"Everything's… going black…" Ophelia puked up more blood as she held her chest in pain, catching the attention of the hero.
Jin quickly ran toward the dying princess, kneeling beside her barely conscious body. His demeanor of disappointment immediately shifted to concern. Pressing his hands against her wound, he tried to stop the bleeding with worried eyes. "Hang on, I've got you. Just stay with me." Speaking in a gentle voice, a stark contrast to how he'd treated Tanimoto moments ago, Jin tried his best to keep her alive.
"Don't you dare die on me! Medical assistance is on its way!" Blood kept squirting from her wound as Ophelia gasped in pain.
"Tanimoto… he… he killed everyone… he's planning on taking over Grambosia Kingdom… I heard everything… you must make him pay…" Ophelia's breathing grew weaker each time she spoke as her eyes fluttered, struggling to stay conscious.
Jin's hands trembled as he applied pressure to her wound, his usual humble expression long gone. "No, no... stay with me. Just hold on a little longer." He leaned closer, speaking urgently but softly. "What is Tanimoto planning? He doesn't have what it takes to conquer Grambosia… does he have an army with him?"
Ophelia's consciousness was fading fast, feeling her body grow colder by the second. "I'm… sorry…" Her last breath escaped in a whisper that Jin couldn't quite catch.
Jin's face contorted with grief as he felt Ophelia's life slip away. His hands fell limply to his sides, stained with her blood. "Damnit…" Sitting there, frozen for a moment, he stared at her lifeless form in disbelief. "What the hell is happening? Has Tanimoto been planning all of this the entire time behind our backs? I'm…" He trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.
+
And so, she fell. Superseding the Multiverse, traversing the Realm of Mana, Ophelia's soul drifted through an endless darkness as her spiritual body fragmented like shattered glass. She ascended through an endless void that seemed to swallow her whole, threatening to tear her apart completely.
Images of her past life flashed before her eyes, the bullying, the pain, the betrayal. Each memory weighed heavily on her soul but also kept her alive.
As the darkness grew thicker, colder, and more suffocating, Ophelia would feel herself slipping away, dissolving into nothingness, but through sheer force of will, the princess managed to halt her annihilation as her fractured soul merged back together.
"From ruin, I rise. From silence, I rule. I shall make the world remember the person it dared to forget." Speaking confidently in her journey through the infinite gates, despite having her ontology break apart, Ophelia kept her soul from fracturing through sheer rage and will. Even if the darkness pressed in from all sides, she refused to give in. Something inside her swirled like a vortex—a memory—a fragment of her past life that refused to be forgotten.
Once she reached the final layer of the gate, she floated within a dark abyss. All of a sudden, a black light appeared in the distance of this Ultimate Void. It grew blacker, yet also brighter, calling out to her like a beacon. "Come, Ophelia Grovenheart, Embodiment of Evil." Exiting this black light was a familiar voice, mischievous in its tone. "Transcend the Ultimate Void, and the Godheads, to reach my plane… the Primordial Plane." Ophelia reached out with her transparent hand, drawn towards the "black light" like a moth to a flame.
As her soul neared the paradoxical light, dark tendrils reached out from the void, wrapping around her essence like chains that pulled her in. Ghostly whispers echoed as the atmosphere seemed to warp reality, making it difficult to distinguish past from present, and real from imagined. Ophelia soon found herself drawn into this disorienting web of chaos.
Traversing through the black light, she entered the soup of disorder. Finite became infinite, love became hate, good became evil, and matter became anti-matter, yet they also existed as the same, creating a paradox.
Creating Disorder.
Creating Chaos!
"My my, so you've returned into my domain through a sheer force of will? Color me impressed, Ophelia Grovenheart." A voice echoed across the realm of chaos as Ophelia floated in "midair", while in truth, she was floating in nothingness, yet also everything at once.
"Yes, I've come to see you again, Lady of Chaos." Ophelia's spiritual expression remained stoic, despite her whereabouts. "You were the one who gave me this power in order to get revenge. I've only been alive for two days, and yet I have the strength to decimate large towns with my fist, and sprint at hypersonic speed to catch my enemies. I'd like to know my true purpose from your mouth only."
"Ohoho! Very interesting question indeed! Even though the Sin of Wrath has already told you, you wish to hear it from me?"
Ophelia nodded her head.
"After you bestowed me this power, I've changed. My entire personality was warped, and I thrived off of revenge and anger. I've become this Voidbound…"
The Lady of Chaos, Agnes, chuckled, reverberating her laughter across the domain.
"Voidbounds, Chaos Descendants, Chaos Spawns, yes, they have many names, and they're my children. I've given you a part of me. Your very nature is to disrupt the order of Yggdrasil and its Multiverse. All of my children are born with enhanced capabilities and the power to overcome the Gods themselves!" Agnes chuckled, taking pride in her nature. "But you're different, Ophelia."
Ophelia's spiritual form widened their eyes, questioning the Lady of Chaos.
"Different how?"
There was a slight pause as Agnes mustered up the right things to say.
"You weren't meant to receive the Cardinal Sin System… your hatred and anger for this world was so strong and mighty that the Sinful System had chosen you, specifically." Agnes chuckled. "And with its power, you have become the embodiment of evil! All evil, and all sin, created by those who constructed the ethical system of evil, is what you represent."
Ophelia, despite being revealed as evil in physical form, showed no signs of bewilderment.
"So… you're saying this Sinful System is like a parasite, and it used me as its vessel after seeing the hatred in my heart?"
Cackling in the void, Agnes responded, "Yes! You're more special than you thought, child! I've only bestowed you a portion of chaos, but it seems that other cosmic forces have taken a liking to your hatred as well, so rejoice, you're exceptional for a mortal!"
Ophelia frowned after hearing all of this, showing no signs of excitement, only the drive to obtain vengeance.
"I care not what this world offers me unless it aids me in my endeavors, Lady of Chaos."
"Ufufufu…" The darkness around Ophelia became thicker as a pair of arms wrapped around her neck as if someone hugged her from behind. "Never have I seen a Voidbound ascend to my realm through sheer willpower and rage… your nature… fascinates me… Ophelia Grovenheart. Perhaps I shall make you mine."
Without batting an eye to the dark figure behind her, the villainess stood firm and regal in the void.
"I've only killed myself to ask you simple questions, Lady Agnes. I could've survived with Ulysses' Sinful Skill, but I was confused about my nature."
"Confused about your nature?" Agnes leaned over her shoulder, their appearance dark and humanoid. "Whatever do you mean?"
"When Tanimoto spoke to me and told me he was sorry, I felt regret… but how is that possible when I'm this supposed 'embodiment of evil' and Voidbound you spoke of?"
Agnes pressed her boobs against Ophelia's back, seductively trailing her hands down the princess's waist. "Mmm~ How interesting indeed, it seems a small part of Yuto Alltear and his moral values still remain within your soul." Agnes rubbed along her hips, reaching to grope the princess's breasts. "A small part of you is trying to fight your past nature… you'll have to get rid of it, and I have just the thing to help you."
Ophelia, unfazed by her touching, turned her head to face the Primordial Chaos.
"And how will you do that? If a small part of me wants to get in my way, then I'm willing to do anything necessary to strip myself of Yuto's moral principles."
Agnes cackled, finally removing her hands from Ophelia's body.
"Annabel, Tanimoto's girlfriend..." There was a slight pause as Agnes held back her sadistic laughter. "Take away her freedom, and make her your subservient pet! Transform her into a slave ruled by terror! Once you do that, the small piece of Yuto that's bestowing you regret will vanish."
Ophelia closed her eyes, deep in thought.
"I see, so taking away Tanimoto's girlfriend is the answer. Are you telling me to bed her, is that it?" Ophelia lowered her head into a chuckle. "I've already had that planned from the very beginning, and if that's all it takes, then I'll gladly indulge."
"As expected from my lovely Voidbound! Your job is far from over, you have many more lives to ruin, and worlds to conquer. It would be best to return to Algunita so you can finish what you started."
Ophelia now understood what must be done. With such a powerful will and insatiable rage, the Voidbound had what it takes to descend into evil, without regret.