm not carrying it alone anymore."

I caught his sword mid-swing, flipped it, and stabbed upward with Vowbreaker.

Straight through the heart.

His face broke.

Not in pain.

But in relief.

He staggered back, gasping.

"I… I remember now…"

He collapsed to his knees.

"This was… supposed to be your life," he muttered. "You're the first one to fight the system… and win."

He smiled, even as he dissolved into static.

"Finish what I couldn't."

✅ [Soul Clash Resolved]

Echo-001 Absorbed.

New Trait Gained: Resonant Identity

Passive Effect: Immune to Prophetic Possession.

Trait Logged Under: "The One Who Remembers"

I opened my eyes.

Back in the Hollow Verge.

Selira knelt beside me, panting.

"Please tell me you're the real one."

I gave a weak smile. "Still me."

She punched my shoulder. "Good. You fainted mid-air and scared the hell out of the Bone Legion."

But the system wasn't done.

⚠️ Alert: Shardwatcher Seal Weakening

Distance: 2.1 miles

Hostility Level: Critical

⚔️ Theren Seraphis is now within range.

I rose to my feet, blade in hand.

The final race had begun.

Me, Theren, and whatever monster slept beneath the Hollow Verge.

And only one of us was walking away with the truth.