Chapter 16: Severing the bonds
'Alright, I have a general idea of how it should work, let's try it with this tree.' Valdis thought and stood a few meters away from an oak tree with closed eyes.
*sigh* The next moment Valdis opened his eyes, the oak tree started looking blurry before it changed to a pine tree. The whole process looked as if Valdis was the one who was put in genjutsu. A single pine tree among the hundreds of oak trees.
*knock* *knock* *bang!* The pine tree hadn't changed back to an oak tree even after Valdis hit it with different strength levels.
"An ability to use genjutsu on the non-living organisms and then turning the genjutsu into reality...A power to practically change anything I don't like...I guess it suits me." Valdis muttered before looking up at the clear night sky he shook his head and put the fingers of his right hand over his right eye.
'I don't want to turn blind by trying to change the night into day or by changing the weather in my surroundings.'
---
[Name: Valdis
Unique powers: Mangekyo Sharingan (100%)
Villain Points: 130
Consumption: Body Enhancing potion (19/50); Mind Enhancing potion (5/15)]
[Evolution of Mangekyo Sharingan + (6000 Villain Points)
---
As Valdis guessed, the percentage shown on his status must represent how much he can use his eyes before going blind.
'My head hurts a bit...I guess this type of power requires very strong imagination and mental power. I doubt it will be so easy to use it directly against strong opponents or Teigu. I still have yet to try if I can make things disappear or appear instead of just changing them' Valdis looked at the pine tree and tried to make it disappear, the tree started getting blurred however Valdis felt a sharp headache so he immediately stopped.
He decided that it was good enough for now before he returned to the Capital to find a bar where he drank a few beer mugs. After an hour or so, he returned to the base where he found everyone gathered in the meeting room, completely quiet.
"Where were you?" Najenda immediately asked and she didn't look exactly happy. Leone could have already sniffed out where he was but she let him answer.
"...I apologize, after completing my mission I decided to have a few drinks. I should have reported it beforehand, though, isn't the atmosphere a bit too heavy just because of such a small mistake?" Valdis asked with a confused expression while looking around at the others.
"...It's about Sheele" Najenda explained shortly, though there was no need for a longer explanation due to the heavy atmosphere.
Hearing the "news", Valdis' eyes widened for a few seconds before an emotionless expression appeared on his face as he turned around.
"Where are you going?" Bulat asked him when he saw him walking towards the door without saying anything in response, not even asking how, where, or by who.
"I am going for a walk, I need to think about something. Please don't TRY to stop me" Valdis stopped for a moment and glanced at Bulat. The way his tone sounded, it was almost as if he was telling Bulat that he won't even be able to stop him, be it peacefully or by force.
"YOU-!" Tatsumi was the one affected by this in Bulat's stead.
"Stop it! Let him leave" Najenda stopped Tatsumi from hindering Valdis. She still couldn't believe that some random imperial guard was capable of catching Sheele off-guard and killing her by throwing a spear. On the other hand, she thought that Valdis's reaction quite suited him and seemed very genuine, yet, she felt strange uneasiness.
Valdis left the base, however, he did not go too far away and stayed in the forest near it, sitting on the branch of one tree.
'No matter how much I think about it, it feels like these eyes have unlimited potential. I will have to experiment with it much more, however, that is quite a hard task to accomplish considering I can go blind from overusing it...?!' Suddenly, Valdis got an idea he had to try out immediately.
He activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and then cut his palm before concentrating on the wound with his eyes.
His eyes instantly widened once he saw the wound close up as if it wasn't there in the first place.
'This definitely isn't the power of controlling the time...so are my eyes truly capable of changing the reality around me? What if I tried to change the reality by adding something completely new?' Valdis stood up and looked at the ground with free space. He took a deep breath before using his eyes, imagining the oak tree at the place he was looking at.
The process was much longer, however as he continued staring at the place, a blurry image of the oak tree started appearing, though, Valdis' headache was also increasing, and even started feeling a stinging sensation in his eyes. Nevertheless, Valdis continued until a new oak tree appeared which also caused him to pant a little.
'Haha, this really is an ability that depends on one's imagination and mental power'
"Valdis" Tatsumi's voice resounded from the darkness some distance behind Valdis.
"What is it?"
"Let's go back, we need to discuss our next move" Tatsumi said so even though he felt real down right now and would like nothing more than just to sit down and mourn.
"I am not going" Valdis shortly replied, resolved to move on from this stage. He finally obtained enough power to be confident in fending himself even against his fellow Villains.
"Excuse me?" Tatsumi asked with a shocked expression.
"I have decided to leave"
"W-Wait a minute, is this because of what happened to Sheele?! You do realize you can't just leave since you know our hideout, right? If you no longer want to continue working as an assassin, you can always help Rebel Army in different departments!" Tatsumi tried to convince him.
"...Relay my offer to the boss, if you won't actively come after me, I swear not to reveal the direction of your hideout." Valdis said before running off into the darkness of the forest.
"W-Wait, damn it!" Tatsumi immediately chased after him, however, he quickly lost Valdis's track in the darkness of the night.
"Tch! I need to report this to everyone!" Tatsumi quickly realized he should return instead of trying to track Valdis down so he quickly run back with a pair of red eyes observing him from afar.
"*From this day forth, we will be enemies. Prepare yourselves, Night Raid and Empire*" Valdis whispered with a cold look on his face.
Since Valdis just lost his main source of income for his Villain Points, he returned to the place where he buried the imperial police's armor and put it on before entering the Capital under the pretense of being Imperial Police.
A few days passed once again with Valdis trying to blend in as imperial police. In general, he was usually just walking around the streets as if he was patrolling, however, there were even times some children asked him for help and he happily obliged to fit in. The only problem was his identity, he wasn't registered in the imperial police, though, it shouldn't matter much since he wasn't planning on staying at the barracks.
'At least it seems like Night Raid let me go for now but they will most likely be more prepared for a possible ambush of their hideout. Strange...I have been feeling like someone is looking for me. Maybe it's Seryu since I have heard some rumors about the search for a certain imperial guard. I guess it's me because I killed Sheele. Anyway, why is everyone gathered on the sides as if someone import-?!' Valdis took a turn leading to the main street where saw a strange commotion and quickly understood why when he looked further away and saw a figure leisurely strolling the street.
'A tall woman with long, light blue hair...I almost completely forgot about her, so she is already back in the Capital.' Valdis thought as he continued walking normally unlike everyone else, however, when the woman walking in the middle of the street completely alone was around 10 meters away, Valdis decided to go to the side to let her walk by.
The woman didn't seem much dissatisfied with Valdis's behavior, actually, she seemed like she couldn't care any less as she had a relaxed smile on her face, however the moment she was about to pass by Valdis, she stopped and looked towards him with a serious face. Everyone was bowing to her with exception of Valdis who stood upright at military attention.
'Her presence alone is overwhelming...hehe' Valdis couldn't help but admire her aura and even his Mangekyo Sharingan self-activated as a defense mechanism just upon meeting her cold blue eyes.
She turned her body towards him and approached him, stopping a short distance from him.
The atmosphere on the main street already turned grim when people saw it and distanced themselves from Valdis, though the person in question had no problem with this and continued standing still.
"Ho?" She kept staring at Valdis's mask as if she could see through it and after a few seconds of silence, her serious expression turned to an intrigued one.
'What is this feeling...' She couldn't see Valdis's eyes, however, she could feel a strange aura and power coming from underneath his mask.
"General Esdeath-sama, may I be of help?" Valdis decided to greet her since she kept just staring at him without saying anything at all.
"Hm, you certainly can. Take your mask off, soldier" Esdeath ordered with a smile.
"...Excuse me?" Valdis seemed surprised by her sudden order which came out of nowhere.
'Did she feel my Mangekyo Sharingan?'
"Did you not hear me? Take your mask off" Esdeath frowned though it did not take away from her beauty however the moment the others saw this, they started to panic a little. She herself was aware of her fearsome reputation that's another reason why Valdis intrigued her, he left no fear standing right in front of her and even dared to question her order. She was even slightly suspecting him of being part of the group she was tasked to hunt down.
Without saying anything else, Valdis took the metal mask off, revealing his dark eyes and delicate facial features with a polite smile plastered over his face.
"...You are younger than I expected" Esdeath seemed briefly stunned after seeing his face before muttering to herself. As the Villain, Valdis was obviously quite good-looking so he could perform other "heinous" acts befitting of a Villain...
Even the other women quietly exclaimed when they caught the glimpse of Valdis's face. Valdis himself rarely took a walk around the Capital without wearing a hood, therefore this was the first time he revealed his face to many people.
"Come with me" Esdeath suddenly said and started to slowly walk towards her previous destination.
"Eh?!" Valdis's polite smile instantly disappeared, replaced by a look of surprise.
"I haven't been to the Capital for some time, I want you to be my guide" Esdeath explained but didn't stop walking.
'Tch, what a forceful woman. I just hope the guide thing was just an excuse because I don't know much about the Capital' Valdis decided to quickly catch up to her and walk slightly behind next to her.
"Walk next to me" She ordered and Valdis complied for now.
On their way, Valdis couldn't help but notice Esdeath throwing several brief glances at his face which made him feel slightly nervous.
'Did she really notice the presence of my Mangekyo Sharingan?' Valdis also threw a glance at her, wondering what she is thinking about. He couldn't help but admire her beauty, he was already prepared for it, however, her evil aura combined with her irresistible look made her absolute beauty in Valdis's eyes which exceeded his expectations.
He was too absorbed looking at her that he only woke up from his thoughts when their eyes met. Valdis was prepared for anything at that point, except for one thing...
THAT Esdeath actually smiled at him before averting her eyes from him which greatly shocked Valdis.
'What the hell is happening? I thought that she was just suspicious of me but that wasn't a normal smile! Wasn't she supposed to like Tatsumi due to his innocent and naive look?!'
[You have met the Strongest Villain of this world]
[Reward: 200 Villain Points]
[You have caught the Strongest Villain's eye]
[Reward: 500 Villain Points]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone