My Maids are All Final Villainesses-Chapter 25: No escape

The quiet of the room shattered once more, not with noise from outside, but with the kind of chaos that only existed between a man and the voice inside his head.

"You damned system! Didn’t I tell you to put it in inbox!"

The air itself seemed to tremble as Clay sat upright on his bed, his hair disheveled and his eyes bloodshot, the dark circles beneath them now deep enough to make even a corpse look more alive than him.

His blanket had long since been kicked aside, twisted and abandoned like a casualty of war, while the soft pillows that once promised comfort now looked like enemies that betrayed him.

Sorry host!

The system chimed with an almost cheerful tone that only made things worse.

"Sorry?" Clay barked, his voice cracking from both anger and exhaustion. "Sorry? You think sorry helps when you keep screaming emergency in my head every five minutes? Do you know how long I’ve been trying to sleep?"

I just want one peaceful nap. One. Is that too much to ask?

He collapsed back onto the bed, dragging a hand down his face as if trying to wipe away the irritation itself, but it clung to him stubbornly.

His mind refused to settle, thoughts crashing into each other like waves in a storm, mixing memories of his past life on Earth with everything that had happened since he woke up in this world.

I escaped fate. I avoided the main characters. I even walked away from that ice girl. Why is this still happening?

"I’m trying again," Clay muttered through gritted teeth. "If you interrupt me one more time, I swear I’ll... I’ll..."

He paused.

"I’ll uninstall you."

The system remained silent for a moment.

Then, in a smaller voice, it replied, "Host... I am not uninstallable."

Clay pulled the pillow over his face and let out a long, frustrated groan.

...

Far away from the calm yet chaotic villa, deep within a dark cave hidden beneath layers of rock and tangled roots, a drop of blood appeared out of nowhere.

It hovered for a brief moment, trembling in the air, before expanding rapidly, stretching and forming until a human figure took shape.

The young man reappeared, collapsing onto his knees the moment his body stabilized. His breathing was ragged, his entire form drenched in sweat as if he had just crawled out of a nightmare that refused to end.

"Hah... hah..."

His hands trembled as he touched his own neck, feeling the place where his head had been severed not long ago. The memory was still fresh, still vivid, still terrifying.

Again... I died again...

Inside his dantian, the old man’s voice echoed, no longer calm, no longer composed.

"You only have three lives left," the old man said, his tone heavy with urgency. "We must leave this place immediately. That assassin is not normal. She can track you. She can find you no matter where you hide."

The young man clenched his fists, his expression twisting with both fear and anger.

"How is that even possible?" he snapped. "You’re supposed to be an expert. You said no one in this region could match your perception. So why can’t you sense her?"

The old man fell silent for a moment before speaking again, slower this time.

"I cannot sense her because she does not exist in the way normal assassins do. Her presence is... absent. It is as if she erases herself from the world. I only detect her when it is already too late."

The young man swallowed hard.

An assassin that cannot be sensed...

His fear deepened, but pride refused to let him collapse completely.

"Fine," he said, forcing confidence into his voice. "If I can’t run, then I’ll make it so she can’t approach me at all."

He stood up, wiping the sweat from his face as his eyes hardened.

"We set a trap."

The old man hesitated. "A trap will not be enough."

"It will," the young man insisted. "This isn’t just any trap. I’ll use layered formations. Detection arrays, sealing arrays, illusion arrays. I’ll turn this entire cave into a fortress."

He began moving quickly, his hands forming seals as his mana spread outward, carving intricate patterns into the ground and walls.

Light flickered.

Symbols appeared.

Energy hummed.

"I’ll place a detection field at the outer layer," he muttered while working. "Anything that enters will trigger it instantly. Then a sealing formation will lock the space. After that, illusion arrays will distort perception and trap her inside. Even if she hides, she won’t escape."

The cave began to glow faintly as the formations took shape, one after another, layered with precision and care.

"And finally..." he whispered, placing the last mark, "a killing formation at the core. Once she steps in, she dies."

He stepped back, breathing heavily, but a smile slowly spread across his face.

"There," he said with satisfaction. "Now let’s see her try."

Inside his dantian, the old man remained uneasy.

"Do not become overconfident," he warned. "My instincts are screaming. Something is wrong."

The young man scoffed.

"You worry too much," he replied. "This setup could trap even a high level assassin. There’s no way she can bypass all of this."

He crossed his arms, leaning against the cave wall as he waited.

Silence filled the space.

Seconds passed.

Then minutes.

The young man smirked.

"See?" he said. "She’s not coming. She probably realized she can’t—"

"So I just need to kill you two more times after this."

The voice came from behind him.

Cold.

Calm.

Unhurried.

The young man froze.

His smile vanished instantly.

Slowly, he turned his head.

"...what?"

But there was no one there.

His eyes widened.

Impossible... the formations didn’t trigger...

A chill ran down his spine.

The old man’s voice erupted in panic. "She’s inside! She bypassed everything! Run!"

The young man’s body reacted instantly, his mana flaring as he prepared to move.

"Too late."

A shadow passed through him.

His vision shook.

For a brief moment, he felt nothing.

Then his world tilted.

The cave spun.

And his head separated from his body, rising into the air as his lifeless corpse collapsed beneath it.

The last thing he saw was a faint silhouette standing behind him.

"Yeah," the voice said softly. "It didn’t work."

Then as he heard that one last time, the darkness swallowed him whole.

...

Back in the villa, Clay stared blankly at the ceiling, his eyes half open, his soul already halfway gone from exhaustion.

"Shit... shit... shit..."

He rolled onto his side, hugging a pillow as if it could shield him from reality itself.

"Why is this happening to me..."

Ding!

The Villain Replacement nearly died.

Clay’s body twitched.

Slowly, very slowly, he turned his head.

"You..."

His voice was quiet.

Too quiet.

"You absolute menace..."

He sat up again, his expression dark, his patience finally snapping.

"Do you even hear yourself?" he began, his voice rising with each word. "Nearly died? Nearly died? That’s not my problem! I didn’t ask for a replacement! I didn’t ask for this hidden feature! I just want to live peacefully!"

The system responded immediately.

"Host, maintaining awareness of the timeline is essential for survival."

"Survival?" Clay repeated, incredulous. "Survival? I was surviving just fine before you started screaming in my head every five minutes!"

Host’s previous survival relied on incomplete information.

"Exactly!" Clay shot back. "Incomplete information is peaceful! Too much information is stress! Do you know what you’re doing to me?"

He pointed at his own face.

"Look at this! Look at my eyes! I look like I’ve been cultivating sleeplessness for ten years!"

The system remained calm.

Host’s emotional instability is noted.

"Emotional instability?" Clay echoed, his voice rising again. "Of course I’m unstable! You keep telling me someone is about to die every time I try to sleep!"

He ran a hand through his hair, pacing around the room now.

"I already have two sets of memories in my head. One from Earth, one from this world. They’re clashing. They’re mixing. I can barely think straight. And now you add this on top of it?"

He stopped, staring at nothing.

I just wanted a quiet life...

Host should adapt.

Clay laughed.

A hollow, tired laugh.

"Adapt? Sure. Why not. Maybe I should just stop sleeping altogether. That’ll solve everything."

The system said nothing.

Clay stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, before finally collapsing back onto his bed.

"I’m ignoring you," he muttered. "Whatever happens, happens. I’m done."

He closed his eyes.

Silence returned.

For a moment, it felt like peace.

Then—

Ding!

Clay’s eyes snapped open.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t breathe.

Didn’t even blink.

Ding!

His fingers twitched.

Ding!

His jaw clenched.

Ding!

Emergency! Emergency!

The system’s voice rang out again.

The Replacement Villain only has a two percent chance of surviving its unexpected encounter.

Clay slowly sat up.

His face was blank.

Completely blank.

Then, very quietly, he spoke.

"I’m going to really lose my mind."