Player Chapter 4. More Than The Villain
Another servant lunged from his blind spot, predictable. Riven pivoted before the claw fully extended, his hand flickering with a pulse of mana. The blade he held dissolved into light mid-swing and reshaped in his grip.
[Summoned: Twin Daggers]
He dropped low, a shadow slipping between ribs and thigh, daggers cutting upward in twin arcs. Tendons parted. Black blood sprayed warm across his cheek. He didn't blink. He never blinked when killing his enemy.
One dagger snapped into the creature's throat. The other slid into the joint beneath the jaw. Twist. Pull. The vampire crumpled with a hiss that sounded like steam escaping a cracked valve.
He felt it then, that quiet hum inside his chest. The one he usually got at match point. The kind that made crowds scream and rivals crack.
A servant vaulted over the fallen body, fangs bared. Riven didn't retreat. He stepped in. Close enough to smell the copper on its breath. He let it think it had him. Let it commit. Then he snapped his wrist, and the daggers evaporated.
[Summoned: War Spear]
The spearhead formed inches from the vampire's sternum, thrusting through with clean, clinical efficiency. Riven's shoulder rolled with the impact.
He lifted and pinned the creature midair against a stone pillar. The sound it made was wet and offended. He tilted his head as if considering an art piece.
"Next."
He didn't say it loudly. He didn't need to.
Another came from above, two, actually. Coordinated pounce. Smart. Riven smiled. He pulled the spear free and it dissolved as he stepped backward, eyes tracking their descent like a hawk following rabbits in snow.
[Summoned: Broadshield + Shortblade]
The shield manifested with a heavy thud against his forearm. Claws struck it in a shriek of metal on bone. He absorbed the impact and pivoted, letting their combined weight carry them off balance. The shortblade flashed in tight, efficient movements, one under the ribs, one across the femoral artery. He kicked one off him and shoulder checked the other into a tumbling roll.
Blood sprayed across the throne steps.
Riven's heartbeat slowed.
That was the thing about him, when the room went to hell, he got calm. The chaos sharpened him. The noise filtered into music. His eyes were clear. Sharp. Calculating.
A servant feinted left and then vanished. Riven felt the air change behind him.
[Predator Instinct – Passive Active]
The system flared faintly at the edge of his vision. He didn't read it.
He spun and let the shortblade vanish.
[Summoned: Heavy Greataxe]
The axe head came down in a brutal diagonal arc that split the air with a low thunderclap. It caught the shadow-stepping vampire mid-materialization. There was a beat of disbelief on the creature's face before physics corrected it.
The axe bit deep. Riven followed through. The body hit the floor in two pieces.
The raid party stared.
Most of them were on their knees.
The paladin, armor cracked and halo dimming, had stopped mid-prayer. The healer's staff trembled in her hands. They were supposed to be the heroes. They were supposed to be the ones dancing with death.
Instead, they were watching a man who looked like he'd just stepped out of a sponsorship deal dismantle a boss room like it was a scrim match.
Victoria had gone very still.
Her crimson gaze tracked him without blinking.
He felt it like heat on his skin.
Another servant came screaming from the right, wild with rage. Riven exhaled through his nose. He let the axe fall away into light.
[Summoned: Longbow]
He didn't draw an arrow. The arrow formed with the string.
One shot.
Through the eye.
The body fell before the echo finished.
Two more rushed from opposite sides.
He didn't bother turning.
[Summoned: Mana Blades – Six]
Six slender blades of blue light flickered into existence around him. He threw them, darting in intersecting paths. The vampires were skewered mid-sprint, pinned to walls, throats, and pillars in a grotesque constellation of violence.
Riven tilted his head, smirking the same way he did when his dark side took over during a match. He usually suppressed it for the sake of his family's reputation. But here? Oh, he would let it loose.
His cheek was streaked with blood, not his. His coat was darkened along the hem. His breathing was steady. Controlled.
A final servant hesitated.
Smart one.
It circled him slowly.
Testing.
Riven's lips curled.
The vampire lunged.
Riven caught the wrist mid-swing. Fingers tightened. This time, his gauntlets gave him real damage. He twisted. Bone snapped. He drove his knee up into its abdomen and headbutted it hard enough to rattle fangs loose. He grabbed the creature by the throat and slammed it into the throne steps.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
It stopped moving.
He held it there a moment longer than necessary.
Then let go.
Silence flooded the chamber like water filling a cracked ship.
The last servant lay still.
Black blood pooled across the marble.
Riven stood in the middle of it.
Breathing evenly.
Smiling.
And yeah, if anyone asked… he looked more villain than the Vampire Empress ever could.
Even Victoria seemed to notice.
There was no rage on her face now.
Just… something else.
Shock.
Recognition.
Interest.
He wiped his thumb across his cheek, then glanced at the smear of blood. Without breaking eye contact with her, he dragged his thumb across his lower lip and licked it clean.
Copper.
Warm.
His grin deepened.
The paladin made a strangled noise.
The healer whispered something that sounded suspiciously like a prayer.
Riven flexed his fingers.
[Create Weapons – Active Skill Cooldown Minimal]
He walked forward slowly, boots crunching lightly through broken bone and shattered pride.
The paladin raised his sword weakly.
Riven's gaze flicked to him. "Relax."
The paladin froze. "Are you our friend?"
Riven tilted his head. "Maybe. But if I wanted you dead, you'd be dead."
He didn't say it arrogantly.
Just as fact.
He stepped past them like they were furniture and ascended the throne steps one measured stride at a time.
Victoria didn't move.
Didn't summon power.
Didn't speak.
She just watched.
The distance between them closed.
Three steps away.
Two.
One.
He stopped at the base of her throne.
Blood dripped from his coat hem onto the marble.
He looked up at her.
Crimson eyes met dark ones.
There was a long, quiet second where the air between them felt tight enough to cut.
He could feel it.
The tension.
The power.
The humiliation still lingering from earlier.
And beneath that…
Curiosity.
He smiled lazily. "Your turn… Your Majesty."
The words were soft.
Almost polite.
The paladin whispered behind him, "He's insane…"
Maybe.
Probably.
But Riven wasn't here to play hero.
He wasn't here to follow scripts.
He was here to test systems.
To break patterns.
To see what happened when you flipped the board.
And right now…
He wanted to know exactly how powerful the Vampire Empress really was. Because something in her gaze told him this fight? Would be fun.