Character illustration by iamchandraneel <3

"WOMEN are trash."

Xibel took one cigarette from his pocket hanging on his black soutane. The enormous disgust he felt every time he remembered the faces of the women who hurt him made him summon a great fire on his hand. It burned the piece of cigarette he held.

Tumingin siya sa kaniyang kanan at tinapat ang nag-aapoy na kamay. Rain immediately poured, extinguishing the emerald fire and oozing an existing smoke.

He sighed before leaning against the sofa. No one could tell if it was really a sofa unless someone would sit on it. After all, it was carved with disheveled bones of the dead bodies he summoned as his followers.

"System, show me the story construction progress."

[Story Construction progress: 50%]

A little squint let out from his ruined eye. The Story Construction progress held the percentage of how his story was nearing to its end. The story his author made was not yet complete, but he still managed to rise on the popularity poll. The reason being his author already had a name on the real dimension. She had novels before him, so it wasn't surprising that he was one of the famous villains. However . . .

Her updates were as frequent as the appearance of a blue moon.

"So slow." Napailing na lang siya. The story he was in was published digitally and started five years ago. Hanggang ngayon, nangangalahati pa lang ang kuwento. Ilang beses na rin itong nag-hiatus pero kahit na bumalik pa ito, napakabagal pa ring mag-update.

He glanced at the top right corner of his Personal Setting—his house made by the system. There was no roof. Rather, it was brushed with heavy clouds crying in two different ways; rain and winter. All of them were as disgusting as how he looked, totally nothing to be happy about. The rain was a raging drops of acidic daggers, while the snow crystals were eerie dark, carrying and spitting out curses.

Napunta ang tingin niya sa harapan. Napasingkit ang kaniyang mga mata nang makita ang isang larawan na nasa ibabaw ng lamesa.

"Why on earth did you put it back? I have already destroyed that yesterday!" he exclaimed at the system. Hindi siya nagdalawang-isip na tumayo. Naglakad siya patungo roon at marahas na tinabig ang larawan. Nalaglag ito sa sementong sahig na naging dahilan upang mabasag.

[Response System: It is part of your Personal Setting. Anything destroyed will be put back to its original form.]

Higit pang nagngitngit sa inis ang kaniyang pakiramdam nang unti-unting lumutang sa ere ang basag na larawan. Pinagdidikit ng system ang bawat piraso nito hangga't sa tuluyang magmukhang bago. Muli nitong nilagay sa lamesa at nakaharap pa sa kaniya.

Iniwas niya na lamang ang tingin. He snapped his finger to summon a fluid-like black water immediately forming  a mound, big as a human. Snapping again, the water broke out and was left was a normal-looking human wearing an all-black outfit.

"Lord Xibel, how do I serve you today?" Stone, one of his followers, asked while lowering his head. He looked alive, but he was never more than a man without a beating heart.

He gestured his hand. "Get that picture away from my sight."

"As you wish, my lord." Tumalikod ito sa kaniya at naglakad papunta sa larawan. Inikot nito ang larawan upang 'di na niya makita ang imaheng nakaungkat doon. "There, my lord. You will not be reminded by Celestialiana anymore."

Mabilis namang nagsalubong ang kaniyang kilay. "You just did, my idiot of a follower." 

Him mentioning her name just made him recall the bitter memories he had with her. Celestialiana was the woman who made him descend heaven and fall like a helpless lamb.

Hindi na niya hinintay pa itong makasagot. He snapped his fingers again in order to put Stone back into his Cage of Spirits--an invisible realm he could only find. A realm where his followers reside.

The system suddenly popped out in front of him while carrying a message.

[You got a Dump from your author.]

His forehead creased to its extent. The dumps he received from his author could only be counted. It was so rare that it wouldn't even exceed ten.

"Open it."

[Opening the Author dump . . .]

───────────
Author/Writer Dump
───────────

﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎
I want to rewrite you.
﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊

He squinted his eyes before rolling his eyeballs. "Shut up."

That was also the message he last received from her. She had been thinking of revising the entire story for he doesn't know what reason. Maybe she got tired of it. Or maybe she found her story boring. But whatever the reason was, she should prioritize completing it first.

"You'll just going to make me suffer more." Pinasadahan niya ang larawang nakatalikod bago binalik ang tingin sa mensahe ng manunulat. "Like all women does."

He stood up from his seat and decided to go out. Kasabay nang pagpihit niya sa busol ay bigla ring pagyanig ng paligid.

[The quest for lower rank villains is still ongoing.]

Hindi niya pinansin ang pagyanig at ang report ng system. Nagtuloy-tuloy siya sa paglakad na animo'y hindi niya narinig ang pagkabasag ng larawan sa lamesa. Muling lumindol subalit nagtuloy-tuloy pa rin siya. Muntik na siyang matumba nang may mabigat na puwersang biglang sumuntok sa kaniyang dibdib.

But he remained unfazed and continued walking. Napatigil lang siya sa paglalakad nang makita sa unahan ang dalawang villain. Ang isa'y nakasalampak sa lupa habang ang isa naman ay nakatingin lang sa lalaking natumba.

It was Adamas and Thomas.

Annoying faces.

Bumalik na lang siya sa loob dahil lalo lang nasira ang timpla ng kaniyang umaga.

The ground shook one more time, and it was harder than the last one. Nauntog ang ulo niya sa pinto. Tumingin siya sa likuran at nakita ang lupa na nagkabitak.

"Can this day be any more worse?" He shook his head. Mabigat ang mga yabag niyang nagtungo sa kama niyang gawa rin sa mga buto ng kaniyang mga tagasunod.

"Annoying villains. Annoying earthquakes. Annoying picture. Annoying women," he ranted while throwing himself on the bed. Pipikit na sana siya nang biglang lumabas ang system sa kaniyang harapan.

[Report System: Fictosa is entirely damaged due to Zero. Quest is on-hold.]

[Report System: Fictosa is entirely damaged due to Zero. Quest is on-hold.]

[Report System: Fictosa is entirely damaged due to Zero. Quest is on-hold.]

[Report System: Fictosa is entirely damaged due to Zero. Quest is on-hold.]

[Report System: Fictosa is entirely damaged due to Zero. Quest is on-hold.]

His eyes sparked with anger when the report was getting repetitive. Not to mention the voice were inaudible. Maraming tunog at iba't ibang lakas ng boses ang naririnig niya dahilan upang maputol ang maliit niyang pasensya. This was one of the things he hated the most. Noise.

Nagpatuloy pa ang paulit-ulit na report ng system dahilan para mapairap ulit siya. "And annoying system."

He closed his eyes and chose to sleep instead.

Sana'y paggising niya tapos na ang kaguluhang ito. Wala siyang pakialam kung mabagsakan pa ang kaniyang mukha sa haligi ng kaniyang tahanan. Ang nais niya lang ay katahimikan.

Malapit na siyang makatulog nang muli na namang marinig ang system.

[Do you want to open the Reader Dump?]

"What on earth is your problem?"  That was his last straw. Napabalikwas siya sa inis. He then glared at the system. "You seem not to be functioning well. I didn't ask for the Reader Dump."

[Opening the Reader Dump . . .]

Napaawang na lang ang kaniyang bibig bago humigang muli. "Mukha ngang may sira ka."

Isa-isang nagsulputan ang mga mensaheng hindi niya binubuksan dahil alam na naman niya kung ano ang magiging komento.

───────────
Reader Dump
───────────

﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎
Hala mahal pa rin kita kahit red flag ka.
°
I understand where you're coming from pero I don't like what you did!
°
Bakit ganoon? Kahit mukha ka nang basura, pogi ka pa rin sa paningin ko?
°
Wow! Galit na galit sa babae ang punyetang ito, e mas nakakagalit naman kayong mga lalaki! Mga punyeta kayo! Tangina niyong lahat! Mamatay na kayo!
°
Epal ka talaga. Umalis ka nga! Huwag mo na silang sirain!
°
﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊﹊

"They ruined me first." He closed his eyes and didn't read more. Halos lahat lang naman ng mga komento ay ganoon. May ibang gusto siya. May iba namang halos murahin na siya sa kamatayan.

He was a villain, after all. And he almost killed the two characters the readers had been rooting for. Hindi pa tapos ang kuwento subalit sandamakmak na ng mga mambabasa ang galit sa kaniya.

What else could he do? That was his role. He was made to ruin their lives.

Xibel listened to the sound of the annoying system and the grumbling ground until he finally fell asleep.

He hoped that when he wakes up, a peaceful Fictosa would greet him.