The world returned not as a gentle dawn, but as a brutal, tearing agony.
The teleportation scroll dumped me unceremoniously onto the cold, dusty concrete of our warehouse, the pre-designated safe location.
The golden light of the spell faded, leaving me alone in the gloom with the searing, white-hot fire in my chest.
I lay in a spreading pool of my own blood, my breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps. The bullet had torn through me, a catastrophic injury that my body had no hope of repairing.
My vision was a flickering tunnel, the edges closing in fast.
The Health: Critical warning on my HUD was a blinking, mocking red.
So this is how it ends, I thought, a strange, detached calm settling over me. Not in a blaze of glory, but bleeding out on a dirty floor.
Again.
My datapad, lying beside me, began to vibrate incessantly. Texts flooded the screen, a frantic cascade of fear and concern from my team.
Boss, what happened?Your vitals are critical!Where are you? Talk to us!LUNA!
I managed to focus my will, my thoughts sluggish and thick as mud, to send a single, pre-composed message through our secure channel.
I'm okay.
It was a lie, but it was the only one I had the strength to tell.
And then, as the last of my strength ebbed away, the System, my silent, demanding god, chose to deliver its judgment.
The notifications didn't just appear; they exploded in my consciousness, a supernova of crimson light and sound that blasted away the encroaching darkness.
[HIDDEN QUEST: SURVIVE A FATAL BLOW - COMPLETE!]
[Condition: Suffer damage that would result in terminal system failure and survive through use of a System-adjacent artefact. Reward: 5000 VP]
[HIDDEN QUEST: DEFEAT AN A-RANK THREAT - COMPLETE!]
[Condition: Engage and neutralise a hostile entity independently assessed at A-Rank or higher. Reward: 8000 VP]
[HIDDEN QUEST: EXPOSE A CITY-WIDE CONSPIRACY - COMPLETE!]
[Condition: Be the primary catalyst for revealing a major covert operation threatening the city's stability. Reward: 10,000 VP]
[VP Awarded: 23,000!]
[EXP Awarded: 1,500!]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 3!]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 4!]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 5!]
...
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 10!]
[Host has reached Level 10. D-Rank skills and items are now unlocked in the System Store.]
The sheer volume of information was a lifeline. The rush of power from ten simultaneous level-ups was a defibrillator to my dying soul.
My vision cleared. The pain was still an all-consuming fire, but I could think through it now. I had a fortune in VP. I had a new tier of power.
And I had a chance.
My mind raced through the newly unlocked D-Rank store. My eyes scanned past weapons and armor, looking for one thing only. Survival.
[Passive Skill: Cellular Regeneration (Grade D)]
Description: The Host's cellular structure is permanently enhanced with regenerative nanites. Automatically heals all injuries over time. Severity of injury dictates healing duration. Minor cuts heal in seconds; fatal wounds may take hours.
Cost: 5000 VP
It was the ultimate insurance policy.
Purchase.
[Consumable: Panacea Vial (Grade D)]
Description: A single-use, potent healing solution. Capable of regenerating catastrophic tissue damage and expelling foreign objects from the body. Full recovery within one minute.
Cost: 1000 VP
The immediate solution.
Purchase.
The skills activated instantly. I felt a deep, fundamental change in my body, a humming at the cellular level as the nanites bonded with me.
A vial of shimmering, golden liquid materialised in my trembling hand.
I didn't hesitate. I downed the potion, its taste like pure sunlight and liquid warmth.
The effect was violent and immediate. The bullet in my chest was dissolved into inert particles and expelled from my body in a cloud of glittering dust.
The torn muscle and shattered bone knitted themselves back together at a visible rate. The pain didn't just fade; it was annihilated.
Within a minute, I was sitting up, the only evidence of my near-death experience the ragged, bloody hole in my clothes and the crimson stain on the floor.
I was weak, exhausted, but I was whole.
Just as I got to my feet, the main door of the warehouse screeched open. My team burst in, their faces pale with panic. They stopped dead when they saw me standing there, alive.
"Luna!" Leo cried out, his voice cracking with relief.
Before I could react, they rushed me.
All of them. Jake, Mark, Leo, even Maya.
They crashed into me, a tangle of arms and relieved sobs.
A hug. A real, desperate, all-encompassing hug.
I froze, stunned by the sudden, overwhelming physical contact.
For sixteen years, no one had touched me except to shove or to hurt.
Now, I was surrounded by a warmth that had nothing to do with a healing potion. It was awkward. It was strange.
And it was the best thing I had ever felt.
When they finally pulled back, Jake was grinning like an idiot.
"Don't you ever do that again, Boss! You scared the hell out of us!"
I looked at them, my team, my friends, who had been ready to tear the city apart to find me. And I knew my next purchase was not for me, but for them.
I opened the System interface, my gaze falling on the reward I had earned but not yet claimed.
[1x [Team Skill Slot] available. Would you like to access the Team Skill Store?]
Yes.
A new store appeared, filled with powerful, synergistic abilities. I scanned the D-Rank options until I found the perfect one for our new war.
[Team Skill: Persona Veil (Grade D)]
Description: Grants all designated team members the ability to create and project a convincing holographic disguise, altering their physical appearance, voice, and energy signature to all but the most advanced S-Rank sensors.
Personas can be stored and recalled. Requires intense concentration to maintain for extended periods.
Cost: Team Skill Slot
Unlock and grant 'Persona Veil' to all team members?
Confirm.
A wave of golden energy, visible only to me, flowed from my body and washed over my four companions. They all gasped, looking at their hands, at each other.
"What was that?" Maya asked, her eyes wide.
"A new tool," I said, my real voice, Luna's voice, quiet but steady.
"For our new direction."
I explained the skill. Mark's eyes lit up with possibilities.
"We could become anyone. We could walk into a bank as a corporate executive. We could attend a Guild press conference as a reporter. We could build entire legitimate identities!"
"Exactly," I confirmed.
"Our war needs funding. Our operations need a legitimate front. We will use this to build businesses, to move through the city not as shadows, but as its citizens. We will hide in plain sight."
The idea settled among them, its potential blooming. We were no longer just a reactive cell. We could become an institution.
I looked at Mark, Jake, and Leo.
"There's one more thing. Our old lives, our school. It's still a battlefield. There are still bullies. There are still victims like I was." I took a breath.
"Your new standing order is to fix it. Quietly. Systematically. Use your skills, your intellect. I don't want another student at Northgate to feel the way I did.
You are my agents. Make that school a safe place. That is your responsibility now."
They stood straighter, a new, profound sense of purpose settling on them. They weren't just fighting my war anymore. They were fighting for something they understood on a personal level.
The sun was beginning to rise, its first rays streaming through the broken skylights. We were exhausted, emotionally and physically, but we were alive, and we were stronger than ever.
"The school year doesn't start for another month," Maya said softly. "We have time."
"Then we rest," I declared.
"We rest, we train, we plan. We let the city forget the chaos of last night. We let them believe the Villainess has gone to ground."
We stood together in the dawn light, five survivors bound by secrets and power. The war was far from over.
The Mayor was grieving.
The Guild was hunting.
The aliens were still out there. But for the first time, we had a real chance. We had resources, we had power, and we had each other.
The vacation had begun.
And when it was over, the world would see what we had become.
[End of Volume 1: Birth of the Villainess]