Villain Hiring: Help! Author Wants Me Dead-Chapter 200: Revival

The ceiling was broken, while the hollow had already disappeared far into the sky, his figure no longer visible.

For a while, no one moved. The only sound left inside the auction hall was the dripping of blood, like rain falling in slow drops.

It wasn't real rain though. It was the blood of guards, nobles, and knights who had been cut down like they were nothing.

My hands were clenched tight as the realisation hit me.

I did not stand a single chance against these so called hollows.

And the fact that I was just a pathetic weak fuck who needed to get stronger.

My hands were still trembling from what I had just seen.

The Hollow…that thing…it had walked through kings and nobles like they were just walls to be broken. It wasn't even scared.

It didn't even try.

It just left.

Through the shattered roof, the morning sky stared back at us, a giant hole cut through the ceiling of the grand auction house.

The clouds felt like they were laughing.

The silence didn't last long.

First came the screams.

"Help! Someone help!"

"Get me out of here!"

"The Hollow—he'll come back!"

And then came the stampede.

Everyone who was still alive started rushing toward the exits all over again. Nobles in heavy robes shoved each other like common men.

Women tripped over their dresses. Knights who had sworn to protect their masters ran for their own lives.

The chaos was worse than the battle. People climbed over chairs, over broken bodies, over anything just to get away. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

The same nobles who had been proud and arrogant only hours ago now looked like animals trying to survive a storm.

I felt my body lock in place. My feet wouldn't move. It was like my mind hadn't caught up yet with reality.

That's when I heard Sia's voice near me.

"Noah!" she shouted, grabbing my arm. "Move! We need to get to them."

Her grip pulled me back to reality. I staggered, nearly falling.

Dario, Erza, Seraphina, and Aurelia had already formed a small circle, standing back-to-back, protecting each other as we hurriedly moved out of the lounge room.

I moved to them, and for a second, I thought we'd be safe there. But the chaos wasn't ending.

People were smashing chairs, kicking at the walls, even clawing at the exits when they found the way blocked by piles of fallen bodies.

It was madness.

And in the center of it all stood King Venus and King Philip.

Even surrounded by death and panic, the two kings didn't move like ordinary men. Venus's shadow spread across the broken floor, still trembling as though alive, his face dark and unreadable.

King Philip's jade fragments circled around him like sharp pieces of emerald, glowing faintly even as sweat covered his forehead.

They had fought the Hollow. And they had lost.

But it wasn't their faces that froze my blood.

It was one of the bodies that lay beside the coffin.

Mr. Lapui's body.

The host of this auction, the man who had controlled the room with nothing but words, had fallen.

His body had been among the first to fall when the Hollow appeared, cut down before he could even scream.

And because of that…the auction had lost all its meaning.

The guards who weren't dead had vanished into the crowd, trying to save their own lives. The maids had fainted or been trampled. The nobles who had stayed for the "final item" were gone, scattered, their gold and pride meaningless now.

I don't know why, but my eyes kept staring at the covered pedestal that stood behind the broken glass.

The very last item of the auction. The one that was supposed to be auctioned as the last item.

But it never was.

The cloth still hung over it, untouched, heavy with mystery. And even though I didn't know what was beneath it, something inside me whispered that it was important.

Sia followed my gaze. She was pale, her lips tight, but her voice was steady when she spoke.

"The final item…" she whispered. "It will never be shown now. Mr. Lapui is dead. His contract with the Auction house is broken. No one else can open it."

Her words hit harder than I thought they would.

"What was it?" I asked again, not remembering exactly what it was, my throat dry.

Sia's eyes flickered toward me, then towards the covered item. For a moment, she hesitated, like she wasn't sure if she should speak. Then, quietly, she said it.

"The Rebirth Flames."

The name alone sent a chill down my spine.

Rebirth...flames?

Two simple words, but they carried a weight that made my heart pound.

"What…what are they?" Aurelia asked softly, her voice trembling.

Sia bit her lip. "A legendary flame. Said to burn away death itself. Whoever controls it… can bring back life."

Her words dropped like stones into my chest.

Bring back life?

My mind spun with thoughts. The people lying broken around us. The blood on the marble. If such a thing really existed…then all of this could be undone.

Grandpa Venus looked at the two of us as he sighed, "unfortunately, since the item does indeed belong to Mr. Lapui, we'll have to use it to revive him."

Both mine and Sia's eyes shown a flicker of regret, because the Hollow had taken everything else, and even this remaining item had to be wasted on this dead man.

Yup.

That's exactly how the world works, I thought, berating my emotionless ideas.

I clenched my fists. For the first time since the battle, I felt something other than fear. I felt anger.

We were powerless. Just spectators. The kings had fought. The nobles had died. And we…we had watched.

And now, even the one thing that could have changed everything, the Rebirth Flames, was gone, to be used on King Philip.

Around us, the chaos was finally starting to die down. People were leaving the auction house in broken groups, dragging the wounded, carrying the bodies of those who had been important to them.

The rich no longer looked rich. The powerful no longer looked powerful. Everyone looked the same now.

Defeated.

***