The Villainous Son Loves His Mother - Chapter 23

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Sharki’s rage mingled with her Magic Power, erupting from her entire body as flames.
The flames rising from her body weren’t a pure red, but rather a whitish hue.

“I won’t forgive you… I absolutely won’t!”

Sharki’s eyes trembled with fury, her very gaze seeming to radiate scorching heat.
The flames swirling at her feet gradually intensified, scorching the earth beneath.
Watching her display, Hein clapped his hands with a crisp, rhythmic sound.

“Splendid. I thought you were inferior, but you’re quite capable after all. Many can produce flames, but white flames require a profound understanding of fire itself.”

A confident smile played on Hein’s lips.

“What’s wrong!?”

Sharki cried out in anger, but Hein didn’t answer her question, simply observing her with interest.

“I’m praising you,”

Hein said, his voice devoid of mockery, brimming with genuine admiration.
This only fueled Sharki’s fury.

“Shut up!”

Sharki clenched her fist and took a step forward.
The oppressive force still sought to bind her to the ground, but the current Sharki was unfazed by it.
As a fire dragon, she gained power from flames, and this was no exception even when it came to the flames she emitted.
The super-hot white flames gave Sharki immense power.
Yet Sharki could never have generated such flames on her own.

There was a seed at play.
That seed was life itself.
Flame was the symbol of life.
Sharki was burning her own life force to create this extremely high temperature fire.
Resisting the crushing pressure on her body, she slowly advanced toward Hein.
One step, then another.
Her footsteps were heavy, but she steadily closed the distance—until…

“Think you can go a little further?”

Hein said quietly, tapping the ground lightly with one foot.
In that instant, the crushing pressure on Sharki intensified dramatically.

“Ugh…!”

Unable to withstand it any longer, Sharki collapsed to her knees and fell prone. The white flames enveloping her body flickered and shrank.

“Oops, I think I used a bit too much force.”

Hein’s voice drifted down from above.
Sharki desperately tried to lift her head, but even her neck felt too heavy to move properly. Her gaze swept across the surroundings, revealing that all the trees had been flattened, as if crushed by an invisible, colossal force.

“What… what are you…?”

Fear began to take root in Sharki’s heart.
The overwhelming difference in power left Sharki feeling utterly helpless, as if even her full strength might not be enough to land a single blow.
A dark cloud of despair seemed to erupt in Sharki’s mind, spreading rapidly through her consciousness.
As if enjoying her reaction, Hein casually waved his hand, releasing the crushing weight that had been pressing down on Sharki.

“Now, stand up. But don’t move an inch. The only place you’re weightless is right where you’re standing. Take a single step, and you’ll be crushed. Like… that.”

Hein pointed behind Sharki.
Sharki cautiously turned around.
An unbelievable sight unfolded before her eyes.
Her former subordinates, stretched thinner than paper and flattened into grotesque shapes, were plastered to the ground, their original forms unrecognizable.

“No… That’s impossible…”

Sharki’s vision blurred. Unable to accept the reality before her, her mind went blank.

“You’ll be next.”

Hein’s voice was matter-of-fact, and that made Sharki’s heart freeze even more.
Overwhelmed by terror, she collapsed to her knees. A warm sensation spread from her feet—she realized she had wet herself.

“No… I don’t want to die like that…”

“Is that so? Then I’ll kill you more cleanly. Just give me the information. Your military strength, your key commanders—anything you know. Tell me everything, and I’ll grant you a painless death when you’re done.”

As Hein finished speaking, both he and Sharki looked up simultaneously.
Something’s coming.
Sharki trembled violently.
The pressure of magic power she felt was less than Hein’s, but she sensed something far more ominous and calamitous approaching.

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The myriad stars that had adorned the night sky suddenly began to fade.
Darkness deepened, enveloping the entire sky in a black curtain.
Within this abyss, something resembling a black mist, far darker than the night itself, began to coalesce at a single point in the sky.
The darkness was deep and gloomy, as if all the evil in the world was condensing there.

“What… is that…”

Sharki muttered in a trembling voice.
Her gaze was fixed on the strange phenomenon in the sky.
The black mist gradually took shape, transforming into a pitch-black sphere.
After a moment of stillness, it began to descend slowly toward the ground, like a drop of water dripping from the sky.
Sharki instinctively sensed danger and tried to brace herself, but her body refused to move.
Beside her, Hein calmly watched the spectacle with an impassive expression.
The pitch-black sphere accelerated steadily as it hurtled straight toward the ground where they stood.

Sensing imminent danger, Sharki desperately tried to move her legs, but fear and exhaustion made her body feel as heavy as lead.
Meanwhile, the pitch-black sphere halted just before touching the ground, its surface beginning to writhe as if alive.
It looked as if something was about to be born.
As they watched, the sphere began to mimic a human form.
Finally, it took the shape of a pitch-black human figure.
There was no face, only a void of impenetrable darkness.
This eerie, shadow-like entity was—

“Ouma. What do you want?”

Hein muttered calmly.
His voice carried neither surprise nor caution.

“Y-Your comrade…?”

Sharki blurted out involuntarily, but Hein ignored her, fixing his gaze on the black figure—Oma.
Oma silently took a step toward Hein and then stood motionless.

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Hein and Ouma stood facing each other.
A moment later—

“What? Mother is looking for me? Alone?!”

Hein’s expression changed drastically. Clear agitation flickered in his eyes.

“Ridiculous! Why did you let her go alone?! What? You were told to search elsewhere? What have you all been doing…? Damn it, I need to go get her immediately… Mother’s Magic Power… Good, I’ve located her.”

Unable to conceal his frustration, Hein clenched his fist.

“Ouma, extract information from that inferior… no, that warrior over there. After that, you may do as you please.”

Hein glanced at Sharki and issued the emotionless command. His gaze held no trace of curiosity or composure, only urgency as he turned to leave.
Oma nodded silently and turned back to Sharki.

“W-wait! What’s going on?! Who are you?!”

Sharki asked desperately, but Hein didn’t look back.
He turned away and floated gently, flying off into the distance into the sky.
Sharki and Oma were left behind.
From Sharki’s perspective, even Hein seemed preferable to this.

(This thing… It’s dangerous… worse than being killed…)

Her face pale, Sharki stumbled backward.
Seeing her like that, Oma’s face trembled, as if he had been thinking about something.
It was an act of joy – she had no basis for it, but Sharki was convinced and cursed her own fate.

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Hein had named him Ouma, meaning “darkness.”
The name suited him perfectly.
This creature had originally been nothing more than a low-level evil spirit, feeding on the negative emotions swirling through the Imperial Capital. It absorbed jealousy, hatred, and greed—the dark underbelly of human hearts—gaining only meager power.
But over countless years, it had grown.
The conspiracies and betrayals of nobles, the grievances and sorrows of the populace—the Imperial Capital was a cauldron of negative emotions, making it the perfect feeding ground for this entity.
Eventually, this entity gained the power to amplify the dark side of those around it simply by existing.

Ultimately, its presence began to corrupt people’s hearts, becoming a catalyst for conflict and chaos.
Therefore, in the “original history”, it increased the evil thoughts of the nobles of the imperial capital, driving them to selfish actions.
As a result, the nobles grew to resent the Hero’s existence and ultimately plotted to eliminate the Hero, Azel, and his companions.

However, in this parallel world, Hein discovered this entity while it was still a low-ranking evil spirit.
Despite being a mama’s boy, Hein is sensitive to the protection of the imperial capital.
After all, any instability in the capital would worry his mother, Helga.
Hein’s principles are simple; number one, for his mother, number two, for his mother, and number three, four, and five are all for his mother, so when it comes to the peace of the imperial capital, Hein is doing more than the role expected of the Duke of Aster.
Initially, Hein tried to get rid of it, but it became strangely attached to him, so he decided to keep it as a pet.

The reason it became so attached to Hein was that the vitality and magical radiance of Hein, a descendant of the House of Aster, appeared more beautiful to it than anything else.
This was quite different from the original history.
In the original history, Hein had failed to master the power of the stars and instead succumbed to the dark arts.
As a result, from its perspective, Hein had merely been a source of sustenance.
But in this world, Hein perfectly controlled the power of the stars, and the brilliance of his life force was immeasurable. It—Ouma—had tasted the sweetness of light instead of darkness.
No matter how much darkness Oma devoured, the hunger never subsided.

But light was different.
Simply being near it brought fulfillment, banishing all hunger. To Ouma, Hein was such a being.
For his part, Hein found Oma’s tireless work ethic incredibly useful and took full advantage of it.
By the way, Ouma is currently the gardener at Duke Aster’s mansion.
To maintain the beautiful garden, he disperses throughout the grounds, eliminating pests and other threats.
His primary sustenance comes from the Magic Power leaking from Hein, or from assassins and similar prey.

While Ouma leads this seemingly peaceful life, the malevolence of this evil spirit has not diminished.
Harmless to Hein and those connected to him, Ouma can act as an utterly malevolent entity toward Hein’s enemies.
To Ouma, “women” are a delicacy that brings forth life.
Life is akin to existence, and existence is close to light.
Ouma relishes devouring these “female snacks.”
He violates them, inflicts pain, saturates their bodies with terror, and then crunches them down from head to toe.

Something wriggled out from Ouma’s pitch-black body.
It was, in essence, a tentacle made of darkness.
Instinctively sensing what was about to happen to her, Sharki let out a short, high-pitched scream.