"There’s no way for you to escape."
Kale Sandrium, the hero of humanity, stood tall in front of Prince Van Fyugel. His gleaming sword touched the bare skin of Prince’s neck.
"The Holy Alliance, Seven Human Kingdoms, The Sword Saint, The Divine beings, even The Demonic Force, and Me, known as The Hero of Humanity. All of us united to kill you!"
His voice declared the end of Prince Van Fyugel’s life.
A man stepped out from behind Kale. His voice simmered with rage. Blonde hair and shiny golden eyes filled Prince’s vision.
"My little brother, you have committed enough crimes. How could you... ugh,"
He faked a sigh of sadness. "Y-You should die now." The sword Saint Rol Van Fyugel, and also Prince’s elder brother stepped back in disbelief yet a smirk on his face.
Rol Van Fyugel quickly changed his expressions, and continued in a loud voice, so that everyone could hear the unspeakable crimes of Prince Van Fyugel.
"Selling the souls of living humans and demons to collect the Soul Stars."
Rol Van Fyugel paused, pulled out his sword, and continued. "Forcing demons to eat living human flesh, for your personal enjoyment. You truly are worse than evil."
Beside him stood a tall man holding a Golden Cross. "O Holy God, please bestow your Divine Judgment upon this Sinful Soul."
By his dress, he looked like some Pope of the Church.
Behind Kale, his two party members stood side by side, both of them possessing Acex Core and Saint Realm. However, one member of his party was missing.
Prince looked at the corpses of thousands he’d slaughtered to call this massacre his own self-defense.
Then he looked at himself, his messy blonde hair covered in bloody red, the same color as his eyes.
His clothes were torn apart; no one would admit that he was the same Prince of the Fyugel Kingdom.
Elisha Dumien, Kale’s party member and Prince’s fiancée, stepped forward.
"My Dear Prince, why did you betray me for that girl? Do you not like me anymore? Well then, that girl is dead now, and you should join her too, as the punishment for betraying me."
"Liking you? The fuck are you talking about?" Prince wheezed, with blood pouring from his mouth.
He stretched his golden finger on Elisha’s face, his voice carried no regret. "I had never imagined you as my fiancée, not even once."
"So did I, Prince. I had never imagined my Prince would be an evildoer; as for punishment, taking your head would be enough to pay for your own sins."
’So is it the end of my life with the false allegations to portray me as the villain?’ Prince thought.
He stood in front of Kale, the main character of the ’Villains are destined to die’ novel, and looked at him with tired eyes.
’No matter what I do. I always ended up as the third-rate villain.’
That’s what the novel was about, as name as plot. He did everything he could to survive and take revenge.
He had completely accepted his fate. He reached the Saint Realm and Acex Core all by himself. A character like Prince Van Fyugel was never meant to reach this far.
’Looks like there’s no helping it... I’m finally going to die.’
As he was accepting his fate, destined to die, Kale moved forward, close to his ears, close enough that Prince could hear his rough breath, and said. "Bye, Mr. Reader."
In an instant, Prince’s eyes widened as if in shock. No. They actually were in shock.
Prince totally blanked out in his mind. "W-What do you mean?" he asked in a staggered voice, blood pouring down from his mouth.
"Ohh, looks like you still haven’t figured out who I truly am." Kale released a sigh and continued. "You transmigrated into a novel, ’Villains are destined to die’ as Prince Van Fyugel, right?"
"H-How did you know that?" Prince’s breath caught in his throat.
"Well well, I am the same as you, transmigrated into a novel world as the main character, but do you know what?"
"W-What...?"
"I am the Author of this novel."
The surface beneath Prince, carrying the corpses of thousands of people, slipped away as he heard this.
Kale started walking in a loose circle around Prince. "I’m feeling a bit sad for my reader, who cheered for me. But this is my novel and villains should die for a happy ending."
Prince tried to stay calm and asked him a question that he had just come up with. "Are you the one who caused all this to me? I mean, even if I did something good, I always ended up as a villain in everyone’s story."
Kale’s lips slightly curled up. "You are the smart one, so finally you figured it out. Yes, that’s true; I have an SSS Rank Narrative Authority. With this authority, I can pull the strings of the world."
"If this Authority you get after transmigrating into the novel." Prince coughed blood from his mouth, then continued. "So why didn’t I get any skills like this, not even a single one?"
Kale smirked. "It is quite simple, because I didn’t allow it."
"...So why didn’t you kill me earlier even though you possessed something like an SSS Rank Narrative Authority?"
"It was quite fun to see you flapping wings in the air like a bird, trying so hard not to fall"
"You filthy scum." Prince muttered under his breath, wiping blood with the back of his palm.
His face turned into a true face of evil as he clenched his fists.
’It’s all because of him. This bastard caused me so much pain.’
’I want to kill him! But...’
Prince looked down. ’I’m not in good shape... If I got another chance, I would seal this bastard with the chains of heaven.’
Because until now, he was cursing his own fate. But the truth can no longer be held, and Prince’s eyes were filled with intense thirst for blood.
Rol stepped forward, his face twisted in rage. "Little brother, no— Prince, I’m ashamed, calling you my little brother," he said, and hung his sword high in the air. "Do you have any last words, Prince?"
Prince looked at a particular corpse that lay nearby him. ’If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have come this far. Thank you, my Dearest Friend.’
"If I asked for anything, that would show how wretched I am," he said, smirking; his voice roared in the battlefield. "I shall die like the Lone Wolf, for I am Prince Van Fyugel!"
The Sword Saint, Rol Van Fyugel, unsheathed his sword and aimed for Prince’s neck.
’If I had another chance, I would kill all these bastards and make their lives more miserable and painful.’
Prince closed his eyes while looking up at the sky, he saw a black silhouette hovering in the sky.
He ignored and as he opened his eyes again, he was already somewhere else.
In complete darkness, he opened his eyes and frowned; he was not dead yet.
There was no one, not The Sword Saint, not Humanity’s Hero, not Elisha Dumien, not The Man with the Golden Cross. Literally no one.
"Where am I? Is it what they called the afterlife?"
Then a man showed himself from the shadows. He was wearing a mask that completely concealed his face.
Prince suddenly felt an intense AURA from the masked man, as if he were a god or something beyond that. "W-Who are you?"
The masked man replied. "Instead of asking who I am, aren’t you worried about your own life?"
"...What do y-you want from me?" Prince asked.
The masked man answered calmly. "I don’t like beating around the bush, so let’s come to the main topic. You are on the verge of death; do you need a chance to make them pay for what they did to you?"
"T-That’s exactly what I want...!"
"Sure thing, I’m impressed seeing you reach the Saint realm all by yourself. Even though you were not made for the Saint realm."
The masked man clapped and appreciated Prince’s hard work. "But no matter how far you go, you can’t kill him without any authority. So I will help you with this, but in return you will help me. And do remember, if you back off from your words, I will erase this little world of yours with a snap of my fingers."
Prince didn’t doubt a single word coming from the masked man’s mouth. "You have my word. But how can I help you? Is it Money? Po— Fame? I can help in any of these."
Prince couldn’t even say ’Power’ properly. He was clearly getting overpowered just by the masked man’s presence, so how could he help him?
"Get stronger by our next meeting; we will discuss this some other time, and if you have this much money, then go and do some charity work for commoners; you might find something valuable."
The Masked Man turned back, and goodbye to Prince with his last words. "Oh and take it as a warning. Narrative Authority of Kale is far stronger for you, it might affect your story somewhere else beyond this reality... or even you directly. Haha see ya!"
The masked man snapped his fingers, and with this little snap, Prince Van Fyugel came back to the battlefield drenched in river of blood.
After coming back to his world, a sound echoed behind his ears, and a blue screen appeared in front of him.
Ding!
[System synchronizing...]
[System synchronization 1%]
[System synchronization 25%]
[System synchronization 50%]
[System synchronization 75%]
[System synchronization 100%]
[Congratulations! You have awakened SSS Rank Infinite Authorities]
The moment he locked his gaze on the blue screen to check what the notification was about, the Sword Saint, Rol Van Fyugel, swept his blade and cut through the Prince’s head cleanly.