How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

Chapter 131: Here for Me

The city center was packed.

No. Calling it packed was an understatement. It was so crowded that even an inch of room was a luxury.

The center was so lively that it felt like I was standing in Times Square in New York when the ball drops during New Year's.

The center was a massive circular plaza that stretched for what seemed like forever. The layered terraces were filled to the brim with people and mana-powered lights floated in the air like lanterns, casting a warm glow over the crowd, even though it wasn't exactly dark out yet.

At the very center of it all was a stage that was suspended in midair.

Everyone had a perfect view of it.

The three of us weren't in the crowd but instead, we were on the balcony of a building that we only got access to because they recognized me and didn't dare reject my entrance even though I hadn't made a reservation.

"Wow…" Diana muttered as she looked around. "Everywhere I look, there are people."

Arms behind her back, Ichiko leaned forward, but clearly wasn't as impressed as Diana. "Bell, you should come with me to some of the festivals back home. They're bigger than this."

The moment someone began walking up the floating stage, the crowd erupted so loudly that everything around us was shaking.

A figure that was familiar to most people was now standing on the floating stage.

I'd seen her many times on TV and on my phone.

She was one of the most famous singers on the continent and her voice was so powerful that the moment she sang her first note, a few people fainted in awe.

People cheered, laughed, and some cried.

The air was already thick with emotions due to it being Valentine's Day and that thickness was only amplified by how emotional her songs made people.

As I stood between the two girls, my hands were casually in my pockets while they wrapped their arms around the hole between my arm and my torso.

The first few songs were upbeat and people jumped where they stood while singing along.

Even Ichiko, who didn't recognize the songs, nodded along to the beat.

Diana, on the otherhand was familiar with the artist, and she was singing her heart out.

At the climax of one of the songs, confetti in the shape of hearts popped into the air and the plaza was showered in pink.

Diana screamed so loudly while leaping that she almost tipped over the other side of the glass railing. I had to pull her back last second.

"...Hahaha," she laughed. "Thank you."

I just nodded, not scolding her as I didn't want to ruin her mood. I just told her, "Try not to jump forward. Just up and down."

"Hehehe."

As she was jumping and dancing, Ichiko asked me, "Do you like this artist?"

I thought about it for a second before answering, "I don't mind her music. Although I don't exactly go out of my way to listen to it, if it does play, I won't skip her songs."

Then once the song ended, the tempo slowed.

The performance had been an hour long so far and the daylight had decreased by quite a bit. As the floating lights dimmed, the hue of the place became even more romantic.

The singer's voice dropped into something gentler, and she began singing a romantic song, one that was meant to be shared by a dance or a deep kiss.

Below us, I could see couples moving closer.

Hands intertwined as they touched foreheads and stared into each other's eyes.

Lips met and on the occasion, tongue.

Tongue in public is crazy work… People, there are children here. I mean, they shouldn't be here, but they are here. Let's try to dial it back on the PDA.

As I was criticizing some of the people, at the exact same time, I felt movement on both sides of me.

Ichiko placed a hand on my jaw and Diana did the same. They both tried to turn my head toward them.

"Huh?"

"What?"

They pulled and because they did it at the same time, my head didn't turn left or right. It just remained locked in place as the opposing forces canceled each other out.

"Are you serious? Can you let him go?" Ichiko muttered.

"How about you let him go?" Diana responded.

As I stared ahead, frozen like a statue, I thought to myself:

Are they trying to break my jaw? They're pulling harder and harder. Have they forgotten how strong their physical strength is?

This was ridiculous and when they saw my expression, they hesitated and in sync, they both gave up trying to turn my head.

Because I was leaning against the glass railing, my body was slightly lower than normal, so all Ichiko had to do was get on her tiptoes to reach my head. She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against my cheek.

Her lips lingered just long enough to leave a red stain on my face.

Diana followed immediately after, planting a kiss on my other cheek. It was a quick kiss as if she was timid to hold it for too long.

As the crowd around us was cheering as the song reached its final note, my brain had short-circuited.

'Master? Are you okay?' Kimi asked.

…I'm fine.

The singer smiled and just as she began singing her next song, a sound that didn't belong could be heard.

The air above the floating stage distorted, rippling like water that had something dropped into it.

Before I even noticed it, I had felt it: an evil mana that was dense and felt disgusting.

High above the plaza, a black slit had torn open the sky. Then the slit opened up and a large eyeball appeared.

"What?" I uttered. That was the eye of the demon king?

What is it doing here?!

A massive portal formed below the eyeball and the cheers died instantly as more and more people began looking up. It was replaced by confused murmurs, which quickly grew to screams as they realized what they were looking at.

The lights in the air all shattered as the energy that filled the area caused them to malfunction.

As the stage became unstable, the singer stumbled backward until her bodyguard told her to leap. When she did, she was caught by the bodyguard who began escorting her out of the chaos.

Ichiko's hand tightened around my arm.

Diana's face turned from a bright red to a cold expression.

"Bell," she whispered. She recognized that eyeball. She had seen it the day that she had been turned into a vampire.

"I know. I see it," I said calmly as my eyes locked onto the portal. How did they manage to open a portal so soon? It usually required the assistance of someone on the other side, and it was only until much later that demons were able to easily make their way into Nara.

From within the swirling void, silhouettes began to take shape and landed below in the area that had been cleared out.

"Seems like our date has been cut short," I uttered as I poured mana into my ring and it transformed into my spear. I leaped off from the balcony and pulled the strings, calling for the shadows following me.

"Protect as many civilians as you can," I gave them an order as I zapped a demonic monster before stabbing it with my spear.

"What should we do?" asked Ichiko, who was next to me. Without hesitation, she had cut a slit down her dress to allow for easier movement.

Diana also looked at me, waiting for my instructions.

"Protect the civilians," I told them. "Their lives are our priority."

"Got it."

"Okay."

The two of them separated from me and I could feel their distinct mana signature flaring.

I also moved without hesitation because there was no room for it.

I needed to save as many lives as I could.

This never happened in the novel. Not that the novel was a reliable source of reference anymore but still, something this major happening out of the norm was still a shock to me.

The moment my feet hit the ground after kicking a demonic bat-looking monster, I was already moving towards the next target. Mana surged through my body as I weaved between panicked civilians who were unable to defend themselves.

A claw swiped where the head of an old man had been. I pulled the old man with one hand while using the spear to block the spear.

Ting!

As I stabbed the spearhead through the monster's head, I ducked and dodged the attack of another monster. Pivoting my feet, I drove my spear upward and pulled the monster off its feet before pinning them into the pavement.

"Get away from here!" I shouted at the old man. "Go over there!" I pointed him toward a street that was already being secured by city guards.

The old man and those who also heard my voice listened and ran, changing their directions.

"Good," I muttered as I watched a demonic monster lunge at a child who had frozen in place, his eyes wide and glassy. Without even thinking, I threw my spear and the blade pierced through the monster's skull before embedding itself into the body of another monster that was being it.

Grabbing the kid from the ground, I shoved him into the arms of a woman who looked like she was about to collapse at any second.

"I'm putting this kid in your hands. Take responsibility even if it's unfair and escape. Both of you," I said in a soft voice.

She looked at the kid in her arms before nodding frantically and running as fast as she could.

Some people can only muster up the courage when it comes to saving others and not themselves. Especially when the other was a child or a small animal.

A blur ran past me and handed me back the spear that I had thrown. It was one of the men who had been shadowing me.

Just a minute ago, the city center was in the middle of a festival full of laughter and love. Now, it was a battlefield full of fear and blood.

Authorities nearby had arrived in full force: uniformed police officers, mages wearing their cloaks, squads that specialized in barrier formation, etc.

Superhuman fighters who were in the crowd also stepped up and revealed themselves.

Some were clumsy as they hadn't expected to be fighting on this day, while some had adapted rather quickly to the situation.

Fire tore through the ice, water pushed monsters around, ice locked them in place, and lightning was splitting the plaza apart in these blinding branches.

As I stabbed, swept, and crushed the skulls of the monsters, they began to fall one by one.

My men carried out my order and mirrored my intent, protecting civilians, dragging those who were wounded out of the way, and mowing down the monsters as fast as they could.

And through it all, I could feel it.

The gaze of that eyeball that was watching everything from above.

I didn't need to look up to know that the eyeball in the sky was watching me. It wasn't watching the battlefield and gave zero fucks about the chaos it had created.

The only thing it was paying attention to was me.

Each time that I tore through another demonic monster, each time my spear found its mark, the sensation of being watched grew.

At one point, it felt like a finger had traced up my spine, which sent me chills.

Clicking my tongue, I thought to myself that the chances that the city center was being attacked out of nowhere were probably because of me.

It wasn't just the eyeball that was paying attention to me.

The others around me had also recognized me.

"Is that the Bell Agnus?"

"No way! That's him, right? I can't believe I have the honor of fighting by his side!"

"Holy shit! I was just watching a video of him a few hours ago. And now, he's right in front of me. I came to this city today just to catch a glimpse of him. Ouu, I'm so lucky."

The voices of those around me reached me between the breaths of my attacks.

I didn't look or slow down, but I was thinking to myself that Mother was quite accurate about my status.

Even though the focus shouldn't have been on me, because of how famous I was, it didn't matter that we were in the middle of being attacked by demonic monsters; I had grabbed the attention of others.

For a moment, it felt like we were gaining ground as the number of monsters was thinning while more reinforcements arrived and were pushing back against evil.

Then the loud sound of an explosion cut through my thoughts.

BOOM!

The ground shook violently.

What I thought was an explosion turned out not to be that. I spun just in time to see it.

A figure in a black cloak was down on both knees at the far end of the plaza. Both of their palms were slammed into the ground and their body trembled so violently that it looked like they were having a seizure.

Beneath their skin, veins were bulging so large that they were seconds away from popping.

Magic was pouring out of them in waves so dense that it made my teeth ache.

I uttered "What—" before being interrupted by the ground cracking open.

Hundreds of hands burst from beneath the stone where a large crowd had just been standing a few minutes ago.

One after another, these black-armored skeletons clawed their way out of the earth. Where their eyes would've been when they were alive, violet flames were burning.

Rising in unison, they began marching towards mankind with shields in one hand, spears or swords in the other. They moved with a level of discipline and coordination that you would expect from a trained army rather than from undead monsters.

The cloaked figure that had summoned the skeletons screamed as blood poured from their eyes, ears, and mouth. Their eyes rolled backward then their body collapsed.

"A sacrificial summoning?" I muttered. They were lying on the ground lifeless, having burned through all their life force in exchange for summoning all of these skeletons.

With the skeletons merging with the forces of the demonic monsters, we were now outnumbered.

And then, just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, a flag that I should've known better than to raise, more presences appeared.

From alleyways, from rooftops, and even out of the sewers.

Dozens of figures had emerged and they were dressed in the same manner as the person who had sacrificed themselves to summon the skeletons.

Dark magic users. Or what I preferred to call them, stupid cultists.

The sound of them chanting layered over one another, and it sounded like a really bad nightmare.

"If that doesn't confirm that they are here for me…" I chuckled under my breath as my grip tightened around my spear.

Above us, the massive eyeball slowly blinked. And I could swear that it was smiling even though it was just an eyeball.