The SSS Ranked Villain's Return - Chapter 39

Chapter 39: The Seal of Calamity
[Stigmata: Fragment of Calamity Has Reached 100%]

[Would you like to release the seal?]

[Y/Y]

Neraxis stared at it with a smirk, but just as he was about to click “Yes,” he suddenly felt a tug on his shirt, followed by his legs giving out.

“Ouch…” Aurelia’s soft voice rang out. She had fallen just to the right of him, but as she glanced at him, a worried look appeared on her face.

“Are you okay?”

“For the most part.” He chuckled, feeling a little bit out of breath.

However, before he could ponder further, Evangeline spoke, her voice sounding awfully impatient.

[I don’t mean to interrupt your cutesy little time, but I would highly recommend you release the seal now.]

Just a moment. Neraxis said as he saw Aella approaching him with urgency plastered all over her face.

He was unsure of what was wrong, but nonetheless, he proceeded to relax. His wounds did not feel that deep; Restorative Cut dealt with most of those issues.

But the fatigue was still there, even more so after using the skill.

“Idiot.” Aella’s cold voice rang out as she placed her staff just a bit above his head before gently bringing it down.

However, as she did so, he could immediately feel a rejuvenating flow coursing throughout his entire body, until eventually, all of the fatigue he had felt moments ago completely disappeared.

“Damn, you weren’t kidding when you said you were a top-notch healer, huh?” He joked around, yet there was still a sharp feeling around his abdomen, and from the looks of the others around him, he could guess what was wrong.

Looking down, he saw that a pool of black blood was steadily rushing out of him, and on the very side of his abdomen, there was a particular green stinger sticking out.

Now that he thought about it, he found it strange he couldn’t feel any pain—it was a paralytic type of poison.

Well, shit. He sighed inwardly while looking at his team bickering amongst each other, with Aella even smacking his head a couple more times with her staff.

He was starting to regain feeling, so he didn’t mind. Instead, Neraxis took his attention elsewhere.

[Would you like to release the seal?]

[Y/Y]

Without reaching out his hand, he thought of the “Yes” button, and immediately, his vision shifted.

One moment, he was in the Venomous Wasp dungeon, and the next, he was standing in some desolate land with spears sticking out of the ground.

It was the aftermath of war, which had likely already concluded.

But among the many weapons was a sword he recognized all too well; after all, it was the same one he wielded.

Thinking of it as some sort of trial, Neraxis headed toward it, and just as he was about to place his hand on the sword, a feminine voice rang out from behind him.

“Looking for something?”

The playful tone, as well as the all-too-familiar voice, made him turn around, and what greeted his sight was a woman with scarlet hair and piercing crimson eyes, wearing a stunning black suit of armor.

Added to that was the vibrant pointy crimson crown she had on her head.

Yet the gentle smile betrayed her fierce image, prompting him to respond in kind.

“Nice to see you, Evangeline.”

Her eyebrows twitched upon hearing that. “Not even a ‘wow, you are so beautiful’?”

“Seeking compliments? Didn’t expect that from the so-called empress.” He teased back, earning a pout from her.

“Hmph… and here I thought you would be fawning over my good looks.” Evangeline said with a sigh before walking over to the sword and sitting down.

With a reminiscent glance to the side, she said, “Welcome to where I died.”

Neraxis froze, unsure of how to reply when someone dropped that big of a bombshell on him.

“I see… I’m sorry.”

She merely shrugged. “Don’t be, I didn’t bring you here to ask for pity.” With those words, she began standing up, sword in hand.

“It was more so to finally see you face to face,” Evangeline said, walking closer. “And of course, I am going to give you a skill, like I promised.”

Suddenly, she unsheathed the completely red sword, but instead of the usual blade, there were small red system windows scattered all around.

What was even more surprising, though, was that they were full of error screens—ones that would prohibit the use of a certain ability.

Neraxis could see her chin slowly tremble as he reached out, holding the outstretched sword with his hand over hers.

Immediately, the error windows disappeared, as though they had not been there in the first place.

But that was not all, as exactly three red system windows emerged, much clearer than before, even displaying some sort of text.

“Damn it…” Her frustrated voice rang out as she plopped down onto her knees, heaving heavy breaths.

“Evangeline…?” Neraxis walked up, crouching down beside her.

But he was met with the sword’s hilt to his face. “Don’t get so close… give me a moment.”

She slowly began stabilizing her breaths until eventually, they were back to normal.

“Sorry about that.” Evangeline jumped up to her feet, sheathing the sword and controlling the red system windows to fly over to him before the three combined into a single one.

“I was a bit frustrated because of bad luck. I wasn’t able to get you the skill you would like.”

“Hmm?” He tilted his head in confusion, glancing at the single system window before him.

Yet the moment his eyes fell on their contents, they widened in shock.

[Crimson Dominion {A}]

[Skill Description: Harnesses the user’s vampiric essence to manipulate blood, creating a deadly blend of destruction and recovery on the battlefield.]

[Skill Effects (1/3): Blood Rend (Active): Slashes at the target with a powerful blood-infused strike that deals more damage the less health you have and causes the target to suffer the Hemorrhage debuff. The user gains 50% of all damage dealt during Hemorrhage as direct healing. Cooldown: 30 minutes.]

[Skill Effects (2/3): Sanguine Ascendancy (Passive): Amplifies blood-based abilities, increasing their damage and lifesteal effectiveness. Enemies struck bleed over time, taking additional damage and empowering the user’s regeneration.]

[Skill Effect (3/3) Partial Vampirism (Special Passive): You are now able to drink blood to nourish yourself, temporarily increasing your cognitive abilities beyond normal. Able to freely alter your blood type. Due to the skill being Partial Vampirism, you do not suffer any debuffs of a normal vampire.]

[Debuff – Hemorrhage: Enemies afflicted by Hemorrhage suffer from blood loss 5 times quicker.]

“Evangeline… What the fuck?” He couldn’t help but let out a gasp. The skill before him had the same essence as his Stellar Dominion skill.

But upon taking another look, he noticed that the skill did not have the reduced effects penalty.

And just as he was about to ask how or even why, Evangeline spoke up.

“I can still read your mind. This is a skill I combined with many others. It’s much better than it looks, trust me.” She said while picking up her sword and turning on her heel.

“Don’t worry about the numerical values. I can’t exactly have them in the system, or else the skill would get deleted.”

“Evangeline… thank you,” Neraxis said with pure gratitude as he stared at her back.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she grinned before flicking the sword to the side, causing another red system window to appear.

“…After all, the rewards are not over yet.”

[Main Skill—Eve of Ruin: Rank up available.]

[G->F]

[Would you like to proceed? Y/N]