A Villain's Way of Taming Heroines

He pointed again to a distant tower, "Yuktreshil, the foundation of the Etheric Academy, their sorcerer tower, their alchemical fortress. They all have stood in the Imperial City for four hundred and sixty-nine years."

"Yet these four hundred and sixty-nine years, nothing has changed."

Ravenna's heart began to beat faster.

She had more than once doubted Ansel's motives for becoming her pen pal, then personally seeking her out, and now becoming her friend.

She considered herself a genius, but she also understood very clearly that she, at least the current her, was not worth the future Hydral's investment.

The most likely reason was to make her his pact head, but Ansel had already refused the pact head matter, for a vague and unclear reason.

What does he really want? After spending so much time with Ansel, Ravenna still didn't understand.

Until now, as she listened to Ansel's slow narration, she felt the temperature in her chest rise as her heart beat more and more powerfully, becoming increasingly hot.

"A thousand years, or four hundred and sixty-nine years, such a long time... why hasn't anything changed?" Ansel turned to look at Ravenna and whispered,

"Venna, this world, shouldn't be like this."

"Extraordinary beings can make mountains rise from the ground, can split the sea in two; they can create food out of thin air, eliminate all hunger, and can provide endless energy, allowing everything to develop rapidly; but no one, not even the empress, has thought of using this power to advance the entire Empire, the entire society, the entire era."

"Destruction, devastation, plunder, selfishness, sublimation..."

The symbol of the abyss, the monster, was now whispering absurd words that were completely inconsistent with his identity:

"Is this what being extraordinary is all about?"

"No!" Ravenna immediately responded, "It should be the possibility to change the world, not—"

"Not the culprit that has left this world stagnant, right?"

Ansel looked into those purple eyes that seemed to be stirring with emotion, and spoke softly.

"Right."

Ravenna's voice was slightly shaky, not from fear, but from the uncontrollable ecstasy of a lone traveler on a long journey, who, in the boundless loneliness and darkness, finally found a companion.

She thought that Ansel simply supported her, just to please her.

She never thought... that Ansel, who was born with everything, also shared her view of this sick society and world.

"This world..." she repeated Ansel's words, "shouldn't be like this."

"But we can't change extraordinary beings, Venna."

Ansel smiled, his smile tinged with helplessness, "The pursuit of power is the nature of extraordinary beings, it's the soul's longing for ether and higher levels of life, every extraordinary being will eventually walk this same path in different ways."

"Why… why should extraordinary beings decide everything?"

Ravenna's voice gradually rose, "It's the extraordinary itself that should decide everything!"

"Ansel," she said, her hand resting on his shoulder, her usually impassive face and eyes now aflame with intense emotion.

"You're right, the world shouldn't be like this."

The ideal that Ravenna pursued, the dawn of a new era she sought, was not one of stagnation or silence, but one rooted in transcendence, advancing towards a greater stage beyond anyone's imagination, a new world… beyond all thought!

"But we have the power to change it — if the existence of extraordinary beings makes the world so absurd, then we won't rely on the extraordinary beings, but on the extraordinary itself."

Ravenna reached out to Ansel's cheek, cradling his head, her magnificent purple eyes reflecting the dazzling stars.

It was as if she was embracing the entire sky.

"Ansel, you want to witness that future too, right?"

Gazing at her astonishingly beautiful eyes, after a brief silence, Ansel gently replied, "Of course, Venna."

"Then join me."

You understand me, and I understand you.

"I have you, and you have me."

You support me, and I support you.

Ravenna Ziegler, Ansel's friend, his best friend, declared with such emotional turbulence, completely devoid of her usual cold and distant demeanor, and extended her fist to him: "Let's... end this thousand-year stagnation and silence!"

Ansel, looking at the girl who had placed her complete trust in him, slowly raised his own fist.

In the end, it met with Ravenna's.

What Ansel of Hydral was thinking at that moment, no one knew except him.

But all Ravenna saw was a radiant smile, and all she heard him say was, "For the future."

For the future.

Unfortunately, this was nothing but a cruel lie from the devil.

*

Material Armament, the Black Knight.

This was the mechanical armor that the Etheric Academy had built in just five days with the unlimited resources provided by the empress.

It was not a mere toy to scare the Tower of Babel, nor was it a defective product hastily made. It was a true weapon, capable of slaughtering everything on the battlefield and annihilating all enemies.

At first, most members of the Tower of Babel didn't understand why the Elder Princess Evora had suddenly issued such a cruel order. But after Conrad piloted the Black Knight and made a baffling declaration as an "enemy," some clever people began to sense a possibility.

Now, the entire Tower of Babel was shrouded in a gloomy and oppressive atmosphere. All the scholars and alchemists who were forced to manufacture weapons in the alchemy workshop were asking themselves in confusion: What are we doing? What are we facing?

The higher-ups of the Tower of Babel could only respond to the countless inquiries with powerless silence. What could they say? Tell these scholars that we are about to face the Etheric Academy and the empress, and that we have to win a war with the weapons we made ourselves?

Evora was defiant and brutal, but not stupid. She knew that saying this would only increase the pressure and chaos among the people of Babel, so she only told the truth to the higher-ups. And the higher-ups, when facing these long-time colleagues and like-minded partners, could only sadly keep their mouths shut.

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