Young Master's PoV: Woke Up As A Villain In A Game One Day

Chapter 116 - 116: The Mastermind [IV]

The High Priest's eyes widened the moment he heard my full name.

His breath caught in his throat, and in a trembling voice laced with disbelief, he stammered, "Th-Theosbane?"

I nodded matter-of-factly.

"Wh-What's a Theosbane doing here?" He asked, his pupils shrinking. "What do you want?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Hmm? What do I want? I want many things, actually. A harem of beautiful sugar mommies who spoil me. A treasure chest that never runs out of gold. A devoted cult of admirers that worships me day and night—"

Before I could continue to voice my ridiculous wishes, the High Priest cut me off. "What do you want from us?!"

"...Oh!" I clapped my hands. "Now you're being specific. From you? Nothing. I already got what I wanted."

I gestured vaguely at the room full of dead bodies and smiled amicably. "I wanted you and the Overlord to fight to the death. You did it. Now, you're useless to me."

The High Priest's breath grew shallow. His pupils darted from corpse to corpse before snapping back to me. "W–What?"

I frowned, then let out a soft chuckle as if realizing something funny. "Oh, you still don't understand what happened here. You see, I am the one who was behind everything. I was the puppeteer pulling the strings. I made you fight each other."

In the game, after winning the Team Test, Michael and his squad received their first mission as a reward.

They had to investigate the Spirit Beast sightings in Ishtara.

The task was simple. Find out what was happening in the city and report back to the Academy.

It wasn't supposed to turn ugly.

But it did.

Michael was the first to sense something was off.

At first, it was little things.

Inconsistencies in official statements.

Authorities refusing to answer questions properly.

Witness testimonies that made no sense.

But the deeper he dug, the clearer the picture became.

First, he found that corruption ran deep in the city.

Many high-ranking Knights who should've been loyal to the Central Monarch were secretly in the Overlord's pocket.

The same went for most of the police officers.

Second, he noticed that instead of trying to hunt down the Spirit Beasts, the authorities were using every resource available at their disposal to cover up the attacks.

In fact, it seemed like they weren't trying to stop the Spirit Beasts at all. All their focus was on erasing the evidence that the attacks ever happened.

And they were going to absurd lengths to do so.

Michael, being the infuriatingly nosy bastard he was, kept investigating. He had a hunch — an itch at the back of his mind — that Lord Everan was somehow at the center of it all.

And he was right.

Under Overlord Everan's estate was a vast re

I smirked, tilting my head as I gazed down at him.

"I'm one of the Cadets sent here by the Apex Academy," I said casually. "After arriving, I made sure my Squad's focus stayed locked on the Overlord. I forged some documents — fake, of course — but the things they exposed were real."

I shrugged. "Like how the Overlord built a network of underground tunnels to deploy his Beasts in the city. Or the blueprints of the research facility hidden under his mansion."

As I spoke, the color drained from the High Priest's face.

I continued, my tone light, almost amused:

"I let my Squad discover those fake documents. To make sure they never doubted their authenticity, I had a certain police officer killed. After that, it was only a matter of time before they decided to raid the Overlord's mansion. It was all just as I had planned."

I crouched slightly, watching as realization dawned in his widening eyes.

"And from there? Everything fell into place. I broke into your office and stole every bit of sensitive data I could find — evidence of your dealings with the Overlord, proof of how you funded him, how you provided the workers for his construction projects."

Bowden's lips parted as he tried to speak, but I didn't let him.

"I sent you a little blackmail message," I continued smoothly. "Pretended to be a thief who was looking to make money. I told you that the Overlord had hired me to steal that data. And, naturally, you assumed he was planning to betray you."

The High Priest's face twisted in a mix of rage and disbelief.

I chuckled. "You bought my lie. Hook, line, and sinker."

I straightened up. "Then I sent Overlord a text — this time, pretending to be your informant. I told him that the Cadets were coming for him because you had sold him out. And, as a token of my goodwill, I gave him the location of your safe house."

His breath hitched.

"The Overlord believed me, too." I shrugged. "I don't know what he did with the Cadets, but after dealing with them, he came straight here. The rest? Well, you know the rest."

I spread my arms, gesturing at the carnage around us. "You came here. He was waiting for you. You both fought. Just as I hoped you would."

I tilted my head, my smirk turning into a wide grin. "And in the end, you killed each other — or, well, you killed him."

I took a step closer, watching as the full weight of the truth crashed down on him. "Just like I hoped you would."