I Have 10,000 SSS Rank Villains In My System Space - Chapter 409: Hurt You?

Chapter 409: Hurt You?

Razeal’s POV~

Inside Levy’s shop, some time later, the heavy and suffocating atmosphere that had once choked every inch of the room had finally begun to settle… or at least, that was how it appeared on the surface. The air no longer trembled with chaotic energy, the violent emotional outbursts had ceased, and the destruction that had seemed inevitable only minutes ago had somehow been avoided. But beneath that fragile calm, everything was stil unsettled raw, unstable, and far from resolved.

The past ten to twenty minutes had been nothing short of catastrophic for everyone present. There wasn’t a single person in that room who hadn’t been shaken in.. in one way or another. It wasn’t just a situation that had escalated it had broken something in each of them, leaving behind a silence that felt heavier than any chaos before it.

Maria… she had been the center of it all. The one whose emotional state had spiraled beyond control, whose inner turmoil had reached a point so extreme that it had pushed her past the boundary of rational thought. Her mind had collapsed under the weight of guilt, shock, and overwhelming realization, to the extent that she had done something irreversible something no one in that room had truly been prepared to witness. She had killed herself. Not metaphorically, not impulsively in a moment of rage but completely, decisively, driven by a psychological breakdown so severe that her body had simply followed where her mind had already gone. And yet… she was here. Alive now.. Brought back by Razeal through a method that no one could comprehend or explain.

When she woke up, her first reaction hadn’t been relief. It hadn’t been gratitude. It had been fear?Confusion? Disorientation so intense that her mind couldn’t even properly process what had happened. She had experienced death felt it, embraced it and then suddenly… she was back. Breathing? Seeing? Existing again? And that alone was enough to shatter any sense of stability she had left. Razeal had tried to calm her, speaking to her, grounding her, preventing her from spiraling again but even he could tell that whatever had broken inside her hadn’t been fixed by bringing her body back to life.

Because physical damage could be reversed. Flesh could be restored. Blood could flow again. But the emotional state she had reached the guilt, the despair, the self-condemnation that had driven her to end her own life that hadn’t gone anywhere. It was still there. Sitting inside her mind, intact, vivid, suffocating. If anything… it might have become worse.

It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to say that Maria, at that moment, was being consumed by her own emotions. The realization of what she had done, what she had felt, what she still felt.. it weighed on her like something alive, gnawing at her from the inside. And in a twisted way… being alive now hurt more than dying had. Because now she had to exist with it. Live with it. Think about it. Feel it. There had even been a moment brief but real where it was clear she might try again. That she might attempt to end her life once more, not out of impulsiveness this time, but out of an inability to endure what was inside her.

But Razeal and Sofia had stopped her. Not perfectly, not by solving anything but by containing her. By preventing action, even if they couldn’t quiet the storm inside her mind. Eventually, they had managed to make her sit down, her body still weak, her posture fragile, her hands trembling faintly as she simply… stayed there. Silent and Crying. Not loudly, not dramatically but quietly, continuously, as if the tears were the only thing her body could still produce without effort.

They didn’t try to force anything else out of her. Didn’t push her to speak. Because it was obvious she needed time. Time to process and to stabilize. Time to even begin understanding what she had just gone through.

And then there was Sofia.

If Maria had been emotionally shattered… Sofia had been mentally shaken in an entirely different way. Because what she had witnessed it wasn’t just shocking. It was impossible. She had seen someone die. Truly die. And then she had seen that same person brought back to life. Not through healing, not through revival magic, not through any known method that existed within the limits of their world. This wasn’t recovery. This was reversal of death itself. And for someone like Sofia.. someone who actually understood the structure of power in this world, who knew what was possible and what wasn’t that made it infinitely more difficult to accept.

For ordinary people, it might be dismissed as a miracle, or something beyond comprehension. But Sofia knew better. She knew the scale of what she had just witnessed. She knew that even one of the strongest beings in this world her father, the king of Atlantis couldn’t do that.. even the Empress herself who is literally number one strongest person in this world could not do something like this. Not even close actually..

That was what made it worse.

Because the more knowledge she had… the more impossible it became to rationalize. Her mind had been racing ever since, trying to piece together something.. anything that could explain what Razeal had done. At one point, she had even asked him directly.. who he really was..? Seriously she had even thought.. That he might be something far beyond a being tied to the very foundation of existence itself. An avatar… of a Supreme God or maybe a Supreme god himse maybe? The idea had sounded so absurd… and yet, what she had seen was even more absurd. She doesn’t know..

Anyways to her asked question he had simply shrugged. No answer. No explanation. Just indifference.. Which made her genuinely more suspicious..

And so she had done the only thing she could do.. she pushed the question aside. Not because she didn’t care. But because there were more immediate concerns. Maria needed to be stabilized. The situation needed to be contained. And so Sofia had shifted her focus, moving closer to Maria, gently placing a hand on her head, slowly rubbing it in an attempt to comfort her, even as her own thoughts remained chaotic. Her expression stayed composed on the outside, but internally, questions kept circling endlessly. Who is he? What exactly is he? What did I just witness? There were no answers. And the lack of them only made everything heavier.

And Razeal…

He just stood there, mostly silent.

After calming Maria down at least enough to prevent immediate danger he hadn’t said much. He hadn’t explained anything. Hadn’t reacted strongly. Hadn’t even acknowledged the weight of what had just happened in any obvious way. To anyone watching, he might have seemed indifferent. Unaffected. But that wasn’t entirely true. Because even if he didn’t show it… even if his expression remained calm and unreadable… his mind wasn’t empty.

Maria had killed herself.

For him. And that was not something he could just process instantly.

It wasn’t something that fit into his understanding of people… of emotions… of how things worked.

So he stayed silent.

Not because there was nothing to think about.

But because there was too much… Even for him..

So now the shop had fallen into a silence so deep that it almost felt unnatural, like the air itself had grown heavy with everything that had just happened and was now refusing to move. No one spoke.

No one moved unnecessarily.

The only sound that existed in that space was Maria’s quiet, broken sobbing soft, uneven breaths that trembled out of her chest as she sat on the chair, her head slightly lowered, her eyes unfocused as if she wasn’t really seeing anything in front of her. It wasn’t loud crying anymore, not the kind that demanded attention or release it was the kind that simply… continued. Like something inside her had cracked open and now refused to close. Even as she tried to stay still, tried to regain control, the sobs kept slipping out, betraying just how unstable she still was. At times, her fingers would lift slightly, trembling as they moved to her head, clutching it lightly as if trying to hold her thoughts together, and every now and then, her gaze would shift hesitantly, uncertainly toward Razeal, who stood at a small distance from her, silent, unmoving, his arms crossed as he watched her without expression.

There was something unreadable in his gaze not cold, not warm just… observant. And every time Maria looked at him, it was with a strange mixture of confusion and something deeper… something she herself didn’t fully understand.

Time passed slowly in that suffocating quiet. The weight of everything that had happened didn’t fade it simply settled deeper. Even Maria’s sobbing began to quiet down, not because she had calmed, but because her body was growing exhausted from sustaining it. Her breaths became slower, more controlled, though still uneven, and eventually, the shop was consumed by an eerie, deafening silence. It was the kind of silence that pressed against your ears, that made even the smallest movement feel intrusive. No one broke it. No one seemed willing to. Until finally Razeal let out a quiet sigh.

It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t dramatic. But in that silence, it felt significant.

He shifted slightly, still looking at Maria, his arms crossed as his gaze remained fixed on her fragile figure. Then, without changing his expression, he spoke.

“Are you alright now…?” His voice was calm, steady, almost casual but it cut through the silence cleanly, drawing Maria’s attention immediately.

Slowly, she lifted her head.

Her movements were weak, delayed, as if even raising her gaze required effort. Her eyes met his and for a few seconds, she didn’t say anything. She just looked at him. Silent. Searching. Her red, swollen eyes carried so many emotions at once that it was difficult to separate them confusion, guilt, fear, longing… all tangled together in a way that made her expression feel unstable, like it could collapse at any moment. Then finally, after those long, dragging seconds, her lips parted.

“Why…?” she asked quietly.

Her voice was hoarse, fragile, barely holding together.

“Why did you bring me back…?” she continued, her gaze not leaving him. “After everything… I’ve done… and didn’t do…?” Her fingers tightened slightly in her lap as she spoke, trembling again. “I thought… you didn’t want me… that you hated me…” Her voice dropped further, almost breaking. “So why…?”

She wasn’t accusing him.

She genuinely didn’t understand.

Razeal looked at her for a moment, his head tilting slightly to the side as if considering her question, but he didn’t answer immediately. Instead, his gaze dropped briefly just enough for him to notice her hands resting in her lap. They were shaking. Not lightly. Not subtly. They were trembling violently, her fingers twitching slightly as she tried to keep them still, as if she was putting every bit of strength she had into holding herself together and still failing.

He looked back up at her.

“How about you tell me… why you killed yourself first?” he asked calmly, his tone unchanged, almost analytical. It wasn’t harsh. It wasn’t emotional. It was direct. Curious. Because despite everything, he still didn’t fully understand it. He had his assumptions guilt, emotional overload, maybe a desire to escape herself but none of it felt complete. And right now, the only person who could explain it… was her.

Maria didn’t respond immediately.

She just kept staring at him, her eyes locked onto his face as if trying to read something anything from him. Then slowly, her lips moved.

“Making sure… that I don’t hurt you again.”

The words came out quietly… But clearly.

And for a moment..

Razeal didn’t react.

Because it didn’t make sense.

Not to him atleast??

His brows shifted slightly, confusion flickering faintly across his otherwise calm expression. “What…?” he said, almost reflexively. “Hurt me…?” He tilted his head again, clearly not following her reasoning. “Why would you even do that…?” His tone carried genuine confusion now. “And… how is that even a reason to kill yourself…?” He looked at her more intently now, as if trying to understand where she was coming from but the answer she gave hadn’t even crossed his mind as a possibility.

Maria’s gaze didn’t waver.

“I hurt you,” she said again, a little more firmly this time, though her voice still trembled. “I know I did… even if you won’t admit it.”

Razeal went silent again.

He didn’t deny it.

He didn’t agree.

He just… didn’t respond.. Like it was still not answer to his question..??

Maria swallowed faintly, her hands clenching slightly in her lap as she continued, her words coming out slower now, more deliberate, as if she had already thought through all of this before. “I know… you wouldn’t punish me,” she said quietly. “kill me… or do anything to me… even if you have every right to.” Her eyes softened, though the sadness in them only deepened. “You wouldn’t even ask anything from me… you’d just say it doesn’t matter… that you don’t care… Rigj? i know..”

“But it does matter,” she said, her voice dropping. “It matters… whether you admit it or not.”

She took a shaky breath.

“And I know… you won’t take your anger out on me… even if you should,” she continued. “You’ll keep it inside… like it doesn’t exist…” Her gaze didn’t leave his. “But it will still be there… and it will still hurt you.”

Her fingers tightened further, trembling again.

“And if I stayed alive…” she said slowly, “…I would only make it worse.”

Razeal remained still.

Listening.

“Because I wouldn’t be able to stay away from you,” she admitted quietly, her voice breaking slightly now. “I would keep coming back… trying to fix things… Being selfish.. trying to do things for you… trying to earn your forgiveness… even if I don’t deserve it…” Her breathing grew uneven again. “I would keep trying… again and again…”

Her eyes lowered slightly for a moment.

“And in the end… it would only benefit me,” she whispered. “Not you.”

She looked back up at him.

“And you… would never release what you feel,” she continued softly. “You would never let it out… you would just carry it…” Her voice grew quieter, but heavier. “And no matter how much you say it doesn’t matter… it would still hurt you.”

A pause.

A long one.

“That’s why…” she said finally, her voice barely above a whisper, “…I thought… if I wasn’t here anymore…”

“And by killing myself…” Maria continued, her voice soft yet carrying a strange clarity despite the tremor beneath it, as if she had already thought through this countless times in her own head, “I just wanted to make you… relieved… satisfied… at least in some way… at least I would have gotten what I deserved… and…” her lips pressed together briefly before parting again, “…and I wouldn’t be able to hurt you anymore… not in the future either.” Her gaze didn’t leave Razeal’s face for even a moment, as if she was trying to make sure he understood every single word, every layer behind it, even though her eyes were still slightly swollen from crying, still red, still fragile, yet holding onto a faint, almost unnatural steadiness.

“The safest way to protect you…” she whispered, her voice lowering slightly, “…is to remove myself completely… that’s what I thought.” She paused there, her fingers curling slightly in her lap as if her body itself was reacting to the weight of what she was saying, and then she shook her head faintly, almost uncertainly, “I don’t know… maybe because I knew you wouldn’t have done anything… if you wouldn’t punish me… then I thought… maybe I should do it myself…” Her tone wavered slightly there, as if even she wasn’t entirely sure whether that reasoning was right or wrong, but it was what she had felt in that moment, what had driven her. She let out a faint breath, her shoulders dropping slightly as if giving in to the exhaustion of her own thoughts.

“And… maybe there were other reasons too…” she continued slowly, her voice turning more introspective now, more fragmented as she tried to untangle her own emotions, “Guilt… ?regret… ? shame for what I did…? wanting punishment… maybe? hating myself… maybe anger… or maybe just wanting to escape the emotional pain…” Her eyes flickered slightly, her expression tightening, “…maybe fear… fear of being hated by you… fear that nothing I ever do would be enough…” Her lips trembled slightly, “…knowing that whatever future I thought I could have with you… whatever I imagined…” she paused again, swallowing faintly, “…it would never exist now… because no matter what I do… it would never undo what I did… I would never be deserving enough to even be forgiven…” And yet, despite all of that, despite everything she was saying, there was something else in her expression now something softer, almost contradictory..

“And then…” she continued, her voice growing quieter, “…seeing you still being kind to me… even after everything…” Her brows knit slightly, confusion mixing with something deeper, “…you said you forgive me… just like that… like it was nothing… just to calm me down because i seems to be hurting?..” A faint, fragile smile appeared on her lips, though it didn’t reach her eyes..

“How… am I supposed to not do something like that… after seeing you like this?” she whispered, her gaze softening further as she looked at him, “…I knew… if I stayed… I would hurt you again… and that…” her voice almost broke, but she steadied it, “…that is something I never want to do again.” She fell silent after that, her eyes still fixed on him, her expression calm yet painfully exposed, as if she had laid everything bare without holding anything back, each word spoken not just as explanation but as confession.

Sofia, standing nearby, didn’t interrupt, didn’t move, didn’t even try to speak, because there was nothing she could say that wouldn’t feel out of place, and as she listened to Maria, truly listened not just to the words but to the meaning behind them she could feel it clearly, the depth of her regret, the intensity of her emotions, the sincerity behind everything she was saying, and it wasn’t something that could be easily described or understood through logic alone, because emotions like that… they didn’t translate cleanly into words, and yet even then, it was obvious how much Maria was struggling, how deeply she cared, how much she was tearing herself apart from the inside, and even Sofia, who had her own confusion and thoughts, couldn’t deny that this wasn’t something shallow or impulsive it was something much heavier.

Razeal, meanwhile, remained silent throughout all of it, his gaze steady, his expression unreadable as he listened to every single word without interruption, without reaction, simply observing her, processing what she was saying, and for a moment, it seemed like he might not respond at all, but then, after a brief pause, he tilted his head slightly, his tone calm yet genuinely curious, “Why do you think I wouldn’t be able to kill you… or punish you for what you did?”

The question came unexpectedly, cutting through the emotional weight of the moment in a way that was almost jarring, but it wasn’t dismissive it was sincere curiosity, because to him, that assumption didn’t fully make sense, and he wanted to understand why she was so certain about it.

Maria blinked faintly at the question, and then… she let out a soft chuckle, a quiet, almost bittersweet sound that contrasted with the heaviness of everything else, and even in her sadness, her eyes softened further, gaining a faint, gentle sparkle as she looked at him..

“Celestia and Selena…” she began slowly, “… I mean they’re still alive… Even after everything they did to you…?” Her gaze remained steady, “Your mother too… I saw it…” Her voice carried quiet certainty now, “…you had every chance… every reason… every strength needed to kill her… to hurt her… she was completely under your control…” She paused briefly, letting that sink in, “…but you still didn’t.” Her lips curved faintly again, not in happiness but in understanding…

“Razeal… you’re a gentle person.” She said it simply, but firmly, as if stating an undeniable truth, “Not weak…” her eyes held his, “…but truly gentle.” Her voice softened even more, “You don’t hurt people… Like not because you lack the strength or anytime … but because you can’t bring yourself to do it…” She leaned back slightly, her expression calm yet deeply perceptive..

“You are very emotional person.. Like Emotionally strong at these kinds of

Things … you feel everything deeply… but you don’t explode outward like people like me just choose Extreme paths when pushed to end like.. just fuck it I don’t care about it stuff… But you dont.. you carry it… you endure it…” Her gaze didn’t waver, “…you feel pain… but you don’t turn it into violence.” She inhaled lightly, her voice steady..

“You’re compassionate… even when it hurts you… you still try to see the humanity in the person who hurt you… you try to understand why they did it…” A faint sadness returned to her expression, “…so much so… that you struggle to even fully hate them… because you know their reasons… because you understand them… somewhat?”

“I am sure…” Maria continued softly, her voice carrying a quiet certainty now, not loud, not forceful but steady in a way that made it feel grounded in something deeper than assumption, “Even now…you must be thinking that the way I treated you… the way I hated you… wasn’t entirely my fault.” Her eyes remained fixed on his as she spoke, searching, almost as if she was trying to follow the exact line of thought inside his head. “That it was because of how I was raised… my mother… my family… the environment I grew up in… the kind of person my father was…” Her voice trailed slightly at the end, not because she didn’t know what to say but because she was watching him, carefully, waiting to see if he would react, if he would confirm it, deny it, or even just show something on his face.

But Razeal didn’t say anything.

He didn’t nod.. He didn’t interrupt.

He just stood there, looking at her, his expression unreadable, his silence giving her nothing to hold onto.

Maria’s lips curved into a faint, almost bittersweet smile as she took that silence as her answer or rather, as confirmation of what she already believed.

“See…” she murmured softly, continuing without hesitation, “…that’s exactly what I mean.” Her gaze softened, not with relief but with a quiet understanding. “You’re like that.” Her fingers shifted slightly in her lap, still trembling faintly, though she seemed to ignore it now.

“You don’t just look at what someone did… you look at why they did it.” Her voice grew steadier as she spoke, as if describing him gave her something to hold onto. “You try to find reasons… context…? something that makes it less black and white?” Her eyes didn’t leave his. “Even when it comes to something like this.”

“Normal people dont do it.. Well they cant.. They’ll just go crazy about it.. Some people just look for reasons to do eveen..”

She tilted her head slightly, her expression almost gentle despite everything.

“You’re loyal,” she said quietly. “And attached… more than you show.. Actually opposite..” Her lips curved faintly again, but there was no humor in it only truth. “Family… matters to you.” A brief pause followed. “Even when they’re the reason you’re suffering.” Her gaze deepened, studying him more intently. “Even when they’ve done things that should have made you cut them off completely.”

Razeal still didn’t respond.

But Maria didn’t stop.

“You don’t let go of people easily,” she continued. “You can’t.” Her voice softened further. “You’re too…” She paused, searching for the word, then let out a faint breath. “…too fucking soft.” A small, almost apologetic smile touched her lips. “Too fucking kind.” Her eyes flickered slightly. “…and maybe a little too fucking stupid and dumbb.” She corrected herself immediately after, her tone not mocking, but strangely affectionate. “I mean… just look at you.”

Her gaze moved over him for a brief second, as if emphasizing her point, before returning to his eyes.

“You can kill people,” she said plainly. “I’ve seen it.” Her voice didn’t waver. “Back in Atlantis… those people… the ones who hurt Levy and Aurora.” Her fingers tightened faintly. “You didn’t hesitate.” Her tone remained calm, factual. “You didn’t even look angry… but you still punished them.” A slight pause. “You acted because they hurt someone you cared about.”

Her expression shifted slightly then.

“But when it comes to people who hurt you…” she continued slowly, “…you can’t do the same.” Her voice lowered, carrying quiet weight. “Not because you lack the strength.” Her eyes locked onto his again. “But because you just can’t.”

Silence stretched for a moment.

“You feel too much,” she said softly. “You’re too aware… too understanding…” Her lips parted slightly as she spoke, her breath uneven but her words steady. “You’re loyal… even when you shouldn’t be.. Even when

you have reasons tommot

be.. ” A faint pause. “And that’s why…”

“I know you wouldn’t hurt me,” she finished quietly. “No matter what I’ve done… or what I might do.” Her voice softened further. “You just can’t.”

The words settled heavily in the air.

For a brief moment..

Nothing happened no one said anything…

Then

“No.. You’re wrong.” Razeal’s voice suddenly cut through the silence.

Calm.. Flat and Direct.

He had listened to everything she said without interruption, without reaction but now, he shook his head slightly, rejecting her conclusion without hesitation.. Even confident as smiling..

Maria though just blinked.. She wasn’t surprised hell jump to reject.. Even expected it genuinely..

She chuckled.. Softly.

Not out of amusement but as if she genuinely found his response… ironic.

She looked at him again, her eyes carrying that same soft, almost knowing expression, as if she was watching someone deny something obvious.

“Then prove it.. Come.. Hurt me,”

“Punish me… for what I did.” Her eyes didn’t waver, didn’t flinch, “…Show me… that you aren’t what I just described.” And in that instant, the entire atmosphere of the room shifted. It dropped. Sharply.

The fragile calm that had barely held together shattered into something tense, something dangerous, something that made the air feel heavier again, harder to breathe, and even Sofia, who had been standing silently until now, froze completely, her body going still as she processed what Maria had just said, her eyes widening slightly as concern, confusion, and alarm all mixed together at once, because this wasn’t just emotional anymore this was pushing someone further.. She was literal trying to push him into doing it.

Razeal, however, didn’t react immediately. He didn’t move, didn’t speak. He simply looked at Maria, and slowly… his eyes narrowed, just slightly, his gaze sharpening as if something within him had shifted not explosively, not violently, but subtly, dangerously, as he continued to stare at her in silence, the tension between them tightening suddenly..

——