Stone Mage: Revenge of the Villain System

"Hah…. Hah…. Just whose monster of a child is that!?"

Rabuka did her loudest shout towards the little girl chasing them, and Volken also launched his Rapier Lunis after her.

But Lachesis had easily avoided the weapon, and used one of her snakes to constrict it. The shout did not deter her at all, and many targets appeared at once around them.

"I was sent to kill you both, but I would let you run around first like tiny rats." She smiled, as more large snakes came out of her eyes.

Volken was almost bitten on his forearm, but Rabuka luckily pulled him away. Only for another snake to try and strangle her, to which Volken pried it away with his bare hands.

They really felt that there was no more hope. Unless some miracle comes, they would fall dead at the little girl's feet. This was the end of the line for them.

But miracles do happen, as a quick flash of orange came…..

And one of the snakes got stuck with some orange goo into a tree. More of this appeared, and the goo kept on increasing. This orange natural resin from plants manage to be stronger than expected.

Not only serving as an adhesive...

"What in the Abyss….." Volken muttered as a large mass of resin rose up into an amber dome…..

And served as a shield!

"Pardon my interruption, but you seem like the proper people to ask about the way." A figure wearing a red cloak with a red hood came.

This figure wore a simple puffy dress, looking very innocent and child-like with its pigtails.

"You see, I am looking for one called Zeuxis Zafeiri. May use the name Zeriav Mondstein, about 2 meters tall and appears like a Moonstone Monk in this form. Please help a poor maiden out find her beau."

Lachesis turned to him, and her snakes redirected to this saffron-colored opponent.

The person did not move and just carried a basket, smiling as more goo came to attack the snakes. It kept going in rapid successions, until it had restrained hundreds of snakes with resin.

Once this person approached the gooey dome that protected the two Daemons…..

They were able to see who it was.

"Lovushka?" Volken and Rabuka exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, indeed." Lovushka smiled, as he still continued to stop Lachesis' attacks without breaking a sweat at all. "Have you seen my Zeuxis?"

"How did you know Zeuxis? Are you also a Daemon?" Rabuka asked. "But I don't remember Maellan transforming you…."

"Oh, I'm offended that you'd think such a simple damsel like me could be a Daemon!" Lovushka chuckled. "But I have come to know Zeuxis as my hero. Can you tell me where he is?"

"We have no idea." Volken blinked in surprise that the crossdresser diva was here.

And he certainly did not know he had this kind of power at all. His jaw dropped at how strong he was and asked. "Since when were you able to do this?"

"Oh my, I'm afraid it's unclear to you both. I'm not here to be your protector, that's not my role. Haha!" He twirled his long pigtails.

"I am here because I am lost, and need to find directions to the one I want. You are just supposed to be secondary characters that will show me the way."

Volken and Rabuka looked at each other, then said. "But we really don't know where he is….."

Lovushka's warm smile disappeared, as he tilted his head to the side.

"Oh? Is that so?"

He stopped fighting Lachesis and took away all his amber goo into one pile. "If you don't know where he is, I have no use for you. Goodluck on your venture then. Adieu~"

The two Daemons panicked and jolted to their feet to start running once more.

"Please help us! We'll take you to Zeuxis, just help us here!" Rabuka begged. "Surely Ronin would know! He's not with them for some reason!"

Volken nodded profusely. "Yes! The last time we saw him, there was only that prince and that strange child!"

"You have seen Ronin, eh? And he wasn't with them?"

They didn't even think to question how he came to know Ronin, or that Zeuxis was also supposed to be with him. What they needed was his help, so they needed to be useful to him.

"We can take you to Ronin! Just get rid of the Snake Eyes child for us!"

Lachesis made an empty expression with her hollowed eyes, then turned to Lovushka and smile.

"I know you." She told Lovushka. "The fallen god of Arts, the perverse and hedonistic voyeur that was amused by human passions and failures. So you want to become one."

Lovushka only titled his head again, his long and luscious hair curving up to his ankles now. He went to approach her.

"Do you know what had befallen my Zeuxis as well?"

"The Daemon you want to kill has already ceased to exist. There's no point in preserving those two oblivious ones." Lachesis said cooly.

Lovushka was genuinely surprised about this, but after that slight parting of his lips, his expression was unreadable.

He instead looked like a beautiful pensive maiden in a play, conflicted on how to take this news. Whether this was his true feelings or just an act, no one could tell.

"And how did he cease to exist?"

"The Champion of Light took his life, as he sacrificed himself for the Lord of Darkness. In order to keep the Dark Lord's identity hidden, he revealed his own."

This news had also struck Rabuka and Volken, but not because they sympathized or cared for Zeuxis.

This meant that Lovushka would no longer have a use for them! His dear 'hero' was gone, his playmate.

"How terrible…. To think that someone as vile and heartless as my Zeuxis would sacrifice himself…." He put his hand on his chest dramatically. "Poor, poor boy…."

"Would a damsel ever live without her hero? Would our bond be created from a thousand days and nights of constant physical exertion, the panting breaths we shared, the sweat that passed between our skins….."

Rabuka looked terrified by this. "Did they….."

"Most likely. Are you even surprised? He's Lovushka, he probably does it with men before Zeuxis even during his Academy days."

They have completely misinterpreted his monologue, as Lovushka kept going with so much exaggerated anguish:

"Day by day, I seeked for him after falling tired and sick from our long and passionate exchange. It took me two weeks to recover and even move my legs. Ah! I have never encountered a man of such stamina…."

Even Rabuka and Volken who had done pretty impure things with their victims had reddened at this.

"Two weeks to recover….. He really is a beast." Volken said.

"Did they really do it for a thousand days nonstop?" Rabuka was horrified by the thought.

Lovushka was shedding tears now, without losing his beautiful maiden look.

"He had vowed to return to me one day and continue delivering his passion. I sought him not before, but I was moved by his determination and accepted that vow. It was actually Ronin that I wanted at the beginning….."

Even with the things at stake, the two could not help but be enthralled by this drama. Besides, the more Lovushka kept talking, the more time there would be to distract Lachesis and formulate an escape plan.

"He wanted Ronin, but was successfully pursued by his brother. This feels like something out of a theater drama that he'd produce." Rabuka whispered.

Volken rubbed his chin. "I just wonder if Ronin even gave him the time of the day. Probably not, he's obsessed with that prince. That just adds up to the complex love….. quadrangle? Triangle with an extra point?"

Lovushka had now fallen to his knees, hitting the ground.

"Ah, what cruel fate! Just when I share the same desire as the one who desires me, he was now taken from me! Woe is I and woe is my Zeuxis!"

Lachesis was confused by all this, being a child an all. She didn't know what to say for a while when….

"I supposed this just means that I have to let go of my fallen beau and pursue Ronin all over again."

And all of sudden…..

That pile of goo that he had accumulated surrounded the little Daemon girl and ate her up completely, until she was locked inside an amulet!

Lovushka stood up, taking the amulet and wearing it around his neck. He made a curtsy.

"Can't I get a round of applause?"

The two Daemons were also really confused by what was happening, but was inclined to applause awkwardly anyway as their lives were just saved by this eccentric performer.

"Thank you, thank you!" He exclaimed. "Now….."

"If you two do not want to be added to my stunning amber pendant collection….. Might as well start talking about where my Ronin is." He smiled at them.

His smile held more poison than the snake, and he didn't need fangs to show his malice. But he preferred to hide it with flair and melodrama, being the eternal performer that he was.

That's how he had always been despite being a Celestial God before.

He had always been the odd one out, the black and white sheep in a flock of those that just knows how to hide their spots.

There was no good or evil. He was against the Lord of Darkness, but that does not make him good. He had no remorse, but that does not make him evil.

He was simply an actor. Lovushka the Great.