THE VILLAIN'S POV

Chapter 267: Beneath the Mask

– 4 Days Until the Mission Deadline –

Oliver Khan had once again subdued the princess. Barely standing, he staggered under the weight of exhaustion as he carried her limp body back to her room.

He had to hurry and clean up the destruction from their fight before she woke. But the scale of these nightly battles was growing by the day, and it was only a matter of time before it could no longer be concealed.

As he held her in his arms, a crushing pressure bore down on his broad shoulders.

He had kept her locked in an illusion .. one where everything was still fine.

Guarding the princess by day. Battling her by night. A cycle that had repeated endlessly over the past few weeks.

Oliver couldnʼt even remember the last time heʼd slept. Yes, he was an SS rank warrior. A man revered as the equal of Mist Umbra, master of the Shadow Court .

But even he had limits.

The solution was simple: kill her, and everything would end.

But that was the one thing Oliver could never do.

Worn down by physical exhaustion and mental strain, his thoughts wandered back.

Sansa had once asked him: ”What are you to me?”

Why did he care so much?

He never gave her an answer.

But now, as he placed her gently on the bed and collapsed beside it, he laughed bitterly to himself.

”Itʼs nothing special, girl…”

He reached up and removed his mask, eyes fixed on the ceiling.

Beneath the mask was a pale, handsome face .. perhaps in his early thirties. His most striking features were his eyes: one crimson red, the other a brilliant golden yellow.

He lowered his head, finally allowing himself a moment of rest.

”Iʼm just an illegitimate son… your motherʼs half-brother.”

In other words .. her uncle.

He had been cast aside from a young age, abandoned as a child no one wanted.

He suffered in silence, swallowed by a world of pain .. save for one single memory. The only one where he had been treated like a human being… by Sansaʼs mother.

She was the only light he had ever known.

After being thrown away and left to die on the cold streets, fate stepped in. A powerful organization found him .. the Shadow Court..

They saw his potential and took him in. But salvation never came .. only more torment.

He endured brutal training no ordinary person could survive. From childhood, he was forced to kill to stay alive, thrown into an environment where rats devoured each other until only one remained.

And he survived. Trial after trial, court after court.

He and Mist Umbra were the only ones to reach the Ninth Court. But neither made it to the Tenth. Both were deemed failures.

Still, he carved out a name for himself. Gained power. Built a reputation.

Oliver Khan became a name feared throughout the empire.

But he chose to return .. to the one place he had ever called home.

So much had changed. His sister had married Emperor Maekar and given birth to a daughter.

Those were the best days he could remember.

Yes, the Court still demanded blood from his hands, but he had a place to return to.

During Sansaʼs childhood, he would visit often, spending time with her and her mother, always hiding his face behind a mask.

At first, he wasnʼt allowed near them. But the moment her mother recognized him, she welcomed him with open arms .. as her only brother. That was the first warmth he had ever felt in a life drenched in cold.

Those few years were truly happy ones. But nothing good ever lasts.

It ended the moment the Court sent him away on a mission.

As soon as he left… it happened.

The abduction.

Sansa and her mother were taken.

The empire went into full-scale panic. Oliver personally joined the rescue force, unleashing everything he had against the Ultras.

After a fierce battle, they finally arrived. But all they found was the princess ... alive, amidst a mountain of corpses.

And she was no longer the girl he once knew.

Something had been done to her. Something implanted deep inside.

Blinded by fury, Oliver stormed the imperial palace, demanding answers from the one man who had done nothing ... Emperor Maekar.

If only he had protected them properly…

If only heʼd kept his family close. If he had acted like a husband… like a father.

Maekar Valerion—strongest man in the empire.

And yet, what had he done? Nothing.

Worse ... he planned to dispose of her.

Thatʼs when Oliver snapped. He attacked the emperor.

They clashed in a brutal battle inside the Northern Imperial Palace.

The battle ended in a crushing defeat for the masked man .. he was no match for Maekar, the greatest spear-bearer in the Empire.

Lying broken and bleeding on the ground, all he could offer the emperor… was hatred.

”Youʼre nothing but a king rotten to the core.”

Those were his words.

A selfish man who cared only for his own gain. Someone who wouldnʼt hesitate to discard anything or anyone that no longer served his purpose, even if it was his wife… or his only daughter.

But unlike him, Maekar saw value in Oliver Khan.

”Despite your crimes, Masked One... I acknowledge your skill.”

The man once called Mist Umbraʼs rival. The one who reached the Ninth Court and survived it.

”Letʼs make a deal, Oliver Khan.”

A deal that would change his life forever.

Instead of dying a meaningless death...

Oliver Khan forged an aura contract with Emperor Maekar.

He pledged his loyalty to the very king he despised above all, becoming his High Guardian and sworn protector. In return, the girl—Sansa—would live, and Oliver would take full responsibility for her and everything concerning her.

Maekar Valerionʼs move dealt a heavy blow to the Shadow Court, whose influence had been growing rapidly. He stripped them of their second-in-command, and they couldnʼt retaliate .. because Oliver had become part of the imperial bloodline.

From that day on, Oliver protected Sansa in his own way, forced to serve the man he loathed more than anyone .. Maekar Valerion.

And now, here they were.

The princess stood on the brink of becoming a monster no one could contain. And Oliver… was the one accountable.

He no longer knew what he was supposed to do.

...

...

...

– Frey Starlightʼs POV –

I rose, drawing in a deep breath.

With a strained smile, I examined the damage littering my body ..bruises, cuts, strangulation marks etched into every inch of my skin.

”But now I finally know the truth.”

I pushed past the throb in my head and stepped out of my room, unfazed by the pain.

There was no time to waste now.

After my last use of Third-Person Pov, after coming face-to-face with that thing, I didnʼt stop.

I kept diving back in, over and over, confronting it again and again… until the moment it turned its attention to Oliver Khan.

With him occupied, I finally got deep enough to witness Sansaʼs nightmares .. and the truth buried within them.

I lived her memories. I saw what she endured.

How the Ultras tortured her. How they planted that… thing inside her.

Sansa probably didnʼt recognize it. She had never seen anything like it.

But I had.

It was unforgettable. A central piece of the tragedy I had once written.

That thing inside her… it was a Demon Seed.

A sliver of a powerful demonʼs will, embedded into a vessel to draw out its power. Once its mission was fulfilled, the vessel would break.

Now I understood what the Ultras had done.

They let the Empire retrieve her .. on purpose. So that she would erupt near the Emperor and kill him… then die.

The Demon Seed is a fragment of a demonʼs will. It grants overwhelming power .. but only temporarily. Itʼs programmed with a single objective, and once that goal is achieved, it fades… taking the host with it.

They intended to assassinate Maekar Valerion through his own daughter.

A perfect plan.

The Demon Seed is a curse. And curses like this… have no cure.

I knew that better than anyone. I was the one who created it.

But the Demon Seed wasnʼt supposed to appear now. Not this early.

It was something destined for much later in the story. Which meant… whatever was placed inside Sansa wasnʼt a full version.

An incomplete prototype.

An unstable version of a Demon Seed, holding a fragment of one of the most powerful demons to ever exist—Vayne, the kingʼs shadow, third upper seat of the Ten.

And precisely because it was unstable… there was still hope.

A chance to save her without killing her.

To do that, I needed something that countered demonic power .. its exact opposite.

Only the Bearers of Light possessed such force. The race the Lord of light came from.

But I wonʼt find any of them here on the earth, nor is there any way for me to reach them.

Fortunately, some humans carry traces of that power.

Heroes like Snow, the Sword of Vermithor… and the Saints.

And thatʼs why… I was now looking for Uriel Platini.

I needed sacred power—any kind I could get—if I wanted even the slightest chance against whatʼs coming.

With those thoughts driving me, I climbed the Elite Dorm stairs in search of Uriel Platini.