Villain Hiring: Help! Author Wants Me Dead-Chapter 215: Fallout (3)

It started with the world spinning.

One moment, I was staring at Pixie...my Pixie on her knees beside Venus grandpa, her silver hair stained with blood, horns cutting out of her skull like blades of obsidian.

And then, everything started to blur.

The trees and shrubs around me started to bend, and the figures of everyone around me started turning blurry.

My stomach dropped as if the ground had tilted beneath me.

"Pixie…" I whispered, but my voice sounded far away, echoing back at me through thick fog.

I wanted to run to her, to hold her, to protect her from Venus, from whatever this curse was, but my legs felt heavy.

Each drag of breath inside my lungs felt like a big task, and the ringing inside my head grew louder and louder.

That's when it happened.

A sharp gust of mana tore through the air.

My instincts screamed at me even before my eyes caught the shadow.

One of the elders was speeding at my figure.

A man covered in red and black robes, his face scarred, eyes gleaming with hatred.

He had always despised the Kalki bloodline, cursed them, spat on their name. And now, seeing Pixie like this, broken skin, horns splitting her head, he didn't hesitate.

He broke through Venus's aura suppression like it was nothing more than mist.

And he came for me.

His palm glowed with aome blackish energy, a deadly strike aimed straight at my chest.

I barely managed to raise my arms in time and the collision was like thunder. My body slid back a few meters again.

"NOAH!" Pixie's scream pierced through the haze.

The elder sneered, his voice dripping with venom. "The girl's already a monster. But you? You're worse."

Before I could reply, he lunged at me again.

I met him head-on, fists clashing with his claws of mana. The shockwave blasted through the hall, breaking apart the stone pathways beneath us.

But I didn't stop.

I couldn't.

Because behind me, Pixie was trembling, broken, and I would never let them touch her. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Venus's voice boomed across the hall, sharp and commanding.

"ENOUGH!" His aura swelled, heavier than mountains.

"Stop this at once!"

But it was too late.

More figures appeared, shadows flickering from the corner of my vision as they resisted Venus's suppression and rushed towards my figure.

Other elders.

Other heirs.

Their eyes burned with confusion, fear, and hatred.

Some looked at Pixie like she was a nightmare come to life.

Their voices overlapped.

"She's a Hollow!"

"She's cursed!"

"Kill him so there's no one left to protect her!"

"He's a traitor as well!"

And suddenly, it wasn't just one elder.

It was many.

Blades of mana cut through the air.

Bolts of flame and ice spiralled toward me.

My body moved on instinct, shield first, then strike, arms screaming with pain as I deflected a spear of light, then twisted to kick another elder back before he could reach me.

But my body, I realised.

It wasn't keeping up.

Every second, the fog in my mind thickened.

Every move felt delayed, like I was underwater.

My chest heaved, my vision flickering.

It was happening again.

That same feeling, the one I hated, the one I feared. The times when I lost pieces of myself, when I woke up not remembering what I had done. Broken memories of violence, of screams, of blood.

And Damien.

His blue blob of a face flashed in my mind.

The way he always looked at me strangely after those blackouts. The way he never explained, never answered, only muttered something like, "You really don't remember, do you?"

I never understood.

Until now.

Because deep inside me, past the fog, past the panic…a voice stirred.

A voice that wasn't mine.

"Pathetic."

I froze mid-strike, my fist hovering against an elder's jaw.

The voice slithered through me like poison, familiar, but sharp and grating.

"Look at you, breaking apart so easily. All this power around you, and you're still nothing.

You can't even protect her."

My chest tightened, fury boiling in my veins.

"Shut up," I muttered under my breath, blocking another slash of mana.

The voice laughed, cold and cruel.

"Don't pretend like you don't need me.

Every time you've survived, every time you've come out of those fights alive, it wasn't you.

It was me."

"No." My jaw clenched.

I drove my knee into an elder's stomach, sending him crashing into the wall.

"It was me. Not you."

The fog pulsed, and suddenly I wasn't just fighting them, I was fighting myself.

Inside my mind, I saw him.

A reflection of me. Same eyes, same face, but darker. His grin was sharper, his posture dripping with a kind of confidence I didn't have.

He leaned against the broken walls of my mind like this was all a game.

"Keep lying to yourself," he taunted. "But when you fall…when your body gives out…I'll be the one standing.

Not you."

"Stay out of my way!" I roared, my voice cracking out loud, startling even the elders closest to me.

They thought I was shouting at them.

But I wasn't.

I was shouting at him.

The other me.

Blood ran down my arm as I caught another strike, redirecting it just enough to keep it from hitting my chest.

My vision distorted again, the world tilting sideways, but I forced myself up, teeth gritted.

I couldn't lose here.

Not in front of her.

I remembered the way Pixie had looked at me before. The way her voice shook when she said my name. She didn't run. Even when she turned into, whatever this was…she still ran to me.

That meant something.

That had to mean something.

And if I let myself fall now, if I let him take over completely, then what would be left of me?

But the elders weren't slowing.

Their blades grew sharper, their fury louder.

"Kill them both!" one shouted.

"They're hiding the truth!" another spat.

Mana clashed all around me, storms of fire and lightning tearing apart the hall. My body screamed for rest, my lungs barely working, but I kept moving, fists and kicks landing where they could.

Her sobs cut through the chaos. "Noah… "

I gritted my teeth harder.

My heart beating too fast because of all the action, not from fear, but from something deeper.

Something breaking.

Inside, the darker version of me laughed again.

"You're going to lose, Noah." His grin stretched wide, his eyes glinting.

"And when you do, I'll take everything. Including her."

The thought burned me alive.

"No," I hissed, voice low, raw.

His smirk widened. "Then prove it."

The world around me shattered into chaos, elders striking from every angle, Venus's voice booming orders no one listened to, Pixie's cries echoing in my chest, and all I could think was:

If I don't hold on now, if I don't fight both them and myself…then everything ends here.

Everything.

And that was when I realised, I couldn't fight this forever.

The fog was swallowing me whole.

The question was, when it all came down it…who would open their eyes in my body?

Me...or him?

***