Struggling as a Villain

[Before you go, I would like to offer a little help in your venture.]

The voice called out, making Richard puzzled. He was already thinking of the way he could rescue Ethan when suddenly the orb dropped something on his hands.

Richard narrowed his eyes and found that it...was a cape or something only visible from one end.

'Ha**y P*tt*r type shit...' He wondered, as the orb soon followed,

[The cloak detaches one's presence from the real world. No detector, no magician would be able to realize your presence. Not even the deities.]

[The second thing is the armband, which would give you the location of the Child.]

Richard looked at the golden bracer attached to his wrist, which was, in simple words, GPS, which would help track down Ethan.

As Richard looked back up, he found the surroundings began to dissolve and in the last bit of his consciousness he heard a sobbing voice from the orb,

[Please save the Child.]

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*Blink* *Blink*

Richard has noticed that the blinking duration of the small dot on the map has gradually slowed down with time.

He was marching towards the palace while looking at the map on his bracer—which showed Ethan's current location.

Richard counted; the beeps of the small dot were seventy-two per minute initially, but now, it had reduced to sixty per minute.

Whether it was his breathing, his ether, or his life force, remained uncertain. However, Richard knew that he had to reach Ethan and save him before this dot stopped blinking.

"Hey yo-" A soldier guarding the palace noticed Richard since he was not wearing the cloak. However, before the soldier could step forward Richard used his telekinesis to push the man to the ground.

Before the soldier could have recovered, Richard had already worn the cloak and walked away.

The soldier immediately got up, applying his resistance through 'Barrier' as he looked around to find Richard.

Richard also halted for a moment to see if this cloak worked or not. He could see the soldier was keenly looking around and must have extended his 'Detection' as well, however, even after a whole minute, the soldier did not move towards Richard.

'Haah...it works.' Heaving a sigh, Richard decided to just walk from here on or the cloak would slide off. And taking chances inside the palace was a total no-go.

He explored the palace the last time he came here. Although not completely, he knows the basic structure...yet looking at the massive place once again, left him stunned.

Upon entering the palace, he was instantly overwhelmed by its sheer magnificence. The grand hall unfolds like a vision of opulence, with vast marble floors that reflect the soft, golden light from the towering chandeliers above.

Richard had heard that even the floor of the palace works as shock absorbent and there are several hidden soldiers all over the palace.

He didn't let go of caution as he stepped inside and tread on the path that led him to the dot.

It took Richard some time but he was finally nearing the exact place where Ethan was situated.

Richard was prepared to fight whoever was guarding Ethan. Even if he has to use Hell Blaze, that doesn't matter. The Protagonist has to live to save this world. Only the light which Ethan possesses can perish the darkness of the Death God.

Several minutes it took for him to finally reach....a dead end.

"Hmm?" Richard frowned, clearly unsure whether he reached the right place or not.

The place where the dot was showing was right behind the wall...however, if Richard's memory was serving him right, there was nothing but a flower garden behind this wall. And the width wasn't enough to keep a human inside.

Richard looked around before removing the cloak and used 'Detection' to see if Ethan was around.

...he can't feel his presence.

'What the heck is going on-oh, shit!' Suddenly he sensed someone walking in his direction, urging Richard to drape the cloak over him again.

He sidestepped and looked at the person who was advancing towards him—or, to be more precise, they were loitering around, searching for something uncertain.

Just like Richard, this person also wore a cloak to hide their face, but it didn't make them invisible.

Richard grinned; this was his chance.

"Your Highness"

"Eek!" Elizabeth, who was searching around, suddenly yelped upon hearing the voice from behind.

"You! What are you doing here?" Narrowing her eyes she questioned him.

Richard had already hidden the cloak as he answered, "Just like you, I am also searching for Ethan."

Her eyes widened, "How do you know that Ethan is here?!" She clutched his shirt in a panic.

Richard slowly removed her hands from him as he responded, "I got information from Emily and Eleanor that he is nowhere to be found, and after seeing his clones, I thought he must be in the palace.....And since Emily requested my help...I had no other option." With a tired sigh, that showed his helplessness, Richard uttered.

Naturally, this was the best way to convince this psycho.

Elizabeth still maintained her narrowed gaze, but she backed off and told him, "I also felt his presence in the palace some days ago, and considering that his clones are attacking the capital, I knew that Ethan was here."

"But do you know where?" Richard's question was met by a regretful shake of her head.

The redhead sighed; she was really useless.

"Hey, hey! What is that expression? I can tell you are thinking something rud-"

"Princess, the more you dilly-dally, the slimmer Ethan's chances of survival become. So stop saying unnecessary things and tell me: can you help me find Ethan?"

Crossing her arms under her breast—she didn't like to get interrupted—Elizabeth nodded, "Of course, I  will do anything to find my husband. But do you know where he is?"

Richard paused, then told her, "We need a password to reach Ethan, and in my opinion, only your father and his close confidante, the Prime Minister, know about that passcode."

Elizabeth nodded, "Targeting the Minister would be easier," Glancing at Richard, she said, "Follow me."

Richard nodded before they began walking discreetly toward the office where the Minister resides around this hour.

Since Elizabeth was quite familiar with the palace, she led Richard through that route, which wasn't under heavy surveillance. But, just for assurance, Richard wore a shawl over his head to hide his identity.

Thankfully Elizabeth didn't have a habit of short conversations as they reached their destination in complete silence.

"Is this it?" Richard asked as he saw Elizabeth's aquamarine eyes glowing for a moment before she nodded,

"He is inside, but there are seven soldiers with him. Can you take care of them?"

Richard nodded, ushering Elizabeth to say, "I will give you an opening," Saying so, she slapped her palms together and parted them slowly to reveal a small foggy orb.

Richard pressed his fist on the metal door, and using his enhanced strength he punched the door out of its hinges.

At the exact moment, they noticed the presence of the duo, Elizabeth released the spell that surrounded the eight men—sending a calming wave through their nervous system, which dulled their reflexes.

Richard was well aware of the spell, that's why he utilized enhancement on speed and began to punch a hole in the chest of every soldier that came across.

"Ugh!" The first one fell after a burning fist created a gaping hole in his chest.

So did the second and third ones.

"Hurry!" Elizabeth warned since these high ranked soldiers were resisting the spell now.

Richard enhanced himself by several folds, letting go of the strength enhancement and beheading the soldiers.

Using both his hands, he chopped the heads of the soldiers who could barely move, and in less than ten seconds, he created a graveyard of the dead bodies in the office.

The foul smell of blood permeated across the room as the Prime Minister finally broke out of the spell.

However, it was already too late. Richard was already pinning him down with his knee planted on the man's chest.

Seriously, if not for Elizabeth's assistance, Richard could have never killed so many high-ranking soldiers all alone.

[Ding!]

[Quest achieved!]

Ignoring the system panel for now Richard heard the Minister yelling, "You! The brat of the bitch! How dare you lay a hand*slap*"

The Minister's eyes grew wide as he was suddenly slapped with enough force to break his jaw.

Turning to look back at Richard, he was slapped again and the Minister lost his vigor completely.

Elizabeth hurriedly crouched beside the man before pressing her hand against his head.

Closing her eyes, she read his memories and went through everything he had in store about Ethan.

Her face grew dark and dark passing each second before finally she opened her eyes and the first thing she did was to use her claw and gauge out the man's left eye

"Aaaahhhh!" Through the broken jaws left a deafening cry.

Richard balled his fist and punched the man on his throat, making his other eye roll back, and soon the Prime Minister fainted.

Elizabeth was far from being done with this man, however, her anger was not only directed to the Minister.

With her fist clenched, she grimly whispered,

"Father needs to die..."

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A/N:- Ah yeah, the love of a yandere knows no bounds. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.