Life Of A Nobody - as a Villain

Chapter 449 The vision -1

"Your betrayal proves the very point of my soul's lingering obsession, mortal. You have failed this trial." Aelthar spoke his voice cold and calm like he already expected Rio's shocked reaction.

"Wait, wait, wait... whatever it is. Whatever you think I did wrong, I can explain. Just give me a chance." Rio said in a hurry, raising his arms and rushing towards the god.

"Your very reaction tells me everything I need to know, mortal. You're not who you say you are, so now, I'll just have to see the truth myself." Aelthar said and swiped his hand upwards.

Initiating a mechanism which pushed Rio backwards and forced him to sit upon the throne, which was a trap earlier.

Rio struggled and tried to free himself, yet nothing seemed to be working. A white light flashed over his body, and then formed a large mirror in front of him and the god Aelthar.

'System, what the hell is happening?' He asked his companion in his mind, 'This part wasn't in the novel? There shouldn't be any more trials or routes to explore in this dungeon?'

[I know that host.] System too replied back, sounding equally tense and troubled as it couldn't get it's upgrade material.

'Is this fate's doing? Is my luck really that bad that I can fail even when I knew everything?'

[It's not fate, host. At Least not entirely.] System replied and explained, [Fate has it's limits, and so does the power Aelthar can wield at this time. So there's no way in hell they built this throne setting now.]

[My guess is this hidden trial always existed here. Which only opens when Aelthar has some doubts about the trial candidate.] System explained, [Since Leon was a perfect replica for Aelthar. And had Apollo in the backseat._ The fallen god probably never had any doubts, so this throne challenge never happened. But for you...]

'So you mean I made a mistake somewhere and now this trial's gonna stretch it out for the god to see.' Rio analysed and couldn't help but curse his luck.

Just a few moments ago he was cooking up sob stories to fool the god, yet now, all he could do was just pray that this mirror in front of him is something stupid.

'System, can you scan this and tell me what this thing does?' Seeing that whatever magic or spell it was, was taking it's sweet time _ Rio spoke to the system, hoping to find a way to hack or crack this open.

'Ayee, system. I'm in a rush here, I can pay whatever amount you want, so can you...'

[There's no point, host.] Rio was speaking when the system interrupted him midway. It's voice, a little more dull and monotonous than usual. [This mirror,.. we can't do anything. It's over.]

'What?...' Rio was confused about what the system meant by this, when his eyes landed on the description of this item appearing on his status screen.

[The mirror of truth.]

"Anyway, since you passed my first few trials successfully, I'll just use this on you to see if you're worthy." Aelthar spoke and poured his magic into the mirror.

Truth be told, he was very satisfied with everything Rio had done till now, that's why he didn't want to throw him out just based on a little suspicion. But he also didn't want to wait another thousand years before someone else found this temple and came for the trial.

Hence he changed some rules and chose to use this mirror. After all, the successor now won't be from his personal disciples, so he doesn't need to be extra generous. His legacy alone should be enough reward for them.

If the Rio from future satisfies him, he'll give him his legacy. _ But if Rio disappoints him, and his suspicion turns out to be true, then though the mirror would be lost, atleast his legacy would be saved.

Aelthar and Rio were both lost in their thoughts, looking at the mirror, hoping to be proved wrong. _ yet the scene playing out was like a slap on both their faces.

One which surprised, _ no, that's a mild word, _ shocked, _ yeah, one which shocked both of them.

In front of them was a vision of a dead world, where rivers of blood flowed everywhere and with every subtle wave, new corpses would surface the land.

In the center of this silent world, a thumping sound would echo every now and then, followed by a barrage of dark lightning bolts flashing in the sky and falling down the land like punishment from high heavens.

Rio and Aelthar were both curious about the sound, about what it was or where it came from, _ when the vision in the mirror zoomed in and they could finally see something.

In the middle of the sea of blood was an island formed entirely of rotten carcasses of various monsters. The likes of which Aelthar had never seen before.

And on that mountain of corpses sat a figure untouched by the chaos all around him. A tattered flag of dual swords floating behind his back.

A sword placed near his relaxed feet, releasing a wave of darkness which caused the dead monsters soul to seathe and cry in agony every few seconds.

A lit cigarette was pinched between his fingers. And the sound they heard earlier was him merely snapping his fingers to swipe off the ash.

The lightning bolts fell once more and burned everything around him to a crisp. Bringing the dead and unconscious ones back to life with shock, only to suffer once more from the waves of his sword.

....

Aelthar stared at the man in the mirror and then turned to stare at Rio, who too had the same shocked expression on his face.

It was him.