"The Death of the Tyrant"
Blood pooled beneath Lucian's knees, a deep crimson against the marble floors of the divine temple. Golden chains burned into his skin, humming with celestial power—a prison designed to hold even him.
He had once been feared, worshiped even. The Dark Sovereign, the Immortal Tyrant, the Godslayer. But now? A kneeling traitor before the gods.
A hundred divine eyes watched from the heavens, emotionless. The air crackled with divine energy, the weight of their judgment pressing down like an iron noose.
A hundred voices spoke as one:
"Lucian of the Black Sun, you have defied fate for the last time."
Lucian spat blood, the taste of iron sharp on his tongue. His once commanding voice was hoarse, weakened by the divine chains leeching his power. And yet, he still smiled.
"Defied fate?" he rasped, golden eyes flickering with amusement. "No. I simply refused to kneel."
Thunder roared across the heavens.
The Hero stood before him, his blade gleaming with holy light. And beside him—
At the center of it all stood two figures.
The so-called Hero. And her.
Selene.
Selene's silver hair shone under the sacred light, her hands trembling on the hilt of the blade piercing his chest.
Lucian's breath came in ragged gasps, black blood dripping from his lips. But his golden eyes never left hers.
His breath hitched, pain tearing through him. Not from the blade—he could endure that. But her betraying him?.
"You—" his voice cracked, a bitter laugh escaping. "You still hesitate."
Selene's grip tightened, pain flickering across her face. "You… you forced my hand, Lucian. You became a monster."
Lucian chuckled weakly. "A monster? I was never the monster, Selene." His gaze lifted to the gods above. "They were."
Thunder rumbled in the heavens. The Hero twisted the blade.
Lucian gritted his teeth, agony exploding through him, but he still smirked. "You think this is the end?" His voice was barely a whisper now. "Mark my words… I'll return. And when I do—"
A divine sigil glowed beneath him. The gods spoke as one:
"Lucian of the Black Sun. You are unworthy of existence. Be erased."
His vision blurred. The world faded to white.
Then—nothing.
The Void – Lucian's Rebirth
Darkness.
Lucian felt nothing.
Not pain. Not time. Not even himself.
He was floating. Or falling. Or—was he even real anymore?
A cold panic seized him. He tried to move, but he had no limbs. He tried to breathe, but there was no air. He tried to think, but even his thoughts felt distant. Fragmented.
Am I dead?
No. Worse.
He was forgotten.
A terrifying realization settled in his chest: he had no body, no voice, no presence. He was just… consciousness.
Is this my punishment? he thought bitterly. To drift in nothingness for eternity?
Then—
A sound cut through the void.
A single, mechanical beep.
[ SYSTEM REBOOTING… ]
Lucian flinched. A wave of foreign knowledge flooded his mind—cold, calculated, overwhelming. He tried to resist, but it was inside him, rewriting him, molding him into something else.
[ WELCOME, VILLAIN'S SYSTEM. ]
His thoughts snapped into place.
A voice—not his own—whispered in his mind.
"You are not erased. You are reborn."
Lucian gasped, feeling his existence solidify again. The void trembled around him, and for the first time since his execution—he could feel.
But it was wrong.
His hands—were not his hands. His voice—was not his voice.
Ding!
A sound echoed in the nothingness. Cold. Mechanical.
[Initializing System Interface…]
Lucian froze.
"What?"
[System Activation: Complete.]
[Assigning Role…]
A sharp, white light pierced the darkness, flooding his senses. He felt something press into his mind, rewriting him, reshaping him.
[Designation: Villain's System.]
[Host Detected: Searching for Suitable Candidate…]
A chilling realization crept over him.
He wasn't dead.
He wasn't alive either.
He had become something else.
A System.
[ Your new role: Guide the Villain. ]
[ Your first host has been selected. ]
Lucian's vision suddenly snapped into focus. He wasn't in the void anymore—he was inside someone.
A boy. Weak. Broken.
A dying prince.
Lucian gasped, his mind still spinning. But one thing was clear—
He wasn't human anymore.
He was a System.
His soul had been repurposed. The gods had failed to erase him completely, and in their arrogance, they had created something they could no longer control.
Lucian clenched his nonexistent teeth.
"They should have destroyed me when they had the chance."
The gods had cast him into the abyss, thinking they had erased him.
But now?
He was reborn.
And he would make them pay.
Even if he had to turn the entire world into a nightmare to do it.