Villain With The Absolute Evil Sytem
Chapter 71 - 65 : Back and Updating - s

Chapter 71: Chapter 65 : Back and Updating Chapters

Darkness swallowed Lumian whole.

For a fleeting moment, he felt weightless,adrift in a void without direction, without time.

Then, gravity returned.

He crashed onto solid ground, the impact sending tremors through his bones.

Slowly, he pushed himself up, his golden eyes piercing through the suffocating gloom.

The air was thick, humid, and strangely warm.

It smelled old,ancient.

Like a place that had been untouched for centuries.

But beneath that...

A familiar scent.

Faint, but unmistakable.

He narrowed his eyes.

He knew this scent.

But he couldn’t quite place it.

"Where the hell am I?" he muttered

"One thing was for sure, I am no longer in the training room. The Augmented reality technology was good but no so good that I would not be able to tell reality apart from man made illusion"

His voice echoed unnaturally, stretching too far, as if the space around him was... wrong.

He glanced up.

The ceiling was gone.

Only an endless black abyss loomed above, stretching far beyond the range of his sight.

His gaze flicked to the ground.

The floor was stone,smooth, yet covered in unnatural carvings.

Symbols he didn’t recognize.

Symbols that pulsed...

...like they were breathing.

He exhaled slowly.

This was sure not a part of the training facility.

This wasn’t a simulation.

This was something else.

And he could tell, tell that something was watching him.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Footsteps.

Slow, deliberate, echoing in the vast emptiness.

They weren’t his.

His muscles tensed.

His ears twitched, pinpointing the direction,

To his left.

Something moved in the darkness.

Not approaching,just... standing there.

Watching.

Lumian rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck.

"You gonna keep lurking, or are you gonna come out and play?"

No response.

Just more silence.

Then,

A whisper.

Faint, just at the edge of his hearing.

"You are... unbroken."

"Not too far from strength compared to the last."

Lumian’s grin sharpened.

"Last?" he echoed.

"You mean I’m not your first guest?"

The air grew colder.

A presence loomed closer.

A faint outline formed within the darkness,

Something tall. Wrong.

Its shape was blurred, as if reality itself refused to acknowledge its existence.

Then,

It stepped forward.

And Lumian’s grin disappeared.

Because the thing standing before him...

Looked just like him. Lumian stared at his own face.

But it wasn’t quite right.

The eyes were... empty.

Hollow pits of swirling darkness.

The grin on its lips stretched too wide.

Its skin shifted, twisted, like it couldn’t decide what shape it wanted to take.

And then,

It spoke.

"You are incomplete."

"Weak."

Lumian exhaled, running a hand through his hair.

"Great. Another one of these weird cryptic bastards."

He took a step forward.

So did his copy.

A perfect mirror.

"So, what now?" Lumian asked. "You gonna bore me with riddles, or do we fight?"

The other Lumian tilted its head.

Then,

It lunged.

Fast.

Too fast.

Lumian barely had time to react before a fist crashed into his gut.

The force sent him skidding back,his feet digging trenches into the stone.

"Oh?"

Lumian wiped the blood from his lips, golden eyes gleaming.

Then,he laughed.

"This might be fun after all."

Above, the tower was in chaos.

Alarms blared. Red warning lights flashed across every hall.

Heroes ran frantically, trying to figure out what was happening.

Shirley ignored them all.

Her focus was on one thing.

Finding Lumian.

She sprinted after Trinity, her speed making the air whistle around her.

"Hey, white fox!" she barked.

Trinity didn’t stop.

Didn’t look back.

She moved like a woman possessed,her breath ragged, her eyes locked on something far beyond Shirley’s understanding.

"No, no, no..." she kept muttering.

Shirley growled in frustration.

She increased her speed , vanishing and reappearing directly in front of Trinity. Trinity was surprised, she was running at an incredible pace that would be difficult for most heroes to match but yet Shirley matched and surpassed it.

She skidded to a halt.

"Move," she snapped.

Shirley grabbed her by the collar.

"What the hell is going on?! Where is Master? Is this a part of your training too?"

For the first time,

Trinity’s composure cracked.

"Get your hands off me before you lose them," she threatened

Her red eyes burned with something close to fear.

She opened her mouth,

Then,

The entire tower trembled.

A low, guttural sound rumbled from beneath the earth.

Something ancient.

Something hungry.

Shirley froze.

That sound... it went straight under her skin, her hairs stood on end and she immediately released Trinity then hugged herself as if comforting herself

Lumian dodged his copy’s fist by a hair.

The shockwave split the stone behind him.

He grinned, twisting midair,

And slammed his own fist into his copy’s ribs.

CRACK.

The other Lumian staggered.

Then,

It laughed.

Low. Twisted.

Its voice warped and layered, like a dozen voices speaking at once.

"Stronger than expected."

It straightened, the bones in its chest snapping back into place.

Lumian narrowed his eyes.

"That’s new."

The copy’s face rippled. Shifted.

Then,

It changed.

Its grin widened, stretching beyond what was humanly possible.

Its fingers elongated into claws.

And its golden eyes...

They turned black.

"You were not meant to wake."

"Yet here you are."

The ground beneath them cracked. Twisted.

A low, bone-deep rumble echoed from the abyss.

Something stirred in the darkness.

Something vast. Incomprehensible.

And then,

The voice came.

Not from the copy.

Not from the shadows.

From everywhere.

A voice that did not belong to this world.

"Ah... you."

The ground collapsed and Lumian fell deeper. Lumian stood motionless.

The chamber around him pulsed like a living thing. The walls,if they could be called such,shifted between solid stone and a swirling, abyssal void.

Strange, iridescent veins coursed through the surface, pulsating like the slow rhythm of a dying heart.

Yet Lumian’s focus wasn’t on the grotesque beauty of his surroundings.

It was on the thing that stood before him. His eyes widened and he instinctively shifted back.

"What the hell is that?Just what the fuck has the Vanguard been keeping in their basement?"

A colossal, bound entity ,its form in constant flux, as if reality itself refused to settle on what it should be. One moment, it was a mass of abyssal flesh, slick and otherworldly, adorned with shifting, starlit scales. The next, it was an ethereal mist, its form dispersing into the air before solidifying once more.

Its spiraling appendages drifted like phantom limbs, their bioluminescent fins casting eerie lights upon the chamber. The curling fractal horns atop its head crackled with energy, static storms frozen in perpetual motion.

But it was the eyes that held Lumian still.

Vast whirlpools of light and darkness, endless voids that pulled at the soul.

The moment he locked onto them, his entire body rejected the creature’s existence.

A deep, visceral hatred rose within him,an instinctual loathing that had no logic, no origin.

His hands clenched into fists.

He wanted to kill it.

He didn’t know why.

But it felt like this hatred had been imprinted onto his very being.

The creature stirred. The chains binding him groaned, ancient links straining against his slight movement.

Then, he spoke.

At first, the words were incomprehensible, a sound that didn’t belong in this world.

It clawed at Lumian’s mind, twisting reality around him.

He took a step back, his breath ragged.

The creature stopped. Then, his voice shifted into something Lumian could understand.

"Do you find it hard to look at me?"

"Do you find me repulsive?"

"Does every fiber of your being scream to tear me apart?"

A pause.

Then, an amused chuckle.

"Of course it does."

"After all, you hate all those who oppose you."

Lumian snarled and instinctively took a defensive stance. Golden arcs of electricity crackled across his body, dancing between his fingertips.

The hatred,it wasn’t one-sided. The creature loathed him, too.

And something about that made Lumian grin.

"What the hell are you?" he demanded. "Why did you drag me down here?"

The creature laughed.

It was a deep, rolling sound, reverberating through the chamber like a distant storm.

"You are truly incomplete," he mused. "But even though we are enemies, I am still benevolent enough to enlighten you."

The chains around him tightened as if to silence him, but he ignored them.

"I shall introduce myself, just as I did to the annoying human who imprisoned me here."

A pause.

Then, with a voice that rumbled like thunder over an endless sea,

"I am the Lord of the Abyss; Nodens."

The air grew heavy.

Even without meaning to, Lumian felt the weight of the name press against his mind.

It wasn’t just a name. For something so abstract as a name, it felt solid, very physical, Lumian couldn’t explain it.

Lumian’s grin didn’t waver, but he did roll his shoulders as if shaking off the unseen pressure.

"Can’t say I’ve heard of you," he said.

Nodens’ whirlpool-eyes flickered.

"Of course not. You are still blind."

The creature shifted, his form blurring between solid and mist.

"I have been asleep since my imprisonment. But the moment you arrived... the moment you used that cursed ability and the energy that flowed with it"

His gaze sharpened.

"I awoke."

Lumian’s fingers twitched.

"[Dread Step.]"

It was the last thing he had used before the ground had swallowed him whole.

He narrowed his eyes.

"And what does that have to do with you?"

Nodens tilted his head.

"Because it is familiar."

"Because it should not belong to you, but it does"

"And that means that we have already met."

Silence.

Lumian stared.

Then, he scoffed. "I think I’d remember meeting someone as ugly as you."

Nodens didn’t react.

"Laugh while you can, boy."

"In time, you will become just like me."

"After all, we are both Heralds."

Lumian’s grin froze.

His mind flashed back,

To the status menu he had seen when the system appeared to him.

’Race: Herald.’

His golden eyes widened.

"...Herald? My new race?"

Nodens let out a deep, amused hum.

"It seems you are not entirely ignorant."

Lumian licked his teeth. "So what? You’re telling me you got a visit from the faceless bastard too?"

At this, Nodens’ form pulsed with contempt.

"No."

His voice turned sharp.

"No god may have two Heralds."

"I was the Herald of Nodens."

"I am Nodens, and Nodens is Nodens. A single entity but separate. Such is the paradoxical existence of all Heralds"

He moved forward, but the chains burned his form, forcing him back.

"And you..."

A dark grin curled across his monstrous face.

"You belong to another."

"Who? Tell me his name?"

Nodens tried to say the name.

But the moment he did, his entire body convulsed.

He screamed.

Not in rage.

But in agony.

The chamber shook. The chains tightened, searing into his flesh.

Lumian tensed, watching as Nodens writhed.

Then, after a long, ragged breath,

Nodens stilled.

"...It seems that trickster doesn’t want you to know some things."

His voice was laced with venom.

"How typical of him."

Lumian crossed his arms. "And yet, you’re still talking."

Nodens laughed.

"I am not as heartless as your god."

His whirlpool-eyes darkened.

"At least, I want you to know as much as possible before I kill you."

Without warning,

A tendril lashed out.

Lumian dodged, retaliating with a bolt of electricity.

The tendril severed,

But it instantly regenerated.

A wicked grin spread across Nodens’ face.

"Killing you won’t change anything..."

His voice deepened.

"...But at least I can piss that bastard off."

They clashed.

Lumian dodged, countered, evaded.

He struck with lightning, but Nodens reformed each time. He fought defensively, but tell, Nodens was toying with him.

Then, as their final blows were about to connect,

A voice echoed through the abyss.

"It’s not time for you to fight."

"For now, continue to grow your strength."

A massive hand emerged from the void, and dragged Lumian out.He landed right in front of Shirley and Trinity.

His clothes were torn, his body crackled with residual electricity and he breathed heavily.

Trinity exhaled sharply.

"You have a beef with clothes or what?"

Shirley, ignoring everything, ran forward and hugged him.

Trinity turned to the gathered heroes. "False alarm. Reopen the building."

Then, she fixed her gaze on Lumian.

"You’re going to tell me everything. Every. Detail."

Lumian eyed her.

Then, he smirked.

"No."

Trinity blinked. "...Excuse me?"

Lumian stretched

"Not until I soak in a nice bath and get some good food."

Trinity clenched her fists. She was annoyed, he pride didn’t sit right with following the demands of Lumian. Then, after a deep breath,

"Fine. Follow me."

Lumian grinned.

"Fantastic."