Stone Mage: Revenge of the Villain System

Ronin and Cermin had walked for hours, and yet only reached the next town to the last one they visited once the sun went down.

Cermin’s stomach grumbled, and his mind had been repeating the same thing over and over again.

(I want to stop and rest for a bit. But Ronin looks so worried about being spotted by Zeriav, and I don’t want to upset him.)

(I’m so tired. My feet are so tired, my body’s sore.)

(And I’m so hungry. I just woke up and my stomach’s been grumbling since then.)

(How much longer? I’m getting thirsty now.)

(The roads seems to be stretching forever. Ahhhhh….)

Ronin had finally gotten fed up with these thoughts and since it was already close to nighttime, he supposed it really was time to rest.

Perhaps Zeriav had gotten busy with helping the locals in that town.

Ronin was not afraid of Zeriav at all. With his new skill and a bit of trickery, he’s sure that he can kill him.

The problem was Cermin. Cermin’s right beside him, and doesn’t seem to allow him to leave him any time soon.

He can’t see him kill his former friend. He would have to wait until Cermin’s asleep, or somehow distracted.

Ronin sighed as he looked at the night sky. Lightning flashed from that town where they saw Zeriav, and a storm may be coming soon.

“Let’s go stay at that inn, Your Highness. You don’t happen to have any money around your person, don’t you?”

Cermin was relieved to finally get some rest, but his eyes widened when he felt around his purse and realized that he had no money.

Ronn patted his back. “It’s alright. I’ll take care of it. Just….. Stay here and keep a look out for Zeriav. When you see him, it’s better to hide and let him pass by.”

“Why?” Cermin asked.

“Well, he would ask too many questions, and he will definitely ask who you were with. You don’t want this to end with him attacking me and getting in trouble, right?”

Cermin thought about it, then offered. “But….. Maybe I can persuade him—”

“Your Highness. Would you really want to risk it with a priest like Zeriav to be fine with a half-daemon like me?”

The prince pursed his lips, and eventually nodded. “Ok….. I understand.”

He then focused on having a place to rest. “How will you be able to get us some bed space? And wouldn’t it be dangerous too if they suddenly notice something wrong with you?”

Ronin smirked. “I have my ways.”

And so, the cloaked Coal commoner just went inside the inn.

After a while, he returned with a triumphant grin. “Come on. They have even procured a meal for us and two beds.”

Cermin blinked. “But how?”

“I can be quite persuasive.” Ronin said, as they passed by the innkeeper and his other servants that just stood to welcome them like statues.

Cermin was a little weirded out by their stillness and eerie smiles, but since his dumb brain could not imagine Ronin doing anything wrong, he ignored the odd feeling.

“Good evening, Prince Cermin Drychspiel. Good evening, good sir.” They greeted them at the same time.

“Ah, I see now. You convinced them by telling them that I am the prince of Scirocco, right?” Cermin sighed in relief.

“Maybe.” Ronin just walked by the doorstep as someone offered him a towel to rub his face off the dirt and soot.

“I will pay you all back for your kindness one day!” Cermin bowed his head to them as he entered the bedroom with Ronin.

There really was food prepared in trays in heaping servings. Some mashed potatoes and roasted chicken, with of course mushrooms on the side as staple food of Himmelgard.

Cermin chuckled at the shape of one of them. “Heh, this one is almost as long as my 10-inch di—”

BOOM!

Thunder rumbled outside, and his joke was interrupted much to Ronin’s relief. Despite Cermin being a slightly better hero now, with a bit more braincells, he was still a pervert after all.

He frowned worriedly. “I hope those townspeople were ok. Zeriav had taken care of the fire for them, but there’s still a lot of damages.”

“I’m sure they would be alright.” Ronin said. “Finish your meal, Your Highness. Then get to sleep. We should travel again as early as we could in the morning.”

He yawned and nodded. “Yeah… Thank you for getting all this for free, Ronin. And about your lightning marks…”

He went to trace his finger over those that stretched on his neck. “Are you sure they don’t hurt? You should tell me immediately if you suddenly felt something weird or you’re in pain.”

Ronin flicked his hand away due to his aversion to touch. “I will, Your Highness. Don’t worry about it, I will be alright.”

Cermin smiled sadly. “I hope so. I don’t know what I would do if something happens to you. You’re the only one have left, I even abandoned my family for the sake of the people and for you.”

Ronin stared at him a bit, drawn by the sincere concern in his eyes. It was really pitiful, how dense he was to not even realize that he was risking his life for the wrong person—

BOOM! BOOM!

The claps of thunder was louder, and it sounder like the strikes were coming nearer. Ronin cleared his throat, and said.

“Let’s go to bed, Your Highness. I’ll take the left one, you take the right.”

Cermin nodded, and tucked himself in. “Good night, Ronin.”

Ronin did not reply, and just pretended to be asleep, waiting until Cermin dozes off.

Then…..

When he was sure he was asleep, he went out to look for Zeriav, and get rid of him once and for all.

But to his surprise…..

Once he got out, he realized that there was a storm already. Rain and lightning slowly increased in strength and reached even this town.

And soon, he saw two figures on the rooftops of a bell tower used to warn people.

—————————

Zeriav had been stuck at dodging Zeuxis’ quick and frenzied blows using his lightning dagger bolt. Even his movements were as fast and unpredictable as the lightning he wields.

“Just surrender now, dear Brother. Or best yet, run away and hide.” Zeuxis said. “I’m giving you a count to three, and you can just run away and forget about finding Ronin.”

Zeriav had summoned his huge scythe as well as pouring rain in hopes to slow down his movements. The rain does not fall on him, and he stayed dry and unhindered by it.

Meanwhile, Zeuxis’ hair was soaking wet along with his clothes that were in tatters as Zeriavv had also dealt blows to him.

Yet every time he did, the man just laughed and did not mind the pain at all.

Soon, his tattered clothes revealed the dark patch over his once broken shoulder, made of pure Obsidian and the focus of his amplified powers.

“You’re a daemon! Just like your brother!” Zeriav yelled. “And I can’t let any of you to continue run amok! I must end you now, then end him!”

“Hahaha! You can certainly try, my dear priest!” Zeuxis grinned as he dodged a swing from Zeriav’s scythe that would have decapitated him.

“What?” Zeriav furrowed his brows, when—

Zeuxis had stepped into a big puddle to make a huge splash, and some of the water went towards Zeriav. He made a look of horror, as the Sapphire daemon cackled:

“You are only not dead yet because you couldn’t get wet by the rain. But now, I have you defeated just from that splash!”

He summoned his lightning into smaller, more focused strikes. They reached for that water stain on Zeriav…

Which electrocuted him. Zeuxis took the chance to leap into the air and stike him finally with his lightning dagger—-

But Zeriav managed to block it with his scythe, even with his body convulsing and shaking a little. He had withstood it, and scythe and lightning clashed with each other.

“Oh, you’re a resilient one, huh? Now I really feel sorry for needing to kill you more.” Zeuxis felt more alive with every strike he shot toward Zeriav.

“We could have so much fun together! With how much you can handle the pain, I can keep on piercing and piercing inside you and you won’t even make a sound!”

Zeriav gritted his teeth. “I will not be defeated by evil!”

He swung his scythe with all his might, and it suddenly became a burst of water that struck Zeuxis like a wave surge!

Flinging him out of the tower and zooming down, down, down into the concrete with a thud!

He landed directly in front of a cloaked person, most of the bones in his body breaking.

But being the daemon he was, pain and destruction of the self were less noticed by him. Still, his vision swam, and he knew that it may be too late for him.

The cloaked person only looked at him, then at his shoulder.

“I see Maellan had fixed you up.”

He realized who it was, and grinned with his bloodied teeth, spitting out blood.

“Damned Ronin…… My bastard brother….”

Ronin thought he must have heard wrong, as he thought Zeuxis must have mumbled before passing out.

“It’s good to see your stupid ugly face again…. Run before he gets you.”