I Enrolled as the Villain
Chapter 48: Let the World Hear the Bird Who Sang of Rain and Fire

Chapter 48: Let the World Hear the Bird Who Sang of Rain and Fire

Earlier

Inside the sacred chamber, Radger walked with quiet purpose. His steps echoed softly against the marble floor, steady and unhurried.

At the far end stood a tall woman. She was kneeling, but even then, she was taller than him. Still as a statue.

Her presence filled the chamber like weightless gravity.

She was beautiful.

Beautiful like a star.

Beautiful like a field of red flowers blooming under a crimson sky.

The Trifold Saint still hovered above her — invisible now, as if her very presence had commanded it to lower itself in reverence.

The air was heavy.

Radger slowly sat on the cold stone floor, legs crossing beneath him, head slightly bowed.

Then he speak

His voice was low, almost reverent.

"Radger Zarnai of Keshar."

A beat of silence passed.

Then the woman stood. Slowly. Deliberately.

She turned to face him.

Brilliant red robes draped over her form, so vast they seemed to spill across the chamber floor like rivers of blood. The fabric shimmered each fold catching the light like burning silk.

And beneath it is an armor.

Not just red.

Blinding.

So saturated, so impossibly crimson, it seared the eyes of those unworthy to witness it. It was the kind of red that felt alive. The kind of red that stared back.

A few seconds passed.

Her red eyes settled on Radger like coals watching kindling.slow, unblinking, full of something deeper than mere scrutiny.

Only silence, deep and heavy, filled the sacred chamber.

Then, her voice cut through it quiet and measured, like a match striking in a dead forest.

"Let me tell you a story about hope...it always start and end with bird"

Then, she continued:

"There was once a bird born from fire.

Not warmth. Not light. Just fire. Its feathers were cinders. Its eyes, smoke.It didn’t sing. It didn’t nest. It simply... devoured."

She began to walk slow and measured each step echoing.

"Everywhere it flew, something died.

Villages. Names. Mothers. Hope.

And the bird no, the thing never wept.

Because fire doesn’t cry. It consumes."

Her voice didn’t rise, but it deepened.

"But then one day, it landed. Clipped its own wings. Put on a coat.

And smiled like it belonged."

A pause.

"Now it walks among the same creatures it once burned. Preaching mercy with the same mouth that once screamed commands."

She faced Radger fully now.

"And they listen. Because people are stupid like that. Because we’re trained to forgive what we fear— if it smiles just right."

Her red robe shifted, whispering against floor.

"They say it’s changed. That it walks now to save what it once crushed.

But I’ve seen embers buried under snow. I know what happens when they’re left too long."

A final breath.

"They melt the snow. And everything burns again."

A beat of silence passed between five of them. Then Radger spoke softly his eye fill with complentation.

"Then perhaps the bird still lives, Red Cosmos," Radger said softly. "Not because it forgave the flame... but because it learned to carry it."

Azaila’s eyes lingered on him, crimson and unblinking. She didn’t speak. Just studied his face as if dissecting the weight behind his words before finally turning away.

"I’ve already seen the footage," she said, her voice detached. "It was particle manipulation. Mythrigan-based."

Radger’s gaze lowered. "I see... no wonder no one’s deciphered it."

Azaila didn’t respond right away.

She simply raised her gaze to the marble ceiling of the sacred chamber, as if something far beyond it had just whispered her name.

Above her, the invisible Trifold Saint descended slowly and silently. One of its three heads, the one crowned in gold like a forgotten king, turned with unnatural grace.

Its lips moved.

No one else heard what it said.

But Azaila listened.

The crowned head’s eyes glowed faintly, then dimmed like dying embers.

Then with the same tone someone might use to comment on the weather she spoke

"This stronghold will explode in one minutes."

Radger stiffened. "Wait—what?"

He stood up sharply, one hand twitching toward the hilt at his side. There was nothing to draw. Nothing that would matter.

Azaila didn’t answer right away.

She stepped forward, her red robes trailing like a tide, the dying light of the stronghold dancing on the folds of fabric like stars in collapse.

Then:

"Let it happen."

Her voice was serene. Measured. As if the destruction outside was no more than petals falling from a flower.

"Let them believe this was a victory. That the Eye has judged... and passed sentence."

Her red eyes glowed faintly not with anger, but with something deeper. Something unshaken.

"The boy walks with a god in his skull and calls it vision. But what is a god that only sees?"

She turned slightly, just enough for Radger to glimpse the faint outline of her armor beneath the robes radiant and red like a dying sun.

"Eyes watch. Stars burn. I prefer the latter."

Then she tilted her head, as if listening to some ancient rhythm only she could hear.

"Let the world turn toward his flame.It will cast long shadows... and I will be standing in them."

Her gaze returned to Radger calm, absolute.

"I’m not chasing godhood. I’m preparing the world for its replacement."

A pulse ran through the floor the tremor of the stronghold’s collapse reaching them even here.

She smiled, faintly.

"Let the Eye judge. When its light fails, it will still turn to the Red Cosmos to find the path."

A flicker of light sparked above her open palm a bird, small and radiant, formed of ember and flickering flame. Its wings shimmered like sunrise.

She watched it for a moment, then closed her hand around it.

The bird burned.

"Let the world hear the bird’s song of rain and fire," she said, her voice low almost reverent. "Let it echo, even as the sky falls."

Then the flame consumed the entire sacred chamber.

It tore through stone, banners, and scripture a wave of searing red that left nothing untouched. The air screamed as heat devoured all. Walls cracked. Pillars buckled. History turned to ash.

And then — silence.

As the fire passed, it dissipated slowly, like a breath exhaled by the world itself.

All that remained was ruin.

A blackened chamber, scorched clean. Only ashes and soot remained where legacy once stood.

But two figures remained untouched. As if the flame itself had refused to harm them.

Azaira.

Radger.

Still standing. Still watching.

Then—

A faint chime.

A system notification pulsed to life, glowing in the air before them:

—————

[Disqualification Notice]

Azaira — The Daughter of the Red Cosmos

Radger Zarnai of Keshar

Status: Disqualified.

Reason: Total elimination of all students under faction leadership.

Red Line Faction [ Eliminated.]