The blade hovered inches from his neck.
RIVENASHCROFT...could smell iron before he felt it. Not blood—oil, old metal, the residue of countless executions, blood soaked into the platform under his bare feet. The crowd below the execution platform had fallen silent in a way that felt intentional, as if they wanted to remember this moment very clearly.
So, this was how Riven Ashcroft's life was going to end.
He lifted his head, chains biting into his wrists, and looked past the executioner. The academy plaza stretched wide and white under the afternoon sun. Flags fluttered. Elders sat in a neat row, robes immaculate, expressions carved into something that resembled regret if one didn't look too closely.
He searched for two faces.
CAIUS stood near the front, His shoulders straight, eyes fixed forward. Not on Riven. Never on Riven, though, as if distance could clean his hands.
SERAPH was there too. A little farther back. She wore pale blue today, and the colour suited her. She was calm and untouched by the scene she was watching.
Their eyes met for half a second. She didn't look away. That hurt him more than the chains.
The High Arbiter's voice carried across the plaza, smooth and practised. Words about justice. About righteousness. About sacrifice for the greater good. Riven stopped listening to all the bullshit. He already knew the script. He'd memorised it during the nights in his cell, staring at the ceiling and wondering where he'd gone wrong and why he was in this situation; he never thought he would be.
He had trusted the wrong people. That was the only crime he committed.
The executioner shifted his grip.
Riven closed his eyes.
He thought there would be fear at the end. Panic. Regret. Some desperate plea clawing up his throat.
There was none.
Only a cold, hollow understanding.
If I survive this somehow, I will never be the same person I have been again.
The blade fell to his neck and severed his head. Darkness slammed into him, fast and absolute.
----------------°°°°°°°°°°°
Pain returned before his sight.
It was sharp, burning, everywhere at once. Riven gasped and sucked in air that tasted wrong—thick, heavy, flavoured with something bitter and ancient. His eyes snapped open with full Black.
The Stone above him was veined with faint crimson light. The air around him hummed, alive in a way he couldn't explain. His body felt…suspiciously wrong. It's Larger. It's Heavier. And every breath he took... pulled power into his lungs instead of air.
He sat up too fast.
The Chains clattered.
Not the same chains he was in before it's different.
These were thicker, etched with symbols that crawled when he focused on them. His hands—no, not his own hands—were long-fingered, pale, marked with faint lines that glowed and faded with each heartbeat.
Riven stared.
This wasn't his body.
Then memories crashed into him from two directions at once.
A demon palace floated in an endless void. Blood rituals. Masks. Orders whispered in shadows. A name that was not his, spoken with fear and hatred in equal measure.
...VAERUNNIGHTBANE...
At the same time, his own memories burned just as bright. The academy. The trial. The execution platform. Caius turned back. Seraph's steady gaze.
Two lives overlapped, grinding together instead of shattering.
He pressed his forehead into his palms.
Three days.
The thought surfaced uninvited, sharp and precise.
Three days until this body was exposed. Three days until VAERUNNIGHTBANE was dragged into the light and executed as a demon infiltrator.
Three days until he died again.
A pulse rippled through his chest. Something cold and vast stirred beneath his thoughts, like an ocean noticing a pebble.
Then the world stuttered.
DING...!!!
{ TRUE VILLAIN SYSTEM INITIALIZING }
The air in front of him distorted, lines forming out of nothing. Not light. Not illusion. Information.
{ Host: VAERUNNIGHTBANE}
{ Consciousness Core:RIVENASHCROFT}
{ Temporal Regression: CONFIRMED }
Riven went very still.
"Regression?"
The word settled into place with terrifying ease.
{ Temporal Anchor: -72:00:00 }
{ Execution Outcome: AVOIDABLE }
A slow breath left him.
So this wasn't the afterlife he thought.
This was worse. Or better in the same way.
{ Physical State: STABLE }
{ Mental State: STABLE }
{ Soul Integrity: MERGED }
"Merged?"
That explained the memories to him. The instincts humming under his skin. The way power felt coiled in his muscles, waiting to unleash its potential.
Another line appeared.
{ Villain Points: 0 }
{ Notoriety: UNREGISTERED }
He almost laughed to seen the word VILLAIN...
"Villain...me..?"
The word would have definitely offended him three days ago. Back when he still believed in clean lines between right and wrong.
Now it felt… completely accurate.
A presence unfolded in his mind, smooth and deliberate, like a blade sliding free of its sheath.
[Synchronisation complete.]
The voice wasn't loud. It didn't need to be. It spoke with the confidence of something that was expected to be heard.
[You appear functional. That places you above the average people host.]
Riven didn't answer. He flexed his fingers instead, testing the chains. They groaned but didn't break. Interesting.
[Allow me to clarify the parameters. I am the integrated intelligence of the True Villain System, You can see me as an AI. I do not exist to comfort you. I exist to observe outcomes.]
"Outcomes?.," Riven murmured. His voice was deeper. Resonant. It carried weight in the stone chamber.
[Correct. Your previous life ended due to misplaced trust and inefficient morality. This cycle offers optimisation.]
Images flashed across his mind. The futures that never happened. Paths that ended in blood and ash. Some unknown Faces screaming as the world burned.
It's not at all some unknown warnings.
It's Options.
Riven lifted his head. A slow smile touched his lips, unfamiliar and perfectly natural at the same time.
"So, you reward monsters," Riven said softly, to no one in particular.
[I reward effectiveness. The distinction is sentimental.]
That did it.
He laughed then. Quietly. The sound echoed against the stone, it was sharp and genuine. For the first time since the trial, something like warmth stirred in his chest.
Some footsteps approached outside the chamber. Unknown voices, Riven never knew. One of them he recognised from Vaerun's memories—CHENYUFEI. From the RIGHTEOUSFLAMESECT. The spy.
The man who would expose Vaerun in three days.
Riven's smile didn't fade.
DING...!!!
NEW MAIN QUEST RECEIVED }
{ OBJECTIVE: PREVENT DEMON EXPOSURE }
{ TIME LIMIT: 72 HOURS }
{ FAILURE CONDITION: EXECUTION }
Chains rattled as Riven rose to his feet.
Three days..... Three days to change the outcome different from the original timeline.
He rolled his shoulders, feeling abyssal energy respond like a loyal beast. Somewhere above, the righteous factions slept peacefully, convinced the world made sense.
But it didn't. And this time, he wasn't the one on his knees.
The door began to open.
Riven turned toward it, His eyes burning red in the dim light, and welcomed the future they had already lost.