Witchbound Villain: Infinite Loop
269 – Verbal Napalm

The moment it started, Aroche knew it was going to be a shameless roast that would make everyone in attendance look down in shame.

But he didn’t flinch. He didn’t laugh either. He just exhaled—slow, through the nose—the way a man does when his best friend sets fire to a cathedral again and somehow expects applause.

Of course Burn ran his mouth. Of course he went there.

It was never enough to win with dignity. Burn had to salt the earth, repaint the sky, and tattoo his opponent’s shame across history’s face with verbal napalm. It was his nature. Not cruelty for cruelty’s sake—but an almost compulsive need to expose. Strip lies raw. Rip open the myth of authority and shout, “Look! See the mess beneath your sanctified robes!”

So when the bait landed—when Lancelot flinched at the name “Paschasius”—Aroche already knew Burn would press it like a bruise.

But what others might mistake as homophobic mockery, Aroche recognized for what it really was: Burn going for the throat of a liar.

He wasn’t surprised. 

Burn wasn’t throwing shade at the sexual attraction, he was dragging the fact that Lancelot, the Second Demon Lord, had the audacity to twist a once-sacred name into a footnote in his pathology.

Like Pascha had ever belonged to him. Like what he did to that man was anything but a long, methodical desecration dressed up as destiny.

The entitlement.

The delusion.

Aroche just sighed.

“God help us,” Aroche muttered under his breath.

Still the same familiar ache of standing beside a man who had learned long ago that if justice wouldn't come from the divine, he'd burn the heavens down to make it happen himself.

And make you laugh while he did it.

Even when it hurt. Especially when it did.

“Your Majesty,” Aroche said, massaging the bridge of his nose like he was trying to push the chaos back into his skull, “please, stop before you offend the ignorant. And kindly remember—there are children present.”

Burn didn’t miss a beat. “Jealous, brother?”

“Oh my God,” Aroche groaned, tossing both hands toward the heavens like he was offering them his last shred of patience. “Yes, absolutely. I’m seething with envy over Lord Paschasius. The last man you exalted like this was Belezak Edensworn—but this one? This one’s special, isn’t he?”

A reluctant flicker tugged at Burn’s lips—small, brief, involuntary. But it was enough.

Isaiah groaned aloud, full-bodied and pained. “Wretched cur…” muttered the Eastern Dragon, dragging a hand down his face, pausing to rub the jagged spot where his horn used to be—now reforged as Burn’s latest sword. “Anon, summon fair Miss Momo, that she might remind this man he is married, and allegedly walketh the path of heterosexual resolve.”

Vlad still valiantly trying not to laugh. The effort contorted his dignified old face into a near-caricature of composure. A few other members followed suit, each producing expressions that looked suspiciously like constipation.

Yvain Edensworn, Burn’s own adopted son, sank further into his seat, looking one snide comment away from disowning himself.

“Sir, with all due respect—” Lazarus began, raising his voice, though it trembled slightly as he fought to suppress his laughter. 

“Regarding the scripture about Lord Romeuf’s view of certain races… Yes, it’s true that he once referred to beings like Vampires, Werewolves, Dark Elves, and others as the so-called ‘Seed of Heresy.’ But really, it was merely an acknowledgment of their nature—something that couldn’t, or perhaps shouldn’t, be denied.”

“I’m aware,” Burn said, his voice low and deliberate, like the calm before a storm. “I also considered that, in those times, those creatures were the most common—and conveniently vulnerable—when it came to dealing with corruption. But those times are long gone, Lazarus. Surely, you and I can agree that clinging to such a perspective now will do nothing but deepen the divide between us.”

“Yes, sir,” Lazarus replied with a practiced smile, his tone carefully measured. “And, to be fair, the interpretations of his words back then were already… less than pure. Skewed by the people, not the Lord himself. History, as always, has a way of distorting even the clearest of intentions.”

As Lazarus turned and exchanged a knowing nod with Vlad, the old vampire returned the gesture with the kind of ease that spoke of long-standing understanding. Both seemed to silently agree on what everyone already knew: Romeuf, for all his sanctity, had meant well—it was painfully obvious to anyone who had lived through those times.

But as the Apostle who graced the earth for only a fleeting moment, his decrees—no matter how well-documented—were bound to be debated, misinterpreted, and twisted to fit the agendas of those who followed.

Burn, however, found no satisfaction in the quiet camaraderie growing between the Luminus and the representatives of the night-born. Even the mild, understanding reactions from Onulph Sam and the other mythical creatures grated on him.

It wasn’t that he enjoyed disturbing the peace—though some might argue otherwise—but to him, this fragile harmony was built on an unspoken acceptance of something inherently flawed. It irked him.

“And what about his little inventions, hmm?” Burn finally broke the silence, his tone measured but laced with an edge of pettiness.

“The religious symbols he devised to fight the darkness. The formulas he crafted to concentrate holy power so intensely that the dwellers of the night—your people—couldn’t even worship God properly. What about those?” His words lingered in the air, heavy, deliberate, and cutting.

“BWAHAH!”

The question barely had time to settle before Vlad broke into laughter. It wasn’t the soft, restrained laughter of someone mindful of the solemnity of the moment—it was loud, unrestrained, and utterly shameless.

The ancient vampire laughed so hard he hiccupped, his body trembling with mirth as Bella, standing dutifully at his side, reached out to stroke his back, her smile helpless but kind.

“Aaahhh,” Vlad exclaimed between hiccups, his voice thick with amusement. “That Romeuf boy truly hated me so!” His laughter, raw and unabashed, echoed through the chamber, breaking through the veil of tension like a thunderclap. 

Even Lazarus, who had been so composed until now, found himself faltering. He looked down, his discomfort evident as he shifted his weight, clearly unsure whether to join in Vlad’s laughter or maintain the solemnity of the moment.

“Now then,” Burn began, his voice cutting through the murmurs of the hall like a knife through silk. He turned toward the quiet figure suspended in the void seal at the center of the room, the weight of his gaze bearing down on the man who still writhed in impotent fury. “Returning to the matters at hand…”

Burn’s golden eyes narrowed slightly, his tone calm but razor-sharp. “It seems abundantly clear, from both your reaction and the timeline of events, that you were involved in the deaths of not one, but both beloved Apostles.”

“Paschasius… and Romeuf,” he continued, his words slow and deliberate, each name dragging the weight of history behind it. “Even today, Romeuf’s death remains shrouded in controversy—so many questions, so few answers. Convenient, wouldn’t you agree?”

Burn’s expression darkened, his voice taking on a cutting edge. “And speaking of my so-called ‘lover,’ Belezak Edensworn… hm, let’s not forget my father, Arthur. Or Akram Wysaris, the late King of Elves. Or the countless other assassination targets who all happened to be tied to corruption.”

He took a step closer to the void seal, his tone growing colder, more pointed. “Surely, most of the people in this hall have grievances with you, Lancelot.”

Burn’s lips curled into a faint, sardonic smile as he tilted his head, looking down at the man who still seethed silently, trapped in the binds of the void seal. “And why wouldn’t they? After all, your sins are as numerous as they are grotesque.”

“Let’s not forget the children,” Burn said, his voice sharp as broken glass, “Used in your experiments as young as newborns, including Princess Blair of Inkia. Or the slaves you worked to death, treating them like disposable machines to churn out your precious corrupted mana stones.”

His gaze lingered on Lancelot’s twisted form, his disgust barely contained, “And those are just the sins we know about.” Burn’s voice dropped, low and venomous, “I’m sure there are horrors buried in the centuries of your existence that even we couldn’t uncover.”

Burn straightened, his expression hardening, the faint flicker of a smirk tugging at his lips. “But just for the sake of formality,” he said, “let’s give you the opportunity to voluntarily confess all your sins.”

He paused, his tone growing mockingly light.

“Not that it would earn you anything, of course. No mercy. No benefit. This isn’t a negotiation.” His voice sharpened again, cutting through the room like a whip, “You could also just sit there in silence. That’s fine, too. Either way, it makes no difference. I’ll just find something else to humiliate you with.”

The figure in the void seal sneered, his lips curling into an expression of disdain. He scoffed, the sound low and guttural, before finally speaking, his voice dripping with mockery.

“How benevolent.”

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