Yandere Levelling in Her World-Chapter 164 - 165: Still a bitch

Ren's eyes locked onto the goddess, his hatred boiling like the lava rivers around them. She floated slightly above what looked like a flaming sofa, its cushions writhing with orange flames that didn't seem to burn her pristine white robes.

Her displeased expression twisted her angelic features into a scowl, full lips pursed in irritation. Below her, several imp-like creatures scampered about small, red-skinned things with horns and tails, chattering in high-pitched squeals as they tugged at the hem of her robes, vying for her attention like desperate pets.

Ren knew instinctively this wasn't where she was supposed to be. The goddess of love or whatever twisted version she claimed to be belonged in some ethereal realm of light and beauty, not this hellish volcanic wasteland.

Yet here she was, lounging in discomfort, her blue eyes flicking down at the imps with annoyance before landing on him. Disgust flashed across her face, as if he'd tracked mud into her palace.

"What are you doing here, you idiot garbage human waste?" she spat, her voice melodic yet laced with venom. It echoed through the ash-choked air, making the imps freeze and cower.

Ren opened his mouth to retort, to unleash the torrent of rage he'd bottled up since she'd cursed him with this yandere nightmare. But no words came. His throat tightened, lips sealed by some invisible force. He strained, fists clenching at his sides, but silence was his only response.

The goddess tilted her head, her blonde hair shimmering like molten gold in the firelight.

She looked rather annoyed now, muttering under her breath as she waved off an imp that had climbed onto the sofa's armrest. "Where is my hubby? Have you seen my hubby? Why is he not with me?" Her voice cracked slightly, eyes darting around the barren landscape as if expecting someone to materialize from the smoke.

She didn't seem mentally stable at all. Her perfect posture slumped a fraction, and she hugged her arms tighter around her ample chest, rocking subtly on the flaming seat. "Bring me my hubby," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

The imps chittered louder, one jumping up and down, but she ignored them, her gaze snapping back to Ren with sudden clarity or what passed for it.

"Oh, you're still here? Get lost. I have no interest in you," she said dismissively, waving her hand like swatting a fly.

A surge of power rippled through the air. Ren felt his soul yanked backward, the volcanic world blurring into a whirlwind of ash and heat. He tumbled through darkness, weightless and disoriented, until—

Gasp!

Ren bolted upright in the forest clearing, chest heaving as if he'd just surfaced from drowning.

The lanterns Drain had set up still flickered softly, casting long shadows on the trees. His body felt... light. Unburdened. The excess energy that had been churning inside him, threatening to tear him apart, was gone.

Vanished like mist in the morning sun. He flexed his fingers, touched his arm where the hornet had stung him nothing but a faint red mark.

But Drain was nowhere in sight. The cage was gone too, along with her pack. She'd left him, just like she'd said. "That crazy woman," Ren muttered, shaking his head with a mix of irritation and reluctant amusement. She had gone to take her "payment" and vanished into the night, probably already plotting her next chaotic scheme.

He stood up slowly, holding his head as a dull ache throbbed behind his eyes. The visions or whatever they were replayed in his mind like a fever dream. The god, chained in that fish's stomach, begging for death.

The goddess, unhinged and pining for her "hubby" in a hellscape. Both in separate places that screamed wrongness, like they'd been banished or trapped. And the god's words: *Find me here, boy. With your real body. I will merge with you.*

"What the hell am I supposed to do now?" Ren asked himself aloud, pacing the clearing. His voice sounded small in the vast wilderness, drowned out by distant animal calls.

There were so many threads pulling at him. Should he chase his biological mother, the crazy stalker who'd revealed herself in that twisted revelation? Or track down Kyouka, Nina, Astrid and hide his powers once again doing mundane things with them? And what about Misa and his little sister? They were out there somewhere, probably caught in this web too.

The curse twisted everything: love into possession, care into destruction. Everything felt like it was going wrong.

"Too many damn things," Ren grumbled, kicking at a loose stone. But priorities first. "I need to get away from this forest before some monster decides I'm dinner."

He gathered what little he had his clothes, a small knife from his belt and started walking, weaving through the trees toward what he hoped was the edge of the woods.

As he moved, resolve hardened in his chest. "I will, from one way or another, break this curse of the yandere," he muttered to himself, dodging a low branch. "Make sure everyone loves me normally instead of their love ultimately killing me. And the only way I can do it is if I kill the goddess. Which means I need the help of the god. So... finding him is my best option."

But where? That underwater place, the sandy seabed, the massive fish eye... It nagged at him, a puzzle piece just out of reach. Then it clicked. The district. The one fully engulfed in water, whispered about in traveler tales.

A flooded ruin, swallowed just like how forest swallowed his part of the district in that incident few weeks ago. "Well, that might be my next destination," Ren said, a grim smile tugging at his lips.

The forest thinned as he pressed on, moonlight filtering stronger through the canopy. His mind raced ahead. "If that's where the god is trapped, I need to get there. Merge with him? Sounds insane, but if it gives me the power to end this..." He trailed off, imagining the goddess's face crumpling in defeat.

"I need to find a purpose to live for...right now I'm lost...Am I living because I can't die? What am I even going to do with all the attention I get from these females?"

A rustle in the bushes snapped him alert. Ren froze, knife drawn. "Who's there?" he called out, voice steady despite his pounding heart.

Silence. Then a low growl. Out stepped a wolf-like beast, eyes glowing yellow in the dark, fangs bared. It was no ordinary animal mutated, perhaps, with scales along its flanks and claws like scythes.

"Great, just what I needed," Ren sighed. "That reminds me...just like in my memory that goddess is still a fucking bitch,"

***

The corridor lights hummed softly as several women in black uniforms walked through the laboratory that was infiltrated by the trees and moss like. Their boots echoed against the polished metal floor, steady and disciplined. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

On their sleeves and backs was the same symbol, a clenched fist inside a circle, printed in stark white.

Glass tubes lined both sides of the lab. Each one was the size of a human body of several stages and filled with glowing blue liquid. Inside some of them floated vague silhouettes, motionless, suspended like specimens. Tubes hissed quietly as bubbles rose to the surface.

At the center of the room stood the largest chamber.

Inside it was Amanda.

Her pale body floated helplessly in the blue liquid, brown hair drifting around her face like a curtain. Tubes and wires were connected to her arms and spine. Her eyes were closed, her expression peaceful, almost asleep, but the slow rhythm of the machines told another story.

In front of the chamber stood a woman wearing a black coat and a gas mask. Thick filters covered the sides of the mask, hiding her face completely. Her hands were clasped behind her back as she stared at Amanda through the glass.

"You look just like her, are you the real one? Is this what we intended on this world?" the masked woman said quietly. "Still breathing. Still resisting."

Footsteps approached from behind.

A tall woman wearing a decorated military uniform entered the lab. Her posture was straight, her presence commanding. The black-uniformed soldiers immediately stopped and saluted.

The general stopped beside the masked woman.

"Commander," the general said. "You asked to see me."

The masked woman did not turn. Her voice echoed faintly through the mask.

"Did you find her?"

The general hesitated for a moment before answering.

"No, Commander. We are still searching. She disappeared after that incident. No trace of her presence has been detected since."

The commander's fingers slowly tightened behind her back.

"Disappeared," she repeated.

"Yes, Commander," the general said carefully. "We suspect interference. Either she escaped the system or someone helped her."

The room fell silent.

Then the commander spoke again, her voice colder.

"Dismissed."

The general blinked. "Commander?"

"Come back to me only when you have information about her," the commander said. "Otherwise, you are wasting my time."

The general swallowed.

"And General," the commander continued. "On your way, eliminate every power holder you encounter."

The general stiffened.

"Every human. Every monster. Anything that carries abnormal power," the commander said. "This world belongs to us. Normal humans."

She finally turned slightly, her masked gaze sharp and unforgiving.

"These powers were bestowed upon us for one reason," she said. "To restore balance. Sweet, perfect balance."

"Yes, Commander," the general said, bowing deeply.

She turned and left the lab without another word. The black-uniformed women followed her, their footsteps fading into the corridor.

The lab grew quiet again.

The commander stepped closer to Amanda's tube. She placed one gloved hand against the glass.

The blue liquid rippled faintly.

"Fifty percent," the commander muttered. "Only fifty percent more."

She leaned her forehead lightly against the glass.

"And you will die."

The machines continued their steady rhythm. Amanda did not move.

The commander pulled her hand back and straightened.

"Then what?" she whispered to herself. "What are we supposed to do after that?"

She looked around the lab, at the glowing tubes, the silent bodies, the soldiers who believed in her words without question.

"For balance?" she said softly. "Or for control?"

Her reflection stared back at her from the glass. A faceless commander surrounded by blue light and quiet breathing machines.

The commander turned away from Amanda.

"We have come too far," she said to the empty room. "There is no turning back now."

Behind her, Amanda floated silently, unaware of the fate closing in around her.