I, The Villainess, Will Seduce All The Heroines Instead-Chapter 181: The Trial (38)

Of course, it had to be Vivienne. Because the universe wasn’t content with throwing just Zodiac Beasts and cosmic puzzles her way—it had to sprinkle in tragic heroines with chronic bad timing.

Verena pressed forward, keeping her steps light against the shifting, almost glass-like floor of the labyrinth. The corridors pulsed faintly with constellations beneath her feet, and the echo of Vivienne’s voice guided her deeper into the maze.

Rounding a crystalline corner, she finally spotted the girl.

Vivienne stood in a shallow clearing where the labyrinth had twisted into a sort of observation chamber—walls of mirrored starlight surrounding her, like a snow globe of cosmic proportions. But she wasn’t alone.

Hovering around her were ghostly figures, faceless and pale, their bodies crackling faintly with astral energy—the remnants of failed students, illusions, or maybe fragments of the maze’s semi-sentient magic. They circled Vivienne like vultures, whispering in a language older than the stars, tugging at her shoulders, her hair, her spirit.

To Vivienne’s credit, she looked like she was barely holding it together.

Verena groaned under her breath. "Why is it always my problem to collect the emotionally fragile ones?"

Saphira tightened around her wrist like a living bracelet. Because you attract them like a black hole attracts debris, obviously.

Fair.

Verena stepped into the clearing, her boots clinking faintly against the smooth floor. "Oi! Step away from the crybaby! She’s mine!"

The ghostly figures stilled at her voice, turning slowly, their faceless heads tilting in eerie unison. For a heartbeat, everything was still—the only sound the distant hum of constellations above.

Then they lunged.

"Of course," Verena muttered, weaving her Zodiacal Mimicry in front of her. Threads of starlight crackled into a half-formed barrier, deflecting the first ghostlike swipe. But these weren’t beasts of flesh—they were conceptual, woven from regret and magic itself.

Their forms aren’t real. Disrupt their pattern, Saphira instructed.

Verena focused, shifting her threads—not trying to mimic an attack, but to mimic their instability. Her spell warped, vibrating on frequencies that made the illusions flicker.

It worked, partially.

The first few figures wavered, their forms glitching like corrupted data. But more kept coming, their whispers growing louder, filling the chamber with promises of failure, abandonment, and loss.

Typical labyrinth emotional warfare.

"Vivienne!" Verena called, sidestepping another phantom swipe. "Snap out of it and help, or so help me I’ll leave you here!"

Vivienne startled, blinking through watery eyes. "I— I—"

"NOW!"

The urgency seemed to finally sink in. Vivienne’s hands trembled, but she pressed her palms together. The space around her shimmered faintly as her Dreamtide Magic activated. Soft, almost imperceptible waves rippled through the air—a subtle manipulation of perception.

The whispers dulled.

The figures faltered.

Verena took the opening, reinforcing her threads with Saphira’s coiled energy. Her mimicry flared, projecting false constructs that disrupted the illusions even further, like oil on water.

Together, they carved through the remnants of fear and despair, until the final ghost evaporated into stardust.

The clearing settled into silence.

Vivienne sagged, knees threatening to buckle.

Verena caught her by the elbow. "Hey. You alright?"

"No," Vivienne admitted weakly, wiping her eyes. "But... thanks."

Verena smirked, though her own heart hammered in her chest. "You owe me a snack after this."

Vivienne gave a watery laugh, the corner of her mouth curling upward. "Deal."

The walls of the chamber shifted once more, revealing the next path forward—a narrow bridge of starlight extending into the unknown.

Verena sighed, straightening up. "Come on. Trial Two isn’t going to complete itself."

Saphira hissed softly. And neither is surviving this ridiculous maze.

But despite the looming dread, despite the exhaustion creeping in, Verena felt... steadier. For all the chaos and cosmic nonsense, at least this time, she wasn’t entirely alone.

The narrow bridge of starlight swayed beneath their feet, suspended over an endless abyss that shimmered with constellations, like the sky itself had cracked open below them. With each step, the bridge rippled—fragile, ephemeral—like walking on glass that hadn’t decided if it wanted to stay solid.

Verena tried not to look down. It wasn’t the drop that bothered her. It was the suffocating reminder that the entire Trial was designed to make her feel small. Insignificant. Replaceable.

"Um... do you think this is safe?" Vivienne’s voice trembled behind her, but her feet shuffled forward anyway.

"No," Verena replied flatly, keeping her eyes ahead. "But neither is standing still."

Saphira coiled tighter around her wrist. Careful. The labyrinth likes to toy with your perception here.

As if on cue, the constellations above flickered—and for a fleeting second, Verena saw shadows moving along the underside of the bridge. Long, spindly limbs, too many eyes, and the unsettling grace of a predator waiting to strike.

"Of course," she muttered, tightening her grip on her mimicry threads. "Cosmic spiders. That’s exactly what my day was missing."

They reached the halfway point when the bridge pulsed beneath them, the ripples growing stronger. From below, the shadows surged upward.

Arachnetherials, Saphira confirmed, her voice curling with disgust. Zodiac manifestations of predatory patience. They don’t just bite—they weave.

"Figures," Verena hissed.

The first spider burst through the bridge’s underside—an ethereal creature woven entirely from glowing threads, its many legs clicking soundlessly against the starlight structure. It didn’t screech or roar—it simply existed, poised and perfectly patient, eyes glinting like twin moons.

Vivienne yelped, stumbling back. "W-W-We’re dead! We’re dead, we’re dead—"

Verena caught her collar before she could tumble off the edge. "You’re not allowed to die. You’re a heroine, remember?"

The second spider emerged, its form unraveling and reforming like a glitch in reality.

Verena didn’t wait. She wove her mimicry into a barrier, but the threads trembled—the creatures weren’t physical. They weren’t real in the traditional sense. But they were dangerous.

"Vivienne," she barked, ducking under a swipe of a glowing leg. "I need your Dreamtide, now."

Vivienne’s eyes widened. "But I—"

"Now."

Tears welled up again, but Vivienne obeyed. She pressed her palms together, her magic blooming like ripples on a still pond. The air warped, soft hues of twilight filtering into the space, and the spiders... faltered.

Their forms hesitated, threads unraveling as their perception twisted. In that split second, Verena lunged, her mimicry projecting false pathways, decoys that led the Arachnetherials astray.

One by one, the creatures unraveled, their forms collapsing into drifting stardust.

The bridge pulsed, steadying beneath them.

Vivienne exhaled shakily. "D-Did... we win?"

"For now," Verena muttered, brushing stardust from her coat. "But this labyrinth isn’t done messing with us yet."

The far end of the bridge unfurled like a ribbon, revealing a solid platform ahead—and standing there, arms crossed and as pristine as ever, was Isolde.

Her eyes drifted between Verena, Vivienne, and the fading remnants of the spider illusions.

"Took you long enough," Isolde remarked coolly. "Making friends along the way again?"

Vivienne shrank behind Verena, who groaned. "Not this again."

Isolde approached, her Bind Magic shimmering faintly at her fingertips—a silent warning, or maybe a protective instinct she refused to voice.

"Trial Three’s ahead," Isolde announced. "The water path."

Verena’s stomach sank. The Trial of Water—emotional, intuitive, and morally ambiguous. The kind of test that didn’t just break your body—but chipped away at your mind.

"Perfect," Verena muttered. "Because it wasn’t hard enough already."

Saphira snickered. And you still have to survive with both of them.

Verena cast a sidelong glance at Vivienne and Isolde—the anxious dreamer and the stoic perfectionist. Her ’team.’

She exhaled. "Let’s get this over with."

And together, they stepped toward the final trial.

The entrance to the Water Trial loomed ahead — a shimmering veil of liquid light suspended between two archways carved with the sigils of Pisces and Cancer. The sound of rushing water filled the air, but there was no river, no ocean in sight. Only that eerie, silvery portal that rippled like it was alive.

Verena groaned under her breath. "Of course it looks ominous. Can’t have anything simple."

"Water’s never simple," Isolde replied coolly, folding her arms. Her eyes scanned the veil with the same meticulous calculation she used in battle. "It reflects, conceals, distorts. Be prepared for lies."

Vivienne clung to Verena’s sleeve. "It won’t drown us... right?"

"I make no promises," Verena replied flatly, pulling her along.

They stepped through.

The world warped instantly.

Gone was the stone labyrinth. In its place stretched an endless expanse of shallow water, barely ankle-deep, reflecting a sky of shifting clouds and fractured moons. Islands of jagged rock and overgrown ruins jutted from the water like forgotten memories, and fog curled at the edges of vision, swallowing the horizon.

It was disorienting. Dreamlike. Beautiful, in a haunting way.

A whisper echoed across the water, faint and familiar.

"Everything you’re afraid of... floats here."

Verena clenched her jaw. Of course it wasn’t just puzzles this time.

The Water Trial wasn’t about fighting monsters.

It was about surviving yourself.

Verena tightened her grip on Vivienne’s wrist, steadying them both as the whispers grew louder, coiling around their thoughts.

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