Transmigrated as the Villainess Princess - Chapter 154

Chapter 154: No Turning Back (Special Chapter)
Magnus stood at the precipice of the Abyssal Trench, the wind howling around him as if the ocean itself was warning him away.

But there was no turning back. He had faced death before, walked through horrors that would have shattered lesser men. This was simply the next trial.

He took a steadying breath, the cold air biting into his lungs. His grip tightened on his staff as he whispered an incantation, weaving protective wards around his body.

The blue runes flickered along his skin, glowing faintly before settling into an invisible barrier. Then, without hesitation, he stepped forward.

The moment his foot broke the surface, the ocean swallowed him whole.

Darkness engulfed him instantly. The weight of the water pressed against his body, but his spells held, allowing him to move freely despite the crushing depth.

The deeper he sank, the colder it became. Shadows shifted around him, twisting unnaturally. Something was watching him.

He did not need to see it to know it was there. He could feel the ancient presence stirring in the abyss, an awareness that had long been undisturbed.

It did not attack, not yet, it was waiting, observing. Testing him.

Magnus pressed forward, chanting under his breath as he guided himself through the abyss.

The world around him was silent save for the distant echoes of something moving in the depths.

Shapes loomed in the distance, wreckages of ships long lost to time, skeletal remains of creatures that had never been recorded in any history book.

The deeper he went, the more the darkness seemed to come alive. It coiled around him, tendrils of shadow brushing against his barrier, testing its strength.

Then, the whispers began. They slithered into his mind, clawing at his thoughts. Turn back. You do not belong here.

Magnus clenched his jaw. He had read about the Abyssal Trench, about the voices that lured intruders to madness. He had prepared for this.

He pressed a hand to his temple and whispered a counterspell, fortifying his mind against the intrusion. The voices recoiled but did not disappear. They merely shifted tactics.

You will fail. You are not strong enough. You are alone. No one will come for you when you fall. He exhaled sharply, forcing the words away.

He had spent years being called weak, overlooked by those who thought him unworthy. He had endured. He had survived. And he was not alone. Not anymore.

A sudden movement caught his eye.

Something massive lurked ahead, a silhouette against the abyss. It was ancient, its body coiled through the depths like a god of the sea, watching, waiting.

The Guardian.

Magnus stilled. He had suspected there would be something guarding the artifact, but he had not expected this.

The creature’s body was lined with bioluminescent markings, pulsing softly like the heartbeat of the trench itself. Its eyes, vast and endless, locked onto him.

For a moment, neither moved.

Then, the creature spoke, but not in words. A wave of power crashed over Magnus, an unspoken question reverberating through his soul.

Why do you seek the Shard?

Magnus’s throat tightened. He could feel the weight of the question, the demand for truth. If he lied, if he faltered, the abyss would claim him.

So he did not hesitate.

“To break the cycle,” he answered, his voice steady.

“To end the curse that has plagued my academy. To stop the suffering of those who came before me, and those who will come after.”

Silence stretched between them. Then, the abyss shook.

A low rumble echoed through the trench as the creature shifted, its massive form unraveling, revealing a passage behind it, an opening to the heart of the abyss.

The Guardian had granted him passage.

Magnus wasted no time. He propelled himself forward, past the towering creature, and into the depths beyond. The cavern he entered was unlike anything he had ever seen.

At its center, floating above a pedestal of black stone, was the artifact he sought.

The Eclipse Shard.

It pulsed with celestial energy, its form shifting between light and darkness, as though it did not belong to this world at all.

Magnus reached out, but the moment his fingers brushed the surface, pain exploded through his body. He gasped, light bursting in his vision as images tore through his mind.

The first eclipse. The sealing of the curse. The hands that wove the academy’s fate in blood and sacrifice.

He saw the ones who had come before him, those who had tried and failed to break the cycle. And then, he saw the cost of what he was about to do.

A blood sacrifice. A willing soul. Someone had to die to sever the contract.

Magnus staggered back, his breath ragged. He had known the ritual demanded sacrifice, but now, faced with the truth of it, he felt the weight of it press down on his chest.

Could he do it? Could he ask someone to give their life for this? The answer should have been easy. The academy had taken so much. It had to end.

But who would it be? A name surfaced in his mind before he could stop it.

Silas.

His brother. The one who had always protected him. The one who would willingly give his life if Magnus asked.

My brother was long gone…

His stomach twisted. He had fought his entire life to prove he was not weak, that he did not need to be saved. And now, fate was demanding he let someone else save him one last time.

“No,” he whispered, his grip tightening on the Eclipse Shard. “There has to be another way.”

The darkness around him shuddered.

A test.

The Guardian had not stopped him from taking the Shard. But the abyss had shown him the truth. Now, it was his choice.

Magnus swallowed hard. He did not know how, not yet, but he would find another way. He had to.

With the Shard secured, he turned, making his way back through the cavern. The Guardian watched as he passed, its gaze unreadable.

When he finally surfaced, the night sky greeted him, stars glimmering above the restless waves.

He collapsed onto the shore, chest heaving. The hardest part was still ahead. The ritual. The sacrifice. The choice.

As he lay there, staring up at the endless sky, a single thought anchored itself in his mind. He would not let fate decide for him.

He would rewrite the ending himself.