Villain: The Play of Destiny

"Keith..." Nana cutely yawned and sat up when he exited the dressing room and frowned when she found him wearing some sort of combat uniform.

Her eyes inadvertently glanced at the clock, and it showed that it was almost 4 am, and a bad premonition hit her.

"Everything okay?" She worriedly asked.

"Sebastian has been attacked. Ryou is currently engaged against Ye Tian. I have to go..." He told her and came over to plant a kiss on her head.

"Don't!" She instinctively said, and received another kiss, this time on her forehead.

"I will be fine and will come back by breakfast time." He promised her before rushing out of the room and running down the hallways.

Yingying was already waiting outside in the car, and as soon as he got into the driving seat, he slammed the accelerator, darting off rather recklessly.

"Iris." He called out to her and soon heard her voice through the earpiece he was wearing in his right ear.

"Ryou is injured, but he's holding well."

"Sebastian?"

"The Demiliore Shadow Guards have safely evacuated him. The injuries he has suffered are not lethal and he will be fine."

"Do not let July and Nike engage. And hold back the special forces. Tell them that our Unit is dealing with Ye Tian."

"Have already informed the Headquarters, Senpai. And I am keeping an eye on July and Nike."

"Where's Z?"

"He's nearby and waiting for your orders."

"Tell him again that he's not allowed to interfere unless Ryou's life is in danger. As soon as I arrive there, he must escape from the vicinity."

"Yes, Senpai!"

"How many Shields do you have on you?" Keith looked at Yingying and asked.

"Lady Amelia placed a total of 16 Shields on my body."

"You will go and help Ryou. Do not hesitate to use all the Shields, and if you run out of them, you must retreat."

"Yes, Master." She did not ask any questions and simply accepted his command.

Keith drove down the freeway that led to the southern part of the city. And when he exited onto a street, it was blocked by the Police and there was a traffic jam.

"Let's go." He parked the car on the side and then together with Yingying, took a route through the building that led to sector 24, which was a shopping district and a park. It was where Ryou was engaged in a battle with Ye Tian.

The electricity in this sector had been cut off, and the area was completely sealed. All the electronic devices in the surroundings were jammed, and the people in the hotels around the Park were informed that a terrorist attack was underway, which was why they must not step out of their rooms.

Keith could hear the sound of the battle from hundreds of meters away, and he nodded to Yingying who rushed ahead of him, whilst he ran in a different direction.

There was a building on the side of the park that provided a good vantage point, and he stood there, watching the battle unfold.

Ryou was surrounded by his Aura Beast Avatar, which was a giant leopard of nearly three meters in height made out of greyish-silver Aura, and his opponent, whose body was oozing out a strange orange flame, was also surrounded by his Aura Beast Avatar, which happened to be a winged Dragon made out of his shiny orange Aura.

Most of their attacks were blocked by their Avatars, but some did manage to get past their defences and landed on them, injuring them.

What Keith saw was the Dragon eventually overpowering the leopard, and he knew that Ryou needed help right now. However, he wanted to push Yingying into the battle so that she could learn from it.

Ye Tian was visibly raged when he saw Yingying enter the battle. When he recognised that she was Keith's Shadow, his rage heightened even further. He started targeting her alone, intending to kill her as soon as possible. He knew that a Shadow was very important to their Master, and he wanted Keith to feel the pain of losing the person he trusted the most in his life.

A furious cry sounded out right before Ye Tian rushed at a terrifying speed at Yingying and his draconic claw slashed across her neck.

He thought that he had done the job, but to his dismay, a golden barrier suddenly appeared around the girl's body, and though it shattered under the force of his attack, she had escaped unscathed.

His surprise came at a cost since Ryou was not someone to miss on the opportunity, and the Aura-laced dagger left a fairly deep cut on his left arm, which he had used to protect his neck from being slashed.

Even after tagging up, both of them were visibly struggling against the fabled Child of Destiny, whose mind was drowning in rage.

Keith frowned as he watched Ye Tian hell-bent on taking out Yingying. The stubborn man seemed to have lost his brain cells as he had already wasted too much time. By now, he should have already retreated. If things continued as they were, he would have to step in and fight against him, which was going to cause a lot of destruction that was not desirable.

He could see the stats of the Ye Tian, and though he had gained in strength, it was not much, but Destiny seemed to have accelerated his grasp over his special Physique as he seemed to not run out of stamina, and the orange flame around him was growing hotter over time.

A shattering sound reverberated all around when a devastating fist collided against the golden Shields Yingying had utilised to save herself. She had used two of them at the same time to protect herself, which proved to be a good decision as she still suffered some damage from the force behind that punch.

Ignoring the pain, she shifted her body weight on her hand and sent a double-kick at her attacker, who was preoccupied with dealing with Ryou, who had sneaked up on him from behind.

Their combined attack forced Ye Tian to retreat, and Keith narrowed his eyes when he found Yingying struggling to keep away the heat of the orange flames surrounding her opponent.

Keith sighed when they continued fighting for a few more minutes and then took out a mask from the Space Ring.

He had bought it earlier from the System Shop, and though it was nothing special, it could cover your face and make you appear a little hazy to people thanks to the spell on it.

Ye Tian finally managed to grab onto Ryou, and then just when he was about to break his arm, his instincts screamed at him and he jumped up in the air, letting go of lithe boy, and avoiding the black flame that had suddenly sprouted from the ground. But soon a sinking feeling gripped his heart.

Before he could understand what was happening, he felt himself getting hit on the back, and his body and mind were rattled by the force behind it.

He crashed into the ground, spreading web-like cracks on it and creating a depression there.

The orange flame on his body started growing weaker, but before Keith could grab him, his body erupted in flames, which was soon followed by an explosion.

Keith paid no heed to Ye Tian, who had finally realised that he had to run away, and proceeded to save Yingying from the explosion which was quite powerful.

Ryou was fine since his Aura Beast protected him, but Yingying was still not in the Spirit Profound Realm, and she had run out of the Shields in the battle against Ye Tian.

When the light from the explosion subsided and the world seemed deathly silent, Keith stood by the side of Yingying and stared at the crater that had been left in the ground.

"Senpai, I have a lock on him. He's running to the eastern part of the city." Isuel's voice sounded out in his ear.

"Allow the security forces to enter the area in two minutes. Notify the Headquarters that Ye Tian has escaped, and make them send all the units available after him."

"Hai, Senpai!"

Keith glanced at Ryou, who had his head lowered.

"Let's go." He said and turned around, and the two of them followed him out of the area.

"I am sorry, Master."

"For what?" He smiled at the young man in the backseat when he started driving the car off.

"I tried to run away, but he was quite fast and I could not shake him off."

"I know. Had you managed to run away, I wouldn't have come to save you. You protected Sebastian, which was your mission. Good job!"

Both Ryou and Yingying kept their heads lowered on their journey back home. After dropping Ryou at his quarters, the two of them entered the Manor and found almost everyone in the main lounge wide awake.

The only one who was not here was Minami, and Kiara immediately rushed up to him, hugging him tightly.

"I need to check on Sebastian." He gently said to her and she immediately let go of him.

Caesar led him to the room where Sebastian was resting, and he had never seen Sebastian in a worse shape than this, not even after he survived Caesar's brutal training sessions.

"Young Master..."

"Why were you not at the Manor at that hour of the night?" He cut Sebs off and sternly asked.

"I..."

"I warned you to stay cautious."

"He killed several of my men and made one of them call me over. Meladona of the Ninth Junction was set on fire..."

"And you were worried about the little lover of yours that stays in the apartment inside that club." Keith indifferently said. "I know why you went there when you shouldn't have."

Sebs kept his eyes lowered in shame, and felt even more guilty when Keith silently proceeded to give him a check-up and relieved the pain from his body.

"Rest well."

He nodded his head to the command and obediently closed his eyes.

"He will be fine after a good sleep," Keith informed Caesar even though the old man has not once asked about it. "Don't be too hard on him."

"Yes, Young Master." Caesar nodded to his words, but Keith knew that Sebastian was in for a beating as soon he gets out of bed.

Luckily for him, his mother was not there. Otherwise, he would have suffered a lot more than just a beating.