His Villainous Path: When Gods Break Silence

A few minutes later, Emi Lorian— Robert's wife— returned. She was no longer in her professional silk blouse; she was wearing regular house clothes and a slightly dusty apron, hinting at the building's dual function as both HQ and home.

"Follow me, Mr. Baer". Emi said, leading Levi to the back stairs. "Sorry we're putting you up here. There's no more spare room left in the third floor, but I took the time to clean up this attic".

She led him to a room on the third floor— the living quarters. Pulling down a ledge, a short staircase appeared where they quickly ascended.

The room was small but very clean, containing just a simple bed and a wardrobe.

"Sorry about the size and the lack of furniture".Emi said, her voice dropping. "Unlike what Robert likes to suggest, things aren't really good right now. Starting a new organization takes so much money, and do you know we have to pay for flood insurance? They is literally and entire desert on our left?". She caught herself rambling. "Oh, sorry about my rumbling. Excuse me."

With that, Emi gave an apologetic smile, gently closed the door, and walked away.

Levi walked toward the small window near his new bed and gazed outside. The sun was setting, painting the sky in deep oranges and purples.

For the first time since his arrival in this world, Levi allowed himself to breathe. He had been constantly moving, constantly planning, but now his mind was blessedly blank, relaxed, and quiet.

Just then, a sharp knock interrupted his peace.

"Mr. Baer, dinner's ready!". Came Jake's annoyed voice from the hallway. This was immediately followed by a loud, muttered complaint. "Why do I have to go while Hazel sits down there with her smug little face?". The complaint trailed off into a string of grumbling.

Levi chuckled lightly at the boy's annoyance, then stepped away from the window. Unbeknownst to him, the sun had fully set, giving way to the moon and allowing the brilliant spectacle of seven constellations to appear in the newly dark sky.

Levi quickly arrived at the dinner hall, which was just straight ahead after coming down from the attic stairs.

When Levi walked in, the large table was already lively. In addition to Robert, his wife Emi, and their two children, Jake and Hazel, the administrative woman with glasses, who he now knew as Ms. Vivian, was also there. It seemed she was the one occupying the spare room downstairs.

Dinner was a lively affair, with Emi taking the lead in the conversation. From her constant stream of words, Levi managed to absorb a significant amount of information.

One being that Mr. Robert was a G3 Sorcerer and actually belonged to a major clan called the Flicker Clan.

Their Avatar granted them a technique called Haste, making them the fastest sorcerers in the entire world, not just the Southern Domain.

Robert had been expelled from the clan alongside his dying father. He sought refuge in a quiet, backwards city in the Southern Domain and settled down.

He worked with the former mayor for a while until the mayor retired. That's when Robert got the idea to create a private A.N.G.E.L organization, leading to the creation of the Apex Doctrine.

The conversation soon circled back to Robert's unique power.

"Robert was so fast that he was done in a minute". Emi said brightly.

Robert, who had been enjoying a sip of wine, immediately spat it out in shock at his wife's words.

"Cough... Babe, maybe you shouldn't say words like that". Robert stammered, forcing an embarrassed chuckle.

"Oh, Robert, you're always so shy!". Emi said, waving her hand dismissively at her blushing husband. "I always tell him, there's nothing to be ashamed of. When you're the fastest man in the world, things are just over before they even start!".

She leaned forward conspiratorially toward Levi. "Honestly, he's a marvel. Just a quick flash, and everything's finished in a frenzy. He gives 100% effort, but because he's so efficient, the whole process is incredibly short-lived, you know? It's not his fault! It's the Flicker's Clan blood. He's just physically incapable of going slow."

She punctuated her praise with a hearty pat on Robert's arm. "But I don't mind! At least he's always quick to the draw".

Robert buried his face in his napkin, groaning, while his children, Jake and Hazel, giggled, completely oblivious to the double meaning. The administrative lady with glasses simply took a slow, deliberate sip of her wine.

Levi on the other hand begun to look at Robert in a new light, his facial expression saying. 'So fast'.

Robert could no longer stand the embarrassment and left the table, his head bowed.

But Emi didn't stop and continued to 'praise her husband', making Levi respect the man even more.

After dinner, Levi retreated to his room, thinking about the recent happenings and planning his next move. Which ultimately ended up with grinding.

'Why does it feel like I am forgetting something?'. Levi had this faint intuition if forgetting something, but brushed it aside.

'Maybe it doesn't have anything to do with me'.

*****

"Jimmy, you're a good man". Mr. Henderson, the firm's senior partner, began, his voice flat and practiced. He fiddled with a gold pen on the polished mahogany desk, refusing to meet Jimmy's eyes.

"But frankly, 'good' doesn't pay the bills. Your work has been adequate, but you're constantly distracted. You missed the deadline on the Miller account, and we simply can't afford to carry dead weight."

Jimmy felt a hollow ache spread through his chest, freezing the frantic arguments in his throat. He already knew what was coming a bunch of the staff were laid off yesterday.

"Mr. Henderson, please. Just until the end of the month. I need the paycheck tomorrow. My son is sick, and..."

"The decision is final, Jimmy". Henderson cut him off with a firm chop of his hand. "Your severance check covers today. I wish you the best of luck, but you need to clear your desk and be off the premises within the hour."

Jimmy stumbled out to the staff parking lot, the box containing the meager sum of his belongings feeling heavier than any ledger he'd ever balanced. He climbed into his battered pick-up truck, the engine sputtering to life in protest.

He had driven barely three blocks before his emotions crested, hot tears spilling down his cheeks. He wasn't just broke; he was ruined.

His son, little Tommy, was gravely ill, requiring specialist care that had drained every savings account and maxed out every credit card. He had been forced to borrow a terrifying sum from his old friend, Marcus, to cover the latest hospital expenses.

Last month had been the deadline to repay the debt. Marcus, a cruel man beneath a veneer of false loyalty, when he learnt that jimmy couldn't pay; he had insisted on a monstrous exchange his wife, Sarah, for the debt to be covered.

Jimmy had recoiled in furious rejection, spitting rejection and bile at his friend. Marcus hadn't cared.

He'd immediately filed suit and, with the terrifying speed of money and influence, the court had ruled in Marcus's favor, demanding full repayment by the end of the month— which was yesterday. Tomorrow's paycheck was his last lifeline, and now it was gone.

Just then, his phone blared, the screen flashing Sarah.

Jimmy swallowed the sob rising in his throat and steadied his voice, trying to sound calm. "Hello, babe. I'm on my way."

On the other end, his wife's voice was a ragged, strangled sob. "J-Jimmy! It's gone! They came and— and they auctioned the house! They took everything! I'm at Maria's place now. We have nowhere left to go, Jimmy!".

A cold, dead certainty settled in his stomach. "It's okay, Sarah. Don't cry. I'll be there soon. We'll figure something out." He hung up and slammed the phone onto the passenger seat, his foot pressing the accelerator.

Figure something out?. He had nothing left to figure out.

The sky had turned a bruised purple, and the rain came down in a sudden, blinding deluge, blurring the world outside the windshield. The road ahead twisted into the familiar mouth of the old city tunnel.

Jimmy fought the wheel against a sudden gust of wind. The darkness of the tunnel swallowed the truck whole just as the heavy rain obscured the entrance behind him.

He was trapped, broke, heartbroken, and utterly alone in the darkness.

Just then, using the bright light of his truck, Jimmy saw a figure standing in the road. He quickly stopped the truck to avoid hitting the person and took a closer look.

The figure wore a monk's robe, which was open from the chest down to the stomach. The person was barefooted, and their two arms were clenched together as if in prayer.

The left hand was entirely black with white knuckles, while the right was white with black knuckles. The figure's bald head was deeply bowed.

If the strange attire and body markings weren't enough to frighten Jimmy, the sight of a bulging cloth behind the figure was. From inside the cloth, a skull gleamed.

'No! No! No!'. Jimmy's face immediately twisted in despair. Why was his luck so bad? First, his son's illness, then impossible debt, then job loss, and now he was meeting an evil sorcerer.

Just as he was about to put the truck in reverse and speed away, he felt something cold touch his shoulder— a chill only a corpse should possess.

Turning around, he saw a second figure. This one wore dark, tattered robes and a deer skull mask. Its body was a deadly blue color, and the corpse-like coldness was radiating from it.

"Arrrrg!". Jimmy screamed. His body acted on its own, throwing open the driver's side door, causing him to tumble out onto the ground. He immediately scrambled to run back the way he came, but he didn't get far before he fell.

All his energy had instantly deserted him, leaving him only able to crawl in fear. If he could have seen his body, he would have realized his entire skeletal system was showing, as if his blood, flesh, and organs had been violently drained.

He soon collapsed, one hand desperately stretching toward the tunnel entrance. From his now skeletal mouth, a blue spectral figure— vaguely resembling him— flew out. It followed an invisible thread and went straight into the mouth of the figure in the truck.

The masked figure smacked its lips in disgust. "Ma-a-mand-une so-uls a-re the worst". It spoke, having difficulty at first, but rapidly gaining fluent speech.

"Then why did you resort to violence?". The bald, monk-robed figure spoke, raising its head to show that its eyes and mouth were sealed shut by black thread.

"Tsk... Don't lecture me." Without another word, the being wearing the deer skull mask climbed into the driver's seat, showing extreme familiarity with the controls, despite it being its first time in a vehicle.

This was the terrifying ability of the Deprived Clan the power to deprive an individual of anything— from emotions to their very soul— and gain all the knowledge and memories of that being.

The monk-like figure began to walk forward, and the cloth covering the skull slithered, following him. This cloth was actually the treated skin of a former animal or human.

The truck pulled away, leaving Jimmy's dried-out corpse behind on the road.

[A/N: The end of Volume one]