Dear Heroes, I really am a Villain
Chapter 84: The Queen of Time

Chapter 84: The Queen of Time

"You said that guy joined your crew for the first time? Isn’t that obvious? He was on probation; it’s normal for him to act like a good boy," Ricardo said, his mouth curling up into a smirk.

"What do you expect from a runaway girl still naive about life, huh?" Switch replied with self-mockery.

Hearing this, Ricardo let out a sigh.

"Look... I don’t know what your past is, and I don’t want to know either. I saw how you looked at him. And from where I stand, the boss’s brother is nothing like that bastard. He’s a genuinely good man, no doubt about it. Give yourself a chance," Ricardo said, patting Switch on the shoulder before walking away, leaving her with her thoughts.

"Give myself a shot, huh?" Switch murmured to herself.

— Meanwhile — Maximilian’s House —

After returning home, Maximilian checked over his damaged armor and began basic repairs. He needed the suit functional again, but it sustained damage during his fight with Photon Fury.

He had also worn it during his attack on Don Reele’s estate. Still, he had protected the armor by coating its outer layer in shadows using his Umbra Sovereign ability.

However, that appeared to be the limit of what the armor could endure without maintenance. From a brief inspection, the most damage was concentrated on the protective outer layers meant to guard against gunfire. At the same time, the internal systems remained mostly intact. The primary internal damage lies in the kinetic absorption system.

For some reason, although the shadow membrane couldn’t be pierced by ordinary gunfire, its elastic nature provided no real resistance to kinetic energy like bullets or blunt force trauma.

It was like wearing an indestructible silk cloth. While the silk wouldn’t tear, if you weren’t wearing armor beneath it, a bullet could still strike you and drag the silk into your body, which would still be fatal.

That was the issue Maximilian faced during the Don Reele estate raid. The hail of bullets had nearly overloaded his suit’s kinetic absorption system, rendering it almost useless.

It was frustrating. Even though he had inherited all the combat and technical skills from Blood Mongoose and Shadow Thief, neither possessed the specific knowledge or expertise required to fully repair the suit. And since the armor was a prototype model, it was understandable that average maintenance skills weren’t enough to properly maintain it.

"Sigh~" Maximilian took a deep breath as he looked at his damaged armor. Despite having all the tools in his basement workshop, he could only restore it like an amateur, making patch-up repairs at best.

[Why the long face? Want some help? (´～｀) ] Atherna asked.

{Why? Is there anything in the system that can help?} Maximilian replied while welding an alloy panel onto the armor’s surface, patching the area melted beyond repair by Photon Fury’s outburst.

"Ouch!" Maximilian yelped as the weld missed its mark, and the heat burned the intricate internal structure of the armor, causing sparks to fly into his face.

[C’mon, put that thing into the system storage. This is a special service from me. (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ ] Atherna said as the system UI lit up, highlighting the system storage interface.

Maximilian was confused but did as Atherna instructed, placing all the armor pieces into the system storage.

—

Inside the castle beneath the starry sky, Atherna rose from her seat in front of a strange machine lined with screens and walked deeper into the castle.

The castle was opulent, filled with gold and dark wood, giving off a Victorian-meets-steampunk aesthetic. With a single step through a large door, her body shifted into a massive warehouse—so vast it could hold an entire city.

She walked toward a massive pile of items—no, weapons. Mixed among crates of food were enough blades, guns, and rocket launchers to arm a battalion, all complete with ammunition and ordnance.

As she stepped forward, her body seemed to swivel through the pile as if teleporting—not through normal space, but as though the very environment bent to her will. Space itself obeyed her.

Squish...

Atherna felt something squishy beneath her foot. She looked down.

"Ewww... why does he keep this thing instead of throwing it out?" Atherna muttered in disgust, stepping on a severed right arm.

If Gu Tian were here, he’d recognize it, his severed arm preserved perfectly since the moment it was cut off.

With a wave of her hand, Atherna moved the arm to a distant corner of the pile to avoid stepping on it again.

"Hmm... it should be at the top of the pile," she murmured. Her body vanished and reappeared instantly at the top.

"There it is!" Atherna beamed and waved her hand. The damaged armor floated up toward her. With a small twitch of her fingers, the armor began to reverse in time.

Like a movie in Rewind, the damage undone itself, the melted parts reformed, and the materials lost to fire and weld were retrieved through micro-portals that popped open as the reversal process continued.

The armor was fully restored in less than a minute as if it had just rolled off the production line. Even the smell of fresh paint lingered.

"Done!" Atherna chirped and placed the armor back in storage.

But before leaving, something else among the pile caught her eye.

"Huh?" She leaned down curiously and pulled it out.

"Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, 1945 vintage." Atherna read the label aloud, then her face bloomed into a charming smile. "Ara~ ara~ this is nice! I’ll take this as payment, Max."

Humming to herself, she vanished from the warehouse and reappeared in her seat.

With another flick of her wrist, a wine glass appeared from a time portal. She popped the cork and poured herself a glass, sipping leisurely in front of the strange machine.

—

Maximilian’s House

[It’s done, Max. You can take the armor out of the system storage now. (´∀`) ] Atherna announced.

"Okay." Maximilian nodded and retrieved the armor.

What appeared before him was as good as new... no, even better than new. It looked more pristine than when he first got it as if time itself had reversed the armor’s state to the moment it was manufactured.

"This... the smell... Is this fresh paint? Did you even repaint it?! You repaired it like new! And in such a short time!" Maximilian said, astonished.

[Huh? Repair?] Atherna tilted her head.

[No, I didn’t repair it. I just reversed time until it was freshly built and had passed its QC. But don’t expect this kind of service from me for free again, okay? Too much of it breaks the rules.]

"What kind of rules? Aren’t you just a dead spirit residing in the system? Or do you mean you can’t interfere too much with the system?" Maximilian asked.

[Something like a non-interference agreement. Too much interference could have consequences beyond what you can bear.] Atherna replied seriously.

Hearing that, Maximilian’s heart warmed.

"Thanks, Athel... for taking the risk for me," he said sincerely.

[No, Max. You don’t understand. The one who bears the consequences isn’t me. It’s you. That’s why I don’t want to do this sort of thing too often. If it were me bearing the price, I wouldn’t mind.] Atherna said, her voice quiet and earnest.

Maximilian’s heart trembled.

"Please... don’t. I don’t know what you’re doing or what consequences might come, but please don’t. It’s not good for my heart," Maximilian said with conviction.

[...] Atherna didn’t respond.

"Promise me, Athel!" he pressed.

[Fine, fine... I promise. (￣^￣) ]

"Keep your promise, okay?"

[Ugh, you’re such a worrywart. Careful, or you’ll go bald! (︶︿︶) ] she teased.

After that, Maximilian chatted with Atherna for a while before running a systems check on the armor. Satisfied, he equipped it and quietly slipped out of the house.

Before starting his third main quest, he wanted to visit and scout out the city center and see the Atlas Statue.

— MAIN QUEST: SCULPTURE DOMINATION! —

Description:

Every great villain must demonstrate their dominance to the world! Even when lacking the strength to guarantee survival, you must still assert your supremacy over your greatest enemy. Display your dominance today, become the greatest villain tomorrow!

Time Limit: None

Primary Objective: Destroy the ’Atlas’ statue in the city center

Bonus Objective: Defeat all who attempt to stop you

Reward: Upgrade Temporary Ability Sharing to Permanent Ability Sharing

Bonus Reward: A System Feature Upgrade of your choice

—

— The Castle in the Starry Sky —

After seeing that her beloved had left the house to survey the location for his upcoming main quest, Atherna sighed softly.

"Umm~" She rose from her seat and lazily stretched, feeling the fatigue of the day settling into her body. She was ready to call it a night.

Gong!... Gong!

The deep sound of the old castle doorbell echoed through the vast halls. Instantly, Atherna’s expression turned cold, as if all the bubbly, cheerful personality she had shown Maximilian was just a façade.

Her body vanished in an instant, reappearing before the massive golden steel door, adorned with intricate metallic patterns.

With a wave of her hand, the door creaked open wide, revealing a handsome young man with blond hair, clad in ancient Greek-style armor. He stood proudly, holding a large bouquet of flowers.

"Greetings, Your Majesty Atherna, Queen of Time. How has your day been?" the young man asked, bowing respectfully before her icy glare.

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