The Novel’s Villain

30. Rainbow (5)

The Emperor of Corruption had always been a predator and a ruler, looking forward to when it surpassed the Devil by devouring all dimensions. It wasn’t impossible. High-quality dimensions like the Middle World and Heaven contained enormous and tasty energy. It was slowly taking its time corrupting the Order and changing Middle World to its liking. It had been half successful.

It thought that everything would go as planned, as it had been until now.

[K-keaaaarghh! Stop!]

It had never felt this pain before. It was a pain, as if its very soul was being ripped apart in a blender. It continued without stopping for even a second, and it was only growing worse. The pain was driving it crazy. It couldn’t even lose consciousness since it had the body of an artifact.

[He’s an Emperor that is even worse than the Devil…!]

It had the confidence to corrupt even an Emperor. However, the moment it looked into his source, the Emperor of Corruption experienced regret for the first time in its life. It was a dark terrifying darkness. Its eyes connected to that Fragment of Corruption went blind. Thanks to that, it couldn’t sense anything, and it just felt constant pain.

It shouldn’t have turned the Emperor of Gold into an enemy. It was the right answer to hand over the Middle World and escape to another dimension. He was a god, a true evil god. Yet only the Emperor of Corruption knew about it.

[H-hey! Please n-negotiate with me…! Keaaaargh! No, I’ll give you everything.]

‘Shall I raise the intensity a little more?’

[P-please!]

‘I think it’s a good idea to give it an attribute.’

But the Emperor of Gold offered no compromise. He completely ignored it as if he were dealing with a bug. The Emperor of Corruption had never experienced anything eviler than this.

[I-I need to run away!]

The connection would be lost if it went to a distant dimension. It thought it could survive somehow if it corrupted Heaven and ran away with that power. After all, divine power was very efficient. There would be a big blow to its body because it wasn’t properly prepared, but the Emperor of Corruption wanted to escape this hellish pain as soon as possible.

Crack-crack!

The body that it believed would never break was cracked. It ran out of time. The Emperor of Corruption decided to take the Pope’s body in a hurry. There was a risk of it assimilating with his body because it wasn’t completely corrupted, but there was no problem if it made him hold its main body well. The Emperor of Corruption raised its power and took over the Pope’s body. The Pope screamed and tried to struggle, but he was devoured by it.

Once it settled in the Pope’s body, the pain was relieved. He held its main body, a bead, in his hands. The Emperor of Corruption didn’t like using such a weak body, but he had no choice in order to escape.

“If I corrupt an angel and take their body…”

He had the confidence he could corrupt Heaven in an instant. The Emperor of Corruption stared at the Pope’s abhorrent body and hurriedly ran to the Great Temple in his pajamas. The Pope’s body could not handle the Emperor’s energy, so he wouldn’t be able to last long. He had to work quickly.

“Gather all the priests! The advent ritual begins!”

“I-I understand!”

He gathered the high-ranking priests ruled by the Pope. They couldn’t deny him. First of all, he intended to summon and corrupt someone who had status among the angels through divine magic and then use that body as a medium to pass over to Heaven. It was safer under the current circumstances. If he used enough divine magic to summon an angel, all the priests here would die, but the Emperor of Corruption didn’t care.

‘All the methods are written down here.’

The Emperor of Corruption opened the Bible. It contained details about Heaven as well as divine magic. The Goddess Luna was at the top, and below it was the Chief Archangel, then an archangel called Ariel. There were also illustrations drawn by the priest who received the original revelation.

The archangel was described as having huge wings that radiated light and the same height as a giant. The glowing mace it held looked small in comparison to the archangel.

‘What a pity. Goddess Luna and the angels were only good enough to be my subordinates.’

Of course, he was planning to eat them after destroying the Middle World. The Emperor of Corruption decided to summon Ariel. Judging from the description in the Bible, it was a suitable body to stay in for a while. It was written that the archangel had a massive physique and great strength.

As the priests chanted the spell, an enormous amount of divine power soared. The Emperor of Corruption used the Pope’s divine power to cast the Advent Magic.

Ddddrrrrrrrr!

The entire Great Temple rang. The priests, who had led a greedy life up until now withered away, but fortunately, the Advent Magic worked.

“With the help of the Goddess Luna, I call you!”

The energy of corruption was mixed with divine power. No one could refuse.

“Come! Archangel Ariel!”

Divine power poured down and connected to Heaven. It thought that a giant angel, who would soon become his host, was coming down. But what he saw was a square box instead. A square box with feathers appeared across the divine power.

The box flew to his feet.

[There has never been an angel like this in the world. Is she an angel or a giant? Yes! Premium Golden Angel Ariel is out of the office now. You will be connected to voicemail after the beep.]

Beep-!

“…What?”

His voice was recorded. The square box flew away again and disappeared beyond the light.

“Ugh…”

He was unlucky. He didn’t expect that the archangel would be absent. The Advent Magic could no longer be used. The Emperor of Corruption barely held himself together. He was already assimilated with the body, and his senses were disappearing. It felt as if he had gone blind.

‘Even with the risk… I have no choice but to move on directly.’

It was dangerous but unavoidable. The Emperor of Corruption raised all his powers, pulling in all the divine energy of the temple. He poured out his power to sense the energy of the elite angels. He expected it to be difficult, but surprisingly, the Emperor of Corruption detected them rather quickly.

‘I’m lucky!’

He thought so.

“Kuuugh! Open!”

The Emperor of Corruption looked up at the ceiling of the temple and stretched out his hands. Heaven would emerge to set him free from this suffering. It must since he risked his life to add his power to the enormous divine energy. He planned to devour Heaven quickly, go to a very distant dimension out of the Emperor of Gold’s reach, and hide for a thousand years.

Tears flowed down his cheeks, perhaps because he was using the Pope’s body, at the sorrow he felt.

Whoooooosh!

A huge portal was formed as the divine power swirled inside the Great Temple. It didn’t appear on the ceiling as the Emperor thought it would. It appeared right next to him. It was supposed to be white, but the colors were varied as if looking at a rainbow.

‘It’s not what I expected.’

His judgment was clouded because his body was exhausted. Still, he was the prudent Emperor of Corruption. He checked the inside of the portal by sending energy through his main body.

‘There are angels there.’

He felt a lot of angelic energy. All of them were worthy of being called elite angels. It was slightly different from what the Emperor of Corruption expected, but a human could never possess pure divine power.

Rumbling!

The Great Temple collapsed as all the power supporting it was pulled out. The portal was also growing smaller and smaller. He had no time to think. The Emperor of Corruption ran towards the swirling energy.

Whoosh!

The portal disappeared as soon as the Emperor of Corruption escaped through. He now couldn’t go back to Middle World, but it was fine. The Emperor of Corruption had no intention of going back, and just being away from the Emperor of Gold offered him peace of mind.

‘Is this Heaven? Rather than I thought…’

It felt like Middle World. The Emperor of Corruption tilted his head and looked around. Children with strong divine power were passing by. He instinctively recognized that they were angels, but they didn’t look like angels no matter how much he thought about it. After all, it was the complete opposite of what was pictured in the Bible.

There was no time to hesitate. He had to leave this body and move to another dimension after quickly corrupting and absorbing all of them. The Emperor of Corruption lifted his main body in his hands. Angels passing by looked at him with curious eyes. It was only natural since an old man with a fat belly wearing pajamas held a shining jewel.

“Heheh! Be corrupted and become my prey!”

He spat outlines like a teenager in puberty and began to laugh wickedly. The reason he laughed was to build his self-esteem. Although he was running away from the Emperor of Gold in fear, he was still an Emperor. He was a predator that put all beings under his feet and devoured them.

Whoosh!

Light gushed from his main body. It was the light of corruption that would plunge all beings in Heaven into despair. All beings here would be transformed into horrific forms and cry out in pain!

“…”

However, there was no change.

“B-Be corrupted!”

The light continued to shine on them harmlessly.

“I think it should be the time for them to be corrupted…”

His energy continued to be consumed, but there was only silence around him. The Emperor of Corruption kept using it, his overflowing confidence beginning to decline rapidly.

[It has been reflected.]

Suddenly, a rainbow of light fell on him with the force of a waterfall.

“Kuueeeerrgh!”

It was like being struck by lightning. The main body in his hand fell and rolled on the floor. Steam wisped off his body. Not only were his clothes burned to the ground, but his hair was also stripped off. Only his dirty underwear remained.

The Emperor of Corruption trembled in great pain. He just couldn’t understand this situation. He barely raised his head at the faint voice from afar.

“Uh-ugh! Hahaha! It’s fun!”

“Huahahaha! This smell, I’m happy!”

He saw familiar faces. The cardinals and high priests, whom he was slowly corrupting, were smiling brightly and carrying sacks full of minotaur manure on their shoulders. On a side note, minotaur excrement proved to be very good manure.

‘What t-the hell is this place?’

First of all, he must retrieve his main body first. He barely managed to crawl and reach towards the jewel. He didn’t seem to be able to, however, as someone stepped on it. The Emperor of Corruption raised his head and looked at them with trembling eyes.

“T-the Emperor of…”

The existence looking down at him with cold eyes was the Emperor of Gold.

“What a great gift.”

* * *

Since Heaven began to be affected by the Sacred Ground, it didn’t matter much where the Emperor of Corruption appeared. There was no place to escape anyway.

Jin-woo took out his magic sword and continued to inflict pain upon him. The scream was so loud he decided to put some soundproofing devices on it to make it more comfortable. Jin-woo looked at the magic sword and turned his head.

“I look like a villain, don’t I?”

“Well, it’s hard to judge.”

Yoo-na replied after agonizing over what Jin-woo said. Looking at the progress so far, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was a villain. He destroyed and conquered wherever he went. Besides, he also had many beautiful women as his subordinates. On the surface, it was almost correct to call him the Great Demon King. However, if you looked closely, it was difficult to judge.

Yoo-na promptly handed Jin-woo the documents she brought from Earth. Thanks to her, he could approve all the documents in the Middle World without going to Earth. After the approval process was over, Yoo-na looked at Jin-woo. He sensed that she had something to tell him. Yoo-na had no secrets from Jin-woo. She told him everything.

“Do you have anything else to report?”

“It’s about Queen Ella.”

Yoo-na was Ella’s only friend. Ella appeared to obediently tell Yoo-na all her secrets, which then entered Jin-woo’s ears. Frankly, Jin-woo wasn’t curious about her because there couldn’t be any news more shocking than that of the family meeting.

“Umm, tell me.”

Jin-woo didn’t pay much attention as he leafed through the last document while drinking coffee. It was a document about a new G&P product. Come to think of it; he hadn’t paid much attention to G&P. He thought it would be nice to go to Earth and look around.

“I heard that the Elf’s chances of getting pregnant are very low.”

“Pppffhh!”

Jin-woo almost choked on his coffee. He put down the cup and looked at Yoo-na. Her expression was serious.

“Did Ella tell you?”

“Yeah, she said the odds were pretty low. I heard that’s why the Elf population doesn’t easily grow.”

“I see. It’s good information, but… why all of a sudden?”

Yoo-na remained silent for a while before responding.

“The odds with other races are said to be even lower. She said it was about 0.2%. Now that she has become a High Elf, it may be less.”

“That’s a big problem.”

Jin-woo nodded. The probability was almost negligible. The racial wall was higher than he expected. Jin-woo exhaled a long breath and picked up the coffee cup again. It now tasted unusually bitter.

“But Queen Ella said she was expecting a baby.”

“Humph!?”

Jin-woo spat out the coffee once more. Yoo-na smiled slightly.

“Really?”

“Yes. I checked it myself. It is said that Lee Min-woo cried a lot upon hearing the noise.”

“That’s understandable.”

Jin-woo nodded and paused for a moment.

‘To break through the probability of 0.2%…’

How much had they done it? Jin-woo decided not to think about it any further. He was wondering why she explained it like this even though she could just start with the conclusion. Yoo-na muttered something about quality over quantity, but Jin-woo decided not to listen.

“I mean, everything could be solved with trying. I said it just for your reference.”

Looking back, there were many other races around Jin-woo. Jin-woo was so lucky that the odds didn’t matter. Anyway, it was very good news.

‘I think grandfather will be really happy about it.’

He would be so happy that he might faint. Good news came one after another.

[The Emperor of Corruption has invaded the Sacred Ground.]

[It spat out an evil laugh and used the power of corruption.]

[It has been reflected.]

Jin-woo stood. It seemed that it found the wrong number when it was going to Heaven. A huge rainbow appeared when he left the house. Everyone around stopped doing what they were doing to admire it.

‘There you are.’

He went to where he felt the Emperor’s power, noticing a small bead and an old man lying on the floor. According to the information, the Emperor of Corruption occupied the Pope’s body.

“It’s a great gift.”

Jin-woo picked up the bead while the old man watched with trembling eyes. It belonged to Jin-woo since it came into his hands. His golden power wrapped around the marble. Although it was the main body of an Emperor, his will was ingrained in the Pope, and he couldn’t even rebel. The golden power gulped the main body too easily.

[You have acquired the power of corruption.]

[You have acquired everything the Emperor of Corruption has.]

[You have occupied the Holy Empire. You also own their puppets planted in other kingdoms.]

[You rule more than half of the Middle World.]

*The Dark Empire is born!

The Emperor used the Holy Empire to plant puppets in the heart of other kingdoms. It resulted from a long and meticulous strategy, but it all became Jin-woo’s in a moment. The Emperor of Corruption was a very grateful being who made delicious dishes and dedicated them to Jin-woo.

[You have taken control of the Five Emperors.]

[Greed (Victim of Fraud), Vanity (Popular Actress), Maze (Homebody), Disease (Maid), Corruption (Experience Farm)]

[Rank rises with great achievements.]

He gained a huge amount of experience and became Rank SS. The Emperor of Corruption had all his powers stripped away by Jin-woo and was trapped in the Pope’s body. Now he was completely assimilated and couldn’t leave it. The good news, though, was that he was completely disconnected from the fragments.

Jin-woo looked down at the Emperor of Corruption. For the first time in his life, he could feel a horror that paralyzed reason.

“Uh, uuuugh…”

He desperately crawled on the floor to escape from Jin-woo. He crawled with all his might to propel his heavy body away to safety. Jin-woo just watched. He couldn’t escape anyway.

“Gasp! Gasp… I must run away! I have to run away…”

The angels were worriedly watching him crawling away. Ariel was there, too, and as the best sales queen, she had an Order membership form in her hand. Ariel approached him with a business smile.

“You need treatment! But you don’t have money? Don’t worry! If you join the Order, we will pay for your emergency support right away. Sign up now!”

“Uh, uh… w-who are you..?”

“Right! My name is Ariel!”

Before he knew it, he had a pen full of ink in his hand. The Emperor of Corruption looked blankly at Ariel and passed out. As he passed out, his arms fell, and he quickly applied for the Order membership.

[(Former) The Emperor of Corruption has joined the Order.]

[The Holy Empire Advanced Slave Set has been completed!]

[A] Holy Empire Advanced Slave Set

A slave set consisting of the Pope (Emperor of Corruption), four Cardinals, and their high priests. Their willingness to do the unpleasant task will inspire a lot of people.

*[A] Totem of Faith: Increases the city’s devotion.

[The demons give a toast to the great result.]

Anyway, the results were good. It was a productive day in many ways.