"Star of the show? You have got to be kidding me. Get over yourself!" I said.
I couldn't help myself. One of the primary sources for my constant suffering was standing right before my eyes.
"AND THEN YOU JUST HAD TO OPEN YOUR STUPID MOUTH!" Difar yelled as he turned to me.
"Careful, Difar, if you yell at me too much, I might kill myself out of sadness. Then you'll reset again," I said.
"You...BASTARD CHILD!!! I HATE YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!! JUST SHUT UP!!!" He screamed in anger.
"Excuse me...? What is going on here?" Isabella asked in confusion.
"Ah. It seems as though Mizik's little wife is now an enemy. How fitting. Are you enjoying your time opposing him instead of pleasuring him?" Difar asked.
Isabella glared at Difar as her face turned red.
"H-HOW DARE YOU!!! I WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING TO THAT ROTTEN PERVERT! AND HOW MANY PEOPLE HAS HE BRAINWASHED!?" Isabella screamed.
I slapped my forehead with my hand.
"Ugh...this dense woman!!!" I said.
Difar looked back at me and grinned.
"Marriage issues, is it? Trouble in paradise? Aww, what's the matter? Is she mad because she lost her memories?" Difar asked.
"I have lost no such thing!!!" Isabella said angrily.
"Listen, dumbass...as much as I love making fun of the both of you, you're actually pretty stupid if you think he's been lying to you. I've seen it hundreds of times...probably. I stopped counting a looooong time ago," Difar said.
"How dare you... KILL THAT MAN, IMMEDIATELY!!!" Isabella shouted. Then sir Gordon rushed forward to strike Difar.
As much as I hate to admit it...
Sir Gordon's sword slammed into Difar's shoulder where his neck was and shattered against his skin.
"That tickles. Do you have anything sharper?" Difar said with a condescending smile.
Sir Gordon's eyes went wide and suddenly, multiple assassins converged on Difar at the same time.
Their blades broke against his skin.
You people aren't dealing with something normal humans could ever hope to overcome.
Several more soldiers attacked and none of their weapons even left a scratch.
Difar yawned.
"This is boring. See, there's a reason I don't usually fight, myself, you know. Now observe..." He said.
A tremendous pressure fell over the area he stood.
In an instant, all of the soldiers and assassins attacking Difar fell to the ground.
Their heads had exploded.
Difar merely exerted enough pressure to kill them instantly...he didn't even move.
This guy...is an abyssal god.
All of the remaining troops looked terrified of Difar.
"What? I haven't even pulled out my sword. Didn't even move! Is that it? You are all just barely fleas compared to me. And even THAT is a generous comparison. This is pathetic. I mean, really..."
"Wh-what are you!?" Isabella said fearfully.
"Oh? You know that dark substance taking over your world? That's mine. I'm its Master. The name is Cain Difar, King of the Abyss and abyssal god of Corruption. It's certainly a displeasure to meet you again, Isabella."
"I've...never met such a man in my life! How do you know me!? Is this Mizik's work again!? And what on Avernia is an abyssal god!?" She said.
Difar rolled his eyes.
"By the Abyss, she's stubborn. I'm done here. Mizik, when you're ready to talk, just let me know. She's as dense as Alakion steel. Uhh...that's an abyssal substance, by the way. Very dense," he said.
"You want us to just fight, then?" I asked.
"No, you idiot. You could die, and I can't have that. Besides, it would take too long and I'm a busy man, after all. Valtheim, you can take orders from Mizik until I say otherwise," Difar said.
"Understood..." She said.
Valtheim walked over and stood in front of me.
"Wait...what?" I said.
"Go on. Give her an order. You know you want to... Have a taste of what it's like to command ULTIMATE OVERWHELMING POWER! MY SUPREME WEAPON!!! THE AVATAR OF THE VOID!!!" Difar said.
It felt like he was trying to tempt me with something but...
I won't lie...
Suddenly, I felt like I was on top of the world as I looked at the enemy army.
I smiled.
Yes...this will only be the beginning...
I decided to try something, first...
I tried to select Valtheim with the status menu and sent her an invite.
She actually accepted.
Then I requested to view her stats and raised an eyebrow in utter confusion.
{Name: REMOTE VOID ENTITY: VALTHIEM}
{Level: 0}
{Class: None}
{Hp: 0
P.atk: 0
M.atk: 0
P.def: 0
M.def: 0
Acc: 0
Eva: 0
Spd: 0}
She had...nothing.
On the status menu, she looked weaker than I was. But I knew that to be false.
She had no skills, no passives, no stats...
Not even a level or a class...
"What the actual hell...?" I mumbled.
"Confused? You should be. There's nothing there! Literally! But how is she so strong? I wonder..." Difar said mockingly.
Instead of worrying about it, I took a deep breath.
I was in charge of Valtheim, now. And I couldn't have been happier.
Hahaha...Valtheim, Avatar of the Void...
"Valtheim, devour that entire army. Bring me Walter's sword and leave Isabella alive," I said.
"I...obey..." Valtheim said.
She stepped forward and spread out her arms.
Then a gigantic eye opened on the ground beneath the entire army.
There was screaming and panic...
Walter tried to protect Isabella but immediately sank into the ground.
Everyone...the entire army vanished in an instant...
Even the ones Difar killed were taken.
Isabella was left even without her horse...
She looked around in horror as she was now alone...unable to process what just occurred.
"Th-this...is a dream, right...? Any moment...I'll wake up... Ah...what... What happened!? WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?!?" She said.
Valtheim kneeled in front of me and presented Honor to me.
I took it and put the sword in my inventory.
"Feels good, doesn't it?" Difar said.
I didn't bother to respond...
But damn...it did feel good to have Valtheim take orders from me. I couldn't help but smile even wider.
A semi-sadistic smile with a hint of mild insanity.
Such power...to command the Void itself to do my bidding... I felt invincible!
I gained lot of exp from that as well.
I jumped up to level 150 from it and unlocked Vengeance form two: shapeshifting weapon.
Then I calmly walked up to Isabella.
She looked up at me fearfully.
"Sleep."
I picked her up by the front of her armor and hit her in the neck... Knocking her out cold.
Difar clapped his hands slowly.
"Good. Now we can talk, right?" He asked.
"I would rather talk to Isabella again. You made us wait, so you also get to wait," I said.
"Oh, whatever. If you want to talk, I'll be in the fort. Just tell Valtheim when you're ready," Difar said.
"Yeah..." I said.
Despite my hatred for him... I was surprisingly calm.
I felt cold...indifferent.
[Remember this feeling. You have taken Vengence upon that army for opposing you. Never forget this.]
I won't.
* * *
In the interrogation room, I had already stripped Isabella of her armor and left her regular clothes intact. A black undershirt and long black pants.
I tied her to a chair and waited for her to wake up.
Currently, it was just Isabella, Cassandra, and myself.
We had been waiting for a short while and eventually, Isabella opened her eyes.
"Nnngh... Where...am I...? What happened...?" She said.
"Good. You're okay. I was worried that I might have hit you too hard," I said.
She looked at me in confusion.
"M-mizik...Iratus...? Ah...you! What am I doing here!?" She said.
Then she looked down at herself and realized that her armor was gone.
"Y-you fiend! I see...I cannot resist you... You are far too strong... I can only hope someone will come to save me..." Isabella said sadly.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"You know exactly what I'm implying! At least...you are quite handsome... I suppose there are worse men to be my first... Please...be gentle with me... Sister, please look away..." Isabella said.
Her face flushed red as she seemed to prepare herself mentally.
Cassandra gritted her teeth and glared at Isabella in indignant rage.
"How dare you treat such a blissful reward like a filthy crime!? Receiving Mizik's love is...beyond amazing! To think you would see it in such a way... Truly revolting!" Cassandra said angrily.
For crying out loud...
"I'm not going to rape you, Isabella," I said.
"Why not? You have the perfect opportunity! I can't resist you and it's what you've wanted all along, isn't it?" She said.
"I don't really care about opportunities. I've already had sex with you hundreds of times in the twenty years we were married. Besides, I can confirm that you and your sister are completely identical everywhere...and I really mean everywhere..." I said.
"Ah...Mizik... I hope you're not thinking of sister when we get romantic..." Cassandra said worriedly.
"I'm not. Besides, you're better in bed, anyway," I said.
"Ahh!!! Mizik complemented my abilities! I'm so happy!" Cassandra said.
"You...how could you say such things to me!? I've never been with anyone before! I'm a virgin!" Isabella said.
"Obviously! Because everything was reset like I've been telling you this entire time! But I don't want to have sex with you. That would be wrong, Isabella. Besides, Cassandra is far more willing."
"Then...what...? What do you want? Is it the throne? Is it money? Power? Influence?" Isabella asked.
"All of those things are irrelevant to me. Actually, they're all completely worthless to begin with. This world is dying and no one has the strength to stop it. That man, Cain Difar, is actually a god. What's more, is that he's stronger than any other gods I currently know of. He's unreachable. And he's the one killing our world. That's why your money, influence, and power, are irrelevant. They're completely worthless! DO YOU HEAR ME!? AVERNIA IS DOOMED!" I said.
"D-doomed...? I don't understand... Why would you ally yourself with him, then?" Isabella asked.
"That would be the reason we're on Avernia, actually. Because he's willing to help me kill the one who sent me back here. Without his help, I doubt I could do it. I hate Difar. He's my sworn enemy. And trust me, when this is over, he and I will likely try to kill each other again. Until that happens, I plan to use him. But what I'm after right now, is you, Isabella," I said.
"I'm confused... Do you want my body or not?" She asked.
"I want you to love me again. That's truly all I desire from you. You have no idea how difficult this is for me! To see you like this really hurts. We spent twenty years together and I don't want to hurt you... Please...I can feel myself breaking. Please stop me... I don't know how much more I can take... Who knows how much destruction I'll cause...I don't want this... I don't want to become a monster, Isabella..." I said desperately.
I felt tears forming in my eyes.
Help me...please don't let me fall any further... I don't want this...
"Ugh... I despise persistent men... I will never love you! You can inflict any form of torture on me that you please! You killed Walter...my soldiers... Valiant men and women who served my beloved country. You ordered that...THING to attack us. I hate you, Mizik. I have never hated someone more than you in my entire life. If you fell over dead right now, I would do nothing but laugh! To me, you already are a monster!" Isabella said.
As she uttered those words, I felt a truly suffocating depression sweep over me.
Then the die is cast...
"That...hurts... It cuts far deeper than any blade..." I said.
I felt tears roll down my cheeks and gritted my teeth.
I'll kill them all...
"All of it was for nothing. Fine then... Have it your way. I take back the words I said to you at the dwarven city. At Torantis...and on Delvandal. All of it. My heart is closed to you, Isabella. You don't remember anything...but I'll never forget this..." I said shakily as the tears continued to flow.
I'll burn everything down...
Then Cassandra slapped Isabella.
"YOU BITCH! YOU ARE UNWORTHY OF HIM! You...have always been unworthy... You ignored his orders on Delvandal... You almost got him killed by that lich! You aren't nearly as devoted to him as you should be! I hate you! WHY MUST WE BE RELATED!? WHY DO I HAVE TO SHARE THIS FACE OF YOURS!? IT...it will only bring him pain!" Cassandra said through the tears in her own eyes.
"That's enough, Cassandra," I said.
She looked at me worriedly as I dried my tears.
"But...my darling... Such horrible words should never be said to you..."
"I said that's enough!"
"Yes... I won't disobey..." Cassandra said as she bowed her head to me.
"Heal her face. I'm going to ask Valtheim to send her home. She'll be abducted if she goes alone," I said.
"Grand heal," Cassandra said coldly.
As Isabella's face was healed, she glared at me.
"I'll make you regret letting me live... I WILL save my sister. You monster!" Isabella said.
Kill them all...burn it down... The Oracle will pay for what she did to you... My...beloved Isabella...
I looked at her with utter contempt.
"No. I don't think we'll meet again. I'm going to a place unreachable to you. Another world. But you can forget about that. Actually, do me a favor and forget you ever knew me. Just as you've aready done. The you from the past that I loved is gone forever. She died just as I did and unlike me, she can't come back. You are not my Isabella. You are a mockery of her memory. So I'll take Cassandra as my wife and together, we'll stop the Corruption," I said.
"We'll destroy the Oracle...and end the reset loop. Then we'll kill Difar once and for all," Cassandra said.
"Undo her bindings, Cassandra. Make sure to hold her. Valtheim, come here," I said.
Valtheim appeared.
"I...come..." She said.
"Before you do anything else, I have an order for you. Isabella, I want you to understand that Valtheim is a truly unkillable and horrifying monster," I said.
Cassandra fully undid Isabella's restraints and held her hands together as she forced her sister to stand up.
Isabella gritted her teeth and looked uneasily at Valtheim.
"Valtheim, I want you to take Isabella back to her room in Albatross castle. But before that, take off your mask."
Valtheim took her mask off.
Isabella looked confused.
"A...woman? That monster is a woman?" Isabella said.
"Look deeply into Isabella's eyes and send her home," I said.
Valtheim approached Isabella and leaned close to her face.
The stared directly into Isabella's eyes.
Isabella's expression went from confusion to soul-crushing terror.
"Ah...wh...aha...ehhhhh....."
She was so terrified that she couldn't even scream... Then...
I heard something dripping on the floor.
She had actually pissed herself in fear.
"Hm... Goodbye, Isabella. I'll avenge you, I swear it."
Then Valtheim disappeared with Isabella.
And after they were gone, I stood in silence for a moment.
I...am Mizik Iratus. I...am a great disaster...and all of creation will suffer my wrath.