My Measurement: The Villain Desires a Satisfying Payback

My purpose.

Their purpose.

As if to place myself into the role of the narrator, I announced everyone's role.

And in the next instant, the world turned dark.

"What's going on...?! Cipher, what are you doing...?!"

With the sun having been abruptly blacked out as if by a surprise solar eclipse, Kiryuuin's panicked voice resounded before me.

I briefly imagined what he thought was going on―and not just him, but everyone standing around him, too.

Just as quickly as the thought entered my mind, however, I stopped.

Because, regardless of his shock at seeing me here when I'm supposed to be trapped in another world, and despite his confusion at what this sudden chaos is about...

In the end, what does it matter?

What need is there for me to care about it?

After all, Kiryuuin was the protagonist of the original novel.

But that doesn't necessarily hold true for the current reality.

This story.

Or at least, my story.

When things are told from my perspective, the only thing that matters is me.

My thoughts.

My considerations.

The fact that I view it from my perspective is all I need.

If you think about it, it's strange.

Evidently, I am thinking.

I know that because I'm doing it right now, and in theory, you readers can view it too.

But, just because I'm thinking, does it necessarily make me conscious?

If all I am is a character in a story, then the answer might be no.

But, even if that isn't the case, at least I know I amount to more than them.

Because, while I can't say the same for anyone else, I know for a fact that I can think.

Regardless of whether what I think is what the Highest Existence wants me to think or not, I am thinking nevertheless.

And if I'm thinking, it can only mean that I'm either conscious or that my perspective matters.

But, if you consider it carefully, why would my perspective matter?

If all I am meant to be is a World-Ending Villain, then what else would matter?

The truth seems to be that, simply put... This new story, deviated from the original path thanks to the intervention of Araceli's true self, or rather the design of the Highest Existence―it is indeed being told from my own perspective.

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After all, if it were not, then there would be no need for all of my thoughts to be so unnecessarily in-depth and personal.

And, as I just mentioned before.

If things are told from my perspective.

"...Kiryuuin."

Nothing else matters.

"Cipher! Please, whatever you're doing, stop this now! Listen, I'm truly sorry you were trapped in that prison for so long... I know you must feel mad, betrayed and disappointed, but there's still time for everything to--"

"Hah."

After all this time, I finally realised it.

Truthfully, I can do whatever I please.

Because everything is told from my perspective, and because of my power, nothing is outside my reach.

If I tell someone to die, they die.

If I say the world has turned dark, it turns dark.

Reality is not just the world in front of my eyes, but the writing on the page, too.

The writing on the page is the foundation of my reality, and it is that very reality that I have profound control over.

"You don't get it, do you?"

So, it's simple.

Whatever I will, is.

All I need to do is "write" it into being.

As long as it doesn't go against the wishes of the Highest Existence, nothing can intervene with that.

"Look at yourself. Compared to me, what power do you possibly have? Nothing."

Azaki Kiryuuin.

In my mind, I describe his facial expression as turning into one of subdued despair as he slowly begins to realise that whatever forms of power he thought he previously had, were all of a sudden no more.

Before I even knew it, he stared at me in horror.

No further words were spoken between us, but he knew exactly what had occurred.

Because I willed it so.

Then, unable to bear the harsh reality of losing all his power, he collapsed to his knees.

By thinking it all consciously like this, what I want to happen makes its way into text form and decorates the page beautifully, cementing my invasive fiction as fact in the canon of the story.

In other words, anything I say, if I wish it so, becomes reality.

"A-Azaki...! Hey, you good?! The hell...?!"

Saburou's panic reached my ears; unable to block it before I naturally processed what was said, I immediately realised that his words would also reach the page.

I considered silencing them all so that no unnecessary interference could be made with the plot, but I didn't go through with it.

There were various reasons for 'why' that popped into my mind that I could explain myself with, but as that very thought cropped up, I also realised and contemplated for a moment whether it was truly 'me' who made that decision, or the Highest Existence.

Did I come up with those thoughts? Or were they merely planted there by someone else?

What even am "I"?

Once again, it all boiled down to this question.

If it wasn't 'me', then the fact I can think about it this clearly, even in retrospect, means the Highest Existence is allowing me to, perhaps knowing that I cannot resist His will even if I know the truth.

"Cipher! You bastard, what'd you do to him!?"

Oblivious to my chaotic inner monologuing, Saburou called out again with a curse.

Turning my calm gaze towards him, I could only imagine the intensity of the volatile emotions he was feeling.

But, now that I knew they were only the feelings of a novel's side character, it felt so distant.

When someone's fiery emotions amount to no more than the exclamation mark at the end of a sentence, even if they glare at you, screaming, it turns out to be rather hard to empathise.

Or, maybe it's just me.

Either way, I couldn't take it seriously.

"...Saburou."

"What? Don't say my name as if nothing is wrong and answer me!"

"..."

At the end of the day, all I had to do was say one thing.

"Fall."

In the next instant, Saburou fell to the ground as if having lost all strength in his lower body.

This was only the beginning; it wasn't yet time to kill any of them as characters related to the mainline of the story.

After all, if the objective is to achieve a satisfying ending for the Highest Existence, the epilogue cannot be too abrupt.

Rather, wouldn't it be most effective to utilise the event of their betrayal―as a sort of revenge?

In that sense, it ends up being a bit poetic, I think.

Although, I don't really know anything about that sort of thing.

"What the hell happened to you? Huh, Oscar?"

Hm?

Hearing a name I hadn't been called in a long time, my eyes reactively flickered.

"...Sophie."

Thinking back, it wasn't that long after she moved in with us that she began to defy me and argue back. During that period, I recall her having a hard time adjusting to calling me Cipher even though I never asked her to.

So then, I suppose that is what she is most comfortable with.

But, returning to the matter at hand, whatever did she mean by 'what happened to me'?

Before there was a need for me to ask, she explained herself.

"What happened after that day? You've changed."

Perhaps that was the very question riding on everybody's minds and she was the one to bear the responsibility to ask it, as everyone's attention gathered on me following her voice.

"..."

My gaze swept across all of them; I wondered what they thought happened.

I wondered if they even knew of the Otherworld's existence.

Did they know where I went?

Because they certainly didn't know what I was doing.

And they are aware even less of what is to come.

They probably thought the answer to her question was something unimaginable.

Some life-changing event, or some sort of unbreakable malice that could only be achieved through some hellish experience.

The human imagination was in many ways more terrifying than the truth, especially when it came to contemplating the unknown.

The truth is generally not so complicated, and to me, this truth was also rather simple.

"What happened?"

The reality is, nothing especially notable 'happened', per se.

It's just that... Right.

"I merely became enlightened."

The truth of not just Earth or the Otherworld, but the entirety of existence itself.

This universe and everything that lies beyond.

The world 'I' see before my eyes, hear with my ears and feel with my flesh.

And the words 'you' read on the page.

Knowing the reality of it all, how could it be called anything but enlightenment?

"And now, you will see."

What comes next.

Some call it the future.

Some call it fate.

I can only know it as one, inevitable outcome.

"The thing that will end this world."

The so-called Lord of Dreaded Purgatory and Eternal Torment.

What can also be called the Devourer of Worlds―The End of All That Exists.

"Whether you can defend the world against this beast will determine the outcome of everything that exists in this story."

Every good story needs a final boss; a final obstacle for the hero.

In this case, without a doubt, I am the Villain; the antagonist.

But, even if I die, that won't necessarily save this world.

The End will come whether I am alive or not.

So, think about your actions wisely.

"Nightmare King."

Because this is how I choose to evolve the climax to the next level.

"Come."

This is how I choose to commence the epilogue.