A Villain is Born

"Argh," groaned Annabelle as she stirred from sleep.

"Great, you're awake, and right on time too," a voice spoke, and her body stiffened involuntarily.

"No," she muttered.

"No... Please, no! NOOOOOOO!" She screamed in absolute horror, realizing all she remembered wasn't just some nightmare.

It was now her reality.

At this point, Eren had tortured her so much that she had developed this... 'fear.'

A strange feeling she had only experienced once in her life, and that was when she had watched the imbecile before her drive his sword through the chest of her love.

But now... just the sight of him triggered that fear.

She hated this feeling.

She thoroughly despised it.

But she was no hypocrite.

She knew this was bound to happen the moment he had somehow managed to overpower her on that day.

His aura and everything about him had turned dark.

So sinister that she could barely recognize him.

Was he still the same weakling? Was he still Ashley's brother, who had been nothing more than a waste—a mere imbecile fortunate enough to be born a noble, but nothing more?

He had been just like any commoner out there.

Worthless trash.

A waste of air who had no talent whatsoever.

Well...

That was who he was supposed to be until the day he snapped.

The day he turned into this...

"Monster," she spat, panting heavily.

Drip.

Drop.

Drip.

Incessant and dreadful was the sound of her blood as it dripped on the floor, staining the ground a gruesome, bloody red.

Blood pooled right beneath where she was strung up.

She was scarred all over, cuts and bruises everywhere. Her once beautiful face—once ranked among the top beauties in the entire academy—was now disfigured.

She had gone through hell and back in his hands these past five days, and by the looks of it... It was far from over.

"HeheheheHAHAHAH," Eren clutched his forehead, his laughter echoing through the room. His body trembled with barely contained excitement.

He had no idea what was wrong with him. He couldn't explain it, but the moment he had used that forbidden technique, he had lost all trace of humanity—all form of compassion.

Now, he found a twisted sense of pleasure in tormenting the so-called heroine.

Oh, how he could already imagine the ecstasy he would feel from tormenting the true protagonist.

"Monster?" he muttered.

His hand dropped from his forehead, and then—

BAM!

He took a dagger, stabbed it into her neck, and drew it down to her abdomen.

"KYAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Blood gushed from her body, but he barely registered that her death was imminent.

"Oh, you haven't seen how much of a monster I actually am," he said, tossing the dagger to the ground and walking toward the table.

"I've reserved these... 'tools' of yours for this moment," he said, and then—

Woom!

He manifested an array of potions, daggers, even explosives—all and sundry appeared, clattering onto the table.

"Wow," he muttered, rather amused. "You came prepared." He laughed.

"Torture me all you want, kill me—it still won't change the fact that Jason will find and kill you," she gasped, her vision growing blurry.

She should have long been dead, given how much he had put her through, but the very potions—the highest-grade healing elixirs she had brought in abundance to torture and extract the truth from Eren—were now, ironically, used against her.

Not only that, but he had also fed her a strange potion that completely sealed her access to mana.

She would have fought back if she still had mana, even if it meant dying by combusting her own mana core, but that wasn't possible.

What made it more frustrating was the fact that she couldn't fathom how he had concocted that potion.

Mana-sealing potions were rare—not just expensive, but rare. Money wasn't the issue for her; the problem was that the potion was nearly impossible to find.

Yet somehow, some way, Eren had managed to create it using the very potions she had in stock.

"Kill you?" he muttered, his eyes widening. "Now, why would I do that when I could use you to torment Jason so much, he would beg for his own death?" His expression was one of feigned confusion.

Spray.

She spat blood onto his disfigured face.

"I would rather die than hurt him," she said, her expression resolute.

"Heh, you truly have no idea what I can make you do," he laughed, circling her. "We have five days until the mission ends. That's more than enough time to break you."

He laughed again.

"I HATE YOU!" she roared.

"Hmm. What a pity," he said. "Truly a pity." He picked up a transparent potion she knew all too well.

"I SWEAR. I SWEAR ON THE MOTHER OF LIFE HERSELF, I WILL KILL YOU!" she screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Deep down, she wished Jason would walk through that door and save her. But alas, that was impossible.

"You know, from the very beginning of my life, I only ever had one wish. I didn't want to be special, I didn't want to be powerful, I didn't want to be loved. I knew all that was asking for too much," he said, and the more he spoke, the darker his heart became. "All I ever wanted was to be... happy. It didn't matter if I was alone—I just wanted to be happy."

He popped open the vial.

"But it seems I can never be happy. Not in this life, not in the next—not ever," he said. With every step he took toward her, her fear deepened.

"If I can't be happy... If I am always meant to suffer, to be a stepping stone for others, then so be it. I will kill every one of you. I will slaughter every hero and every so-called child of destiny!"

He began to laugh maniacally.

"W-what are you... talking about?" she stuttered.

"I AM A MONSTER, ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU CALLED ME? SO BE IT. I WILL BE THE VILLAIN OF THIS STORY."