My Life as the Villainess’s Butler

The Weight of Shadows

Seraphine hovered above the battlefield, her void-cloaked form radiating an eerie calm. The Eclipseborn halted their advance, their crystalline bodies quivering as if caught between commands. Liana tightened her grip on Nyra, the girl's hybrid energy flickering like a dying star.

"You've made a mess, Liana," Seraphine said, her voice layered with the Devourer's guttural growl. "But I'm feeling generous. Surrender the girl, and I'll spare what's left of your pathetic rebellion."

Priam stepped forward, his scarred hand trembling around his blade. "You're not Seraphine anymore. The Devourer's puppet can't negotiate."

"Puppet?" Seraphine's laughter crackled with static. "I command the storm. The Devourer is merely… a collaborator." Her void-forged gaze shifted to Nyra. "The child is a bridge. With her, we can end Lucien's farce and reclaim Erathia from the gods' neglect."

Nyra shrank back. "I don't want to be a bridge. I want the whispers to stop."

The Eclipseborn's Evolution

The stalemate shattered as Lucien's Eclipseborn surged forward, their adaptive armor glowing with stolen void energy. Priam's blade clashed against a crystalline claw, the impact reverberating through his corrupted arm. Black veins writhed beneath his skin, threatening to reclaim him.

Priam's Corruption: 30% and rising.

Liana hurled a bolt of hybrid energy, disintegrating an Eclipseborn. "Nyra, can you close the rift?"

The girl stared at the bleeding sky. "I… I don't know how!"

"Then we'll teach you," Seraphine interjected, landing beside them. Her presence scattered the Eclipseborn, their hive mind recoiling. "But hesitation will kill us all."

The Fractured Alliance

In the ruins of a collapsed watchtower, the group faced off. Seraphine's void-infused aura clashed with Liana's hybrid light, casting jagged shadows. Nyra huddled between them, clutching a charred doll salvaged from the wreckage.

"Lucien's ritual is anchored to the old gods' leylines," Seraphine explained, tracing a map in the ash. "He's using the Eclipseborn to corrupt them, merging realms. The girl's blood can purify the nodes—or destroy them."

Priam scoffed. "And if we fail?"

"Then Eraphia becomes the void's playground." Seraphine's human eye flickered with rare uncertainty. "My… alliance with the Devourer is temporary. It wants the gods dead. So do I."

Liana knelt before Nyra. "Can you feel the leylines? The threads beneath the earth?"

Nyra nodded hesitantly. "They're screaming."

Priam's Crucible

As night fell, Priam's corruption surged. Visions of the Sovereign's past—wars waged, realms devoured—flooded his mind. He staggered into the wilderness, clawing at his scarred arm as void tendrils snaked toward his heart.

Priam's Corruption: 50%.

Liana found him at dawn, crouched over a smoldering Eclipseborn corpse. His eyes were wild, veins pulsing black.

"Stay back," he warned.

She didn't. Her hand, glowing with hybrid energy, pressed against his chest. "Fight it. For me."

The void recoiled. For now.

The Leyline Purge

The first leyline node pulsed beneath an ancient Hartwell shrine, its energy tainted by Eclipseborn ichor. Nyra placed her palms on the stone, her dual-toned eyes squeezing shut.

"It hurts," she whimpered.

"Pain is power," Seraphine said coldly. "Use it."

Liana shot her a glare but nodded to Nyra. "You're stronger than the whispers."

The girl screamed as light and void erupted from her, purging the node. The ground steadied, the sky's rift narrowing fractionally.

Leylines Restored: 1/5

Lucien's Counterstrike

Lucien watched through the eyes of an Eclipseborn scout, his grin sharpening. "Naughty children."

He plunged his voidsteel hand into Elyra's Echo, now a withered husk, and hurled her essence into the ritual circle. The Devourer's shadow roared, its form solidifying into a titan of chain and teeth.

"Come, old friend," Lucien whispered. "Let's give them a show."

 The God's Whisper

At the second leyline node, Nyra froze mid-ritual. Her voice deepened, echoing with primordial authority. "You tread where you do not belong, mortals."

The ground split, revealing a buried statue of a forgotten god—its face Seraphine's.

Revelation: The gods did not abandon Erathia. They became it.