Villain of my own novel

Chapter 345 344. A Year Later.

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Eshwar conversed with Jiwoo, Violet, Katharine, Seol So-Young, Katline, Seo Hana, Louie, Arngrim, Core, Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Frostine, Amanda, Gerry, Greg, Simon, Ash, Clifford, Dominic, Belinda, Godred, Zu'e, Marcia, Okisada, Alexandru, and, albeit slightly, with Henry.

Isha made it clear that she wouldn't allow him to speak to her for a long time, so the distance between them had largely widened, but now they weren't that stiff around each other; well, it was just Isha being stiff the whole time, as if she was afraid that if she got even a bit more closer, she would forgive him, and she didn't want that, at least not yet.

And Eunomia, who was introduced to everybody as Eshwar's and Isha's daughter, smiled contently and observed her parents playfully.

She had scanned the world to check the current population, and without a change in her expression, she noticed that the numbers were nearing a few billions, compared to before, when they were in tens of billions.

The casualty was too much, and most of them were killed by Eshwar, her papa. She wanted to give him achievement points as a reward, but since he could also control the system, everything was meaningless, and though it only ever-so slightly surprised her, when Eshwar commanded the system to take his status window away and even the glitched system, which was the head admin authority,

When Eunomia asked her why he did that when he could grow more stronger with the system, he just replied, "I was and can be stronger on my own, Eunomia. And the system hinders me more than helps me; with all the rules it has, how could I, the owner of the system, live under the rule of something I created?" Though she was slightly dumbfounded by his answer, since she didn't truly have any other argument to refute him with, she just sighed and decided to act like the child she always wanted to be.

And it wasn't long before she understood that she would get spoiled rotten if they, Eshwar and Isha, continued to behave the same. Though they, no, Isha was maintaining a distance, that distance shattered entirely when Eunomia was involved, to which she didn't know if she should be happy or confused.

Later, Jiwoo, Charlie, Katline, Katharine, Violet, Seol So-Young, and Seo Hana split up into one team; Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, Louie, Core, and Arngrim split up into another; and the Veil continued to move as another separate team; while the royals went their separate ways. Three teams would move around the world and get stronger on their own, since the Eshwar didn't really care about the royals, they were left to do anything they want, while Eshwar, Isha, and Eunomia would spend their quality time together in the countryside. Isha and Eshwar would mend their relationship, and though they didn't really know why, they felt like their relationship would be far stronger by the next time they met.

Soon, powerhouses grew across the world, and they had come to the understanding that they wouldn't try to hunt a fallen since the timer might start, and they were naturally afraid that they wouldn't be strong enough to face the fallen if they did things half-a*sedly; as they say, 'it's better to be safe than sorry.'

Exactly a year later.

In a player's "physical" shop, a feature that can be used in the safe zone, today the rankings of the major powerhouses all around the world were being updated, so many players were waiting for the results agitatedly.

A seventy-five-foot-wide, open area, which was named a safe zone by the system, was occupied by a large crowd, numbering in the hundreds, approximately.

The main powerhouse in the current safe zone was the "Black Rain Order," whose leader was Samuel. He was a 6'1 tall, bulky man, donned in knightly armour with two battle axes attached to his back, as he looked down at the ground with dark brown eyes. He had a tanned complexion and a square face with bright brown hair, and a brutish aura surrounded him.

Four people stood guard in four directions, protecting Samuel even though they were in a safe zone. Though it was called a safe zone, it only protected them from the outside monsters, not the humans who were inside, and deaths in the safe zones weren't uncommon, so they didn't dare to take unnecessary risks and decided to play it safe, as he already had a lot of enmity with the other powerhouse groups around the world, though not everybody was at odds as alliances were formed among the groups that saw benefits in each other.

Suddenly,

"Had there been any progress on recruiting White Swan and Black Raven?" Samuel asked his group's prominent, founding members, who were with him currently as the rest of the group was spread out.

"Those basta*ds have continued to ignore us even when they were offered the most beneficial contracts!" Richard, a grey-haired old man with dark brown eyes, grouched under his breath, speaking in a low but loud enough tone to let Samuel hear his words filled with discontentment.

"There is no need to grouch about it; all that matters is that they stay an outcast if they don't join us." Samuel commented with a sigh as an evil smile crept up on his face.

"What about the other groups' moments?" Samuel ignored that matter and focused on the more pressing matters.

"The "Honour-bound Federation" has been moving rather suspiciously, while the same is true for "The Abominations." From what our spies have gathered, it seems like these two groups have formed a secret alliance and are cooking up something under the smokescreen of these rankings. We have news about many disappearances, and we are suspicious of these groups' involvement in these disappearances." Garrick reported. He was a brutish-looking man; he had bright blue eyes and ember-dyed hair.

"The Veil is simply moving at their own pace with nothing suspicious, which in itself is suspicious, and from what Garrick assumed, they seemed to be moving with a certain plan, and he even suspected that the group had been moving in this manner since the apocalypse started." Bobby reported that he had a child-like face, a skinny body, and dark brown hair with honey-dyed eyes.

"And the others—" Bert continued but was cut short by Samuel, who stopped them with his hand raised.

"Garrick, are you suspicious that the Veil knew about the apocalypse before it even started?" Samuel asked as he gazed at Garrick with his brows knitted into a frown.

"....." Eerie silence descended upon the five, because if their suspicions were true, then things were going to take a wrong turn.

"The only group that has the power to peer into the past and future is the "Forsaken Alliance," which that Godred guy is the leader of. Are you implying there is a secret alliance between the Forsaken Alliance and the Veil?" Samuel asked in a serene tone.

""The Freaks" and "The Gifted" are under an alliance that is known to all." Bert reminded them.

"Seo Hana and Core were the names of their leaders, weren't they?" Samuel asked them.

"Yes." The four replied in unison.

"Request a meeting with them; hopefully we can enter their alliance and talk about our suspicions." Samuel commanded, because with the current situation leaning towards the discussion of finally starting to attack the Fallen, these variables could be extremely troublesome and were definitely not something they could ignore. Even if they weren't able to enter the alliance, if their suspicions were shared, they could find a common enemy and become close.

The Veil wasn't an easy group to mess with, and if they acted rashly, then things would go south real fast, which would simply lead to the entire group's destruction. But the Veil wasn't their top priority right now, since it had existed even before the apocalypse started. Their moments could have been a coincidence, but the problem was with the secret alliance between the Abominations and the Honour-bound Federation. These groups were the most hideous known groups currently with strange beliefs, so their suspicion about them doing something under the curtain of these rankings was too concerning.

CHATTER-!!

Gazing in a certain direction, a vertically long system window was seen floating with [00:37] displayed in the middle. It was the screen where the rankings were going to be displayed, and since only thirty seconds remained, the crowd was gathering at the screen even though it wouldn't really go anywhere until two days later. That was how much hype had been created for these rankings, and even Samuel of the Black Train Order was eager to see his group's name in the top ten, but since he had an image to maintain, he helped himself stand his ground.

"Hide those child-like twinkles in your eyes." Richard, the old man, commented, snickering gleefully. Which in turn garnered suppressed chuckles from Bert, Garrick, and Bobby.

"Ghuk...." Samuel groaned in embarrassment. He was a competent and benevolent leader who knew when to be ruthless and when to be benevolent. Due to his character, he was liked by many, and his Black Train Order was the only large group to exist in this apocalyptic world, with their numbers nearing hundreds with different branches. Of course, due to the same character, he also gained many enemies. Since his group was larger, enemy spies' infiltration was not uncommon, but they had yet to find a clear solution to this situation. Still, his group was a bright, warmth-filled place even in the dark, cold, apocalyptic world.

And there was one more rare scenario that had happened in the group over the year, and that was when a spy turned into a double agent after being in their group for too long. Due to how kindly the group moved in unison, many only faked it at first to gain Samuel's attention, but began to like and get used to what they were doing.