"So just tell me," Razeal said, his voice calm yet sharp enough to slice through the tension pressing against them. "If we kill every single one of them… will that take us outside this place?"

He looked straight into Neptunia's eyes. His dark bottomless gaze was unwavering, his tone unshaken, his presence solid as the ocean floor beneath them. There wasn't a single flicker of fear in him.. not in his eyes, nor in his stance. Even in this impossible situation, facing what could easily be considered the army of an entire world, he stood there as if the idea of defeat simply didn't exist for him.

Neptunia met his gaze.. and for the first time, words refused to come easily to her.

How is he so calm? she asked herself silently. Her chest tightened a little as she stared back into those steady eyes. How can someone be so fucking idiot.. Or clueless.. Still she was impressed

As he didn't fidget, panic, even blink as much as a normal person or even great personalities she knows would would.

"Umm… yes," Neptunia finally said, the words slipping out instinctively, her voice quiet, uncertain. "Yes, it will. But.."

Before she could finish, Razeal suddenly moved his hand lifting gently as he placed a finger on her lips, cutting her words short.

"We can," he said firmly. "That's enough. No 'buts' needed."

His voice carried a strange weight to it.. low, confident, magnetic in tone. The kind that made it hard not to believe him.

"Just stand here," he continued, his expression composed but his words edged with quiet steel. "Because I… I don't lose."

The moment hung between them.. heavy, electric.

Neptunia froze, her thoughts scattering for a brief instant. She hadn't realized until now how close they were standing, their faces only inches apart, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on hers. His finger was still resting against her lips.. and somehow, the calm confidence in his expression only made her heartbeat louder in her chest.

What's happening to me? she thought.. Weirdly

Her lips parted slightly as if to speak, but before she could, a sharp voice cut through the charged silence.

"Heyyy," Maria called out, her tone dripping with annoyance. "I think our problem is right here.. unless you both want to finish your little romantic moment first."

Maria said pointing off into the distance, her face twisted with a mixture of disgust and disbelief. "Seriously, what the hell is this? We're about to die, and you're over there having some kind of slow motion hero and princess moment?" she muttered disgustingly looking at Razeal

Razeal glanced unfazed amd expressionless as he doesn't even care correct her misunderstanding..

while Neptunia's face flushed a faint pink. "Ah" she stepped back quickly, almost stumbling. "That wasn't that.. Beleive me."

She said suddenly realizing she had been standing a bit too close to him. Her hands tightened around her bow ..the same one Razeal had just picked up from the ground and handed back to her. Instinctively, she also licked her lips… only to freeze a moment later remembering Razeal's finger had brushed against them.

What the fuck am I doing?

Get your head together, Neptunia. What are you even thinking right now?

She pressed her palm against her face, her expression tightening as she forced her thoughts back into order. When she finally followed Maria's pointing finger, the fluster vanished completely.. replaced by cold dread.

At first, it looked like a shimmer tiny, colorful specks on the horizon. But as the seconds passed, those colors grew larger, brighter, and more defined. The water began to tremble faintly, and the distant shimmer turned into something vast and horrifying.

Her pupils dilated.

"OH… What in the name of.. Trident of the sea…" Neptunia cursed under her breath.

The colorful specks weren't just light.. they were monstrous bodies moving in synchronized, fluid formation. A wall of creatures, each one enormous, swarmed together in an unstoppable tide.

As far as the eye could see, the sea was filled with them.

The ocean moved under their combined motion.. a living tsunami of flesh and fang and armored hide. The deeper Neptunia's gaze went, the more she realized there was no end no horizon left untouched by their number.

A suffocating weight pressed against her chest. Her body instinctively wanted to swim backward, to run, even though her mind knew there was nowhere to go.

Beside her, Maria's expression froze as well. Her throat moved as she swallowed hard, the sound loud in the silence between them.

They both stood wordless for a moment, the sheer scale of what they were facing crashing down upon them.

Even Razeal.. the one who had looked unshaken through everything until now narrowed his eyes. The faint seriousness very visible in his gaze..

They were still kilometers away from them.

Still

The air.. or what passed for it in this sunken place grew heavier. A faint vibration pulsed through the water around them. The sound came first, distant at the edge of perception a low hum that grew louder, deeper, until it became a bone-deep rumble.

But then

Ding!!

A familiar blue glow flickered across Razeal's vision.. a digital overlay of letters and runes forming right before his eyes.

[System Notification]

[Mission Protocol Initialized]

[Mission Title: First War – Proof of Worthy Villain]

[Mission Summary:

Based on current survival parameters and environmental assessment, the System has authorized the Host's first ever mission ... And official war-level mission. This large-scale operation to determine the Host's qualification as a Villain.]

Mission Objectives:

1. Achieve complete victory over all opposing forces.

2. Eliminate every active enemy presence within the designated battlefield.

3. Maintain survival and protection of both teammates under your leadership.

4. Retreat or retraction is prohibited.

Enemy Estimate: 10 billion+

Time Limit: 4 days

Extra Failure Condition: Loss of even one teammate will be considered mission failure.

[Reward Upon Completion: Permanent annulment of one Ex-Rank Villain Aura's harmful influence on the Host. (Grants Host a unique System protection layer.)

Failure Penalty:

1) Full loss of accumulated strength, skills, and abilities.

2) Temporary Lock: System Function – Valley of Villey (Duration: 2 months)

[System Note: Progress will be monitored continuously. Any method by the Host is deemed acceptable.]

[Do you wish to accept the mission, Host?]

Yes / No

The translucent blue system panel floated in front of Razeal's eyes, the flickering runes and data streams glowing against his face and blocking his view of the monstrous tide surging toward him. The hum of it pulsed faintly in the surrounding water, a low vibration that clashed against the rhythmic pounding of his heart.

Behind that glowing screen, the vast ocean darkened. He could still see the silhouettes of thousands.. no, millions or maybe billions of creatures converging, their massive bodies shifting the current itself. But his attention was caught, drawn completely to the words projected before him.

He squinted slightly, reading the first half of the mission description.

"Umm… I didn't know you could give missions villey."

His tone was calm, almost lazy, but his gaze was sharp, scanning every line.

The familiar voice echoed in his mind.

[I thought this would indeed be helpful for your progression, temperament, and overall growth pattern. It will also test your skills and strength under absolute pressure. While I cannot distribute new abilities or skills due to existing limitations in my own framework.. I can definitely bend certain rules. And so…] Villey voice seemed to pause, as if thinking.

[I decided to give you something that may interest you. I've had this concept stored for quite some time but lacked the appropriate situation to activate it. Now, however… this feels like the best possible moment. Consider it a test. If you can really win>> if you can overcome this I'd say that would be quite excellent.]

Razeal's expression didn't change. His face stayed unreadable as the System's words echoed through his mind. His dark eyes flicked over every line of the glowing mission text again, this time slower, as though engraving it into memory.

For a few seconds, silence. Only the distant roaring of the sea monsters filled the world.

Then, quietly, he asked, "So… what's my probability of actually winning this mission, Villey?"

And villey didn't hesitate.

[Full probability: 0.0004 percent.]

A long but tiny number appeared before him, sharp and clear, floating above the rest of the data.

Razeal rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his brows lowering. "Hmm."

The glow from the panel reflected off his face, highlighting the cold, analytical glint in his eyes. For a brief moment, he simply stood there, expression calm, mind already dissecting the odds.

"0.0004, huh?" he murmured under his breath. "That's lower than the chance of dying from earth swollowing me itself or some women throwing flowers at me.. Of which i die from."

The number didn't scare him it fascinated him.

It wasn't as if he didn't understand why the System had spat out such a low probability. He can guess why system might say this sk..

He was at a disadvantage.. more than he wanted to admit.

First, his dark mana stat was still at zero. That single, glaring void crippled more then half of his entire fighting style. Without dark mana, he couldn't use his shadow skills, couldn't conjure the lethal dark tenticles or the spectral bindings that made him so dangerous. The very element that amplified his attacks, that defined his edge in combat, was gone.

Then came the second problem.

He had no large scale skills. Nothing capable of decimating massive numbers of enemies in one strike. Against billions.. literal billions of sea monsters, that was a problem. He could swing, slash, and slice until eternity, but in the end, that alone wouldn't be enough.

He did have Flow, his trump card. But Flow was no ordinary technique; it required immense control and absolute focus. One slip of concentration, one error in balancing the force, and he'd destroy himself instantly. Flow dealt in universal forces.. momentum, current, energy, direction turning the world's physics into a weapon. But at its level, a single mistake could unleash a force equivalent to a planetary bombardment right through his own body.

And his Mind stat.. his mental fortitude and concentration had dropped considerably after what he did last time. That made it worse. He could use Flow, but not indefinitely. He'd need to pace himself, ration it carefully.

"Hmm…" he muttered, expression thoughtful. His eyes flicked toward the corner of the screen where the timer rested, already counting down. Four days.

"Kill ten billion creatures in less than four days…" He exhaled through his nose. "And protect both of them at the same time." His head tilted slightly toward Maria and Neptunia behind him. The two of them were still standing in uneasy silence, watching the growing wall of monsters in the distance.

His lips curved faintly.

"Yeah. I can see why you gave me that number."

Still, even as he admitted it, a small smile crept onto his face one that didn't belong to someone afraid of failure.

The System's probability might have been low, but Razeal wasn't a number.

He could fight forever if he had to. His S-ranked regeneration meant his body could recover from almost anything given time, and his Flow ability while dangerous.. was capable of devastation on a scale these things couldn't imagine.

What made the mission so impossible wasn't whether he could fight. It was whether he could do it fast enough.

Four days.

Ten billion enemies.

Zero mistakes allowed.

It was terrible.

He was right in the middle of contemplation when the System's cold, emotionless voice sliced through his thoughts.

[So, do you wish to accept the mission, Host? ]

[Yes or No?]

The question lingered in his mind like a pulse.. Yes or No?

The System's voice repeated itself, calm yet absolute, its tone cutting through his thoughts.

For a moment, Razeal didn't respond. His gaze stayed locked on the glowing panel in front of him, the sharp blue light reflecting off his eyes. His thoughts ran quietly but fast, like a storm beneath still waters.

"Well…" he muttered under his breath, his voice low. "That's one hell of a gamble."

He tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing as he weighed the situation.

If he accepted.. and somehow managed to win the rewards could change everything. He'd be able to face an Ex-Rank Villain again without instantly collapsing under the sheer weight of their aura. He might even have a chance to gain one of their abilities. That alone was enough to tempt any sane man to risk it all.. Even an chosmic lord level entity go crazy if it knew there is chance like that..

But still Razeal wasn't naïve. He wasn't blind to what the failure would mean.

If he lost… it wouldn't just be defeat. It would be erasure.

Losing all his skills, all his progress everything he had built and bled for. Even worse, he'd be cut off from the System space for two whole months. Out here, in Atlantis a world where every creature wanted to tear him apart that wasn't a penalty. That was a death sentence.

He exhaled slowly, the sound calm but heavy. His hand went to his chin as he rubbed it lightly, eyes still fixed on the holographic words floating in front of him.

What to do…

For a few seconds, the world around him seemed to disappear. The roar of the sea faded, the movement of the monsters in the distance blurred into background noise. Even the faint shimmer of Maria's bow to his side felt distant. It was just him, the silent hum of the System, and that glowing question Yes or No?

His jaw tightened.

"Only an idiot would say yes to it," he thought to himself, lips twitching faintly into a dry, humorless smile.

Because really.. who would?

Who would willingly accept a mission with a 0.0004% chance of survival, with billions of enemies, limited strength, and two people to protect?

Only a fool.

Only someone with nothing left to lose.

Or someone too damn stubborn to accept that the odds decided anything for him.

The silence stretched, broken only by the distant rush of currents. Razeal's expression softened slightly.. not relaxed, but resolute.

Then his lips curved upward into a small smirk, one that carried a strange, calm defiance.

"But then again.. Isn't that me?" he murmured, rubbing the side of his chin with his index finger, "I've always been that idiot."

He'd fought through worse. He'd lived through things the System itself had once declared impossible.

He'd won a duel of honor against a damn Son of Destiny and that too, without even raising a weapon. Just a mortal, the weakest of the weak, and still, he'd crushed fate's chosen.

He had gathered a thousand elemental cores with that same body also.. He'd replaced his very fucking bones with one of the deadliest weapons known to any world. He had died like but millions of times..

He'd even spat in the face of power, claiming he'd violated the daughter of one of the strongest women alive… and somehow, he was still breathing... Manuplated world's most intellectual people like brain dead.. And able to escape..

The list of his sins, his victories, his sheer defiance it was endless. He doesn't even count.. If he can't then who the fuck can?

He lifted his gaze, meeting the words on the screen head on.

"I accept," he said clearly, his tone neither rushed nor hesitant just final.

The System went quiet for a second. The faint hum in his mind seemed to freeze. Then, a chime.. soft and crystalline echoed through his consciousness.

[Acknowledged.]

[Mission Accepted.]

[Initializing War Protocol: "Proof of Worthy Villain."]

The glowing panel flickered, its letters dissolving into faint motes of blue light that scattered through the water like glowing dust.

Razeal's expression didn't change. He stood still, gaze calm and unwavering as the last fragment of the panel faded from view.

He rolled his shoulders once, slow and deliberate, his posture straightening. His heartbeat stayed steady, his mind quiet.

He would win.

Not because the System allowed it.

Not because the probability was in his favor.

He would win because he said he would.

Because he decided it.

It was the System that believed his odds were 0.0004%. Not him.

And that made all the difference.

A faint smile lingered on his lips.. not arrogance, not confidence, but certainty.

"I'll show you," he muttered softly, his voice carrying through the stillness. "I'll show you how wrong your math is."

Then, without another word, he turned his gaze back to the approaching wave of monsters..

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Thanks for reading guys and special thanks to

ym3274 ,DarkStarQ8 and Fun_Boy_Seven for gifts beleive me this small appreciation from you guys really makes author happy 🤣 Love yaa

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