Villain MMORPG: Almighty Devil Emperor and His Seven Demonic Wives-Chapter 1704: Darker

Villain Ch 1704. Darker

A soft, colorless flash swept over the field as the system triggered the wipe recovery protocol.

[YOU HAVE BEEN DEFEATED.]

[Returning to Last Saved Respawn Point: RONT CITY.]

Everything blurred into static.

The burned field, the corpses, the Emperor’s blade—all wiped away.

Azura didn’t even flinch as her body dissolved into light.

Just a heartbeat later, she stood again.

Ront City.

The spawn plaza was quiet except for the soft shimmer of players blinking into place, the default respawn platform humming underfoot. Glimmering blue runes pulsed beneath them, and the faint sound of city life buzzed from beyond the plaza—merchants yelling, footsteps clacking against stone, kids screaming over toys.

She stood in the center of it all, still slightly hunched, arms loose at her sides.

Everyone from the raid was already there.

Arcana appeared first, sword still drawn like he hadn’t accepted he lost yet.

Alex popped in half a second later, stumbling into him, then exhaling a calm sigh.

Warlord materialized face-first into the ground and stayed there. "I hate everything."

Spellweaver_83 fell in backward, arms sprawled. "Do I still have dignity? Anyone seen my dignity?"

Bella’s fireballs had burned his boots off, so he was barefoot now. It was not helping the dignity thing.

"Hey," Alex said gently, resting a hand on Spell’s shoulder. "You lasted five seconds longer than last time."

"That’s not a compliment!"

Arcana let out a long, controlled exhale and sheathed his sword. "Okay. So. That was bad."

"No shit, captain," Warlord muttered, face still buried in stone tiles.

Alex straightened, expression neutral again. "We were underleveled for that encounter. Their coordination was—"

"That wasn’t just coordination," Arcana interrupted, rubbing his jaw. "That was... I don’t even know what that was."

"Style," Spellweaver said, flopping onto a bench. "Sadistic, seductive, dungeon boss-level style. Like if a band of final bosses started a K-pop group and called themselves The Wipe Squad."

"They used teamwork," Alex said, quiet and sharp. "Actual, real teamwork. Not raid macros."

"That Devil Emperor," Arcana muttered. "He fought like he was—hell, like he was bored. Like we weren’t worth the effort."

Warlord sat up finally. "He kicked me into a wall. I bounced."

"You deserved to bounce," Spell muttered.

Alex chuckled, brief and embarrassed. "I mean... I did try to support, but—"

"Yeah, I know! But it wasn’t enough," Warlord snapped.

"The succubus queen’s charm loop is hard to counter!" Alex defended. "It’s coded too well! She double-layered it with Call of Desire—how do I react to that?!"

Arcana sighed. "No one’s blaming you. Not really. We were all off-balance the second we stepped in."

They all nodded slowly.

All except Azura.

She hadn’t said a word.

She hadn’t moved.

She stood off to the side, eyes distant, body still. Her arms were crossed, not like she was angry—just thinking. Processing. Her blades were sheathed, but her fingers kept twitching against her sleeves. Like she was trying to remember a rhythm.

Because she was.

That fight...

That weird, twisted déjà vu.

The way he moved. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

It hadn’t just been precise. It hadn’t just been brutal.

It had been familiar.

She squinted, mind pulling at the tangled threads.

That feeling in her chest—panic and hunger and nostalgia all knotted together. The ache in her lungs hadn’t been from damage. It had been from something older.

"Wait..." she murmured under her breath, so quiet even the city didn’t seem to hear her.

"Not in this game... but... other games?"

A chill slithered down her spine.

That couldn’t be right.

She shut her eyes. Focused. Tried to rewind back—not just the recent fight, but her history. Her other games. Duels. Tournaments. Practice arenas.

Long nights and leaderboards and warm coffee mugs and cold fingers.

There was someone.

Someone sharp.

Precise.

Ruthless.

A name just on the edge of her memory.

A rival. No. A nemesis. No.

One she’d respected.

He was elegant, calculated—but when he snapped?

He’d become cruel. Surgical. Like he was peeling the skin off her pride.

Allen.

Her heart skipped.

That same rhythm. That same way he cornered her, lured her into reacting, then punished her for reacting.

Allen had always been talented, but when he got serious?

He was scary.

But this?

This Devil Emperor?

He was darker.

Like Allen but... cracked open and left out in a storm.

Like Dark Allen.

Her lips parted, but no sound came out.

She blinked again, grounding herself in the glowing plaza of Ront.

The breeze brushed her face, warm and real, carrying the scent of flowers and food stalls nearby. Background chatter from other players filtered in—laughs, loot trades, group invites, someone bragging about soloing a side boss.

Azura didn’t hear any of it.

Her thoughts were elsewhere. Too sharp. Too loud.

She murmured, barely audible to herself, "Wait... is Allen the Devil Emperor?"

It sounded impossible.

No—illogical.

He wasn’t a Goldborne when the game launched. She remembered. There’s no way the devs gave the highest-tier villain role to someone like him. Not at launch. They said it was an A.I. But somehow... it was getting clear that it wasn’t just an A.I.

Based on what?

Based on who?

No.

No, it didn’t make sense.

She couldn’t say it out loud.

Not here.

Not to them.

Behind her, Alex gave a soft laugh. "At least no one ragequit this time."

Arcana snorted. "We were deleted, Alex. Ragequit doesn’t even begin to cover it."

Warlord groaned. "I need coffee. Or therapy. Or both."

Spellweaver raised a hand. "If anyone needs me, I’ll be questioning my worth in the marketplace for the next six hours."

"Don’t," Alex said with a grin. "You’re priceless."

Spell fake sobbed. "Thanks, Mom."

Azura still said nothing.

She just walked toward the edge of the plaza slowly, letting their voices fade behind her. The shadows of the city stretched long and golden with the afternoon sun. She didn’t know where she was going yet.

But she had a feeling it was toward answers.

Or maybe just another rematch. Not with the emperor. But with Allen.