Reincarnated and Regressed Villain - Make heroines beg for forgiveness

Chapter 210: Chapter 210- Time skips of training time

Two months later,

"Ah... um... nhh... it's hard!" Esme cried out, feeling the intensity of today's workout. She looked towards Regina, who held her sheathed sword, using it as a stick while marking the ground.

"Now try to do it again," Regina said, slightly closing the distance. She decreased the mana density surrounding Esme to let her practice her ability in a less dense environment.

"Umm, my head hurts," Esme complained, clearly feeling the suppression caused by the dense mana around her. It was enough to appear solid, blocking her illusions from forming correctly by guiding the surrounding mana.

To be exact, Esme was training with Regina to hone her ability's strength to guide mana, even when dealing with denser concentrations.

Being of a lower rank, it consumed a large amount of her mana to guide denser ones, leading to a significant weakness in her ability if someone discovered it in mid-battle.

So, she was using Regina to help her out.

However, it seemed Regina went all out and increased the mana density across tens of miles, preventing Esme from even letting her mana come out of her body.

In conclusion, for Esme, this was draining her entire energy core just to move her mana an inch away from her body, making her feel as if her whole self was stuck in hard concrete.

.

.

.

'Why isn't she doing physical training instead?' Ryuk wondered, standing at the center of a small crater. He glanced a few miles away, feeling the pressure of the surrounding mana increasing, understanding how Regina was training Esme in a one-sided manner.

Not much different than his own training method right now.

"You are distracted," a voice called out, causing him to turn towards a woman with fluttering hair and deep orange eyes, looking down at him with folded arms.

"Lady Drishti, I just took a peek," he said, moving his hand to his shoulder and pushing it up to adjust his dislocated arm from her previous hit.

Indeed, they were in the middle of a small spar.

SWISH

CRACK

Ryuk instantly vanished, the ground beneath him cracking due to the force exerted as he launched himself directly toward Drishti, arriving just a few steps away from her.

'He's slow to catch on,' Drishti thought, observing him as he appeared levitated in the air.

Her response time was much faster, her vision able to see everything in slow motion.

Both of their speeds had already surpassed the limits where light could reflect their images, making them technically invisible at that moment.

"Your anconeus muscle is weak," she said, easily deflecting the upcoming punch. She brought her two fingers together and tapped lightly on his arm near the elbow area.

"Kugh—?!" he grunted, pain exploding in his mind. Twisting his body to avoid the moment ending there, he landed a kick, which she also dodged.

'...again,' Drishti thought, her eyes following his every movement, narrowing as she glanced for any openings.

He seemed to be blocked in a position where turning his body in mid-air was impossible. Prompting her to move safely, she landed a punch in his gut.

Swish

But already anticipating the attack, Ryuk used his own Ether to create a soft barrier, throwing himself away from her.

Screech~!

His speed slid him to a halt, breaking the ground beneath him and creating a trail. He stopped at a distance, eyes keeping tabs on her movements.

"Haah, you are strong, Lady Drishti," Ryuk exhaled, dusting off his clothes before lifting his gaze towards Drishti. He gave a small clap, wearing a slight smile, though his eyes betrayed coldness as he observed the woman in front of him.

Previously, when sparring with Valhale, he was able to find one or two openings and exploit them.

But even after training with Drishti for two months, he hadn't found a single opening or weakness.

To put it simply, she was like a battle machine without any vulnerabilities.

'I guess it will take more time,' he thought, understanding that it was impossible for anyone to be completely without weaknesses. It could take him more time to uncover hers.

In conclusion, Drishti was analyzing his body and abilities, while he was analyzing her weaknesses—a mutual guard up against each other.

----

3 months later,

A man sat within the walls of a room with metallic surfaces, seemingly infused with Ether, making them hard enough not to break easily.

Moonlight coming through the window accentuated his shirtless body, with chiseled muscles appearing without a bit of fat, tightened even more in the Lotus position as he focused on the circulation of energy within his body.

The task was arduous, evident from the frowns forming on his face and his haggard breathing.

Ryuk seemed focused as, deep within his core, something stirred.

In the center of his heart, an orb of light—his Ether core—started to pulse, slowly at first, then with increasing vigor.

This core, the source of his energy, shimmered and glowed, producing a radiant energy called Ether.

The Ether flowed outward, moving like a river of light toward his solar plexus, the body's control center where energies converged and dispersed.

As the Ether reached the solar plexus, it collected, forming a bright, glowing pool of energy. The intensity grew, and the heat began to build.

From the solar plexus, the Ether split into countless streams, each one branching out to different parts of his body.

The flow was systematic, moving with purpose, forcibly making paths by tearing through blockages.

First, the streams coursed through his blood, infusing his veins with a luminous glow that seemed to vaporize all remaining impurities.

And then, that pure blood carried the energy throughout his body, ensuring that no part was left untouched.

Next, the Ether began to saturate his muscles. As it flowed into the fibers, they expanded and contracted, growing denser and stronger.

His skin, too, absorbed the energy, becoming tougher, more resilient, and taking on a subtle, almost imperceptible sheen.

The removal of toxins caused an intense odor to surround him as his skin, now spotless, hardened.

The Ether continued its journey, delving deeper into his body.

It reached his bones, and the marrow within them seemed to bathe in that energy. The bones grew more solid, yet somehow lighter, as if the Ether was weaving a web of strength and flexibility within them.

All the while, the solar plexus continued to heat up, slowly reaching its limit.

The energy it had gathered and redistributed was immense, and it struggled to contain it all, even though it had been expanded and optimized by Drishti for this moment.

Five months of training to hone his body to bear the pressure and for the solar plexus to act as the most crucial part in doing so seemed to fail now.

The heat grew more intense, spreading outwards from the center of his body.

It was as if a sun had been lit within him, radiating waves of heat and excruciating pain, visible from the blackening of his skin which soon emanated the smell of burning flesh.

As the energy scattered, his solar plexus reached a critical point. The accumulated heat and pressure were too much to bear.

With a sudden, explosive release, the solar plexus burst.

"Cough! —drip drip." Ryuk leaned toward the ground as he coughed up a mouthful of blood, his eyes heavy with excruciating pain emanating from his solar plexus, which had just been destroyed from within.

Thud

It was as if death had just knocked on the door, with him falling freely to the floor, his head hitting the tiles, instantly breaking them, proving the loss of control over the newly infused Ether in his body.

His eyes, which seemed amber, now started to lose their hue.

It was instantaneous, an unexpected turn of events since he had calculated that upon reaching the point of harm, his ability would nullify the excess energy.

But it didn't work at the final line.

'Damn it.' There was an error in his calculation regarding *Shunya*—it didn't work when he needed it most.

His eyes slowly started to lose their light, getting lost in the depth of unconsciousness as the remaining bit of awareness drifted away.

What lay in that room was a lifeless body on the floor with open eyes holding no color.

Everything would have been well if it wasn't for *Shunya* malfunctioning at the last moment.

thump thump...

With a soft hum, the remaining sound of his heartbeat also stopped.

Silence~

[Auto Healing Initiating...]

Due to auto healing being enabled by the system for emergency situations, it triggered the healing process to mend the broken solar plexus and replenish the body with vitality.

"Haaah....Haaah." Suddenly his body snapped forward, sitting while gasping, his trembling pupils observing the whole room, realizing that he was still alive.

At that moment, only one thought crossed his mind with clear anger: 'What the hell is that piece of shit doing?'

Of course, Ryuk knew whatever had just happened now definitely had the System's hand in it.