Fated to Be Loved by Villains

“…Is it okay for you to be here?”

That question came out unknowingly even though my brain was still processing the sudden situation.

The Prophet—the notorious leader of the Devil Worshippers who were well-known in every country.

Not only the empress, the pope and the Tribal Alliance’s Chieftain were on the lookout for her whereabouts, every countries’ leaders were.

If her whereabouts became known, chaos would ensue everywhere.

“What? Are you worried about me?”

“…”

As soon as the Prophet heard that question, she replied as such with a sigh, dumbfounded.

Recently, our relationship had turned a little weird, but we were basically enemies.

It was natural for her to react that way since my question was pretty much out of the left field.

“Still, that makes me happy.”

“…”

I felt her soft stroke on my cheek as she said so.

Fondness, affection, there was even possessive desire underneath that stroke—only a little of it though.

“…Are you sure you have the luxury to do this to your enemy? What are you going to do if I were to attack you?”

“Your ability is only activated when someone shows their hostility towards you, no?”

“…”

“I’m not doing any of that, so you’re basically just an ordinary person who has trained a lot now.”

Hearing her laying out my ability in such details, I could only let out a sigh.

I didn’t find it strange though, considering who she was.

“…Anyway, where are we?”

As the Prophet stealthily backed off, I asked that while looking around with my eyes that were adjusting to the darkness.

This didn’t seem like the center of the city—the place where the Devil’s Vessels had their catfight.

“Hm… Well, this place’s a little far away from where we were.”

The Prophet said, tapping her lips as she stealthily looked around.

“Would you understand it easier if I call this place the Devil Worshippers’ base?”

“…”

And the answer that came out of her mouth made me sigh again, speechless.

Back then, I did feel that she pulled some sort of trick in the middle of that catfight and moved us somewhere ‘far away’, but I never expected that she’d suddenly kidnap me to this kind of place. It was a little amusing.

“…This place?”

But anyway…

Our surroundings were in a quite strange state.

The Devil Worshippers was literally the biggest secret group that had forces spread all over the continent. Well, they were the main villainous group in the original game, so it was expected, but…

This place looked like a worn-out building that almost collapsed, even though it should’ve been a place where all kinds of notable villains gathered.

“…”

If anything…

It felt as if someone had come here and ‘destroyed’ everything inside.

There was a skeleton, which seemed to have been neglected for quite a long time, sitting on the luxurious desk before my eyes.

It didn’t take long for me to hear the answer to my questions.

“Well, I’ve either kicked out or killed all of them.”

“…” 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

“In the first place, their purpose is to ensure that you won’t die no matter what happens to you. I mean, you’ll have a difficult life, so I’d need you to grow stronger safely to some extent.”

“…”

“But at some point, instead of being in the danger of being killed by the Devils, you became in control of the Devils, so I got rid of all of them. I mean, at that point, there’s no reason for them to exist, no?”

“…”

“I’m not really interested in worshipping the Devils. My original job was to catch and kill them instead, you know?”

The Prophet replied in a casual tone before she let out a chuckle and kicked a skeleton that was sitting on a chair nearby, knocking it over.

The head of the skeleton rolled on the floor.

“This is the ‘original’ Prophet that I’ve gotten rid of. I killed them the moment I ‘regressed’.”

“…”

After saying those words casually, the punk indifferently threw the skeleton and sat on its seat.

“Let’s see… Ah, right, guess it’s time for a proper introduction.”

The Prophet said before she began to rummage through the desk drawer.

She took out an old candle before lighting it with a match in a light motion.

A light flame rose in the dim room.

And, I saw her…

Long orange hair, a lively smiling face that was like a trademark of hers.

The small lighting revealed the face of the unmasked Prophet.

She looked exactly like Iliya.

Iliya would probably look like her if she grew ten years older.

“…Nice to meet you. I’m the ‘regressed’ Hero.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…Say something.”

“…I mean… I’ve guessed this to some extent…”

Her reaction when I chose to become a ‘Devil’ with the Fallen’s Seal kinda gave it away.

I only became completely sure of it after learning about the chancellor’s background. As it proved that someone could come from the future where something bad happened to me.

“The Holy Sword itself is something that can match the Devils and their Authorities. So, by sacrificing that, you probably could go to the past.”

I didn’t know how she did it exactly, because the Authority to travel through timelines was the Gray Devil’s territory, but…

Since the ‘Holy Sword’ could match the Devils’ status, I could see that happening if she were to use it in that way.

I let out a sigh as I continued…

“Which means, you’ve resolved yourself to sacrifice that sword in that world where I was ‘connected to you’.”

Just like the chancellor, there must’ve been some of the women who wished to meet with me again so badly that they decided to sacrifice the biggest thing of their existence.

And if my guess was right…

The other Devils probably weren’t so different.

“…How far our relationship has gone in the world you ‘came from’?”

“Three daughters, three sons. Quite a lot, huh?”

“…”

Indeed, it was…

“—Well, all of them died in the end.”

“…”

“The Devils killed them all. Just like you do now, you were also controlling the Devils at that time.”

Hearing the discrepancies between her tone and her words, I became speechless for a moment there and stared at her.

“I guess you’re feeling quite at ease now.”

“…”

“You think that if you’ve come this far, you won’t be harmed badly by the Devils. Things would go on just fine if you just keep going.”

“…”

“There’s just one thing left. You know what it is, don’t you?”

She was right. There was one thing left.

“The Void Zone.”

The regressed Iliya—the Prophet—said so while twisting the corners of her mouth.

“The main bodies of the Devils that are asleep underneath. If the ‘real Devils’ descend after their Fragments and bodies are united, you know what will happen, no?”

“…”

“If you fail at controlling them even a little, everyone will die. The whole Material Realm will be turned upside down.”

“…”

“It’s not a matter of control. Their power is just so great that the world itself can’t withstand it. That was how the ‘future world’ I came from disappeared.”

Eleanor had shown me once.

Her godlike Authority to do something crazy like ‘reality manipulation’ even without the Devil’s main body.

With the ‘main body’… It would be unimaginable what kind of things they could do with all their Fragments united.

“There’s a bastard in this world who’s trying to use that to realize his own ambition. That sly bastard in the Holy Land.”

“I can stop him.”

“Regardless of whether it would be easy or not to stop him, what about the future? Do you think that there won’t be anyone else trying to use that in the future?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“There could be people who are crazy for power besides the Pope in the future. At least, that’s what happened in the world I came from.”

“…So, your goal is…”

I sighed before continuing.

“To kill all of the Devils.”

“Yes.”

She immediately replied.

“I want to make all of them cease to exist. The Devils, the Vessels…”

“…”

Right.

This was the reason why she and I were ‘enemies’.

“…I don’t think I can let that happen.”

“Yeah, I knew you’d say that.”

The Prophet replied while stretching her body upon hearing my reply.

“Because you consider the people around you more important than yourself. You would never agree.”

“…If you know it, then I’d like you to give up.”

“Never.”

The Prophet replied while letting out a chuckle.

“—Not when they’ve done all that to me.”

“…”

I had nothing to say regarding that.

This punk must’ve seen her kids and I got killed by the Devils’ in the future before she came here.

What she must’ve felt at that time…

Wasn’t something that could be ‘expressed’ by mere words.

“But, there’s still some time left before that. In order to achieve my goal, I have to cooperate with that bastard—the pope to some extent. There’s still time left before everything’s ready.”

“…What?”

“In the meantime, I’m going to have some fun.”

“…Have some…fun?”

“I mean, we’re going to end this once and for all anyways.”

The Prophet said before grinning.

“What say you, we test the water a little bit?”

●

“Now…”

Eleanor said in a cold voice.

The ferocity in her face suggested that she would behead the person before her eyes right there and then.

“Tell me the reason why I should not cut off your head.”

“…Ugh, look. I get how you feel.”

Talker, or rather, the man called the Spinning Fire Wheel, replied while smiling bitterly.

Eleanor’s reaction wasn’t exaggerated or anything like that. Anyone would react that way if their enemy suddenly appeared in the place where Dowd was just standing a few minutes ago.

Fortunately for the Spinning Fire Wheel, he had a proper excuse that could prevent everyone here from turning him into a knife stand.

“But I came as a messenger, not to fight.”

“…A messenger?”

“Our leader already predicted that all of you would be fighting each other like this for that man, so she wants to give you all a proper goal.”

“What does that me—”

“I’ll tell you where Dowd Campbell is. Prepare well by tomorrow. It won’t be so easy to make your way through.”

“…”

Everyone’s expressions stiffened upon hearing that.

And what he said next worsened their reactions.

“Also, if you don’t come quickly, she said that she’d enjoy him herself.”

“…Enjoy?”

“You know, in bed, that sort of stuff?”

“…Ha?”

Everyone’s eyes glinted /genesisforsaken