Life Of A Nobody - as a Villain

When Leon finally reached the place where Godmother and Rio were facing each other, their battle had already entered the second stage. The period where the godmother showed her true might, channeling the power of the world's will directly into her vessel.

The pressure that she gave off was almost similar to that of a god back on Arcadia, and Rio was face to face with this insurmountable entity.

"Is this the gap between us?" Leon whispered to himself, his feet rooted to the ground as the weight of the Godmother's power pressed down on him, crushing him with its sheer magnitude. He could barely move, barely breathe. Every stone beneath him seemed to crack, as if the planet itself was trying to swallow him whole.

- all the while watching Rio, who expertly dodged and ran through the rain of burning stars falling over his head, unfazed by the pressure.

[Stop doubting yourself. How many times have I told you to have faith in me, in yourself.] Apollo said with a little annoyance and anger in his voice, [Where did all that talk about reaching the pinnacle of power, erasing the towers, or leaving a mark on the endless streams of time and history go.]

[Is this it, one talented boy, little ahead of you at the first crossroads of life, and that's all it took to crush your spirit.]

"No, god Apollo it's not that... I trust you. And I trust myself too, but I _ am I _ can I really_do all that?"

[Humph, maybe you deserved being a cripple. Others were right to leave you, and maybe I should have too.]

Apollo left a few harsh words and averted his gaze, ignoring the pleading and praying words of Leon that followed next.

The word cripple seemed to have triggered the years of struggle and torment he went through both publicly and privately, like how despite being a noble he had to hear taunts from homeless goons, how he'd get shunned and kicked out of every gathering, every function.

How his parents had to bow their heads and keep silent as others showed off their kids and mocked him indirectly, - all these things flashed in his head like voices whispering in his ears, that he'll always be just that. Never be enough, never be the one. - this trauma, Apollo's words, plus godmother's influence - all coming together it just thrusted him into despair.

All until he saw an ethereal shadow raising its hand towards him.

[You're amazing Leon. I can't tell you how much I admire you.

You have strength and you have heart, I wish I could be just like you.

I've never been free, no one on this planet is, so would you help me see that freedom? Will you save our world?]

The words of Kami echoed in his head, and a few tears rolled down his cheeks as he realized that neither could he save her, nor her home planet.

"I failed you. I failed everyone." He muttered, falling to his knees.

[It's okay. It's not your fault.] The soul of Kami said as she wiped his tears and hugged him, [You killed my father and avenged my mother , now avenge me too.]

[Godmother has all our souls trapped in her body, so until you kill her, we'll never be free. So help us.

Fulfil your promise, and show me what real freedom looks like.]

...

"System, is that the power of love I'm feeling buddy?" Rio said, as two eyes formed behind the feathers of his angelic wings, and he saw the surging aura and scorching wind in a corner.

[I think so.] System agreed and added, [Apollo gave him a spell similar to yours. Which let him control the Light Flames during the battle with the godmother's immortal child. Making Leon rank up and defeat that dude.]

[Since two continuous power ups might inflate the protagonist, so I'm guessing now it's more of a heart tempering thing. A trip down memory lane or fancy ghost visions, You know, unlocking your true potential with powerful emotions and speeches kinda thing.]

"Humm," Rio nodded his head, before breaking into a smile, "You wanna see a joke, system?"

[Host, no.] System refused immediately.

"A small prank wouldn't hurt." Rio insisted.

[We don't need to show our cards now, host. There's no need to complicate things.]

"But it'll be very funny."

[Why even ask me, when you've already made up your mind.] System said sourly and went silent.

Secretly bringing out popcorn and watching as Rio pulled out all the brakes and stopped playing around.

The task of taking the battle till the last second, giving the enemy hope of winning safely, before crushing it, can be left for the next time. (Dhoni, this was u btw)

[Time till crash 4 minutes 17 seconds.]

... .

"First, let's take away his light." Rio uttered, channelling his element to the best of his abilities.

The surrounding area instantly turned darker to a degree where even the flames of hell burning sacred tree lost their lustre and forgot to shine. Yet his body moved in this realm with ease, the black tendrils of darkness swirling around him like liquid smoke.

The gluttonous avatar took a form similar to a dark demon born in abyss, and jumped into the water balloon godmother made to protect the core of the tree. It opened its mouth and started munching on the magic. Slowly but surely eroding and erasing its healing properties.

Eighteen ethereal reapers appeared behind his back. Covered in clocks with scythes in their hands. They all charged behind the shadow avatar, striking strongly at the core.

Their magical scythes ignored the barriers and directly reaped the souls godmother had gathered together. Sending them straight to the pits of hell, where eternal torture awaited them.

Rio's eyes gleamed in the darkness, he didn't speak--there was no need. He just enjoyed the screeching sound of hunger and silence of the night.

A slither of light passed in the darkness at unimaginable speeds, like a shooting star. (StarTrail - sword skill)

Godmother raised her hand, her tree-like arm shooting forward like a lance to block the incoming sword. But Rio's body dissolved into shadow, dodging the attack with ease, and reappeared behind her with a single step.

For a moment, it was as if time itself had paused. Then, a thin line of darkness split the air in front of the Godmother, severing a part of her form--but instead of bleeding, her body morphed. The tree bark twisted, vines and flowers erupting from the wound as she turned the damage into blooming life.

"This is my world, Rio. The rules, laws and the truth all bend to my will. What I say, is what is." she said, her voice echoing with an cosmic resonance, as the laws of universe shifted.

The reality around her flickered, and suddenly, the battlefield changed.

Where once there was the wreckage of battle, now there was a lush meadow filled with vibrant flowers. Rio's deadly sword strikes became a gentle breeze, just enough to comb her hair. His reapers turned into butterflies that fluttered harmlessly around the sacred tree.

Each time he teleported and attacked, the godmother swapped places. Causing his attacks to break his own barrier.

The night sky turned to noon, and the dark void around Rio flickered with sunlight. Melting his armor and burning his skin.

"That was a birthday gift by the way." Rio said, as he pulled his hot armor sticking to his skin and dropped it to the ground. "And now I gotta hear a long lecture from mom again."

"Again with your jokes." Godmother sneered and clenched her fists.

"Come on, just accept your death and bow your head already. You can't defeat me." Rio taunted, before launcing another attack.

"Arrogant brat, let's see how you survive this." Godmother said and pointed to the sky.

Rio's eyes narrowed as he looked up only to close his eyes under the blinding light, that threatened to burn him whole.

'Was that the..?' Rio said, covering his eyes tightly.

[Yupp, she pulled the freaking sun on you.]

'She can do that?'

[She is the de facto leader of this place, of course she can.] System replied and explained, [Though due to the limitations of the dungeon and on her strength, it's not the real sun, just a part of it.]

"God, I hate suns." He cursed and was contemplating whether to use his system trapping skill he used when dealing with ring ghost grandpa , or pull the scroll which recorded the power from a full slash of his father, or sacrifice a high grade defensive artifact to contain the damage - when the mark of moon on his wrists lit up, and system messages popped up one after another.

[Goddess of darkness grants you her second blessing. - Reversal Night.]

[Reversal Night - A skill which allows the wielder to completely invert the properties of light within a given area, turning all sources of illumination--whether natural (like sunlight), artificial, or magical--into pure darkness.

Skill breakdown

-1) Total Darkness: All light within the skill's radius (100-meter area) is extinguished, rendering enemies blind unless they possess special abilities to see in darkness.

-2) Siphon - Enemies trapped inside lose 10% of their mana or stamina every minute as it is siphoned into the darkness.

-3) Endless - Debuffs the enemies senses, making any attempt to leave or charge at user futile as the night seems endless like infinity. (Currently a 20% chance to cancel out any teleportation skill completely.)

-4) Dissonance (locked) - Enemies experience disorientation, fear and paranoia, hearing whispers from the void that reduce their mental fortitude.

-5) Nightmare (locked) - Castor can pull the nightmares of his enemies into reality. Forcing them to face their worst horrors.

-6) Sleep (locked) - Can cause enemies to fall into deep slumber. Lasting duration of it depends on their mental and spiritual strength.

Note - The darkness treats everyone equally. Hence the blessed one be careful, lest they lose themselves for forever.

Higher amounts of luminosity can improve the skill range and duration.

Type - Active skill. (AOE effect + Elemental manipulation.)

Consumption - 35% of total mana pool. (Current duration 2 minutes, Current skill range 30 meters.)

Cooldown - 7 days. ]

"Now this is what it means to be pampered by a primordial." Rio said and laughed out heartily, before stopping suddenly and turning serious. "System, you're seeing this too, right? I'm not imagining it."

[Nope. Little Nyxi really came through this time.]

'She must be in a good mood to empty her pocket like this, eh.'

[Yupp, I think so too.]

"Well anyway, let's just end this fight and then we can have a chat and ask her directly." Rio said and looked at the falling sun with a smile.

"Reverse" He muttered under his breath, and instantly the whole world turned into darkness. (Not the whole world, but since he couldn't see what's outside the range, so for him, the distance wasn't 30 meters, but infinite.)

The sun that had nearly burned his protective barriers and made him sweat buckets, disappeared completely. As if it was never there in the first place.

Even as the castor all Rio could see was just endless darkness, but he didn't need vision, he could track godmother on his map, and that was enough.

He appeared directly in front of that red dot and used his strongest sword slash.

The godmother who was looking around in surprise as she lost control over the sun and felt the effect of siphoning and dissonance, and failed every attempt to control the space and laws of her world within, was shocked shortly as she felt her hair stand on end.

But despite the best of her abilities she couldn't see or sense where Rio was. So she just used all her strength to save herself. Forming a cocoon of energy, using souls as cover to hide her aura. While spreading dozens of seeds in the area, which turned into her clones and either started running away or kept repeating her actions.

Yet it was all a useless struggle. Perhaps she too had realised it, but was too stubborn to accept it.

"You can't kill me, Rio. _ I control your friends." Godmother shouted, hoping to buy herself time, or find a way to escape, "If I die, they die too. Let me go and I swear their safety..."

"You're funny, you know that." Rio interrupted her with a smile, as he heard Amy's voice in his ears, telling him that Amaya saved everyone.

Godmother too coughed out a little blood and sensed every seed of her being burned under angel's purification magic.

(As for why Amaya didn't just directly freed them and took this much time, Rio could also guess the reason. The photogenic heroine has a memory of loss forever etched in her mind now, so she had to vent that anger somewhere.)

"I can even bring back those who died before. You said their souls would linger in wait right, so let me go and as the ruler of this world, I can bring them to life."

"Maybe you could do that, but this isn't your world now. It's mine." Rio's cold voice came from everywhere, echoing in the enclosed darkness.

A heavy thumping sound echoed in the empty space, like a hammer hitting a thin metal sheet, followed by a crackling noise as every barrier blocking his sword broke and disappeared.

The tiny sparks dissolving in darkness almost instantly.

The last thing godmother ever saw, were two black eyes staring back at her, their pupils reflecting red as sparks flew in front of them.

"You really are _ _ ."

Before her words finished, a sword pierced her heart, ending her life once and for all. The aftereffect of this hit also blasted all her internal organs to pieces. Making a big hole on her back.

Cracks started forming on her body as it started to shatter in small pieces. Thin green vines grew here and there, trying to hold her parts together, trying to revive her slowly, but before anything could work, darkness siphoned it all.

[Hela sneers at Nyx's tricks, saying she was about to help you too.]

[Loki chuckles silently, his eyes showing greed over this skill. He asks you to sell it to him and you can choose something else.]

[Hela punches her father, asking him to stop being so shameless, lest he ends up angering another primordial.]

...

...

Rio glanced through their messages and ignored it, this duo was acting just like their usual selves. Many other gods who were paying attention to his fight also said some words, either praising him or asking him questions and things, but Rio just ignored them all.

"Time to gather my loot." He said as he slowly walked forward aimlessly. Going towards the ashes of the sacred tree which had now fully burned under hell flames.

Opening his true eyes, he rummaged in the wreckage and picked out a small green core from the ground, and pocketed it in his inventory.

Though he wanted to study this thing, after all, it's not everyday that one comes across something as rare as a world's core. But now wasn't the time.

Reversal domain would just last about half a minute more, and in this time, he not only had to set some bait and covers to hide his loot, but also had to prepare himself to play the part of a wounded hero.

Not to mention, the most important part, he needed to be stern so he doesn't break into laughter when he sees Leon's bewildered face outside, whose enlightenment, fancy speeches, and power of love didn't do jack shit.

[Petty.] System replied, while pulling out the camera function secretly, to capture the protagonist's expression.

"Say that after you swallow the popcorn stuck in your throat."

[Heh, it's melon seeds, the popcorns ended a while ago.]

"...."

[....]

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