I will not die a Villainess's death

Axia had fallen silent as soon as he had been grabbed by the emperor. He regarded the emperor with hooded eyes, his expression not changing whatsoever.

But that was what unnerved Eve. How could anyone remain so calm when being threatened like this? And Adam was not an easy person to get along with.

"Calm down a little, Emperor Adam. I was about to tell you how you can get to Elysia Dirac. The first thing you need to do is to conquer this drift in space."

The grey-haired man sounded so confident Eve had to believe his words to be true. How could anyone make such a claim without having certain knowledge? And the lack of stuttering present in Axia's voice also said everything about his confidence.

Adam tightened his hand around Axia's neck a little tighter, cutting his oxygen flow and his eyes glaring at Aixa in a threatening manner. But the man was unbothered.

"Truly, you have to hear me out before you kill me. You see, Elysia Dirac's powers are what is maintaining this drift and she would have to continue doing so as long as the drift is there. At the same time, we cannot close the rift because it would cause this world to collapse-"

"Don't care. Let the world burn and crash if it wants to. I just want to meet Elysia Dirac again. This world is not my concern."

Eve wanted to say that Axia was dumbfounded by Adam's words but it would be giving too much credit to his expression.

But even so, Aixa's blank expression finally showed some kind of emotion that was different from his previous ones. It was as if he was finally awakening from a dream he had been having.

"Adam, you cannot just say this. The world-"

"Is not my priority and it never was. You should know what kind of man I am better than anyone."

Of course, Eve knew because she was no different from Adam. even though she said that they should save the world and make it a priority, the fact that she had not jumped the ship as soon as it had been mentioned showed how conflicted she was.

She was just pretending to be nice and claimed to be a good person.

"I think I see the mistake I made. I made you both too similar to each other so now it is difficult for you both to like each other. Nonetheless, it is not something that will matter much in the future."

Axia seemed to be pondering something before he forced Adam's hand off his neck. There were no signs of bruises or other abuse on his body.

It seemed as if Adam had simply touched the man and never threatened him to begin with. It was such a weird and unsettling sight for Eve to see.

"You both have your own choice. You can either help me out and save Elysia Dirac, or you can hide away and take your chances of never seeing her again. It is up to you now to decide."

Eve gritted her teeth as she considered Axia's words. It was not even a question at this point because this man knew they would agree. Adam especially would not let this chance lie.

Eve was suspicious about the fact that this man was pressing this hard about this fight but she did not want to risk things. Even the Head Priest had decided to do everything in his power to make it all happen.

And one thing Eve was sure about her adoptive father- he never did things halfway. If he had participated in this scheme then he should be sure about Axia.

"I don't like you and your intentions but I will do it for a chance to meet Elysia Dirac. Send me a message about what and how you want to do things. I will provide you with my support."

Eve was not surprised at Adam's easy acceptance of his fate and his role.

"And you, Saintess Eve? Will you go against us? Or will you help us out as well?"

Fighting was something Eve was inherently against. Her blood boiled and her powers forced her to dislike all of this unnecessary bloodshed.

But still, she felt a thrill go down her spine as soon as she thought of meeting Elysia again. It made her impatient and the itch to finish this fight was getting more and more prominent.

"I will join this fight as well. I hope you do not make me regret joining you later."

Finally, Axia laughed and his smile was genuine. Eve was unnerved by that smile so she did not say anything.

"Well, it is nice to see you both join in the fight. I will send you a message as soon as we have prepared the necessary battle plan. Until then, you can relax and move around."

This was a dismissal if Eve had even heard one. And her mind also agreed with the man to leave.

She could feel that she was under the influence of foreign magic but Eve could not bring herself to break it. Adam seemed unaware of his moment as well unless they were both out of the temple.

Once they were finally out, Adam cursed his inattentiveness at being caught lacking. He looked pissed off that he had moved out of the door while unaware.

"Fuck it. How did I…Fuck…"

Adam tried to open the door but the place he wanted to go was no longer connected to the door. All he could do was curse and pound on the door to get answers. But he would not get his answers now.

They both would have to wait around for the chance to meet Axia again and then get answers. And this time, they would not get their emotions mixed up.

///////////////////////////////

"Hey, are you sure we are going the right way? This side of the rift is surprisingly mundane compared to our world. It almost looks medieval in looks."

Serina complained as she landed on her feet again. The monsters were getting powerful but Serina was able to dispose of them easily.

She was lucky that Lexus was with her because this was too much for a single person to handle. This side of the rift was getting annoying.

And the worst part was- she could not even connect to her family as long as she was here. The frequency of the waves emitted in the rift made communication impossible.

"Serina quit complaining. You knew what you were signing up for when you decided to come here. We will only be able to go home once we have the rift closed."

Lexus shot down Serina's complaints while still trying to get to the end of the forest. Not only was the canopy dense but it was also irritating to be in this place for so long.

The worst part was, they had not managed to find human presence all the while they had been here. But they both were sure that humans did exist in this world.

"Ugh, how long will we have to walk before we see any signs of civilization? My feet feel like they are about to break off."

Serina complained as she threw her knife. Another small monster fell from the tree as soon as the knife pinned it down the tree. It was a smooth-looking snake with beady eyes.

"Hey, halt there. Who are you and where did you come from? Why are you killing all these divine beasts?"

Of course, the first sign of human activity would turn out to be hostile to them. It was a female with weird eyes and a scaly face. And she looked pissed off about what was happening in the forest.

Serina was happy to see a somewhat human figure in front of her. She even disregarded the hostile looks that were looking at her.

"Thank god we met you. I thought I had gotten lost and-"

"Serina, look out."

Lexus blocked the attack that was aimed at Serina. The other human (creature?) had attacked to protect its home which made Lexus certain that she considered them as threats.'

Serina, who had not considered something like this to happen, looked surprised and pissed off at being attacked this openly.

"Hey, what gives? I was just trying to be friendly to you."

Serina complained as she drew her weapon out as well. Their attacker regarded them with a critical eye before she raised her hand.

The ground beneath their feet shook and they both felt shocks head toward them. It was turning into a fight they could not avoid.

"Serina, we need to avoid this fight at all costs. Hurry up and run toward the edge."

Lexus knew that nothing good would come from fighting openly like this. So they needed to head toward a safer space. And the only place that looked helpful was the shadow of the large building in the far distance.

It was their only hope of survival now.