Ascension Of The Villain

Seeing the Talonraith come at him with full speed, Vyan summoned some strength to his arm and thumped his palm on the ground.

An impenetrable wall shot up instantly, and the winged beast collided with it with a deafening crash, shrieking as it was flung back into the air.

Struggling to his feet, Vyan panted heavily. His chest still ached, but breathing was becoming more manageable. He narrowed his eyes at the Talonraith, noting the dark energy swirling around it like a sinister fog. The oppressive black aura seemed to be tormenting the creature, pushing it into a frenzy despite its normally peaceful nature.

That means, these invading monsters were under the control of a black magician, especially sent here to create havoc.

There was only one person like that whom Vyan knew of and would want to screw him like this.

Only one person fit that description and had a vendetta against Vyan.

Furious and stripped of everything, she wasn't even allowed to attend the prestigious Monster Hunt Festival. A festival where, ironically, her step-sister received two invitations: one as the fiancée of the Crown Prince and another as the Vice-Commander of the Imperial Army.

Therefore, who else could it be if not Sienna Pierson Estelle?

"Your presence is a nuisance, and I have no choice but to end this now," Vyan declared, his gaze locked on the airborne Talonraith.

He took a step back, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I am a little inexperienced at controlling this, but you know what? You will make a perfect test subject."

A wicked grin spread across his face as he beckoned the monster with a curled finger. The Talonraith, predictably enraged, charged at him with a furious cry. Vyan stood his ground, spreading his fingers as if he could halt the beast with one hand. To the Talonraith, he appeared vulnerable, an easy target.

Oblivious to its fate, the Talonraith lunged with all its might. The moment it came within ten centimeters of Vyan's outstretched palm, an explosive burst of energy erupted. The massive bird was obliterated in an instant, disintegrating into particles so fine they were indistinguishable from dust.

The tightness around Vyan's chest instantly lifted up, and it got easier for him to breathe. He inhaled a deep breath and exhaled, rubbing a hand over his chest. "Finally," he sighed.

As he raised his head and looked ahead, he let out sheepishly, "Oops, I ended up using too much power."

The trees behind the Talonraith had also disappeared into oblivion, albeit only the top half of them. Fortunately, the destruction wasn't too excessive to raise suspicion. Just ten big trees, sacrificed to his imperfect control.

"I still need a lot of work on perfecting the use of destructive magic," he muttered as he headed to the place where he had hidden Adam.

Vyan was well aware that destructive magic was a game-changer. He could turn the tides of any battle as long as he mastered it completely. But it was easier said than done.

With no one to teach him—since only Ashstones were born with this inherent ability—and no guidebooks written on it for fear of misuse, he was on his own. Although some magical abilities are inherent, every magic can be learned with the right method.

Not to mention, practicing this magic was a whole other challenge on its own. After all, there was only so much property Vyan could destroy without attracting national attention.

The only reason he used it this time was because the black magic was affecting him heavily to the point he could have been killed. He really needed to find a way to counteract its influence. Otherwise, what was the point of having this inexhaustible mana capacity if black magic made him incapable of moving? He would be an easy target for any black magician or demon.

Sighing sadly, Vyan unveiled his horse and hopped on. "Come on, Adam, let's look for Sir Jacques and Spence. I can't afford to destroy any more forestry."

Adam craned his neck toward his master, and for some reason, Vyan could tell Adam was concerned.

Vyan chuckled, reaching out to ruffle Adam's mane affectionately. "What? Are you trying to console me?" he asked, amused.

Adam neighed, his ears flicking back and forth.

Vyan leaned closer, pretending to whisper a secret. "Do you think I will ever figure out how to stop getting affected by dark magic?"

Adam neighed again, louder this time, as if in agreement.

"Haha, alright, I will take your word for it," Vyan grinned and patted Adam's neck. "Let's go, wise one."

———

Ten minutes later, Vyan found Theodore and Spencer, each of them updating their side of the situation. Then, they decided to tour the entire forest, checking every spot, this time being more aware of the traps.

About four hours later, there were still no results. Vyan huffed a tired breath as he jumped down from an elevated rock. "I don't sense anything unusual."

"Do you think there are no more A-grade monsters?" Theodore inquired with a serious look.

"That could be possible. But it is suspicious that whoever wants to sabotage this festival would only send two monsters," Vyan deduced.

"Let's keep looking, my lord. Maybe the other monsters are lying low, which I sincerely hope they're not," Spencer suggested, a touch of nervousness in his voice.

Vyan nodded. "Yes, let's continue."

As they were about to head towards their horses, Spencer gasped.

Vyan and Theodore were instantly alerted, with the former summoning a ball of fire in his hand and the latter unsheathing his sword.

"Oh, relax, please! I didn't spot any monsters," Spencer hurriedly corrected. "I just remembered something."

Vyan rolled his eyes, and Theodore calmly sheathed his sword, as if entirely used to Spencer's false alarms.

"And what is it that you remembered?" Vyan asked, annoyed.

"It's just that we aren't going to come in the first place," Spencer pouted. "We haven't hunted anything yet because we avoided taking on the normal monsters to save time."

Vyan smiled wryly. "It's alright. Making sure everyone is safe is more important."

"I don't see why we can't start now," Theodore stated. "We have scoured for the most part. If there were any more disasters, we would have heard about it by now."

Vyan was amused, not having pegged Theodore as the win-crazy type. Everything almost felt normal, like they were back to routine. As if everything was okay. "We can do that, too—"

But is everything okay? his subconscious questioned him, and he paused.

"We haven't heard back from any of our other knights," Vyan murmured.

"Did you perhaps tell them to stay and guard the forest perimeter?" Spencer asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Vyan shook his head. "I only told them to inform the guards there." His lips twitched, and his expression turned serious. An ominous feeling crept over him. "Let's go check out those areas. No time to hunt on the way; we have to hurry."

"Alright."

"Roger that, my lord!"

After an hour, as they reached the end of the woods, everything seemed fine. The guards were lined up as expected. But...

"What's with them? Why aren't they greeting us yet?" Spencer murmured, his suspicion growing with each passing second. "It's like they don't even see us."

"Their eyes look strange," Theodore commented, his voice laced with unease.

A cold fear swirled in Vyan's chest as he pieced together the disturbing truth. "Shit, they are under mind control."

Spencer's voice wavered with panic. "If they are unresponsive, why didn't our knights come and inform us?"

Vyan tightened his grip on his horse's reins, his knuckles turning white, his expression grim. "Something has gone terribly wrong." He drew a deep breath, steeling himself. "Sir Jacques, Spencer, I need you both to go in different directions, while I go in the other. We need to find out if any monsters have escaped."

He pointed to opposite sides of the forest, where they now stood far from the main camp.

"But—" Spencer began, only to be cut off by Vyan.

"Let's meet up at the camp. We will circle the entire forest periphery."

"My lord, we can't—" Spencer was interrupted again, this time by Theodore.

"We will do as you say, Your Grace," Theodore said firmly.

"Sir Jacques, how can you let My Lord be alone? What if he encounters more monsters with black energy, or worse, the black magician himself?" Spencer's voice rose in a frenzy.

"He can teleport," Theodore responded calmly. "If something happens, he will teleport to us."

Vyan gave a curt nod. "Let's part ways. I will see you at the camp."

Spencer's face was etched with worry, but he nodded begrudgingly. "Please be safe, My Lord."

However, Vyan didn't have the luxury to think about his own safety at that moment. A sense of dread gnawed at him, an ominous premonition that if he didn't act quickly, things would spiral out of control.

But he was too late.

He yanked the reins of his horse, bringing it to an abrupt halt. His heart twisted painfully as his worst fears were confirmed.

The scene before him was a nightmarish vision of carnage—his knights lay slaughtered, their bodies mangled beyond recognition, limbs scattered like broken dolls, and the ground a gruesome pool of blood.