A Villainess Should Be Strong

"You're here, Princess," Elias' voice was cold and emotionless, unlike the lively appearance he had.

He had light yellow hair that shone brightly, and had the overall vibe of a Knight, not a Magician that could bring so much doom into the world like he did with the monsters.

"..Why?" Estelle couldn't figure out the reason. Why must this be done?

Estelle looked at Elias in the eyes as he stored his helmet, ruffling his hair slightly.

The Surface and the Underworld were two separate realms with separate entities and hierarchies festering inside of them.

In Estelle's mind, there was no need for the two to be mixed unless it is to disrupt one another.

In other words, what Elias was doing right now was nothing more than creating chaos.

Elias.. he was a being from the Underworld, no?

She recalled the spell she had to use in order to create a rift between two realms. It was extremely taxing to use, even with her undefeatable talent.

Estelle felt like her body was being ripped apart, while her mana bank was shaking and on the verge of shattering.

It was not something ordinary people can do without extensive procedures and preparation.

Arayle told her that in order for Kalis to be able to kidnap her, Kalis had to train himself to learn the highest pain blocking spell and imbue that even further with Arayle's magic.

Even then, Kalis still suffered backlash.

In the same way, Estelle forced her way into casting the spell and sent herself back to the Surface.

She had to face extreme backlash because her preparations weren't fully matured.

She had to make do with everything she could pull off.

As a result, she fainted right after reaching the other side.

According to Heine, Elias was the mastermind.

And upon seeing Elias' reaction to her arrival, it further strengthened this theory.

The man was alive and well, living inside the Surface and not 'working' in the Underworld like he was rumored to.

However, Elias' pathing would be difficult to explain if this was the case.

Elias was, according to Arayle and the citizens of the Underworld, a diligent subject that worked in many divisions. And one of them was being Arayle's mentor.

The one to introduce the Underworld's Princess to how the world worked, and instilled knowledge inside her mind.

Then, wouldn't the timeline between the two storylines overlap?

Elias should be in the surface when the monster attacks first started.

But according to the royal records, Elias was present during the absence of power that existed in the Underworld after the first ruler passed away before another royal popped up.

Elias taught Arayle. Yet, the monsters' development always went on. The aggression, and continuous support.

Did he really simultaneously do things on both of the realms?

Then, wouldn't that mean he had to travel between the dimensions multiple times?

How was he still alive?

Estelle couldn't believe it.

Even she wouldn't be able to bear the pain.

Did Elias have a skill that allowed him to become immune to this pain?

"Were you the one who orchestrated all of this? The monsters, they weren't hostile after being purified, right? You transformed them into those vile beings.. and for what?"

The man had meddled into the Surface's affairs and instilled new concepts in the world.

"Princess Arayle instructed me to, so of course I have to comply," Elias replied, not a tinge of regret or consideration blooming on his face.

His words confirmed his involvement in the matter.

Then, he was indeed, the magician Estelle was trying to hunt down. The one that helped Duke Alfonso.

Estelle's fists balled up, and her nails dug into her skin.

She had heard of the reports, the incidents, the casualties.

Everything the monsters had caused.

Thousands of unaware, innocent lives were consumed during the process of adjusting to these sudden monster outbreaks.

These were only the human lives' tally, not counting the other races.

Even saying only was desecrating the dead. Estelle understood about the circle of life and how it operated.

Deaths caused by monsters existed even before the chaos erupted.

However, the casualties were much lower. Not in the thousands. It was an absurd number that overpowered deaths caused by natural disasters that used to top the mortality rate due to there being no ongoing wars.

Elias' detached attitude made Estelle want to smack some sense into the man who did not care about those lives.

"Lies. I've figured out the time difference. You- this plan started even before Arayle was born. Don't put all the blame on her like that," Estelle scowled.

Of course, her words were not ones that meant to protect or shield Arayle.

Arayle wasn't innocent, because she literally sent one of her subjects to kidnap a little girl from a different realm, forcing her to separate with her normal life.

It was just that, she disliked how Elias pinned it on Arayle. It bothered her.

Although Arayle also had the desire to connect with the Surface, her reasoning was different. She wanted to create a link between the two realms. Not to destroy one side.

Was it beneficial for the Underworld if the Surface was destroyed?

If not, why would Elias do such a thing?

As far as her understanding went, the Surface and the Underworld were separate- they had no connections with each other despite the similarities they shared.

If not for the gate that created a rim for their travels, the two realms wouldn't have any interaction at all.

Estelle was frustrated. "How were you able to maintain progress in both of the two realms? What does that make you? You.. the time difference brought significant impact to me, but you aren't affected at all. How?"

"I have my own secrets, of course. But.. am I not just trying to help your world?"

"Help.. Are you joking?" Estelle bit her lips as she spat out her words of disbelief.

Causing the deaths of thousands of lives was what he called 'help'?

"Why do you have to care about them? The ones who died.. they are useless human beings who contribute little to the world's progress. You've been in the Underworld, so you must've already seen how different and vast the two realms were, no? No one is worthless inside the Underworld. Everyone is needed, unlike in the Surface. I merely wanted to purge the world a little bit,"

"I'm sure you must've seen how the world recovered so fast and was able to adjust to the monsters. This is all because the strong and talented people who can quickly learn how to defend themselves and get an upper hand on the monsters. Whereas, like you've seen, the other lives leech off these powerful people. Aren't they useless?"

"Even so!" Estelle couldn't completely debunk Elias' words, because in truth, she also had similar thoughts.

"I plan to stimulate the power growth here little by little. I didn't expect their potential to be as low as this. My initial prediction was much faster... but it is fine. The monsters now have the upper hand, so whether they want it or not, everyone will have to develop themselves," Elias sucked in a breath of cold air as his eyes peered off into the city, looking at the chaos that brewed.

Elias then let out a chuckle.

"Even just now, didn't you tell that Spirit King to not save the civilians immediately? Let them suffer some losses? What about that? Aren't you just the same as me, treating human lives as a dispensable object?" Elias questioned.

"That's.." Estelle couldn't refute. "You've been watching?"

Estelle's conversation with Heine shouldn't have been heard by anyone other than Yulia. Unless, at that time, Elias was already there?

Elias gave her nothing but a smile.

"Remember, you are the Princess. As for me.." Elias mumbled. He then mouthed incoherent words that Estelle couldn't comprehend. "Well, you'll find out one day,"

After saying that, he jumped out of the window and disappeared into thin air.

Within the short span of one second, Estelle caught sight of something strange.

[Wings..?] Estelle was sure that she saw faint outlines of what looked like wings sprouting on the back of Elias' body.

Bizarre, black wings mixed with some blood red spikes on the wing frames.

"Black wings..."

Even though she wanted to think upon it more, the danger in the city called out to her as another huge sound reverberated throughout the lands.

The sounds of explosions.

Before, no firepower was used. But now, somehow the situation had escalated.

[Who the hell used fire when there is a strong wind storm?!] Estelle berated.

She observed the current raging disaster.

"That's- the storm still has so much power?!" Estelle put her hands on the window rails as she jumped out and took flight to get a better view.

It was hard to believe that the storm was still able to rampage after such a long time. It was supposed to subside, especially with the help of so many magicians' power coming together.

"No... that's a different storm," Estelle widened her eyes as she identified the two separate storms.

There wasn't just one disaster. There were two.

The second wave of storm. This time, it was in the shape of a large tornado, wreaking havoc inside the city and destroying everything that comes in contact with it.

"That's my last gift to you, Princess," Elias' voice came about once more, bringing Estelle to a jolt.

[Elias?!] Estelle hadn't expected the man to still be in the vicinity.

"Last gift your ass-" Estelle turned her head with haste, wanting to catch Elias' annoying figure.

However, he had once again, disappeared. Her radar also showed the same results. No lifeforms were detected.

All that was left was a black feather that dropped down to the ground.