The man, or whatever it happened to be, who had brought him from the cabin walked beside him with firm steps. Glancing slightly to the side, Karl noticed he appeared as an ancient and powerful elder. Wearing an elegant medieval noble's vest, the figure possessed an aura so palpable that even Karl, who knew nothing of magic, could feel it.
Karl could barely keep his head raised, just enough to see what awaited him ahead.
They led him along the path toward the mansion.
Thunder cracked. A bolt of lightning split the sky and struck somewhere along the path, close enough to make the ground tremble beneath his feet.
Thunder now? Classic.
No, now isn't the time to analyze that.
As he drew closer, towers multiplied, walls swallowed the road.
The place wasn't built merely for living; this became clear at first glance.
This isn't some castle or a mansion…
It's a palace for sure.
A dark palace of polished stone and black marble, its tall pillars supporting wide balconies and slightly yellowed windows.
The doors loomed dark. Two rows of guards stood aligned from the base of the stairway to the main entrance. Each was clad in full armor, their eyes glowing in shades of red, motionless as statues.
They didn't move even to breathe.
The passage between them ran narrow, tight enough for only one group to pass side by side at a time.
Karl felt the eyes of each guard following him as he got dragged along the path, his feet scraping on the stone steps.
This time, I'm done for, no way I can escape from these guys.
They entered.
The old man wanted a witness for info… I can't even imagine how the extraction is gonna go. Haha, better not think about it.
The inner hall stretched wide, dark, with fire torches attached to the walls, casting dancing shadows everywhere.
Black curtains covered part of the walls, and at the back of the hall, elevated on a wide platform of gleaming stone steps, stood the throne. Several candles flickered, as if to make the environment more gothic.
And on the throne… her.
Yeah, I know this girl... or should I say woman. How could I not?
The seated figure sits utterly detached from the world around her. She appears young, roughly 20 years old.
Porcelain-pale skin, long white hair cascading past her shoulders, stopping only a few centimeters short of her legs.
Think, Karl, think.
The air tightened. His chest resisted the next breath.
She is the one responsible for nearly making him almost quit at the mid of the game, the reason for the forum wars, and the cause of the endless nerf requests.
A faint shift of her fingers sent a ripple through the chamber.
The moment they entered the hall, her gaze locked onto them.
She had even been used as the face of the game's promotions.
In one of the artwork, she sat on her throne, perfectly calm, gazing down at the hero's party as if they posed no threat at all, just like now. She had become iconic.
Maybe that was why the developers never nerfed her, despite the backlash and the one-hit kill abilities.
The elder dropped Karl 11 meters from the throne.
She wore a noble dress in a dark purple tone with meticulous details, but what drew the most attention were her eyes.
Shining rubies.
She neither smiled nor frowned. She simply stared at him. One leg crossed over the other, slender fingers resting lightly on the arm of the throne, carrying an expression as if the entire world were under her control.
Looking at her, you wouldn't think she's a girl with such a high kill count. Appearances can be deceiving, and I know that very well.
The most dangerous ones always look harmless, just like her.
Karl remains where they dropped him. The man who brought him steps forward and bows before the throne.
Karl could barely stand. When he tried to lift his head, an invisible pressure bore down on him, as if her very presence were crushing his bones from within.
She finally spoke, her voice calm, unquestionably authoritative.
"This is the only one remaining?"
The hall fell silent for a moment.
Nothing moved or breathed after those words.
Only her eyes gleamed in the dim light.
This is just like an anime. Please, someone wake me up from this weird dream!
This girl… she sat at the top of the food chain in this macabre world, if I knew a little more about her… sadly, I never finished that game.
I never imagined I'd end up isekai'd into it.
And now? No clue what to do.
Her minions alone were enough to kill me.
And her…
A mid-game boss the community swore had killed more players than the final boss itself.
Not defeated by strength alone, but only because the script demanded it in order to progress the story.
The Hero's party carried items designed specifically to kill her.
Skills tailored for that single purpose too.
And retries, endless retries, more than a hundred of them.
Before anyone could answer her during that brief lapse, Karl looked up and held her gaze longer than he should have.
The Ring of Wisdom reacted.
Then information flooded his vision.
[Status]
Name: Alice Von Hollowfar
Title: "The Tyrant Maiden of the Snow Raven Realm"
Soul Level: IMMEASURABLE
STR ???
DEX ???
CON ???
INT ???
WIS ???
FAITH ???
Error.
User lacks sufficient authority and mana to analyze the target.
Warning.
[The soul of the sage speaks,]
[It was good to meet you, being from another world.]
Now you decide to give me information? Just to mock me?
Her voice came, cutting through the silence. "Child… what were you doing in my lands? I expect a convincing reason if you wish to be spared from the crime of trespassing."
One of her loyal servants stepped forward.
"Your majesty, he may be a scout sent by the humans to uncover our weaknesses. He was found in Experimental Zone 7."
Alice interrupted him without even turning her head, with only her eyes shifting to him. "I don't recall granting you permission to speak. Are you going to mock me in front of a human?"
A heavy, sinister aura flooded the hall. The servant collapsed to his knees, clawing at the floor as his body convulsed. "Cough… s-sor… ry… For-give… me"
The aura vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.
Alice spoke again. "Child, what is your name, and what were you doing in my lands? Your mana… it is different from the others."
He stood physically broken, shifted his gaze downward and said,
"Karl. All I know is I woke up here—"
—Swoosh!
She sits on the throne, around 11 meters away from him.
But in less than 1 second, she stands before Karl.
Extreme fear grips him, unnatural and cold.
What is this suffocating pressure? This fear… why am I feeling this? I'm not a coward. Ah, right. The Abnormal Status effect of Fear.
She quickly lifts his chin and looks deep into his eyes, it was almost hipnotic.
This feeling. It's like something invading my head.
She mutters, "I will find out myself."
***
Her eyes, twin rubies, glow brighter as she tears through the veil between soul and mind.
And there, buried beneath layers of fear and exhaustion, she found it.
A black room.
Small. Cramped. Suffocating in its mundane poverty.
A younger version of him, a boy sat hunched before a strange artifact, flat, rectangular, glowing with a cold light without flame or mana.
Yet it pulsed with movement and sound, images dancing across its surface like captured dreams.
On that impossible canvas, a world unfolds.
Her world.
Rendered in colors too vivid, it flattens into something both familiar and grotesquely wrong for her.
She mutters, "This… this is some other type of time-space magic? How can he see the future? This thing… it's strange."
Then she saw it.
She saw the heroes.
Dying.
The Hero's party charged her throne room with weapons raised, spells crackling, holy light blazing.
She obliterated them.
A wave of her hand. They crumpled like broken dolls.
The images rewound.
Again.
The same heroes. The same futile assault. The same inevitable slaughter.
Again.
And again.
The boy's hands clutched a strange talisman, fingers moving across its surface as he commanded forces beyond his flesh, watching those heroes go into death after death.
She watched them die to her.
Ten times.
Twenty.
Fifty.
A hundred.
Each time, they fell. Each time, the world reset. Each time, he tried something different, a new spell, a new formation, a desperate gamble.
All failures.
Until—
—The two hundred twenty-two attempt.
Something changed. A different sequence. A weakness exploited. The holy chains wrapped around her this time, binding her power just long enough for the Mage to sequence numerous spells.
The Rogue didn't miss that opportunity; his daggers tore the flesh from her back.
The Saintess, while crying, spoke:
"I-I am sorry, but we don't… have another choice…" she whispered, channeling the very last of her mana into one final light spell.
Alice was wounded and weakened, but she stood. Bound by the magic chains, she forced her hand up and unleashed a blast of pure energy at the Hero. He was saved only when his comrade, the Tank, threw himself into the line of fire, dying in his place.
And in the end, the Hero's sacred sword pierced her heart.
His face twisted with grief as he spoke:
"Your reign ends here, Tyrant." He twisted the sacred sword in her chest. "May you find judgment in the afterlife."
Then he took the sword from her.
She fell.
For the first time in two hundred twenty-two attempts, she died.
After that they just leave, after picking up the fallen comrade.
And the boy watching everything.
Alice's jaw tightened.
She pulled back, severing the connection.
***
The throne room snapped into focus. Karl still stood before her, unaware of how deeply she had seen.
Around the hall, her servants shifted. Whispers rippled through the ranks.
Their Empress had never invaded a mind for so long.
"This is uncommon" muttered some minions in the back
Alice's expression remained unchanged, cold, regal, unreadable.
But her eyes lingered on him a moment longer.
"Interesting," she murmured.
She looked and kept looking for a time. All the servants grew surprised and murmured to one another.
"Not normal for her to do this for so long. Who is this human?"
She continued.
"Interesting. You know this world. You saw me die. You saw every enemy I know, and some I don't. You know so many things, yet you arrived here only a day ago. This is the most bizarre thing I've ever witnessed—"
"—That makes two of us, then." Karl spoke without fear of death.
I have no way of escaping anyway.
She smiled and spoke again
"Hmm. I like you. From now on, you are my subordinate, and you will obey me. Don't even think of refusing. My word is law, and you live by serving me."
What?
She continued:
"What an interesting ability. You could see the future through some kind of box with square paintings. Well, if what you saw indeed proves true, during the great banquet of lords my castle will face invasion, which, despite my victory, will bring me immeasurable long-term damage."
She made a thoughtful expression.
"Which will trigger countless events, resulting in something impossible to believe."
Then she let go of his face and paced for a moment, a hand pressed to her cheek.
"Also, Demitri, send some of the lackeys from the magic sector to verify the border with the Shadow Woods, to confirm whether enemies have installations for a future invasion. If they do, certainly what I saw is true."
Demitri, a Doppelganger resembling a vampire and one of the villainess's 4 generals, responded:
"Yes, your majesty."
Alice's gaze drifted upward, away from Karl and her servants. Her eyes went unfocused, as if replaying something only she could see.
Then she closed her distance and lifted his chin—
Again? If she sees everything I know, I will lose value here.
He tried to turn his face away, but the villainess's hand gripped his chin with supernatural firmness.
She wasn't the hand-to-hand type, but her level must have been sky-high; her physical strength was utterly unquestionable.
Her skin felt cold as ice. Not just the strength, but the crushing aura prevented him from even moving.
After a few seconds of oppressive silence, her lips curved into a malicious smile.
Just my luck
"Interesting… very interesting." Her voice came as a sharp whisper, laden with fascination and threat. "You know things no living being should know…"
Karl remained silent. There was not much to say in that situation anyway. But based on what he'd just confirmed, his thoughts weren't visible, only his memories.
Her eyes, ruby red, blazed with a mixture of surprise and dark excitement.
She had seen everything. Her own death, events yet to happen, the cruel fate awaiting her, despite the fact that she had never known pain, let alone death.
"You know too much… I should rip your head off right now." She slid her fingers across his face, as if pondering how easy it would be to crush him. "But… you might prove useful."
The villainess released him and paced back toward her modest throne. It was small by comparison; she stood at only five feet nine and slender, while her servants all averaged at least six feet three, with the exception of the maids.
As she approached the throne, her presence swelled, becoming crushing and dominant throughout the hall.
After climbing the stairs, she stood in front of the throne, turned, and looked down at him, then declared:
"Choose!" The single word fell like a physical blow.
"Then she extended her arms toward Karl, opened both hands, and said, 'Serve… or die!' her right hand closing into a fist."
This scene… feels too familiar
Karl recalled a movie in that moment, it seemed like a reference, but the difference? This wasn't friendly.
In practice, only one option exists… for now.
Karl swallowed hard. He stood wounded, vulnerable, and knew escape wasn't an option. Beyond that, he knew this woman. In the game, she ranked among the most ruthless enemies.
An entire group of powerful characters faced her alone, and after many retries managed to win, and when he thought about that many, he meant probably over 111 times for someone playing for the first time. If grinded some extra XP.
Even the best veteran players sometimes died to her accidentally, after all it remained an extremely difficult game, only hardcore players touched its offline campaign mode.
You leave me no choice…
No, wrong framing.
Karl exhaled slowly, forcing the panic down beneath something colder.
She read my memories. Not my thoughts.
That distinction, small, fragile, possibly meaningless, lodged itself like a splinter at the back of his mind.
She knows what I saw when this was just a videogame. She doesn't know what I know about what I saw while playing the game.
Two hundred twenty-two attempts. Both of them had watched every single one, Karl was terrible at this game, but she doesn't know that. To her, it was reality.
The hero's party hadn't won through brute force, they'd won because they mapped her. Every pattern. Every tell. Every window where her guard fractured for half a second.
She just handed him a front-row seat to do the same thing.
"I… accept serving."
The words tasted like ash.
For now, Alice, for now. In the meantime, I'm going to make sure I profit from this little conscription. This kingdom is a goldmine of high-tier items… Once I've stripped it clean, I'll just get out of here…
The villainess's smile widened, satisfied.
"Excellent. Then, stand. I accept no weak servants."
With a gesture of her hand, one of her lackeys brought a flask containing a dark liquid. He handed it to Karl.
"Drink," she said.
He looked at the flask with hesitation. In the game, she used this elixir to strengthen her subordinates... but it also bound them to her in an inescapable way.
The game bound mindless servants. But mindless servants can't explain things. Can't translate. Can't warn.
She needs what's inside my head, and a hollow puppet can't deliver that. Memories without explanations are not that good.
The little I know about her...
His hands didn't shake. He didn't let them.
He brought the flask to his lips and drank.
And then, everything changed.
As the dark liquid descended down his throat, a wave of heat coursed through Karl's body.
The pain consuming him slowly began to vanish, replaced by a strange sensation, as if something burned his veins from within.
His heart pulsed irregularly, accelerating and decelerating as if undergoing reconfiguration.
He leaned even closer to the floor, on his knees, gasping. His muscles locked. For one terrible instant his mind felt like glass about to shatter.
The villainess watched from above, arms crossed, smiling like someone who had already won.
"The transformation has already begun." Her voice was almost fond. "Now you're not a scrawny little thing anymore."
Karl's vision snapped into brutal clarity.
Something reached inside his skull, it was not pain or sound.
Control.
What—
And then he felt it, threads wrapping around his thoughts, tightening with each heartbeat.
He tried to resist.
They pulled tighter.
Alice was suddenly at his ear, breath hot against skin whispering.
"Shhh."
"Let go."
Her voice dropped lower.
"Don't resist it."
Ha, how do you think I am? After everything I've gone through, this is nothing.