Reincarnated in a novel: I am the villain!-Chapter 319: Escape

The shadow cage was screaming.

The colossal sphere of Absolute Midnight that Ancestor Thaddeus Rhun had forged from his own life force was cracking. Blinding, apocalyptic white light bled through the fissures as the localized singularity, a clash between the 9th-Order Shadow Law and Azazel’s absolute Void, threatened to detonate.

Layer 9 was disintegrating. Floating glaciers sublimated into nothingness, and the starry void beneath the shattered bedrock expanded, threatening to swallow them all.

Damien didn’t look at the collapsing dimension. He didn’t look at the cage. He looked straight up at the bleeding, fractured ceiling of the Abyss, where the apocalyptic stampede of Layers 8 and 7 still raged.

*’System,’* Damien commanded, his mind laser-focused. *’Target: Dimensional Drill. Expend the points.’*

**[Calculation in progress...]

**[Item: Dimensional Drill (consumable).]

**[Effect: Forces a stable wormhole through any barrier or dimensional space to a pre-designated coordinate.]

**[Cost: 200,000 DP]**

**[Purchase Confirmed. Current DP: 2,800,000.]**

A small, geometric construct materialized in Damien’s palm. It wasn’t a mechanical tool; it looked like a pyramid made of pure, condensed math, humming with a frequency that vibrated his very bones. It was the exact same artifact he had used sixteen years ago to punch through the Divine Barrier at the Academy.

"Isabelle!" Damien roared over the sound of the collapsing world. "Grab my mother! I’ve got my father!"

Isabelle didn’t hesitate. She threw her arm around Elizabeth’s waist, hauling the exhausted Empress of Deceit to her feet. Damien hoisted Theron’s massive, semi-conscious frame over his shoulder.

"Damien..." Theron wheezed, his Void-corrupted arm bleeding a sickly purple light as it reacted violently to Azazel’s proximity. "What... are you doing?"

"We’re skipping the stairs, Old Man," Damien said.

He aimed the geometric pyramid directly upward and squeezed.

**ZRRT.**

The pyramid spun. It fired a beam of brilliant, erasing red light. It didn’t just cut the air; it deleted it. The beam shot miles into the sky, striking the ceiling of Layer 9.

The bedrock of hell groaned. The drill forced a stable, cylindrical wormhole straight through the dimensional layers. Through the glowing red tunnel, Damien could see the chaotic, swirling masses of billions of beasts in Layers 8 and 7 trying to escape, completely bypassing the stampede.

And at the very end of the tunnel, he saw the pristine, polished floors of the Platinum Spire.

"INTO THE PORTAL!" Damien roared.

Isabelle jumped, dragging Elizabeth with her. Damien followed a microsecond later, his boots leaving the shattering ice of Layer 9 just as the shadow cage behind them finally gave way.

*KRA-KOOOOOOM!*

The singularity detonated. The shockwave of a dimension being erased kissed the heels of Damien’s boots as he crossed the event horizon.

**[Location: Abyss Layer 6 – The Platinum Spire]**

*CRASH.*

They tumbled out of the wormhole, sliding across the seamless, reflective floors of the Demigod’s throne room.

Damien hit the ground hard, rolling to protect his father’s battered body. The moment they cleared the threshold, the red portal behind them violently imploded, snapping shut with a concussive *POP* that rattled the chandeliers of the Spire.

The floor beneath them violently shuddered. Even separated by three dimensional layers, the destruction of Layer 9 sent a tectonic shockwave throughout the entire Abyss.

"Fascinating."

A smooth, cultured voice echoed through the pristine chamber.

Damien pushed himself up, his chest heaving, his 8th-Order Eclipse Core burning hot.

Standing a few meters away, looking down at them with glowing white eyes, was the Platinum Prince. The Demigod of Layer 6 was dusting off his impeccable white suit, having successfully held the frontline against the Demigods of the stampede.

"I felt the dimensional fabric tear," the Platinum Prince mused, looking at the spot where the portal had vanished. "You punched a hole through reality itself to bypass the Vanguard. And you brought guests."

The Prince’s eyes landed on Theron and Elizabeth. His gaze lingered on the shifting, aggressive Void Mark covering Theron’s right arm and chest.

"The King of Darkness and the Empress of Deceit," the Prince noted, his tone laced with genuine respect. "They are legends, even down here. But it appears the King’s time has run out."

"Theron!" Elizabeth screamed, ignoring the Demigod entirely.

She collapsed beside her husband.

Theron was convulsing. The Void Mark, agitated to the point of critical mass by Azazel’s direct presence in Layer 9, was no longer just a dormant curse. It was actively devouring him. The black, shifting chitin was spreading rapidly up his neck, inching toward his heart.

"No, no, no," Elizabeth sobbed, her hands glowing with frantic, useless illusion magic. "Stay with me, Theron! We made it out! We’re safe!"

Theron coughed, black sludge spilling from his lips. He looked up at his wife, his grey eyes dulling. He raised his good hand, cupping her soot-stained cheek.

"Elizabeth..." Theron wheezed, a faint, sad smile on his lips. "It’s alright. We... we saw our boy again. That’s... enough."

"It is not enough!" Elizabeth shrieked, tears streaming down her face.

Isabelle stood by, her hands clutched tightly to her chest, her red eyes wide with helpless sorrow. Even the Platinum Prince watched in silence, recognizing that no amount of wealth or Abyssal healing could cure a curse placed by a God.

"He has minutes, at best," the Platinum Prince stated objectively. "The Void is eating his soul."

"I know," Damien said.

Damien stepped forward, his boots clicking softly on the platinum floor. He knelt beside his parents. He didn’t look panicked. He didn’t look afraid.

He looked exactly like the man who had planned for this moment for sixteen years.

"Damien..." Theron choked out, his vision blurring. "Take care... of your mother. Be... a good King..."

"Shut up, Old Man," Damien said softly, a fond, arrogant smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. "You don’t get to die on my watch. I told you before I left home all those years ago. I promised I’d cure that arm."

Damien reached into his Void Gem.

He didn’t pull out an Abyssal artifact. He didn’t pull out a System potion.

He pulled out a small, crystal vial.

Inside the vial, a liquid glowed with a blinding, pure, and absolute light. It didn’t radiate heat, nor did it radiate pressure. It radiated *Life*. It was the exact antithesis to the Abyss, a concentrated drop of pure, unadulterated existence that Damien had secured from Queen Aelinor during the Elven War.

**The Tears of the Goddess of Life.**

The Platinum Prince’s white eyes widened a fraction. "Divine Life Essence? Down here?"

"Hold his arm down, Isabelle," Damien ordered.

Isabelle instantly dropped to her knees, using her immense physical strength to pin Theron’s thrashing, Void-corrupted arm to the floor.

"This is going to sting, Dad," Damien whispered.

He popped the cork and poured the glowing liquid directly onto the black, shifting chitin covering Theron’s chest.

*HIIIIIIISSSSS!*

The reaction was instantaneous and violently explosive. The moment the pure Life Mana touched the Void, the curse shrieked. Thick, black smoke erupted from Theron’s skin as the conceptual erasure of the Void clashed with the absolute genesis of the Goddess’s Tears.

Theron threw his head back and let out a raw, agonizing roar that shook the Spire.

"Hold him!" Damien shouted over the noise, pouring the rest of the vial over the spreading veins on Theron’s neck.

The Life Mana didn’t just burn the Void away; it rewrote the flesh. The black chitin cracked, blistered, and turned to ash, revealing raw, pink, healed skin underneath. The dark veins receding from Theron’s heart were flushed out, replaced by the strong, steady pulse of his own blood.

For ten agonizing seconds, the throne room was filled with the sound of hissing steam and Theron’s screams.

Then, it stopped.

The smoke cleared.

Theron lay panting on the platinum floor. The black, shifting armor that had plagued him for sixteen years was completely gone. His right arm, previously a mangled limb of corruption, was whole and unblemished.

The Warlord of the Voss family blinked, looking up at the ceiling. He flexed his right hand. He felt the unobstructed, roaring ocean of his own mana core for the first time in over a decade.

"It’s... it’s gone," Theron whispered, his voice trembling with disbelief.

Elizabeth let out a breathless sob, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest. "You’re whole. You’re finally whole."

Damien sat back on his heels, letting out a long, exhausted breath. He looked at his father, then at his mother. The mission was complete. He had found them, and he had saved them.

"Well," Damien said, a genuine, tired smile breaking through his mask. "I suppose that means my grounding is officially canceled."

Note: Apologies for the late Chapters, and the fact that it’s one Chapter a day.

I’m currently not at full heath and also in the middle of my final exams, thanks for understanding and expect a mass release after exams

I’m set to be done in about two weeks

Thank you once again for understanding! And thanks for supporting