Transmigrated as the Villain Between the Heroine and the Villainess

Tears streamed down Celestria's face. She was choking, her powerful body as helpless as a child's, her life being squeezed out by an invisible force.

Azrael watched, his own body a prison of steel cuffs and searing pain. What could he do? His threads were useless. He couldn't create a weapon. He couldn't break the demon's concentration. He was just a spectator at his own sister's execution.

He thought about the system. The reward for his villain performance, the ten stat points he was promised, hadn't come. Of course it hadn't. This stupid system was a merchant, not a benefactor. It wouldn't give him a reward for acting like he was in danger. He had to actually survive it first.

'Looks like I have to buy the skill,' he thought, a cold resolve washing over him. There was no other choice.

'System. Shop.'

His mind dove into the familiar blue interface. He didn't waste time on potions or artifacts. He went straight to the skills tab, to the one he had seen before, the one he had dismissed as a last resort.

Limit Break

Rank: Rare

Description: A forbidden technique that forcefully draws out the user's latent potential. For one minute, all stats are multiplied by x5, but cannot exceed the peak limit of the user's current body and core.

He focused on the purchase button. A new window popped up.

[Confirm Purchase: Limit Break?]

[Cost: 30,000 P]

The price was staggering. But what was the point of being rich if you were dead?

'Yes.'

A new power flooded his veins. It wasn't a gentle stream. It was a raging, uncontrollable fire. He could feel his muscles screaming, pushed beyond their natural limits.

His Aether core burned like a sun. This was power, raw and intoxicating.

He focused that newfound strength on the steel cuffs binding his hands. He pulled.

The metal groaned, resisting his impossible strength. It wasn't easy. The cuffs cut into his wrists, drawing blood, but he pushed past the pain.

Snap.

With a final, agonizing roar, he tore his right hand free. He did the same with his left, then his legs. He stood up, his arms and legs bleeding freely, his body a bonfire of borrowed power.

He looked at his sister, still choking, her face now a deathly blue. He had one minute.

He didn't charge the demon. That would be foolish. He sent his threads out, not at the demon, but into the trees around them.

He wove them together, pulling them tight, compressing them with his overflowing Aether.

'Cutting Line.'

The threads hardened, becoming a web of nearly invisible, razor-sharp wires, all aimed at the demon's position. He yanked.

The demon, focused entirely on strangling Celestria, felt the attack a split second too late. The wires sliced through the air with a faint hiss. It was forced to release Celestria to defend itself, an invisible shield of sonic force shimmering around it as the threads cut harmlessly into the barrier.

Celestria fell to the ground, gasping for air, clutching her bruised neck.

The demon turned, and the calm, empty smile was gone. Its face was a mask of pure rage.

"Azrael!" it screamed, its voice the sound of grinding stone. "You will pay for that! You will pay for everything! I will show you what's more than a hell, a pain much worse than I have suffered!"

It walked towards him, fast this time, its feet barely touching the ground.

Celestria, lying helpless on the floor, saw it coming. With the last of her strength, she reached out and grabbed its foot.

"Please," she begged, her voice a raw whisper. "Leave him... please..."

The demon looked down at her hand, a look of utter disgust on its face. It didn't bother to shake her off.

It stomped.

CRUNCH.

The sound of her bones breaking was sickeningly loud. She screamed, a raw, piercing sound of pure agony, and pulled back what was left of her hand. It was a crushed, bloody mess.

The demon moved towards Azrael again. From a distance, an invisible force grabbed his arms, holding him in place. He was trapped.

He struggled, but the demon's power was absolute, even with his temporary boost. Fear, cold and sharp, finally pierced through his adrenaline.

'This wasn't in the plot,' his mind raced, panic setting in. 'Wait... the plot... This is where I would have died. Sebastian would have died. The Headmaster, the one who was supposed to stop Celestria, he's dead too. And Celestria, the main villain of this act, is broken on the ground.'

'Everything is going the same way, but it's all different. Why is this happening? Am I really going to die? Was I brought here just for that? What was my purpose?'

His thoughts turned to a life that felt a million miles away. 'Looks like, Mom, I have failed again. I am a failure. I couldn't protect you. I left you. I am sorry. Your child did his best, in this world and the last.'

The demon closed in, its crimson eyes burning with a hateful fire. "How about I tear your little legs off first?"

The invisible force grabbed his left leg and pulled. Azrael screamed as he felt his muscles and ligaments stretching, threatening to rip apart.

He was helpless, his boosted strength useless against an enemy he couldn't even touch. He begged, the pain overwhelming, his vision going white at the edges.

Celestria, her hand a ruin, could only watch, her own tears mixing with the blood and dirt on her face.

And then, everything changed.

The air grew still. The sky, which had been a smoky orange, seemed to clear. A strange, serene light filled the forest.

A figure formed in the air in front of them. She looked like a woman in her forties, but her beauty was timeless, ethereal.

She was gorgeous, radiating a calm, immense power that made the demon's raw energy feel like a child's tantrum.

The playful, enraged face of the demon turned dark. A new emotion appeared in its eyes: fear.

"How are you here, Liora?" it hissed, the name a curse. "How did you enter the human realm? It is against the laws! Gods cannot interfere in the lower worlds!"

The woman, Liora, smiled. It was a sad, tired smile. "A lot of things have changed, Balzureth, since you were chained. The laws you remember... they have been torn apart."

Her smile faded as her eyes fell on Azrael's broken, bleeding form. The calm in her expression was replaced by a cold, divine fury. "What have you done, Balzureth? I will not leave you for this."

Chains erupted from the ground. Not silver, not black, but made of pure, white light. They wrapped around the demon's arms, legs, and neck, binding it completely.

"Wait, Liora!" Balzureth screamed, struggling against the chains. "Tell me! Give me the answers to my questions!"

"It's useless," she said, her voice echoing with a power that shook the heavens. "Because you are going to die here."

The chains began to glow, the light growing brighter and brighter, a light far purer than anything Azrael had ever seen. It was a holy, cleansing fire.

Balzureth screamed. A burning smoke, black and foul, began to pour from his body as the light seared him from the inside out.

Then, a thick, dark energy, a river of pure malice, began to leak from the dying body of Marius Strigoi.

It shot straight up, a black pillar against the now-clear sky, tearing a hole in the very fabric of reality.