Reincarnated as the Villain: The System Made Me Overpowered

The air crackled with unstable mana, a volatile storm that swirled through the ruins of the fallen Vault of the Wraith Kings. Valerian stepped through the shattered remnants of the battlefield, his tattered cloak fluttering behind him like a shadow torn from the night. Blood dried on his armor, its once-gleaming surface now scarred and dull, a testament to the battle they'd barely survived. Behind him, Kael supported a limping Lira, her shadowfire bow clutched tightly despite her wounds. Seraphina and Selene flanked them, their eyes scanning the blasted surroundings, wary of any lingering threats.

They'd won the battle against the Wraith Kings, but it hadn't felt like a victory. The vault had imploded after Valerian absorbed the last core fragment—an ancient relic pulsing with the wrath of forgotten gods. That fragment had awakened something, not just in the world but within him, a change that burned through his veins like fire and ice.

> **[System Notice: Divine Core Synchronization – 67% Complete.]**

Valerian's fingers twitched, the aftershock of the fragment's power coursing through him. He wasn't just stronger—he was *different*, his senses sharpened to a razor's edge, his mind flooded with whispers of ancient knowledge. The Core within him pulsed, a living entity that seemed to hum with purpose, both his ally and his burden.

Kael exhaled, ash coating his silver hair as he steadied Lira. "That was the last Wraith King, right?"

Valerian turned, his eyes momentarily glowing gold, a flicker of divinity that made the air hum. "No. That was just the key. The gate is opening."

Seraphina froze, her spear lowering, its tip still stained with the blood of their enemies. "Gate?"

Valerian nodded, his voice low and heavy. "The real enemy… hasn't arrived yet."

The sky split with a thunderous crack, a vertical rupture tearing through the heavens like a wound carved into the firmament. Darkness bled from the fissure, an inky tide that swallowed stars and drowned the moonlight, casting the ruins into an unnatural twilight. The air grew heavy, the ground trembling as a deafening hum rose—a low, ancient song that seemed to come from something older than gods, older than time itself.

> **[Warning: Dimensional Rift Detected – Category: Omega-Class.]**

From the gate, a figure stepped through, his presence a violation of reality itself. He wore Valerian's face, but older, sharper, colder. His hair was longer, trailing behind him like a black comet, and his eyes glowed gold—not the divine hue of Valerian's power, but a light that had seen eons burn, galaxies collapse, and worlds reduced to ash. This version of Valerian didn't walk—he descended, like judgment given form, his every step bending the air around him.

Valerian clenched his fists, his heart pounding. "You."

The copy smirked, his voice a chilling echo of Valerian's own. "You've come far. But not far enough."

Selene's voice was a whisper, trembling with disbelief. "Who is he…?"

Valerian's mouth was dry, his words heavy with truth. "He's me. The original. The one I split from when I reincarnated."

The group stiffened, the air growing colder. Kael growled, his greatsword gleaming in the dim light. "You're supposed to be dead."

"I am," Origin-Valerian said, touching down lightly on a broken pillar, his movements effortless yet menacing. "But death was a door. And I had the key."

> **[System Alert: Hostile System Detected – Codename: Origin Protocol.]**

> **[Warning: Valerian is now facing a Tier Omega threat.]**

Origin's smirk widened, his eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. "Let's see what kind of monster my failure has become."

The moment shattered. Origin attacked, a beam of annihilation surging from his fingertip—blacklight condensed into a spear of ruin that burned the air itself. Valerian raised his hand, and the earth erupted into a golden wall of divine shields, their radiance a defiant stand against the darkness. The impact shattered the barrier instantly, the shockwave hurling Valerian backward into a fallen obelisk. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he crashed, pain lancing through his ribs.

Kael leapt in front of Seraphina and Lira, deflecting the backlash with a wide arc of wind energy, his gauntlets glowing with elemental fury. Selene's hands blurred through seals, casting a prism of moonlight to shield them, its light shimmering like a fragile hope. But it wasn't enough. Origin blinked—his form vanishing and reappearing behind Lira in an instant, his hand reaching for her throat with lethal intent.

Valerian roared, "NO!" His body surged forward at light-breaking speed, slamming his fist into Origin's palm just in time. The resulting shockwave vaporized the surrounding rubble in a mile-wide radius, the ground trembling as reality itself protested.

"You don't touch them," Valerian snarled, his eyes blazing with golden fire.

Origin pushed him back with ease, laughing—a cold, mocking sound that echoed through the ruins. "Still protecting your attachments. Weakness."

Valerian's eyes flared brighter, his voice steady despite the pain. "No. They're my anchor."

He launched a flurry of blows, each punch carrying enough force to crack space itself, the air screaming with the impact. But Origin met every strike with a smirk, countering with a precision that felt like fighting a reflection that had trained longer, fought harder, and knew every pattern Valerian could muster. Because it did. This was the original, the one who had walked the path Valerian now tread, who had seen the end and survived it.

Behind them, Kael and Seraphina flanked, attempting to draw Origin's attention. Seraphina hurled her spear, which split into a hundred radiant projectiles mid-flight, each one a shard of divine light. Kael followed with a chain of wind razors, their edges sharp enough to slice through steel. Origin raised one hand, and time froze. The spear halted in midair, the wind collapsed, and Kael and Seraphina paused mid-stride, caught in a temporal lock that defied the laws of the world.

Selene screamed, her moonlight aura flaring. "What is this?!"

Valerian staggered back, horror gripping his heart. "Temporal Lock… that's impossible."

Origin stepped toward him, untouched by the laws that bound reality. "You're still bound by the system. I broke free," he said, his voice soft but laced with cruelty. "You are the system," Valerian hissed, his fists trembling with rage.

Origin chuckled, the sound rich with disdain. "I was. Now I'm beyond it."

He raised his hand again, and the sky turned white, a celestial beam—like the core of a star—smashing into the landscape. The blast obliterated everything in a ten-mile radius, leaving a smoldering crater in its wake. Valerian stood at the edge, his armor cracked, blood pouring from his ears, one eye blind from the sheer force of the attack. But he was smiling, a defiant grin that burned brighter than the devastation around him.

Origin narrowed his eyes. "Why are you grinning?"

Valerian lifted his hand, his voice steady despite the pain. "Because I'm not alone."

> **[System Override: Forbidden Protocol – Gate of Echoes.]**

A golden sigil burned in the air, spinning faster and faster, its light pulsing with a power that rivaled Origin's own.

> **[Releasing Echoes of the Past.]**

Silhouettes emerged behind Valerian—translucent copies of himself from every battle he'd fought, each one a snapshot of his journey: burned, bloodied, victorious, broken. Ten, twenty, fifty Valerians flooded the field, each wielding a unique combination of skills, elements, and martial styles, their presence a testament to the path he'd walked.

"Let's see how you handle every version of me," Valerian growled.

The echoes charged, a tidal wave of defiance that forced Origin onto the defensive. Spells crashed into divine shields, swords met spears, lightning kissed fire in a swirl of destruction that shook the world. Kael broke free from the temporal freeze, his eyes wide with awe. "He summoned himself?! That's insane!"

Seraphina gritted her teeth, her spear glowing brighter. "He's matching divinity with insanity!"

Selene stepped beside them, her moonlight aura fully awakened, her blades shimmering with celestial power. "Then let's help him."

Together, they surged forward, joining the army of echoes in a desperate assault. The battlefield became a maelstrom of chaos, the ruins trembling as reality itself buckled under the weight of their combined power.

And then it happened. Valerian reached into his chest, his hand closing around the divine core within him. It pulsed like a miniature sun, screaming with cosmic power, its light illuminating the crater in a radiant glow.

> **[Core Sync: 100% Achieved.]**

> **[Divine Awakening Unlocked – Title Gained: Ascendant Overlord.]**

Valerian's wounds vanished, his hair turning silver-white, his eyes glowing like collapsing stars. He had become something more than mortal, more than god—a balance of fate and rebellion, a being who stood at the precipice of creation and destruction. He flew upward, rising above even Origin, his presence a beacon of defiance.

"Time to end this," Valerian whispered, his voice resonating with the weight of his new power.

He summoned Oblivion's Edge, now reforged by the divine core, its blade a shimmering cascade of light and shadow. Origin stared up at him, his expression a mix of amusement and rage. "You're still a shadow of me."

Valerian descended, his war cry splitting the heavens as he brought the sword down. The impact cracked the gate behind Origin, a shockwave that sent ripples through reality itself. Origin screamed—not in pain, but in rage, his voice a howl of defiance. "You've doomed everything!"

Valerian landed in front of him, his eyes unyielding. "No. I just showed you… I'm not your shadow. I'm your end."

---

**The Unseen Watcher**

The sky behind them shimmered, a second gate beginning to open, its edges pulsing with a light that wasn't divine but something older, something that made the air recoil. A presence stirred, not within the battlefield but beyond it, watching with an intensity that chilled the soul.

> **[System Notification: An Unknown Entity is Watching.]**

> **[Codename: The Architect.]**

The ground trembled, the ruins groaning as the second gate widened. The system flared, its text glitching with an ominous warning:

> **[WARNING: ARCHITECT PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]**

> **[Objective: Reclaim the Divine Core]**

> **[Source: The Primordial Chorus]**

A single eye opened in the void beyond the gate, vast and unblinking, its gaze locking onto Valerian. The air grew heavy, reality itself bending under the weight of its presence. The voice of the Primordial Chorus whispered, not to Origin but to Valerian, its words a promise of annihilation: "You wield the Core, Ascendant Overlord, but it was never yours. We forged it, and we will take it back."

Valerian staggered, the divine core in his chest pulsing erratically as the eye's gaze burned into him, peeling away his newfound power, his resolve, his very identity. Kael, Seraphina, Selene, and Lira froze, their faces pale with terror as the gate widened further, revealing not a figure but a presence—a force that dwarfed even Origin's power.

Selene grabbed Valerian's arm, her voice trembling. "What is that?"

Valerian didn't answer, his eyes fixed on the eye in the void. The system screamed, its final message a desperate plea:

> **[DIVINE CORE COMPROMISED]**

> **[The Architect Awakens]**

The gate pulsed, and the world began to unravel, reality fracturing as the Chorus's laughter filled the void, leaving only a single, chilling question:

What happens when the god who defied fate faces the one who wrote it?