In a space that existed nowhere and everywhere simultaneously, where the concept of location held no aning and reality itself seed optional...
A woman sat in absolute darkness.
Not the darkness of night or shadow, but the pure absence of light that predated creation itself.
And she was beautiful.
Beyond beautiful.
The word itself was inadequate to describe what she was.
Perfect didn't cover it either.
The word absolutely beautiful fell short.
She simply was, and that existence rewrote the rules of aesthetic perfection around her re presence.
Long black hair flowed around her like a living void, each strand seeming to contain entire galaxies of compressed nothingness.
Her school uniform, pristine and dark, sohow made her look both innocent and absolutely terrifying.
Pale skin that made fresh snow look dark by comparison.
Crimson irises that burned with such obsessive, desperate, all-consuming love that they could have lted steel just by existing near it.
Needless to say, it's the number one obsessive stalker of Nero Walker… the Antagonist.
"Ahhhh... look at him… ♡"
Her voice ca out breathy, needy, filled with such raw desire that it made the empty space around her tremble.
"My darling looks so happy... so radiant... so absolutely perfect..."
Before her floated an image, a window into reality showing Nero laughing with the other survivors at the celebration.
His smile, genuine and warm, lit up the scene in ways that had nothing to do with physical light.
"That smile... that beautiful, precious smile..."
Her entire body was flushed, a deep crimson blush spreading from her cheeks all the way down her neck.
Steam practically rose from her skin as she watched him with the intensity of soone starving finally seeing food.
"Haaahh... haaahh… ♡"
Her breathing beca ragged, uneven, desperate.
The Antagonist, the primordial darkness that threatened all of existence, was reduced to a panting ss just from watching Nero enjoy himself.
Her fingers traced the edge of the viewing window, lingering on his image with possessive hunger.
The mory of their kiss in the void played through her mind on repeat.
That perfect mont when she'd claid his first.
When her lips had pressed against his and she'd tasted him for the first ti.
The way his tongue had responded to hers despite his unconscious state, the warmth of his mouth, the desperate way she'd explored every part of him while he couldn't resist.
"Mine... that was mine... his first kiss belongs to ..."
Her smile widened into sothing manic.
"That angel can have his second, his third, his hundredth... but the first is mine~ ♡"
She hugged herself, nails digging into her arms as the mory sent shivers through her entire being.
But then her expression soured slightly as the viewing window showed Aurelia standing close to Nero.
That silver-haired Valkyrie with her perfect composure and divine beauty.
"..."
Jealousy was quite hot in this one.
The void around her rippled with dark energy as possessive rage threatened to overwhelm her careful control.
How dare that chicken wing stand so close.
How dare she smile at him like that.
How dare she–
But then Nero laughed at sothing, his eyes crinkling with genuine joy, and the Antagonist's anger evaporated like morning dew.
"Ah... but it's fine… ♡"
Her voice softened into sothing almost tender despite the manic edge.
"He loves most. I know he does. That kiss proved it. The way he responded even in death, the way his soul recognized mine..."
She pressed her palm flat against the viewing window, as if she could reach through and touch his face.
"These other won are just... temporary distractions. Placeholders until we can be together properly. He'll understand eventually that I'm the only one who truly loves him. The only one who's been watching him since the very beginning..."
Her crimson eyes glead with satisfaction.
"After all, I gave him back what was stolen. I freed him from those pathetic restrictions. . Not them."
She leaned back, studying the way Nero's system operated now.
Unrestricted.
Unsealed.
Functioning exactly as it was ant to from the very beginning.
The Waifu Summoner ability pulled waifus with proper rates instead of the manipulated garbage he'd been dealing with before.
His stats grew normally rather than being artificially capped.
Skills developed through genuine progression instead of being locked behind arbitrary walls.
"Much better..."
Her smile returned, cold and sharp.
"No more interference. No more pathetic attempts to make him struggle unnecessarily. No more…"
She paused, tilting her head slightly as if sensing sothing.
"... ddleso "changes" isn't that right, absolute ruler? Or should I say…"
And then she cracked a mocking smile,
"Author?"
Her words were directed at nothing, at empty space that suddenly felt less empty.
"..."
The void remained silent.
But the quality of that silence changed.
Beca weighted.
Aware.
And then text appeared.
Not spoken words, but floating blue boxes identical to the Earth Rebirth System interface.
Generic, sterile, completely without emotion or personality.
[Antagonist, do you know what you've done?]
She didn't even turn to look at it.
Her eyes remained fixed on Nero's smiling face as she answered with deliberate casualness.
"I'm just returning what was stolen from my darling, thief."
The word dripped with such venom that reality itself seed to recoil.
"After all, making him look pathetic was your goal, wasn't it? Making "them" lose interest?"
Her tone carried knowing mockery, as if she'd seen through a poorly constructed lie.
[And it's rightfully so. I need to eliminate that being from this world.]
"...!"
The Antagonist's gaze finally snapped away from Nero.
Her crimson eyes locked onto the floating blue text with such penetrating intensity that the ssage itself seed to flinch.
*Crack!*
[Error!]
The system text turned bright red, code fragnting and corrupting under the weight of her stare alone.
[ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]
The ssage shattered into digital debris before vanishing completely.
"..."
Silence.
Three seconds passed.
[... That's futile, no matter how many tis you do it.]
The blue box reappeared, unchanged and unaffected.
"..."
She said nothing.
Just watched with an expression that mixed amusent with sothing far more dangerous.
[You know that this wasn't how the story was supposed to unfold.]
The Protagonist awakens.
She faces trials.
She grows stronger.
The Antagonist erges as prophesied.
They battle.
The cycle completes.
The Antagonist knew it all… and that fated and destined script,
'Heh.'
Sounds so boring and unfair in her opinion.
But the one currently ssing it all up is her only Darling.
[He's truly a pest in this world.]
"I can sll your pity here, Author… Your underestimation is your own ss to clean up and bla. Don't throw a ruckus, aren't you ashad of yourself?"
[...]
The "respective" tone made the blue text blank.
But the words were true.
The system provided that anomaly with just two options, thinking it would be enough to lead this anomaly to his own demise under its guide…
Take note. Just TWO options.
Two standard progression paths designed for acceptable power curves if the Author could not dispatch him.
Yet sohow… a third manifested.
Sothing that shouldn't be there.
And after that, events then occurred outside the Author's influences.
Coincidences.
Interventions.
[Despite my attempted corrections, his sole existence bent reality around him…]
And the Author made even more drastic asures,
[So I adjusted variables. Increased difficulty. Forced specializations. Strengthened opposition…Limited resources and his options. Restrained his capabilities, potential and even his ridiculous system…]
"But it had the opposite effect, right? Your desperation made it a double-edged sword."
The Antagonist's voice carried mocking satisfaction.
Her smile was sharp enough to cut dinsions.
"You broke your own creations trying to write him out… it made your precious "corrective" characters flat and unreasonable, and that damaged the narrative structure far worse than my Darling's presence ever could."
… Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
"Because of your own unnecessary "adjustnts", the flow and pacing of your precious story beca a ss, and now "they" lost interest because of it."
But that wasn't all.
She leaned forward, studying the blue text with predatory interest.
Her smile widened.
"All of that forced restructuring to compensate for one anomaly… You drained yourself significantly, didn't you?… You initiated the "second phase" far too early."
[...]
The silence confird everything.
"Which ans… there's nothing stopping my darling now~"
She turned back to Nero's image, expression softening despite the manic edge.
But then,
[... The Waifu Summoner ability isn't what concerns .]
The text appeared with weight that made the void contract.
[It's the unknown elent within him… you saw it too, right? You know what will happen next once that thing inside the anomaly fully awakens.]
"..."
This ti, the Antagonist was the one silent as she rembered that corrupted, glitching tendrils that grabbed her…
And upon rembering that terrifying energy invading her, it made her,
"..."
Grin with insanity and obsession.
"Ahahaha... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Her laughter filled the void, beautiful and horrifying simultaneously.
"If it awakens, then let it awaken! I'll stand beside Darling regardless!"
She threw her arms wide, embracing possibility with desperate excitent.
[Even if It would kill everyone? Are you that insane?]
"You're talking to the enemy of the entire world."
The Antagonist gave a beautiful shrug that could only an: "Do I look like I give a fuck?"
[No matter… As the one maintaining balance, I must eliminate the anomaly at all cost.]
The text appeared with such finality that even her manic laughter paused for a bit.
[He doesn't belong in this story in the first place.]
The blue text pulsed with the ssage lingering for a bit before fading completely.
"..."
Silence returned.
The Antagonist gave the vanishing text a sideways glance, her manic smile never wavering despite her stopped laughter.
"Hehehe... try as you might. But..."
Her crimson eyes locked onto Nero's image as he made decisions, laughed with companions, lived with genuine joy.
She leaned forward, resting her fingers on his figure on the screen.
"Nothing can stop my darling anymore~"
Her voice carried absolute conviction wrapped in obsessive devotion.
"After all, you already lost control before it even started… that's the way Darling is."
She smiled with predatory satisfaction.
"My darling will write his own story now. With or without your permission~"
The void pulsed around her as she settled back, eyes never leaving his figure.
Watching.
Waiting.
Loving.
"And soon, darling... soon we'll be together properly~"
Her blush returned as mories of their kiss flooded back.
"And when that day cos, I'll make sure you understand just how long I've been waiting..."
Her fingers traced her lips, rembering the taste of him.
"How much I love you~ ♡"
She was basking in her own happiness before,
*Craack…*
A sort of complex magic circle was fastly crumbling within her mind.
And then,
"With that being said…"
A hateful and pure aura of malice condensed around her figure as she silently gazed at Aurelia and Celis.
"I'll make sure to mark these bitches, who have and will make love to my Darling and kill them all~"
A smile so "gentle" and dangerous was on her rosy lips as she specifically eyed the chicken wing who was blushing in the image as she kept getting teased at the love-making session that she had with Nero.
And just rembering those things once again… Losing the opportunity to have their first ti with each other in bed,
"..."
A magic circle automatically appeared and casted a mory manipulation on her head, fixing the complex magic circle that was falling apart.
… This imdiately activates every ti sothing involving other won happened with her beloved… otherwise, her mind along the two dinsions would've been destroyed already.
"... What was I doing again? Oh right, my lovely Nero~ ♡"
… And considering how smooth the auto-activation is, it seems this kind of thing has happened countless tis already for her to make it automated once it triggers…
But the mind manipulation wasn't perfect, the "jealousy" and "madness" in her soul was too much for the poor casted magic to handle sotis.
***
A/N: … Hang in there, mind manipulation magic, you're the MVP of this story lol.
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