I CHOSE to be a VILLAIN, not a THIRD-RATE EXTRA!!

Chapter 59 The Hunt Ends and Aftermath

The clash between the Mercenary Queen and the Bandit King had reached a pivotal point, and the scales were slowly tipping in her favor. The axe lodged deep in the Bandit King's shoulder had become a significant hindrance, throwing off his balance and making it nearly impossible to keep up with her relentless attacks. Though the Bandit King wielded a massive two-handed weapon, his dominant right hand, now compromised by the embedded axe, struggled to maintain control.

'At this rate, I'll die. I have to go all out', thought the Bandit King

"DOMAIN EXPANSION: Outlaw's Dominion," said the Bandit King. As the words left his mouth, his brown-colored aura surged outward in a massive wave, expanding rapidly, engulfing everything in its path.

But the Mercenary Queen was no novice, and she knew this was coming.

A wicked grin spread across her face, her eyes flashing with excitement and anticipation. "DOMAIN EXPANSION: Labyrinth of Death!" she declared

A violent surge of red-colored aura erupted from the Mercenary Queen's side, exploding outward with a ferocity that seemed to shatter the very air around her. The red aura clashed violently with the Bandit King's brown-colored domain. As the two auras collided, they didn't just meet—they fused. The two domains converged, forming a maroon-colored sphere that enveloped both the Mercenary Queen and the Bandit King.

Inside this newfound space, the clash of their powers rendered the world outside irrelevant. The laws of time and space no longer held sway. They were now in a realm entirely of their own making, where only their strength, will, and cunning mattered.

The Bandits, relentless in their pursuit, swarmed the rugged mountain paths, hot on the heels of the Duke and Cassius. Meanwhile, the madman, ever chaotic, was indulging in his own twisted brand of fun.

He was wreaking havoc wherever he went, gleefully tearing through the mountains. His method was simple: spot a bandit, and destroy everything in sight.

Meteor Spear

Meteor Spear

Meteor Spear

The madman, in his unrestrained chaos, continued to unleash his most devastating move over and over. Whenever his aura began to wane, he would drink potions.

The Bandits, once confident in their numbers, found themselves in complete disarray as the madman's rampage tore through the mountains. Landslides began cascading down the mountain, massive walls of earth and rock barreling toward the bandits, swallowing entire paths and making the treacherous terrain even more deadly.

The Duke and Cassius pushed forward, they climbed the sheer cliffs and ran through the dense forests. The Duke's focus remained fixed on the ring on his finger, its subtle glow a beacon guiding him toward the Southern Duchy. The ring, pulsed steadily, pointing the way out of the Isolated Space.

The moment any Bandit tried to ambush the Duke, Cassius was there in a flash, his blade a blur of deadly precision. The bandits, ranging from B to A-Rank, were no match for the sheer speed and power of Cassius, an SS Ranker with an Agility stat of SSS.

Raijin's Draw First Form: One Flash

Cassius moved like a blur of lightning, a deadly streak of speed that kept orbiting around the Duke. His blade flashed in the dim forest light, cutting down any bandit that dared come too close. Meanwhile, the Duke kept running with his speed enhanced by magical artifacts.

"Didn't I tell you... Cassius is useful?" The Duchess's voice, weak and strained, reached Duke's ears.

The Duke only snorted. "I rescued you, and you're still taking his side?"

"Just stop acting jealous all the time, He is someone who swore loyalty to the entire Duchy." The Duchess slowly regained her strength as the Duke gave her stamina potions to drink.

"The reason you are in this condition is also because of him." Said the Duke.

"It was all my fault," the Duchess continued, her voice strained but sincere. "And instead, that fool nearly died because of me."

However, their bickering came to an abrupt halt when a sudden, chilling shadow loomed directly above the Duke.

The Bandit King stood tall, his saber raised high in the sky, casting a long shadow over the Duke. Having lost the battle of domains against the Mercenary Queen, he had sacrificed his life force to escape from the Domain. With a mighty roar, he brought his saber down with tremendous force, shattering three shields in one powerful strike

"Where are you running off to, woman? You will bear my children, and they will become my successors!" he bellowed, his voice grating with unhinged fury.

He raised and swung his saber down once again, but Cassius appeared in a flash his sword aimed directly for the Bandit King's neck.

CLANG!

"You are still slow to me," sneered the Bandit King, effortlessly parrying Cassius's attack. With a powerful kick, he sent Cassius hurtling through the air.

Cassius, undeterred by the setback, felt a surge of determination fuel his every move. Fired by his unwavering will, he steadied himself mid-air and used the momentum to his advantage. In a flash, he sped up once more, closing the distance between himself and the Bandit King with astonishing speed.

THUMP

The steady rhythm of Cassius' heart began to grow louder, faster, each beat more forceful than the last, as if his body itself was awakening from a deep slumber. A crackling energy, like a storm gathering force, wrapped around his heart, spiraling outward, a manifestation of his grief, his rage, and his helplessness. His gaze remained fixed on the Bandit King, whose twisted, mocking grin stretched across his face—an expression of triumph, of power, as if he had won.

Cassius's eyes, once filled with sorrow and shock, began to change. The white light seeped in from the corners of his vision, flooding his sight until everything else faded. His pupils vanished entirely, leaving nothing but pure, seething whiteness.

BOOOOOM!

A massive thunderbolt tore through the sky, crackling with raw, untamed energy, and struck Cassius. The brilliance of the strike was so intense, so blinding, that even the Bandit King, for the first time, was forced to shut his eyes, unable to withstand the light. When he finally dared to open his eyes again, what he saw defied all comprehension.

In front of him, standing like a living tempest, was a figure—a man, but not a man as he knew it. Cassius had been transformed. His entire body radiated with an electric blue glow, from the tips of his hair to the soles of his feet. His body was no longer flesh and bone—it was pure energy.

There was a man made of thunder in front of him. Entire body of the man in front of him was shining with blue from the hair to the feet. Currents were leaking from the body and striking the ground. From the Blue shining body, two extremely white eyes fell on the Bandit King.

But what struck the Bandit King most were the eyes. Those eyes, once filled with sorrow, now burned with a white-hot intensity, blinding in their purity.

Then, something horrifying happened. His entire perspective shifted. It was as if the very fabric of reality had unraveled and turned itself inside out. Everything—the world, the sky, the ground—flipped.

"What—"

The Bandit King's voice trailed off in disbelief. With his vision upside down saw that the man was still standing there like before. The lifeless body of the Duchess lay in a pool of her own blood, her small frame motionless on the cold ground. What shocked him most was a headless body that stood in front of the Duchess.

'I am dead, but when did he strike...?' The shock on the Bandit King's face was imminent but his view started spinning as his flying head fell to the ground, he was dead just like that.

From afar, the Mercenary Queen and the madman stood in stunned silence, watching the devastating scene unfold before them.

"Thunder Incarnate, a new saint is born". Muttered the Mercenary Queen.

Cassius's body, once radiating began to lose its glow. The electric currents that had coursed through his veins dissipated, and the blue light that had consumed him slowly vanished. His body, drained from the immense energy he had unleashed, crumpled to the ground.

Meanwhile, the Duke, standing at a distance, watched everything unfold with wide, horrified eyes. He hadn't even realized when she had used the Ring with the Blink spell and now she lay with a saber buried deep in her body.

The Duke's heart lurched as he approached his wife's lifeless body, his steps faltering with each moment. His eyes, still clouded with disbelief and grief, locked onto her face. Her eyes, once so full of life, were now vacant, staring at the sky above her in a haunting stillness. The sight of her like this, cold and motionless, shattered something deep within him.

Then, just as his hope was beginning to slip away, he saw it—a slight movement, almost imperceptible, but unmistakable. Her hand twitched ever so slightly, and a small, fragile spark of life seemed to flicker within her.

The Duke's breath caught, his heart leaping with a surge of desperate hope. He quickly reached for a healing potion, his hands shaking uncontrollably as he brought it to her lips.

But before he could coax the liquid past her lips, she whispered her final words, her voice faint and strained, like the dying breath of a passing storm.

"They will come..."

and she was gone.

...

After that fateful night, everything changed. The remaining bandits and pirates were rounded up and brought to the Southern Duchy for a public execution. The grim spectacle served as a warning to all who dared to disrupt the peace. The headless bodies of the Pirate King and the Bandit King were left to rot on the harbor, tied to wooden poles, a stark reminder of their downfall.

Even after that night, the relentless hunt continued. The bandits and pirates were tracked down and eradicated with ruthless efficiency until none of them were left.

The Mercenary Queen, having failed the first contract of her storied career, only took twenty percent of the payment and returned to dungeon hunting enjoying no fame for killing Ascended.

Following the final conversation before his wife's tragic death, the Duke never expelled Cassius from the mansion. However, a part of his heart always harbored a lingering resentment, silently holding Cassius responsible for the loss.

The Duke never remarried, dedicating his life to ensuring his daughter never felt the absence of her mother. He poured his heart and soul into raising her, providing her with love, guidance, and support. He became both mother and father to her, striving to fill the void left by the Duchess's death.

A/N: I know that this part has been long but it was not meaningless. The events of this part with play a role in the important. Ashok will be back from the next chapter.

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