Extra's POV: My Obsessive Villainous Fiancee Is The Game's Final Boss-Chapter 199: The Chained Man

Nero knelt in the ash, the ruins of the once-holy city surrounding him like a graveyard. He reached into his coat and withdrew a small black box, lacquered with gold inscriptions in a language that twisted the eyes.

It had come directly from the Chained Man.

He opened it carefully.

Inside sat a seed. Perfectly round. Smooth. Looking innocent, save for the crimson mist that gently leaked from it, dancing like incense in the air.

Nero placed the charred tree fragment into the soil and planted the seed beside it. Then, he pulled out one of his daggers from his belt and peeled off his glove.

He sliced his palm, thick, black-red blood spilled freely, hissing as it touched the ground.

The moment it reached the seed, something stirred.

Nero stepped back as the earth twitched.

Then, the soil rippled outward, pulsing like a heartbeat. A sprout emerged, then shot upward, growing rapidly. It twisted around the charred branch, fusing into it.

In seconds, it became a tree, its bark gnarled and red, veined with black sap that oozed like infection. As it grew taller, the tree began to bubble and shift. The bark softened, flesh stretched across it, muscle crawling up the limbs like vines.

And then the tree became Vesper.

He stumbled forward into being, gasping as if he'd just surfaced from deep water. He was naked, his skin still steaming from his rebirth. He let out a long, guttural sigh and tilted his head back, gazing at the moon as if it were the first light he'd seen in years.

His mouth twisted into a crooked grin.

"Ahhh…" He exhaled. "Freedom."

He stretched both arms, but stopped short when he saw his left.

It hadn't returned.

Just a stump at his shoulder.

He cursed.

"Ross… Damn you and that cursed sword."

He flexed and bark sprouted out of the shoulder, solidifying into an arm.

He looked around, satisfied by the desolation. Scattered across the ground around him were charred bits of flesh.

"Destroyed." He murmured, a dark grin slowly spreading across his face. "Gone! My enemy, the blessed Stolen, Terence Ross, reduced to meat!"

He laughed loudly, his voice filling the ruins. "A new dawn is here, Elnoria! And I... I brought it."

After a minute, his laughter tapered off, and he turned to Nero, who had been standing silently to the side.

"Didn't think you'd actually revive me." Vesper chuckled, looking cruelly at the man. "Finally learned your place, dog?"

A new voice cut through the air like the swing of an axe.

"I was the one who gave the order."

Nero immediately dropped to one knee, bowing his head as the shadows bent toward the man that had just arrived.

Vesper froze, his smirk vanishing.

From the smoke walked the Chained Man.

His face was hidden, swallowed in the silhouette cast by the moonlight behind him. Chains wrapped around his arms and torso, slithering over his skin like living serpents. Power bled from him with every step, so dense, so absolute that the very air rippled.

Vesper's body tensed. He bowed low, voice tight with dread. "My lord…"

The Chained Man paused a few feet from them, tilting his head. His voice, when it came, was a rough whisper, like iron grinding through gravel.

"My power returns slowly… but steadily. With each sacrifice, the seal breaks."

He cracked his neck. The sound echoed unnaturally.

"These chains are both a curse and a blessing. But thanks to you, Vesper, the blood taken by the Red Tree has served me well."

He stepped closer.

"Vesper."

"Yes, my lord?"

"Call back the infected."

Vesper hesitated. "My lord?"

"For now, they retreat. Too much… and the world will burn too early. They will hide. Sleep. Wait."

Vesper clenched his fists. "But Rainhold—"

"Was a warning." The Chained Man's voice dropped. "Not yet the judgment."

His chains slithered as he turned.

"There will come a time," he said slowly, "when the plague will rise. Not as an infection… but as Calamity. When I give the word, the Red Plague will blossom. It will feed me and I shall be born anew, my powers as they were."

"And the world…" He whispered, "will remember what it means to be reborn."

He tilted his head slowly. "Do not forget that this is for a greater cause. The roots of Yggdrasil reach too far. If we do not cut out the roots of the Trees, they will consume everything."

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Vesper shivered. "Yes… my lord."

"Good." The Chained Man nodded once and turned, walking away, making no sound, even with the chains wrapped around him.

"Nero." He called. "Come. We have work to do. The Stolen still lives."

Nero stood and followed silently, disappearing into the mist behind his master.

Vesper stood alone, his mind repeating the last words of the Chained Man.

The Stolen still lives…

His eyes widened.

"…Ross is alive?"

It felt like someone had driven a stake through his chest.

"No… No, no, no…"

He staggered back, staring at the bloody remnants he had believed were Ren's. The shredded meat. The blood.

It hadn't been enough.

He dropped to his knees, his face twisting into rage and despair.

Then, his fury exploded.

Vesper tilted his head to the heavens and let out a howl that echoed across the ruins, across the smoke, and across the bones of Rainhold.

A scream of betrayal. Of hatred. Of madness.

The moon heard him.

But it did not answer.