Under the pale, cold light of the moon, she stood.
Her fiery red hair tangled in the night breeze.
Her glowing red eyes piercing through the shadows.
The girl was surrounded by tombstones, darkened stone crosses, and broken graves in a desolate cemetery.
The once-neat academy attire she wore was torn and dirt-streaked.
Black stockings frayed at the knees, a black skirt with ripped edges, a white shirt stained and wrinkled.
And a red tie hanging loosely around her neck.
She looked fierce and unwavering, as if the destruction around her was nothing new, but only a mere stage set for what was to come.
Behind her, the ground began to stir and rumble.
Skeletal soldiers, barely held together by remnants of broken armor, rose from the earth.
Their hollow eyes glowed red, mirroring the same ominous hue that radiated from her own.
The skeletons' jaws opened, unleashing screeches and low growls that echoed through the air, filled with a primal hunger for battle.
Then, with a single step forward, the skeletons began to advance, each one moving closer, their red aura growing stronger, like flames burning more fiercely as they neared their master.
---
I blinked, pulling myself out of the eerie vision, trying to shake off the unsettling feeling it left.
That scene, the girl with red eyes commanding a legion of undead soldiers under the moonlight—that was the first major event in the novel.
It was set to unfold a month after the first-year students arrived at Ravenwood Academy.
The memory of the body I was in, this body that belonged to Noah Ashbourne, had hinted at it.
I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that I was still here.
That I still inhabited Noah's body after everything that had happened.
The game's storyline had shattered, and with its collapse, I'd been thrust into the original narrative.
The novel that inspired the game.
This novel, the true version of the world I was in, had a completely different storyline and characters from the game.
It was as if everything I had once understood about this world had been rewritten in the blink of an eye.
The main characters I had killed?
They weren't important here.
I had wondered if the storyline might try to resurrect them to keep things progressing, but I was wrong.
They'd never existed in this narrative to begin with.
- Character Importance: Major
- Role: Villain』
「Description: An arrogant noble, possessing both power and the burden of supremacy. Noah Ashbourne is the academy's Top Seat, a role that drives him to maintain his position at all costs. His purpose lies in always being at the top, pushing the other students to surpass their limits. As long as he maintains his status, the main cast will rise, destined to grow stronger. But if Noah fails to keep his position as the top student, the main characters will be unable to reach their true potential. Without their strength, the world itself will collapse, unraveling in the final episode with Noah as the ultimate adversary」
---
The message faded, and I felt a chill run down my spine.
So that was it.
In this world, in this novel, 'I' was the final hurdle, the obstacle that the main characters had to overcome to save everyone.
My success or failure would determine their fate, and, by extension, the fate of the world itself.
My heart pounded as the realization sank in.
I was not merely a villain but the driving force behind the other characters' growth.
Without me standing at the top, they would never have the motivation to push beyond their limits.
To become strong enough to face whatever darkness threatened the world.
And if they failed to reach that strength, then it was all over.
But how could I hold on to my position when this novel's world differed so wildly from the game I'd known?
The rules were different, and my experience with the game no longer mattered.
I'd have to find a way to adapt, to survive in this unfamiliar landscape.
My life, and everyone else's, depended on my ability to remain at the top, to force the main characters to rise to meet the challenge I posed.
For the first time since arriving in this world, a strange sense of purpose washed over me.
I was no longer just playing to survive or to escape this story.
I was the linchpin, the keystone holding the world together.
And if I failed, the consequences would be catastrophic.
The academy, the empire, everyone—all would perish, their lives ending in a grim, tragic finale.
I stared at my hands, feeling the weight of that truth settle over me.
This was no game.
This was a story with real lives hanging in the balance. Experience new stories on mvl
Every move I made, every action I took, would affect not only my fate but the fate of countless others.
The girl under the moonlight, commanding the undead—that was just the beginning.
I would need to be ready when the time came, to keep my place and protect this world, if only because my own survival now depended on it.
And I would have to do that as a disgusting noble and a character hated by all.