Reincarnated and Regressed Villain - Make heroines beg for forgiveness

"...You seemed hesitant," Esme came forward, her golden eyes glinting as she looked toward Jenny, whose face was stern and who sat with hollow eyes on the ground.

Jenny had hit the ground and lost her mind amidst the illusion that was tormenting her mentally beyond limits, each second repeating the same scenario in her mind, reaching the brink of breaking away.

"Yes," Ryuk replied, understanding what Esme meant.

After the system's warning, he had thrown Jenny to the ground, blood spilling from her mouth.

But soon enough, she was placed under Esme's illusion, making him momentarily guess from Jenny's expression that she was currently experiencing an illusion presenting her things that needed to be done.

"M-meiyue?!" Jenny's mother shook her daughter by the shoulder, trying to pull her out of the mental state in which tears streamed down relentlessly, with blood trickling from her mouth from the earlier collision with the ground.

The marks of fingers were evident on her neck, making her heart ache as her mother clenched her fist and hugged her daughter, who seemed conscious and yet not.

'Why did you stop me?'

Ryuk set aside the thought and focused on the system, considering he definitely wasn't going to kill Jenny so easily.

Yet, he hesitated, as he wasn't sensing any changes in her; there were no regrets in her eyes, which would only delay his progress if he thought of teaching her regrets for her action.

In the end, it wasn't evident, but communicating with this woman was draining even his brain cells.

He tightened his grip with the intent to kill her, but hesitation lingered, which the system also sensed and informed him.

[Host, considering your fate as a villain, if you kill her in the same way you did in the last life before regression, just as heaven is trying to restore itself by creating more obstacles in your way—similar to how the increased villain points caused the stimulus and awakening of more sons of heaven and heroines—killing Jenny presently, given her title as a heroine, would definitely provoke the wrath of heaven, and an illogical event might trigger.]

'Like what?'

Ryuk, upon hearing the system's information, glanced toward Regina, who had stopped the matriarch of the Phoenix order before noticing the clear rage in the woman's eyes, making him doubt for a moment that if anyone here could go against him, it would be Yu Shao Yan.

Triggering an illogical event caused confusion about the situation even further.

[It is detected that the matriarch of the Phoenix order will most likely be under the effect of the heroine's halo and her anger, might lead to a wrong decision, using a forbidden technique to destroy her soul. Though it would not harm the host initially due to Shunya, the scattered soul energy could be considered a spark; if touched a particular individual present inside the main peak, the whole Jade Dominion—or at least half of it—could turn into a soul-devouring bomb.]

'....' Ryuk, hearing the system's information, understood it was referring to the Empress of Jade Dominion, who was likely resting inside the main peak, probably in some room inside the palace.

According to the system's information, the matriarch, initially silent because of wanting to protect her Phoenix order, might lose sanity upon seeing her granddaughter and daughter being killed, resulting in a catastrophic burst of her soul.

To put it simply, it was like spiking a matchstick near TNT.

The Empress of Jade Dominion, who possessed the ability to resurrect her body from her soul, undoubtedly had enormous soul strength, making her a walking source of energy.

If the matriarch of the Phoenix order took the steepest steps to destroy her own soul, creating a spark, and that spark touched the source—Empress who was still in a dormant state and lacking control over her body, it could result in a massive explosion.

While it was true that if an explosion strong enough to destroy half of the Jade Dominion were to happen an inch away from Ryuk, he would still survive, holding injuries but still alive, the issue was that the blast would not just be an explosion of energy but of soul energy.

Thus, the impact of that blast would not affect the body or the land beneath them but would impact the souls of those living in this place.

If his soul strength, which was negligible like a human's, were put in front or even far away from such a blast, ignoring his body and energy defenses, it will directly destroy his soul, even if he nullified most of it using his ability, his soul would suffer severe damage could lead to instant death without any hope of reincarnation.

[Though, it is still possible for me to regress you back in time using a regression talisman, but still, it is suggested that killing Jenny presently is not a good option. After all, you should torment her even more.]

Hearing the system's clear words, which were trying to ease the situation, Ryuk turned toward the matriarch as he moved closer, arriving near as his approach caused a visible flinch in her body as he looked into her eyes.

"What?" she inquired in a cold tone, looking back at him with visible anger.

Regina noticed how her Liege looked blankly at the woman with an impassive gaze. Still, there was a tingling sensation in the air, something other than any energy she had sensed so far, which she couldn't grasp.

"Keep quiet," Ryuk firmly stated as he slowly lifted his hand, deliberately ignoring everything, focusing on a single point in his mind.

He knew the consequences of what he was going to do could be tremendous, yet he wanted to try it once as he had been researching enhancing his ability since the time he nullified that ghost inside the library in the Wei family territory.

At that time, after the ghost was nullified, Ryuk pondered if he could nullify the souls of other people too.

Given his ability to nullify any kind of energy, it required enormous control, and each time he nullified, it drew a lot of stamina—enormous, to be exact.

There was a small doubt about whether he would ever achieve the level at which, disregarding all defenses, he would be able to nullify the exact source of life with a single touch.

To be more frank, his ability was such that, no matter which type of energy it was, he was able to nullify it. Depending on the energy's amount, he needed to drain that much stamina as well.

But, What if, with a single touch, he could nullify someone's soul too?

Like he doesn't need to care about their soul strength as it was a form of energy, so wouldn't he be able to kill them, no matter who they were?

Just a touch and their very foundation of existence would vanish.

But again, the issue was that, unlike his passive ability which made him immune and didn't require anything in exchange, the active one required so much of his physical endurance.
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With that thought, he slowly started to lift his hand, withdrawing Shunya from his whole body and trying to concentrate on his fingertip as he felt everything: the energy around him, internal energy, mana, and his own ether leaking through his body, getting nullified just an inch away from his fingertip.

Considering how he had brought every bit of his nullifying ability to his fingertips, it was clearly working even an inch away.

Unlike when it was expanded throughout his skin, which nullified anything that touched it, presently it was only working in a small area, and due to concentration, even an inch away.

But it appeared this much was even too much for him.

ALERT!

[Host, your heartbeat is dropping; you are advised to stop.]

Suddenly, with an alert or bright window, one after another started to pop around him, warning that his body seemed to be reaching exhaustion much faster.

Through sheer will, he managed to stand, but given his active ability, he was not as strong as he had anticipated.

Though he could nullify things at his touch, they needed to be energy itself, and projecting his own energy just a few inches away was far from even thinking about nullifying someone's life force.

He felt as though he might fall any moment, though his feet were firmly gripping the ground beneath him.

By lifting his hand and concentrating his fingers, he could feel the blackness closing in on his vision, and consciousness appeared to be fading any moment, prompting him to halt just half a hand's distance from Yu Shao Yan.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Yu Shao Yan was already on edge as she saw him approaching her, especially considering the words he had told her yesterday and then him suddenly attacking her granddaughter.

She was clearly enraged, yet at the same time, she knew well that she needed to prioritize her Phoenix Order instead of her family, which was the only thing stopping her from taking the last step.

However, she seemed confused, looking at his forefinger pointed towards her, while his eyes appeared blank under the mask, clearly confusing her as he stood static, not saying anything.

[Host is saying, choose! You get poked with his finger or by his 𓂸𓂹𓂺]