Villain: The Play of Destiny

"Keith!"

"Yes?" He replied without looking at the excited girl who was tightly holding his arm.

"How did you do it?" She asked for the hundredth time tonight.

"Do what?" And he questioned back for the hundredth time, not paying attention to her as he went through some letters that he had received in the evening.

"Stop playing around now!" Rebecca irritatedly said and then glanced at the letter he was reading. "Hades?" She frowned when she saw the name signed at the bottom of the letter. "Isn't he the Head of Zero, the fifth most powerful Mercenary Organization in the world?"

"Yes. It's him." Keith nodded to her and then brightly smiled at her. "Watch!" He brought her attention back to the letter, which suddenly caught fire and then turned into ashes.

"How did you do it?!" She asked again, this time, shaking him up a little.

"It's magic." He replied and then looked at Amelia, who was curiously looking at him as well.

"Magic?" His wife lightly smiled at him, and his mother, who was reading the letters he had earlier read, turned her attention to him as well.

He knew he could not keep quiet about it for long. Amelia would not really push him, and he could handle Rebecca as well, but if his mother decided to make him answer her questions, he knew that he would be helpless before her.

"It really is Magic." He smiled at them and seriously said. "Aura is not the only source of Power for Cultivators. Mana exists too, and there are Races in existence that are naturally born with an affinity for Mana. Just like Aurors, there are Mages. However, as a Cultivator progresses on the path of Cultivation, both Aura and Mana become indispensable. Aurors need to refine their Aura with Mana, and Mages need to refine their Mana with Aura, otherwise, both can not progress further after reaching a certain Realm of Cultivation." He informed them and then looked Amelia in the eyes. "And Gods are existences who have achieved a perfect harmony between their Aura and Mana."

His wife smiled when she heard his words. She had received the answer she wanted, and she knew that she would be able to use this power one day.

"What are the key differences between the two?" His mother thoughtfully asked.

"Mana can manipulate reality. Aura can not." He said. "But Aura is indispensable for any person who wants to live a long life and become physically stronger. Unlike Mana, Aura is found in all living beings, and it is primarily their source of life. Every living being has some Aura in them or they would not be alive."

"Do you have to separately cultivate in both?" Rebecca frowned.

"No." Keith shook his head. "You can start with Aura, and you can refine Mana when you reach a certain realm of Cultivation. When that happens, the Mana you refine will become part of your Aura, and eventually, your body will automatically start refining and producing it. You can perform Magic using your refined Aura."

"But you can use it even though you are only at the Peak of Nascent Profound Realm." Rebecca pouted when she realised that she would have to wait a long time to perform Magic.

"It's one of the benefits of being the Inheritor of a God." He shrugged. "But I should be an exception even amongst the Inheritor of Gods."

Venessa raised her brow at his word and the other two frowned as well.

"The control I have over it, and how fast my body is refining my Aura with Mana, it should be impossible for any other Inheritor of a God." He lightly said and then proudly smiled at Rebecca.

"Here you go again with your narcissism!" She playfully punched him on his shoulder and then looked at the ashes of the letter on the table. "What did Hades want from you?"

"He asks for an Audience." Keith sank back into the couch and closed his eyes.

"Is it because of Ingrid?" The blonde girl guessed.

"It should be." He nodded.

"And what about this heartfelt apology by someone named Aphrodite?" His mother suddenly asked.

"Oh! Aphrodite wrote you a letter too?" Rebecca mischievously grinned and then turned to look at Amelia. "Did he tell you that the Goddess of Lust wants to make him one of her paramours?"

Her words made both his wife and his mother frown, and the latter dangerously smiled.

"Is that so?" His mother asked him.

"It's her nature." He shrugged. "But I am not fond of such women."

"Good." Venessa nodded to him and then handed the letters back to him. "You really plan on inviting the High-Priest, Hermes, and Wednesday to your engagement ceremony?"

"They won't be a bother." He assured her. "Volos will be coming too."

"And this Hades that seeks your Audience?" She sensed that her child was a little conflicted over the matter concerning this person named Hades.

"He won't be coming." He shook his head. "And I don't think he would be allowed to step foot inside of Netheria since he is a Mercenary King."

"Are you going to meet him?" She frowned.

"He has invited me to the Dubai World Cup." He informed her. "And it just so happens that I planned on attending it this year."

Keith then picked up a paper to pen down a reply to the Child of Destiny who wanted to meet him. He only wrote a couple of lines, accepting the latter's invitation. And then signed his name as Erebus.

"Qin Feng?" Rebecca curiously looked at the name of the person he addressed the letter.

"Yes. His real name is Qin Feng." He nodded to her before sealing the envelope.

"So Hermes runs a mailing service." The blonde girl could not help but giggle when she watched Keith dial a number he had saved as Hermes, which was picked up by an automated interface where he chose the option of a Delivery Service.

"Yup. He's the Underworld's Mailman." He chuckled and then put his phone aside before he sent a call through his digital watch to Viola, who arrived in the lounge within a couple of minutes.

"Young Master!" She politely greeted him and accepted the letter he handed over to her.

"The person who delivered these letters earlier will be coming again, and you will give him this letter."

Viola nodded to him and then bowed before taking her leave from the room.

Venessa and Amelia excused themselves too since they had work to attend to. And only Rebecca remained in the lounge with Keith, who was chatting with a girl named Alana on his phone.

She did not really want to pry on it, but after he kept ignoring her for a few minutes, she inadvertently looked at the screen again.

"You wrote songs for her?" She surprisedly asked.

"For her to sing them." He corrected her and then said goodbye to the girl he was texting to. "She's going to release her first song on my birthday."

"Interesting." She teasingly nudged him with her elbow. "Tell me about her!"

"There's nothing to tell. She's a brilliant musician, and someone whom I personally hired for my Music Label." He shrugged and replied.

"And she's someone you write songs for!"

"For her to sing them." He corrected her again and then turned to look her in the eyes. "It's quite late. Don't you plan on going back home?" He curiously asked.

Rebecca had come over in the morning since it was Sunday and she had nothing to do. It was then that she happened to catch him helping Victor with the One-Fold Heart Pulse, and when she learned about how beneficial it was, she made him help her Shadow with it too.

Later, she joined him and his family to watch the Annual Conference of the House of Governors, and then she just stayed over for dinner, and now, it was almost midnight.

"I am staying over." She brightly smiled at him. "Aunt Venessa gave me a room in her section of the Manor. I will be staying here from now on."

Keith stayed silent at her words and kept looking into her eyes.

"What?" She pouted. "Are you not happy?"

"No." He bluntly said and Rebecca looked at him in disbelief.

"Why?!" She feigned some hurt and then latched onto his arm.

"My choice." He simply said and then looked her in the eyes. "Now, tell me why do you plan on staying at my Manor?"

"It's my Manor too now." She firmly said before begrudgingly looking at him. "I thought you would not mind..."

"I did not say that I mind it." He cut her off. "Tell me why you are here." He seriously asked.

"I ran out of wine, and I want you to help me start Cultivating." She finally told him the truth and then pouted when he sighed and shook his head disappointedly.

"Only one bottle a day." He spoke after a minute, and the blonde girl happily hugged him.

"I think I am falling in love with you, Keith!" She excitedly said.

"Right." He chuckled and shook his head before picking her up in a princess carry. "Let's go to bed."

"What?!" His words scared her and all her excitement disappeared.

"What?" He smirked at her. "Don't you plan on repaying me for the wine? And I have decided that I want your body as payment."

"You rascal!" She playfully punched him in the chest and then unleashed all the curse words she knew at him.

Rebecca knew that he was only messing with her, and the two of them kept playing around until they reached the door of the Multi-purpose room next to Keith and Amelia's bedroom.

Inside, they found their Shadows engaged in a duel. Rebecca excitedly watched the fight and clapped whenever Yingying or Marianne performed a move that was too stunning to behold. This fight was arguably better than any fight scene she had watched in the movies, and she loved every moment of it.

Yingying was just too graceful, nimble, and enviably flexible. The way she moved her body, switched the moves midway, and flawlessly guarded against everything that Marianne threw at her, she was just too breathtakingly skilled to watch and left the golden blonde in awe of her.

In the end, as expected, Marianne lost when Yingying pinned her down and locked her movements. And the blonde girl loudly cheered for them.

"How do you feel?" Keith smiled and asked Marianne, who has stood up and bowed to him in a greeting.

"It's a miraculous technique." The girl with the bob-cut reverently replied. "Thank you for helping me!" And then bowed again to him.

"Want to do it again?" Rebecca teasingly asked, remembering the morning when Marianne had been screaming out in pain as Keith broke her body down.

"No, Master. I need to take a day off before practising it again." Marianne shook his head.

"Okay. We will be staying here from now on. So, you can take it easy."

Rebecca kept chatting with Keith for a long time before she decided to call it a day and left together with her Shadow.

After they were gone, Keith raised his head and looked at Yingying, who was obediently kneading his shoulders. And then a mischievous smile crept on his face.

Yingying seemed to have sensed danger, as her heart thumped hard against her chest. But she did not resist her Master when he suddenly walked over to her and picked her up before taking her to her room.

She had kept him waiting long enough, and tonight, she was not going to escape his clutches.