[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-villain-s-pov":3,"chapter-the-villain-s-pov-the-villain-s-pov-chapter-504":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","THE VILLAIN'S POV",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},337057,598,"Chapter 504: No Turning Back","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-504",504,"\u003Cp>When I stepped outside the simple tent that had hosted our discussion, I realized the sky had already gone dark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Night had fallen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After eight straight days of battle, the number of soldiers following me had dwindled drastically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the thousand I’d started with, barely a bit over a hundred remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was no longer an army .. just a small battalion that had lost its way in enemy territory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rest had either run away... or died in past battles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their lives and deaths ..my decisions had clearly played a role in them. I was the one who dragged them here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe their souls would come to rest on my conscience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe that was why I felt this growing burden on my shoulders—this strange weight and pressure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As I wandered through the few tents that remained in our crude camp...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A bitter smile crossed my face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What difference does it make now? I’ve borne far heavier burdens than this.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the price that had to be paid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike the past, the number of souls tied to me had grown immensely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, I wasn’t just haunted by the faces of my father, Clana, or Danzo...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The faces that appeared before me now were of people I never even got the chance to know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Darker than black itself.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So lost in my solitude, I’d forgotten I wasn’t alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having walked far enough from camp, I was now out of sight ..far enough for her to emerge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’ve been so quiet lately, I almost forgot you were even here.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those words were for the demoness who stepped out from the shadows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I felt this was the right time to appear again,\" said Sansa, with a gentle smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her words brought me back to something she’d said before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Darker than black... What exactly did you mean by that?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I asked, as we strolled together through the barren wastelands of the Ultras’ lands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sky above us was the only living thing in this dead place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With her hands clasped behind her back, Sansa took the lead. I followed without hesitation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She took her time answering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Do you remember what I told you a long time ago? When I defeated you and the others in our friendly spar?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She answered my question with another question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be honest, I couldn’t recall it clearly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after thinking it through... I realized she was talking about that match I’d lost alongside Snow and Demon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s quite an old memory you’ve dug up. If I’m not mistaken... your hair was still blonde back then.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was still the human princess whose connection to me I couldn’t quite define.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And I was still trying to find some meaning in my life after winning the Victoriad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I remembered that much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the exact words she said back then escaped me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Your darkness is lukewarm and weak. Those were my words to you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sansa didn’t give me time to respond. She said it herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But now... it’s darker than black. The abyss inside you has grown so vast... I fear it might consume you one day.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That much... I already knew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t know exactly what your demonic eyes see, but nothing has changed. Not now, not in the past... and not in the future either.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That abyss would only grow... until its shadow stretched far and wide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Are you even capable of carrying that weight?\" she asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What I know is that I will carry it .. whether I have the strength or not. Come on, it’s not like I’m going to collapse or something.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I chuckled, pointing at her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re here, after all.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing that, she nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s exactly why I chose to appear now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As I drew closer to her, I began to realize just how important it was to have Sansa by my side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I wasn’t sure what exactly I felt toward her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But whatever it was... she felt like a sedative.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A potent drug that threw me far from reality, even if only for a moment ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something that made me forget all the burdens crushing my shoulders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It might sound cruel of me to say this, and perhaps unfair to Sansa, who was willing to do so much for me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that’s simply what I felt toward her right now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I couldn’t call it love. Like I said before...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was more like a sweet-tasting narcotic .. One that helped me hold myself together just a little longer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s how I viewed her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And from the looks of it... she already knew that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And accepted it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe, alongside her own feelings, she too had developed the same twisted perspective about me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps I was her drug ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her own escape from the shadows of life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She understood her role.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s why she showed up before me in this moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sansa... my gentle sedative.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>---\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>—ULTRAS CONTINENT—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the very heart of the continent, on the main side that housed the strongest forces of the Empire’s enemies, stood the central base of the Higher Blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A city swallowed by wastelands like many others... but it was still in far better shape than the rest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With towering walls and dazzling lights that made it glow amidst the desert—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This city had become the beacon of the war effort for the Ultras.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was known as Nitheos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of the Higher’s forces were present.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was always alive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its flame never dimmed, neither day nor night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soldiers marched back and forth throughout the streets ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two men watched everything from atop one of the taller buildings in the area.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They stood side by side, gazing down at the very men who had chosen to follow them blindly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first was an old drunk, dressed in tattered rags. Nothing about him stood out—except the cursed sword on his back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second was his opposite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A composed and elegant man, whose only similarity with the old drunk was the fact that he too carried a blazing weapon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Silence loomed between them for a long while...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until it was finally broken by Mergo, whose eyes never left the faces of the soldiers below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"New faces come every day... and the old ones leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Funny how quickly I forget them.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Gavid Lindman responded flatly, not even looking at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s normal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They leave to fight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And besides, I doubt a senile old man like you even remembers faces to begin with.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mergo had never seemed particularly sane to anyone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The drunk smiled slowly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"War, huh?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Do you really think that’s what we’re fighting?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You think we’re playing games then?\" Gavid grumbled, clearly annoyed ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was how every conversation with the old man went.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Maybe we are, Lindman...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because to me, it all feels like a grand show ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not a war.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That made Gavid turn to face him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"A play to some,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A war to others.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It all depends on how you look at it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A war tangled in clashing currents ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or a theater with no one truly knowing the script.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To Mergo, there wasn’t much difference between the two.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was one thing he was certain of.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We’re dying, Lindman...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dying slowly.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His words carried many meanings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most notably, the recent deaths of so many of their people on the battlefield.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We made a deal with the devil,\" the drunk murmured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gavid nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We did... with more than one.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They both knew ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no turning back now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not since the day they created that gate that allowed those demons to come through.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I keep wondering...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Did we make the right decision?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I don’t know,\" Gavid said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But I know this much ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the very least, if I die this time...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’ll die because of my choices.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not someone else’s.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if it all ended in ruin and death .\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least this time...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were the masters of their own fate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gavid Lindman, the man who had once broken his demonic contract and turned on beings like Astaroth...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had always fought for what he called freedom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And to achieve his twisted goals, he’d made deal after deal ..\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deals that turned this war into a dark stage play.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Despite knowing far more than most, both he and Mergo were still utterly clueless about how it would all end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether it was a pact with a vile demon, a strange prince, or an unnameable entity...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no going back now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the very least,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>they had earned the right to choose the place they would die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or at least...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s what they chose to believe.\u003C\u002Fp>",1439,"2026-05-30T03:41:39.413Z","2026-06-01T04:30:13.202Z",1,"novelbin.me","838cd57bafe54715a4b2b49a134fd82ccf8983b4a023c45a7ef7b505f06dc57a","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-505","the-villain-s-pov-chapter-503",866,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-villain-s-pov-cover.jpg"]