Villain Hiring: Help! Author Wants Me Dead

"…it means that you might not be fully human anymore."

Silence again.

My heart pounded like it was trying to escape from my chest.

"I'm still me," I whispered, feeling tensed now.

Venus gave me an almost blank look as he continued.

"I hope so." The silence stretched long after Venus said it.

I don't know what I expected next.

A joke?

A laugh?

Maybe even a sarcastic 'just kidding.'

But no.

Venus didn't laugh.

He didn't even move.

He just stared at me—his face stone-cold, arms crossed with a faint glow sparking across his fingers.

The kind of glow I'd seen right before people died in duels.

"Venus?" I whispered, scared.

Still nothing.

His eyes locked onto my glabella, where the blood had entered.

Then his gaze drifted onto my head where I almost felt like a stub seemed to be growing outward, glowing like ink under the candlelight.

A flicker of fear rushed up my spine.

And for the first time, it was not the fear of the blood…it was the fear of the man standing in front of me.

"Say something," I begged, my voice shaking.

But he didn't, instead, the man took one slow step back.

Another.

His right hand moved slightly behind his robe, where I knew he kept a hidden weapon, the kind only high-level mages carried for assassination-level strikes.

That's when it hit me.

He was considering it.

He was actually considering killing me.

What the fuck?!

"No—Venus, stop!" I cried out, scrambling off the slab, my knees barely holding.

He didn't attack.

But he didn't lower his guard either.

"I saw it happen with my own eyes," he said quietly, his voice a low growl. "That blood didn't just integrate with you like it does for other people…Pixie, this was something totally different.

Something I had never seen, not to forget the little stub growing on your head like those demons horns—"

I tried whatever I could to make Venus think otherwise as I used that cute voice I'd always taken advantage off whenever I was in a knot.

"Grandpa—please! Listen to yourself!! People often gain features of hollows after integrating with them! Why are you doing this with me??"

I saw Venus's eyes soften as he gave what I said a thought but ultimately shook his head. "You know how much I dot on you, brat.

If anything, I wouldn't even dare hurting you with how crazy Noah is..."

Venus shook his head, smiling wryly. "But there is one thing more important than Noah and my feelings for any of you."

His face turned stone cold as he continued telling me things about how his duty as a fallen king and being the head of one of the pillars of humanity forces him to take decisions he might be hated for no matter the cost and all that bullshit, making my face almost turn pale.

I pressed a hand to my chest. "I'm still me! I can think! I can feel—Venus, I'm crying right now, damn it!"

I was.

I hadn't noticed until I felt the warmth streaking down my cheeks.

His expression shifted, just barely.

But he still didn't let go of the weapon.

"There's something you need to understand," he said, slower now. "The Hollows weren't just monsters. They were strategists. Manipulators.

Their king was the worst of them all. He led the assault from the shadows. We never saw his real body—only the havoc he created through hosts.

He never showed up, yet he was everywhere."

"So what?" I said, choking on my breath. "You think I'm some kind of host now?"

Venus didn't answer.

"You're thinking of killing me. Right now," I whispered.

"Just in case." He didn't deny it.

And that hurt more than anything else.

"You adored me," I said, stepping toward him, "when I had first come to this house with Noah...it was you who had assured me that I'm safe.

That I could always return to this family no matter what happens—" I shrieked, unable to believe my eyes.

"I'm not making this decision because I don't care," he said, pain visible on his face. "I'm making it because I have no other option."

A pause.

"You don't know what I've seen, Pixie. The moment those Hollows had struck our world, half of humanity had died already.

And the remaining half?

We lived in fear if we would be able to see the light of the next day."

"I'm not a ticking time bomb!" I screamed.

"Then prove it."

That hit me like a punch. "Prove it? How the hell do I prove that I'm not secretly an alien sleeper agent?"

Venus didn't flinch. "Tell me what you felt when it entered you."

I opened my mouth. Then closed it.

Because the truth?

I did feel something.

Something cold.

Ancient.

Not evil, but...empty.

"I felt like I was falling through space," I admitted. "Like I wasn't alone in my own head."

He nodded slowly.

"I also felt like it was meant to be there."

His brow furrowed.

"It wasn't trying to control me," I went on. "It was completing something. Like...like I've always been running on 90% and this was the last missing piece."

Venus's hand twitched away from the weapon at last.

"That doesn't mean it's safe," he muttered.

"But people do this kind of thing all the time!" I blurted. "Hollows are dead, right? We use their remains in artifacts.

Power amplifiers.

I saw you gifting one to Dario just a while back!!"

Venus's eyes narrowed.

"That's different. Those are filtered, stabilized fragments."

"Well maybe this is the same!" I cried. "Just... unfiltered. Raw. But it's still just power. Just an integration."

I took another step closer, daring to look him straight in the eyes.

"You can't punish me for getting lucky."

His shoulders finally dropped, a long breath escaping him like he'd just finished holding it through a battlefield.

"I should've destroyed that vial when I found it," he said bitterly.

"But you didn't."

He chuckled dryly. "No. I didn't."

The tension in the room slowly receded by a little, but something heavier replaced it, I realised.

It was responsibility.

Venus rubbed his temples, thinking hard. "If this is truly a Hollow King's blood...the implications are massive. You're not just a treasure now, Pixie.

You're a potential weapon."

"Or a target," I said quietly.

He looked at me, his expression unreadable. "Both."

"…"

I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling cold.

"So what happens now?"

Venus turned and walked towards a sealed cabinet, pulling out a strange silver crystal that glowed blue.

"I'll monitor you," he said. "Run tests. Teach you control. But Pixie..." He turned to me again, his tone grim.

"If you ever feel something... off. Something pushing at your thoughts or trying to change you...you call me through this crystal immediately.

No matter how small."

I nodded, asking him softly.

"And if it's too late?"

The Old King of Blackblade hesitated.

"Then I'll do what needs to be done."

I didn't reply.

Because deep down, I knew he meant it.

***

P/S: 2 Golden Tickets to go for a Bonus Chapter! And no, the gt I have given due to the Magic Castles do not count.