Reincarnated As The Villainess's Son

[<Are you alright?>]

Inna's voice made me halt in my steps as I looked up at the pouring rain.

'…I don't know.'

Things are not like they used to be before.

I am not the child that I once was.

Maybe I could have talked about what she had been through.

Asked her if she was alright.

There was so much that I could have say but… I just don't want to.

Talking to her won't change anything now.

'It will just waste our time.'

I sighed as I began to walk towards the church.

[<You should be careful about Ashlyn.>]

'Why do you say so?'

[<There… had been times when you and Gabriel weren't on good terms.>]

I paused mid-step.

'You're talking like Gabriel and I were enemies.'

[<You weren't enemies, no,>]

Inna's voice was quiet, gentle, almost mournful.

[<But there were lives where your goals... didn't align. Where your light blinded her path.>]

'You're saying she might hate me?'

[<I'm saying… things might be different now.>]

Those words sat heavy in my chest.

I closed my eyes, the sound of rain fading beneath the weight of silence.

'Do you think she will remember her past life as Gabriel?'

[<She will most probably remember a fragment of it.>]

I rubbed my eyes in frustration at the thought of seeing her again.

There are also two other reincarnations of Gabriel that still haven't been found yet.

'One of them should come anytime soon now.'

She was rumoured to be one of the princesses of a small kingdom in the Kandam continent.

'I don't even know what part of her past she would remember.'

Either way, I am fucked.

I just hope I don't have to see her anytime soon.

Not until I am ready to face her.

Letting out another deep sigh as I walked inside the church, which was now packed.

Knights and nuns bowed towards me as I walked past them towards the red-haired boy.

"How did it go?" Aimar asked as soon as I walked closer to them. "She was Arianell, right?"

"Wait, you know that girl?" Elijah asked, tilting his head in confusion. "Oh, wait, you were with him. Right."

I just shrugged as I sat with them on the long benches of the church.

Aimar leaned in with a curious expression. "So? What did she want?"

I leaned back against the cold wood of the bench, eyes focused on the ceiling.

"Closure," I muttered. "Or something close to it."

Aimar looked like he wanted to say more, but he caught the edge in my tone and stayed quiet.

The silence between the three of us was surprisingly comfortable.

Aimar tapped his finger on the bench. "You okay?"

"No," I replied without hesitation. "But I will be."

He didn't ask again.

"Any news about the Dead God?" I asked instead, changing the subject.

"There hasn't been any sighting of it."

Someone replied from behind us.

"Though, they are still trying to find it."

I shifted on my seat to look back, only to find Wilhelm, the short blonde-haired elf standing behind us.

I frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"That's a weird question." He mumbled, tilting his head. "I am here to help."

"Nope." I said, standing back up. "You aren't going out there and fight."

Wilhelm's green eyes narrowed. "And why is that?"

" Why are you risking your life anyway?" I asked, glaring at him. "Why would you go out of your way to help strangers?"

"You aren't making any sense—."

"You have a daughter waiting for you at home." I cut in his words. "Think about her before you do anything."

Wilhelm scoffed. "I am strong enough to take care of myself."

I took a step closer, towering over him. "Do you really want to find out how weak you are?"

"..."

Wilhelm just looked at me without speaking a word.

Elijah quickly walked in between us, trying to intervene.

"Hey, Himmel." He said. "What are you doing?"

I stared at Wilhelm for a second longer, then turned my gaze toward Elijah.

"I'm making sure he doesn't do something stupid," I said flatly.

Wilhelm scoffed under his breath. "You don't get to decide that for me."

"I do if it means a child grows up without a parent."

Wilhelm's jaw clenched, but he didn't say anything.

Aimar finally stood too, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Himmel, calm down."

I shook my head but didn't shake off his hand. "You've already done enough, Wilhelm. Go rest."

"I came here to protect you." He said. "And I will continue to do so."

I closed my eyes, the thought of knocking him out crossed my mind.

'Let's just do it—.'

BOMMM!!!

My trail of thoughts halted as I heard a sudden thunderous sound shaking the city.

My eyes snapped towards Aimar, who had the same expression.

"Himmel!"

I rushed out of the hall filled with panicking people without hearing Elijah.

Bam!

The gate slammed open and the heavy rain once again poured on me.

Ignoring it, I looked around until my gaze landed on it.

The mush of human flesh emerging from the centre of the city.

It was here.

A towering amalgamation of limbs, faces, and hollow mouths twisting in unnatural ways, as if the very laws of creation had been mocked during its birth.

The Dead God had returned.

My feet moved before my mind caught up.

Behind me, I heard Wilhelm shouting orders, Elijah yelling for the knights.

But all I could focus on... was it.

Its body pulsed like a heart, leaking foul, steaming blood that sizzled against the rain-soaked ground.

Arms...some massive, others small and childlike...reached out of its core, grabbing at the world around it.

Faces, hundreds of them, melted together into a writhing surface, all screaming silently.

It was trying to consume the city.

And Candela had seconds left.

[<Qais, you need to—>]

'I know,' I answered Inna before she could finish.

Mana surged around me, snapping the air like lightning.

Aimar appeared beside me, from a portal. "Tell me where to hit."

"Protect the civilians," I said, voice low. "Keep the thing from spreading. Elijah—"

"On it," he responded without hesitation.

Summoning his wings, he arched over the nearest buildings.

I stepped forward, rain pouring down my face, my feet splashing in water that was quickly turning red from the spreading corruption.

The Dead God turned.

It saw me.

And it smiled...not with a mouth, but with all its faces.

[<Be careful, Qais.>]

"I don't plan to die today."

Drawing in a deep breath, I began to walk closer to the Dead God.

Its hands began to merge with each other, turning even longer as it began to destroy the city around it.

"Himmel! I can't save everyone!"

Aimar's voice echoed from a distance within the rain.

I closed my eyes as I measured the distance that I could cover.

'The city will be destroyed but I think no one will die.'

The church is already there to help with the renovation.

Opening my eyes, I slowly whispered.

"Rejection of Time."

The world around me turned grey in an instant.

Everything around me slowed down.

The running citizens from the Dead God, their expressions of terror… I could see everything clearly.

Droplets hovered in the air like suspended glass.

For a moment, everything felt... manageable.

The Dead God stood still, its many faces twisted in a scream that no longer reached the air.

With time slowed, I made a string of mana that hovered before attaching itself to the people close to the Dead God.

Slowly, more and more people were captured with the string.

Ten turned into thousands as for the first time in a while, I felt my mana deplete a little.

'Huff…'

Drawing in a deep breath, I flexed my muscles and pulled all the strings at once.

The strain was unbearable but it worked nonetheless.

They were like stars falling toward me, silent streaks of color through a motionless storm.

My heart pounded in my ears as I pulled them away.

Fifty-eight thousand lives.

One by one, they appeared behind me—collapsing in safety near the church steps, disoriented but alive.

"Gah—!"

Time resumed with a brutal lurch as I jerked my bloodless hand.

A sharp screech tore through the city as the Dead God raised its malformed arms again, furious at the sudden emptiness where its feast once stood.

Aimar quickly moved to help the civilians right beside me.

"Huff…"

I drew in a deep breath as I formed a blade of mana in my hand.

I tightened my grip around my blade. "Aimar. Clear the civilians away from the blast zone."

"What about you?"

"I'm about to piss off a god."

Saying so, I rushed towards the Dead God.

The ground beneath me broke as I blurred and jumped up at the mass of flesh.

As I brought down my blade at its body.

The thing smiled with every one of its mouths.

The world slowed down for me as the thing twisted its form.

A small opening formed at the centre and a face clad in a white frame came to my view.

'Arianell?'

As soon as I saw her…

…The thing wrapped hundreds of its arms around her.

And....Now.

She was gone.

Vanished within the thousands of arms.