Reincarnated in a novel: I am the villain!-Chapter 269: Return of the Voss!

"I suppose I shall have to knock."

Taking a step forward Alfred suddenly paused; he sensed something was off.

And sure enough, before he could move any closer, the silence of the canyon was broken by the rhythmic clack-clack-clack of a machine.

Alfred walked down the centre of the narrow obsidian path. His tailcoat was gone, replaced by a short, improvised jacket that revealed the leather holsters of his throwing knives.

He didn’t look like a butler anymore, rather he looked like a professional executioner.

Ahead, the path was blocked by a relic of the Old War.

The Void-Corrupted Golem stood seven feet tall, a hunched mass of rusted bronze and hydraulic pistons.

It didn’t have eyes, only a rotating sensor that clicked as it locked onto Alfred’s heat signature.

CR-R-ACK.

The Golem lunged. Its massive metal fist, the size of a man’s torso, whistled through the air.

However, Alfred didn’t jump back, instead he stepped in.

With a motion as fluid as pouring tea, he leaned his torso three inches to the left.

The fist grazed his shoulder, the wind of the strike ruffling his hair. As the Golem overextended, Alfred’s hands moved in a blur.

SHHHHT.

Two silver monofilament wires hissed out of his gloves.

He looped them around the Golem’s primary hydraulic knee and anchored the other end to the rock behind him.

The Golem tried to pull back its arm to strike again. The movement tightened the wires.

SCREEE—POP.

The razor-sharp threads sheared through the metal casing like a wire through cheese. The Golem’s leg disconnected.

The machine collapsed into the dirt, oil spraying like black blood.

Alfred stepped over the twitching limb, pulling a handkerchief to wipe a stray drop of oil from his cheek.

"Crude," Alfred murmured. "Maintenance has been neglected for at least a decade."

Just as he was about to continue to make his way forward, a voice suddenly came into his ears, making him pause

"Halt."

The voice didn’t come from the path, but from the fog above.

Dozens of figures appeared on the ridges. They were the Shadow Ghosts the elite remnants of the Voss House Guard.

They wore their polished black plate no more, but instead dawned armor reinforced with the scales of Obsidian Hydras and held together by bone rivets.

Heavy crossbows, built with massive tension cranks to compensate for the lack of magic, were aimed squarely at Alfred’s heart.

THUD.

A figure leaped from a thirty-foot ledge, landing with enough force to spiderweb the rock beneath his boots.

He was a giant of a man, his skin the color of old parchment and his beard a tangled thicket of grey ash.

His armor was a patchwork of tattered silk and beast hide. But it was his right arm that commanded attention.

It was no longer flesh. It was a jagged, three-foot-long claw of solidified shadow, an obsidian-like mineral that pulsed with a faint, dying violet light.

Elder Magnus. The Prince of Black Flame.

Magnus raised the obsidian claw, the sharp tip stopping an inch from Alfred’s throat.

"The Empire has grown desperate," Magnus growled, his voice like grinding stones.

"To send a shapeshifter wearing the skin of a man who died sixteen years ago... it is an insult to my memory."

Alfred didn’t flinch. He looked at the claw, then up at Magnus’s wild eyes.

"I assure you, Elder, I am quite alive," Alfred said, his voice as calm as a summer morning.

"It’s been a while sir."

Looking at the shapeshifter who still claimed to be Alfred, Magnus grew angry, according to what he knew, under no circumstance should Alfred be here.

As after that even sixteen years ago, had it not been for his secret mission, he would have long since rained the empire with blood out of revenge

Thinking of this, with anger in his eyes, he launched!

Magnus roared, a sound of pure, unadulterated rage and swung the obsidian claw in a wide horizontal arc.

Alfred dived low, the claw shattering a boulder behind him into pebbles. He came up spinning, his own silver wires lashing out.

CLANG. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The wires hit the obsidian arm and bounced off. It was indestructible.

"You cannot bind the monster, Alfred don’t you remember who I am!" Magnus laughed, a manic, rusty sound.

He followed up with a series of brutal, hammer-like strikes.

Alfred was forced into a desperate dance.

He couldn’t block; the physical force behind the calcified arm would shatter his bones.

Instead, he used Soft Art martial arts. Every time the claw came down, Alfred slapped the side of Magnus’s wrist, redirecting the momentum.

"You are favoring your left leg, Elder!" Alfred called out, parrying a jab.

"Your center of gravity is too high. Has living in the dirt made you forget your basic forms?"

"Living in the dirt has made me strong!" Magnus countered, his shadow arm crackling with dormant, suppressed energy.

In a final, explosive movement, Magnus lunged for a grapple. Alfred didn’t retreat. He wrapped his wires around the obsidian claw, using the leverage to swing himself over Magnus’s shoulder.

As he landed, Alfred pressed a silver adamantite knife to the soft flesh of Magnus’s jugular.

"Checkmate," Alfred whispered.

...........

"Checkmate,"

Hearing this, the Shadow Ghosts on the ridges groaned, their fingers tightening on their crossbow triggers. Magnus froze. The silence in the canyon was absolute.

Alfred in return slowly lowered his blade.

"I did not come here to kill a you, Magnus. I came to ask for you help."

Alfred reached into his inner vest, a physical reach, slow and deliberate. He pulled out a silver pocket watch. He pressed a mechanical catch on the side.

The watch opened. Inside was no magic, only a delicate, hand-painted portrait of Theron, Elizabeth, and a Damien.

Magnus stared at the image. His obsidian arm trembled.

"The young master is still alive, and he needs our help," Alfred said. "He is in the Abyss, carving a path through the dark."

"That kid?" Magnus asked, his voice cracking. "Elizabeth’s child?"

"Indeed...in fact, he is the one who sent me."

Alfred stepped back, straightening his short jacket.

"He goes by the name Zero now and he’s quite amazing if I do say so myself"

"He burned the Capital. He slaughtered the Second Prince and the Void Monster that hid within him. He has practically turned the Empire into his playground."

Magnus looked at the watch, then at the ragged, elite soldiers on the ridges. A slow, manic grin spread across his face, showing yellowed teeth.

He began to laugh. It started as a wheeze and grew into a booming roar that echoed through the canyon.

"Did you hear that, boys?" Magnus shouted to his army.

"The Master is alive. And the Young Master... he’s a villain! He’s practically god-damned monster!"

Magnus slammed his obsidian claw into the ground, causing the entire path to tremble.

"Pack your bags! Sharp the blades!" Magnus’s eyes sparked with a flicker of the Black Flame, fighting against the vacuum of the world.

"It’s time to let this world remember the Voss name!."