The thunderous, mountain-shaking cheers began to take on a bizarre and distorted quality in Allen and Livia’s ears.
No longer a tribute to valor, it felt more like a bloody sacrifice offered to the Dark Gods, brimming with mockery and malicious appreciation.
The two of them were puppets on a stage, controlled by invisible strings, dancing this dance of death to please some eldritch existence.
At almost the exact same moment, the two of them stopped and pulled back, maintaining a wary distance.
Scalding blood dripped from their respective wounds, letting out a sizzle as it hit the scorching sand.
From the moment the battle began, the veil of reality seemed to have been quietly torn open, allowing the madness of the Supreme Heaven to seep through.
“Livia, do you hear it? Those cheers that don’t belong here?”
Allen spoke, his voice stripped of all pretense, leaving only a cold, extreme gravity.
His pale gold eyes shone even brighter under the murky gaze of the Evil God.
He could clearly feel a warm current surging through his body, actively repairing the deep wound on his flank that exposed the bone.
The pain was receding at high speed, and his exhausted stamina was instantly replenished.
The power he had been suppressing was now overflowing uncontrollably.
Allen confirmed it completely. This “Blessing” of unknown origin, even if it didn’t belong to the Evil God, was definitely linked to the chaos of the Supreme Heaven!
However, Livia acted as if she hadn’t heard him.
She simply stood there in a daze, head lowered, staring absently at the bleeding wound on her left shoulder, lost in thought.
Allen knew that deep within Livia’s personality, there was a hidden, somewhat airheaded side.
Normally, this trait was perfectly masked by her cold and aloof facade.
However, once the worldview she firmly believed in was completely overturned — when she discovered she wasn’t on the “correct” side at all — that helplessness and confusion would surface, sending her into a brief moment of self-doubt.
In the original script, this was the “window” she left for the love interests to swoop in.
After all, only when she opened her heart could others truly enter her world.
But Allen had no leisure to play the role of a suitor. He only wanted to pull this “Protagonist,” who was on the verge of falling, back from the edge of the cliff.
“What? Still lying to yourself?” he shouted sternly.
“Haven’t you realized what’s happening by now? Livia, you inherited memories of the Cycle of Reincarnation, didn’t you? You’ve lived longer than me every single time. Have you never seen the end of humanity even once?”
Time was running out. He had to stall and wait for the “Star Listener” to appear.
The Evil God had already begun to interfere with reality. If this continued, this Knights’ Arena would truly become the Evil God’s domain!
“You must hear the whispers of the Evil God often, right? They love to pretend to be friendly! But let me tell you, right now, you are one of the factors that could lead to the extinction of humanity!”
“Whether you feel pain or despair, throw that stuff aside for now! Surrender, right now! While the Evil God’s influence isn’t deep yet, you still have a chance to turn back! Livia, Marianne is watching you. You are the hero in her heart. Don’t continue being so self-destructive and obstinate!”
At the mention of Marianne’s name, Livia’s body trembled slightly, as if she finally had a reaction.
She slowly raised her head, but her face didn’t show the confusion or hesitation Allen expected. There was only a coldness that loathed everything.
She didn’t use her Stellar Power to heal the wound. Instead, she let the pain stimulate her nerves.
She reached out with her slender fingers, lightly touching the blood on her shoulder.
Then, under Allen’s gaze, she brought that crimson smear to her lips and lightly licked it with the tip of her tongue.
It tasted sweet.
“I don’t care,” she said in a nearly indifferent tone.
“Huh?”
Livia’s answer left Allen confused.
This wasn’t the script!
Shouldn’t the normal development be her becoming deeply shaken upon hearing Marianne’s name?
Why was this girl being so stubborn?
Allen narrowed his eyes, studying Livia carefully.
At this moment, she was still breathtakingly beautiful. But within that beauty, there was a bizarre, heart-palpitating charm.
Her blood-stained white dress clung to her graceful body.
The wound on her shoulder didn’t ruin her aesthetic; instead, it was like a demonic blood-red flower, adding a shattered and dangerous attraction to her.
Her eyes were no longer cold. They carried a hint of lazy, playful sensuality.
“It’s true that I used to pursue justice — or rather, play the role of a hero,” she let out a soft chuckle, one filled with helpless self-mockery.
“My acting seems to have been quite good, to the point where you… developed some misconceptions about me. But that isn’t the real me. The real me is just a monster.”
“I thought about it carefully just now. In those cycles, I’ve killed you many times.”
Her words were terrifyingly calm, as if she were stating something that had nothing to do with her.
“And then I realized, I don’t seem to have ever felt guilty about the act of killing, even though I knew you were innocent. Yes, I was the one who killed, so why should I have to feel pain? The people are already dead; what use is guilt? Putting on that skin of justice was nothing more than finding a high-sounding excuse for my slaughter.”
“You’re right, Allen de Laval. As you said, my ‘friends’ — those stars that blessed me and answered my prayers — are likely the Evil God. But now that I know the truth, what of it? Am I supposed to give up this power? Give up this evil blessing that allows me to kill to my heart’s content instead of being killed?”
Her voice carried a resolve that suggested she had nothing left to lose.
“I am an illegitimate daughter, a woman born with lowly blood. My mother… she wasn’t as wonderful as you imagine. She loved me, but fundamentally, she treated me as a bargaining chip to change her fate. How could I not understand? As a woman myself, I understood her loves and hates since I was a child. She would beat me and then hold me while wailing that it was all her fault; but in her despair, she would also leave me outside the cold door and tell me to go die.”
“Before my Stellar Sigil awakened, she tried all sorts of ways to stimulate ‘my potential.’ Back then… I suffered quite a bit. So, in my agony under the starlit sky, I made a wish to Them. I’ve already forgotten what I wished for. But They did indeed give me power. Only after I proved my bloodline did her emotions stabilize and she became gentle. But it was all fake. She hated me. She said it herself: ‘Livia, if only you had never existed… I wouldn’t be in this much pain.'”
“My mother took it upon herself to seduce my father, took it upon herself to expect to become a noble lady, took it upon herself to expect me to be a boy, and took it upon herself to expect my father to take us both back. In the end, all her expectations fell through.”
“At the end of her life, she must have been cursing me without pause.”
“My current ‘mother’ loathes me, but I’ve long since grown used to it. My biological mother and my father both loathed my existence. What is the meaning of my existence? I don’t know, and I can’t figure it out.”
“Until the first time I used my Sigil to kill the first person. That guy wanted to kidnap me and ask my father for a ransom. He gave his accomplices the slip, wanting to take me and run on his own. I didn’t want to struggle at first, but… he told me that it was this world that had harmed me, not him.”
“I didn’t understand. How can humans say such shameless things? Isn’t this incorrect world created by people like him? So, I killed him. Looking at his corpse, I suddenly found the meaning of my life. Yes, as long as I do the ‘right’ thing and kill these ‘wrong’ people, I am Livia von Stern — that noble hero — and not the illegitimate daughter anyone can trample on.”
“Now I realize that I was already broken back then.”
Livia’s beautiful voice was as light as a sigh.
“I never pursued justice at all. I only used it as a banner to hide my bloodthirsty nature. Marianne must have told you our story, right? Then I’ll tell you a truth she will never know.”
Livia suddenly said with a smile, “That mercenary company… I was actually the one who drew them there.”
“Huh?”
Allen’s brain instantly stalled, and a single syllable escaped his mouth uncontrollably.
‘Holy crap! What kind of explosive revelation is this?’
The original script didn’t have such a shocking plot! Why was the protagonist smearing herself like this?
“Of course, it was just an accident,” Livia’s tone remained flat.
“When I was testing the power of my Stellar Sigil, I happened to run into a squad of stray mercenaries robbing villagers. I killed them on a whim. But that villager was too stupid; he stripped the equipment off the corpses to sell, and he was caught red-handed by the scouts the mercenary company sent to find their men.”
“What followed was the mercenary company massacring the village. Everything started because of me, and those villagers died because of me. But in the end? I slaughtered every last one of those mercenaries. My hands were covered in blood, yet I became a hero praised by everyone.”
She let out a short, hollow laugh.
“Tell me, am I really a hero?”
She seemed to be examining a stranger who had nothing to do with her, dissecting everything about the other person.
“Livia von Stern is a pure, kind, and good child. She is the perfect hero. But that isn’t me. So then, who am I?”
She raised her head, her hollow eyes looking straight at Allen.
“Hey, can you tell me? Who exactly is this monster who indulges in the Evil God’s blessing yet slaughters her own kind in the name of justice? This person has never walked the correct path; she will only meet a ruinous end.”
Her voice began to tremble.
“Tell me, what could she possibly care about anymore?”
“Marianne,” Allen said in a deep voice, staring into Livia’s beautiful eyes. “You should care about Marianne. Even if you make an enemy of the whole world, Marianne alone will always stand by your side.”
“Liar…”
Livia’s shoulders slumped.
“You are all liars.”
Her gaze drifted toward the stands, where Marianne’s face, filled with tension, was faintly visible among the crowd.
“The one who saves her isn’t me, it’s you. The one she will eventually fall in love with is also you.”
A scalding tear fell without warning, leaving a clear trail down her cold cheek.
“I have nothing left. Even myself… I’ve lost.”
Seeing this breathtakingly beautiful illustration of her crying, a wave of morbid joy actually surged within Allen’s heart.
‘Heh heh heh! I’ve always wanted to see this expression of yours — this face full of jealousy toward me!’
However, the moment that ecstasy surfaced, Allen immediately noticed something was wrong.
He had already confirmed his final feelings for Livia — he was a dedicated fan who hoped for her freedom and happiness.
But just now, what was that surging from the deepest part of his heart?
It was pity, affection, madness, loathing… and even a hint of dark possessiveness.
None of these emotions matched his sacred feelings for her. In this world, for a male character like him to harbor such feelings for Livia was a mistake in itself!
‘The Evil God is behind this!’