Villain's Odyssey: Enslaving heroines, Conquering Villainesses
Chapter 67: The Variable’s Attack

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: The Variable’s Attack

The moment he stepped inside, he found himself in a massive hall—so enormous it contained the crowd with room to spare. The architecture was impressive, with soaring ceilings and gleaming surfaces that spoke of the academy’s wealth and prestige.

"HEAD FOR YOUR PREDESIGNATED POSTS!" a voice boomed across the hall.

Asher looked around, taking in the organized chaos of students moving in various directions. "Now, where is post 103?" he wondered aloud, beginning to walk deeper into the hall.

.

.

.

.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!"

Asher, who had been casually searching for his assigned post, suddenly found himself grabbed by the collar and slammed into a hidden corner of the hallway. The impact knocked the breath from his lungs and sent his head spinning.

"You are literally the one holding me," he said flatly, trying to process what had just happened. But the girl didn’t budge—didn’t even seem to register his words. She was staring at him with an intensity that made his skin crawl, her eyes boring into his face like she was trying to memorize every detail.

It was the same girl who’d been with Sam earlier, the one who wouldn’t stop with that insistent, creepy gaze that had made him uncomfortable from the moment he’d noticed it.

"You are doing something to me and I don’t like it! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!" Her voice rose to nearly a shriek, and Asher felt his irritation spike into something approaching genuine anger.

"I advise you to stop this stupidity and put me down," he said, his voice taking on a dangerous edge. "I don’t want to resort to force."

[Hmm... should we consider her a threat?] The familiar voice echoed in his mind, but he didn’t respond. He was feeling genuinely irritated now, and had this overwhelming sensation that if he didn’t handle this psycho immediately, he would end up in a situation so messed up there would be no crawling out of it.

This wasn’t about analysis or whatever clinical process his brain usually went through to make decisions. At this very moment, something primitive in him was screaming one thing and one thing alone:

Danger.

"Oh~ so you won’t talk, right?" she said, her eyes unnaturally wide and her expression twisted into something that looked like madness. Her grip on his collar tightened, and he could feel her trembling—not with fear, but with some kind of manic energy.

There was something seriously wrong with this girl. Why was she acting this way? What the hell was her problem?

Then, suddenly, he felt it.

A deeply condensed ether, thick and oppressive, washing over him like a tide of raw power.

"Fuck," he blurted—the first time he’d cursed in a long while—as a sensation he thought he’d never feel again crashed over him.

Fear.

"TELL ME WHAT IT IS YOU ARE DOING TO ME!" With each word, her eyes, which had been gray moments before, began to shift to gold—a deep, rich golden color that seemed to glow from within. Her hair started to take on blue highlights, as if some dormant power was awakening.

In that instant, he realized what she was.

A variable.

A hidden variable. Some powerful side character who shouldn’t exist in this timeline, or at least not in this form. But why wasn’t such a character mentioned in the game? Or was she in disguise now? Was this not her real appearance?

"Argh!" he groaned in pain as something seemed to spear into his consciousness, tearing at the very fabric of his thoughts.

He felt something being torn from him—something important, something he needed to survive.

"W-what... what’s that?" she asked, her eyes glowing even brighter, her hair now distinctly blue and crackling with energy. He tried to pull away, feeling something foreign invading his mind, his very soul.

But she was just too damn strong.

This was exactly why he needed to get more powerful. This was why he couldn’t afford to be weak.

[Azalea—you... $%^&(! A%^&()! Get ^&()_! Away from her!]* The voice in his head was breaking up, fragmenting like a radio signal losing reception.

And then...

"...Ah." Something seemed to break inside him—not physically, but something deeper, more fundamental.

But the next moment...

"Stop that!"

BAM!

Something collided with the girl, sending her crashing into the wall. Her head struck the stone with a sickening thud, and she collapsed in a heap, unconscious.

"Haah... haa... haaa... haah," he panted, trying to catch his breath. Something had just happened—something catastrophic—and it wasn’t just the girl collapsing. It was something else entirely.

Something in him.

’Hey,’ he thought, reaching out to that familiar voice that had been his constant companion.

But there was only silence.

Suddenly, he began trembling uncontrollably.

Emotions.

Every single restrained emotion was released in an instant, flooding through him like a dam had burst. Years of carefully controlled feelings crashed over him in waves—anger, fear, loneliness, desperation, all the things he’d kept locked away. His mouth opened for a scream, but nothing came out.

Then...

Thud.

"A-Asher!" The girl who had just saved him from whatever was happening rushed forward to catch him as he collapsed. At this moment, most people in the surrounding area had already noticed the disturbance and were starting to gather.

"What’s happening here?" someone called out.

"Wait. Is... that blood?" another voice asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, someone’s fucking dying over there!" a random person screamed, and people began rushing forward to see what was going on.

"Kelly!" It was someone who knew the unconscious girl. He quickly scooped her up over his shoulder, then glared at Tracy with pure venom in his eyes.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he roared in anger.

"Oh, shut up!" Tracy sent him a glare of her own, her eyes glowing slightly. A strange sensation washed over the young man. He frowned, then licked his lips, threw the bloodied girl over his shoulder more securely, and pushed through the crowd. "Get out of my way!" he barked, rushing toward the infirmary.

Tracy looked down at the unconscious Asher, then back at the gathering crowd of students. She gritted her teeth in frustration.

"Why am I doing so much for you? We just met, damn it!" she said, though there was obvious concern in her voice despite her harsh words.

She enhanced herself with ether, carefully lifted Asher in a princess carry—which would have been embarrassing under normal circumstances—and rushed out of the area before anyone could ask more questions.

"Do you know what you both just did?" An infirmary attendant asked the two students who had just delivered injured patients.

"Yeah," Tracy sighed in frustration, slumping against the wall. She had just sacrificed her chance at getting good teammates for a guy she’d barely met. She felt so weird about the whole situation, but she couldn’t stop herself from caring about him.

If someone asked her why, she would probably say it was love at first sight, because there was no other explanation that made sense. She just liked the guy from the moment she’d seen him. His disturbing good looks aside, she just... liked him. A lot.

’I am definitely an idiot,’ she concluded.

"BLOODY HELL! THE TEST!" The other guy suddenly realized what they’d missed by bringing their injured classmates to the infirmary.

"Wow, a genius has been born," Tracy commented dryly, realizing that Castor was going to bug her to death for this. She had literally just ruined their perfect plan. Now everything would go to waste because she’d prioritized some random guy over their mission.

"Ahh," she cried out in annoyance, looking toward the room where Asher was being treated. "What exactly did you do to me? Why do I like you this much?"

...

...

A/N-Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation! Also, if you have enjoyed the story so far perhaps you can try dropping a review, the author would appreciate that, thanks!

Villain, out!