The Villain's Story

Chapter 985: Sacramento(2).

“It’s true, you know? As crazy as he is, the man is great to those who serve him. Being loyal is safer, and in general, offers you more freedom.”

Jyle chuckled, the flaps of his skin moving up and down, some pieces fell off entirely but were immediately put back together with the help of magic. The faces of the younger members darkened as he continued.

“It’s true he has all five of us on a… payroll, but then again, his greatest ability is giving us the freedom to do whatever we want. He accrues a sort of debt this way, and cashes in whenever the time is right.

Small time favors we do for the sake of it, finding some enjoyment, anything serious, however, almost always involves our interests or goals. He has a good grasp on us, that on. HAHA!”

He let out a cackling laughter, releasing a small burst of mana that caused his dead skin to balloon. Everybody recoiled slightly, as the skin settled on his bones once more.

“I also want to stay under the radar for now, if possible, keke. I’ll be able to handle Oliver if he was sent, but Arken? Arken has been itching for a chance to come at me for as long as we have met! I start shit, and the damn Sword Saint will be dispatched by the association to kill me! Kek.”

“But aren’t you a lich? Aren’t you… immortal?”

Jyle didn’t answer the question, letting it hang in the air. The member who posed it quietened down afterwards and retreated, making himself as obscure as possible. He had hit a nerve.

A demon at the table, coughed to get the attention of everybody. As the heads turned to him, he asked.

“So, what do we do with the group coming here? Harrison may be sending some of them as a message but that doesn’t mean we need to treat all of them… nice, do we?”

The other demon laughed.

“He doesn’t give a single shit about what we do to them, the only ones to watch out for are the dragon and the princess. Give the princess with the Unique skill hell, we don’t have to give a shit about her.

Leave the Dragon alone, we piss him off, and I genuinely think he’ll drop a meteor on top of us.”

The rest of the room agreed. News of Alan’s recent exploits had already reached their ears, and even without that, almost everybody on Earth had seen the video where Elijah and Alan were tearing into each other, using spells nobody at their rank should be capable of doing to do little damage to another.

The videos from the Tower were famous on all of Earth, and the main reason for Alan’s fame. Besides that, seeing two dragons doing whatever it takes to bring the other down was exhilarating. Furthermore, not a single one here doubted Alan Peccator’s ascension to SSS-rank due to their sources.

“Well, that’s that, isn’t it? Now fuck off all of you, I need my beauty sleep!”

Jyle got a few weird looks from the members around the table, the older ones just sighed before leaving, while the younger members, those that had recently killed their leaders and assumed their positions conversed with one another for a short period.

When the lich was finally alone, the skin melted off his body and revealed his pristine white bones, the skeleton cackled for a bit until he too vanished, taking his maid with him.

——

“Honestly, I expected worse.”

Alan said, looking over the city from one of the most famous restaurants available. Alexander, sitting on the other side, agreed.

“Yeah, I genuinely thought a rogue monster or a villain wanting to kill us and prove their strength would have appeared by now.”

He then added, taking a big bite of his ice cream.

“I’m kind of… disappointed?”

Alan stared at him with ludicrous eyes, unable to believe what was being said. He also took a big bite of his ice cream as he asked.

“You seriously expected that would happen? What, are you fantasizing about being in a cliché story?”

Alexander immediately retorted back.

“Oh come on! Can you believe me? I don’t know about you, but I’ve grown up listening about Sacramento and the ‘Demonic city’ that it is! Like, do you have any idea how many crime dramas and supervillain shows are set in this place?

I can name ten! Ten at least!”

Alan rolled his eyes, as Alexander didn’t stop. He acted as if his heart was really broken that his wild fantasies weren’t answered.

“It happens all the time! Stupid idiots just popping up wherever they can and deciding to think with their fists! ‘Oh, I’m going to beat you and become famous!’, Only to get absolutely demolished by the guy they underestimated! And then, afterwards, a flock of girls, each a supermodel clings to them for life!

I was expecting that! Can a man not dream?”

Alan silently finished his ice cream, ordered seconds, and gave Alexander a deep stare. He clasped his hands together, appearing very professional as he said.

“I’m going to tell Olivia that.”

Alexander paled, his skin turning as white as a ghost as he appeared to lose all strength.

“Please don’t.”

Instead of answering, Alan simply smirked and pointed at the menu with his eyes. Alexander cursed under breath as he rebuked him.

“Your ten times richer than me, and you still want to me to pay the tab?”

“Yes.”

“Fuck you.”

Alexander grumbled. He sighed and leaned his head against the table, and asked.

“So, what do you think about this place? And what exactly are we supposed to do here?”

Alan pondered for a while, crossing his arms as he turned his head to look at the city below. If he was being honest, Sacramento had disappointed him. His expectations weren’t that high, considering he had never heard much about it.

But from how Olivia, Alexander, and basically every described Sacramento as… a lot of things. Black castles of doom and despair, suffering citizens as hollow as a bag of bones, a bunch of trash in every corner of the city and many other things.

Most of the convoy was scared of the city, saying that it would be the scariest place on Earth. Alan wanted to laugh at them now, because nothing what they said was true.

The supposed city of evil, the city of Demonic Humans and every other monstrosity was… fucking normal beyond belief to him. Sure, Alan saw many beastkin and demonic humans running around, but they acted like the average human being in any city. Most of the people here were born from demonic human parents or other such creatures and had weird mutations, but if that was it…

It was normal, especially considering Alan had memories of James and Aranus, the former which had travelled a lot of the universe and seen whatever there was to see, while the latter slaughtered them all and stood on mountains of their bodies.

Furthermore, as a Dragon, God beast, and Void spawn all in one, Alan didn’t feel anything towards the various ‘races’ roaming and living their lives in the city. He treated them the same as he would treat the average human.

Not worthy of his notice. The only thing true about the city was the smell. The smell of drugs, piss, and other such dirty things was greater than in Askolt or the Capitol. Other than that, as someone who had suffered in Terra Damnum because of his crazy teacher…

The city was alright, and although ruled by the Mafia and other bad organizations consisting of demonic humans, demons, and beastkin, it was normal. The city was normal.

It wasn’t anything like Olivia, Alexander, and basically every member of Twilight on the convoy had told him. Frankly speaking, it was just like every other city in the world.

It had its specialties, but that was it. Alan turned to Alexander and explained his thoughts, since Alan didn’t have much expectations in the first place, he wasn’t as disappointed as Alexander and Olivia. Alexander nodded, appearing to be in thought before he asked again.

“So, what are we supposed to do here?”

Alan shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know, all I was told was that Ryan and Howard would handle everything, using my name, and the other girls name.”

He said, as he gladly watched the waiter put their order on the table in front of him. The only thing Alan was concerned about was the quality of the food in the place, to him, that was all that mattered.

Sacramento, surrounded by monsters and demonic beasts had developed various delicacies from their meat, and Alan was determined to try them all, with Alexander paying for it.

Alexander grimaced as he saw Alan consume enough meat to feed a hundred families, and still ask for more. It irked him greatly, but he had to persevere. He wouldn’t be able to stand Olivia’s stare if she ever found out what he said.

He cursed himself inwardly, forcing Festul to always remind him if he ever steps out of line.