Mythos Of Narcissus: Reborn As An NPC In A Horror VRMMO

The spiraling moon of madness cast its violent light across the landscape as my eyes fixated on the Mirroring Well. Its slightly damaged surface shimmered faintly, a fragile remnant of the colossal potential it held.

And I'm currently planning to abuse it instead of utilizing it.

Because a revelation struck me—a flash of inspiration so audacious, so utterly perfect, that I couldn't help but smile.

It was the Heavenly Victory herself that showed me the way.

Why settle for randomness when I could fully abuse the Mirroring Well's capabilities to its absolute limit?

The Heavenly Victories were perfect candidates for this experiment. Their vessels, enhanced by Theotech and bioengineered genes, paired seamlessly with their divine souls. Even with their divine influence dampened in this Carcosa, their combined physical prowess and tactical cunning were undeniable. If I could replicate this perfection without the uncertainty of drawing random souls, why not do so?

"Ah, this is going to be fun," I mused, the thought drawing an unbidden chuckle from my lips.

As of now, both of the Heavenly Victory had been somewhat convinced that the only thing that could do was to cooperate, releasing them from their Theotech cuffs.

Because their aura and presence must not be dimmed for my plan to go smoothly.

An extra note, the interrogation session was not really needed since we had already shown them who's the boss, but it was great and vital for my bastioneers and confidantes since explaining the Heavenly Victory's whole deal and background from my lips meant extra work for my comfortable self.

Still, I'm surprised that Charis can be very daunting when she was interrogating someone together with Verina.

She also really resembles me in a lot of ways when it comes to convincing people, so I find that adorable.

Anyway, continuing my current endeavor~

In my cradle, was the disembodied hand of the first Heavenly Victory that she detached and used to call a perfect copy of herself. I closed my eyes and put on the biggest smile as I faced toward the one-armed demigod.

"What… what are you planning now?" she uttered, her voice shaky with apprehension.

I leaned closer, my smile warm but my voice should be cold enough to freeze the blood of anyone who heard it. "Oh, nothing too complicated," I said softly, yet with an edge that sent shivers down her spine. "You're going to help me make more of you. Exactly like you. Vessel and mind. No randomness, no unpredictability."

Her eyes widened in terror. She knew what I was talking about, and she knew the amount of toll that would happen to her soul and body. "W-what? That's… that's impossible. Even the Mirroring Well doesn't—"

I tightened my grip on her neck, cutting her off with a faint but audible snap. Gently, I caressed the surface of her skin with my fingers, leaning myself even closer to her ear.

"Oh, don't play coy," I said, my voice suddenly turning guttural, low, and reverberating with an eldritch weight. "I saw what you did. That little trick with your hand, summoning a perfect copy of yourself. You've already proven it's possible. So you're going to do it again. And again. And again. And again. And again~"

Her lips quivered as she tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat, quite literally.

"And just in case you think you have a choice…" I continued, my tone dropping into something horrifyingly serene, "I want you to imagine what it would feel like if I slowly unraveled every single nerve in your body, one by one. Not only physically, of course—that would be too quick. No, I'll do it conceptually on top of that. You'll feel every single thread of your existence peeling away, layer by layer, until there's nothing left but raw, exposed agony.

"I will reduce your conscience to a mere sentient and thinking fleshy strings, and I will make a lot of beautiful things out of you~ I will decorate my bedroom, my couch, and my hall with product made by the thread I extracted from you~

"And I will make sure to gently caress it everyday, in every way, until the end of time."

Her entire body went rigid, her breathing shallow and erratic. "I-I'll do it!" she cried, her voice breaking into a desperate, high-pitched whimper. "I'll do whatever you want! Just… just don't—don't do that."

"Good girl." I released her, letting her traumatically collapse onto the ground like a discarded puppet. "Now, use your little hand trick and start working."

Her disembodied hand glowing faintly as I approached the Mirroring Well.

From behind me, the second Heavenly Victory followed afterward, her smug demeanor had already gone when she saw what was happening.

"You're serious about this?" she asked, her voice trembling with disbelief. "You're really going to… to mass-produce me? I mean, us? Won't there be some kind of consequence if you have more than one exact copy of a demigod like me? I mean, I can see that he first me used a lot of what was left of her divinity to call me here, and repeatedly doing that process will just-"

"Oh, I'm very serious," I interrupted, turning to face her with the same kind and gentle smile. "And you're going to help me. In fact, you'll be the one to greet the next clone. But don't worry—if they don't cooperate, I'll simply do to you what I described to your dear sister over there.

"And since you will be the determinator, you will receive twice if not worse kind of punishment if you failed the task I've given you."

Her face paled. "Y-you wouldn't—"

I took a slow step toward her, my smile widening. "Do you really want to test that theory?"

The second Heavenly Victory recoiled. She then nodded shakily, her voice barely a whisper. "I-I'll do it…"

"Good." I clapped my hands together, the sound echoing unnaturally in the still air. "Now, let's get started."

I extended the first Heavenly Victory disembodied arm toward the Mirroring Well. As her fingers touched the fractured surface, the monolith pulsed with a dark, resonant energy, its anti-light rippling like waves across an abyss.

From its depths, another figure began to emerge as I pulled out the arm that I was holding.

Gradually, the new clone was pulled into existence, her form identical to the two already standing beside me. The same voluminous silver hair streaked with crimson, the same heterochromatic eyes, the same divine aura.

As the new Heavenly Victory stepped forward, her expression was one of confusion and suspicion instead of confident and stoic, her gaze darting between her identical counterparts and me.

"What is this?" she demanded, her voice carrying a faint tremor. "What's going on?"

The second Heavenly Victory stepped forward, her face a mask of forced calm. "Listen carefully," she said, her voice low and steady. "You need to cooperate. Do whatever she says. If you don't…" She trailed off, her gaze flicking nervously toward me.

The new clone's eyes narrowed. "Or what?"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

I stepped forward, my presence looming over her like a suffocating shadow. "Or I'll show you," I said simply, my voice laced with a terrifying finality. "Continue, my dear Heavenly Victory. If in the end, I'm the one who convinced her, you would still receive the end of our bargain~"

The second Heavenly Victory gulped, her face dripping with racing sweats. "Just for this once, for the sake of your survival and my own. I want you to stay non-hostile, and cooperative. You see, these people are bad, bad news, and our divinity doesn't extend well in this world…"

The third clone hesitated, her defiance crumbling under the weight of the words laid in front of her. She seemed to pry into me, my confidantes, and also the two pitiful and identical figures that were trying their best to just stay alive.

Slowly, the third Heavenly Victory nodded with a great sense of understanding "Fine. I'll cooperate."

"Excellent." I turned to the first Heavenly Victory, who was still trembling by the Mirroring Well, but my words were clearly meant for our newcomer. "You're the third Heavenly Victory so far, which means that if you don't do exactly the same thing as the Heavenly Victory with both arms intact here, as in, convincing the next copy to subserviently cooperate with us.

"You will suffer three-times the doomed fate that I promised to these two versions of yourself over here."

And so the process continued.

Each new clone was brought into existence under the same conditions, each one coerced into submission through a combination of threats and fear. The second and third clones worked together to pacify the fourth, and the fourth joined them to pacify the fifth.

By the time the 20th clone was summoned, the Mirroring Well was visibly deteriorating, its fractured surface cracking and crumbling under the strain of repeated use, reduced to nothing but rubbles and ruins that barely have any foundation to exist in this world.

But I had what I wanted.

The twenty new Heavenly Victories stood in a line before me, their once-proud demeanors replaced with quiet subservience. Now, each one wore a pair of non-restrictive Theotech cuffs, their divine auras suppressed and their wills bound by contracts signed in blood and essence to take me and my confidantes as their everlasting masters.

Kuzunoha had taken the liberty of providing them with maid outfits identical to those worn by the Puppet Servants in her mansion. The pristine black-and-white uniforms contrasted sharply with their divine presence, adding an almost comical touch to the scene.

"I think they look rather adorable," Kuzunoha remarked with a sly smile, her crimson eyes gleaming with amusement.

"They'll look even better once they're properly trained," I replied, my tone warm and gentle but carrying an underlying edge.

I gestured to the line of clones. "From now on, you'll each be referred to by your new designations. Maid-1, Maid-2, Maid-3, and so on. Your previous identity as 'Heavenly Victory' is irrelevant. You serve this bastion now."

The clones nodded in unison, their expressions awkward yet determined, but their eyes betraying a flicker of unease.

To solidify their loyalty, I handed each one a copy of the Script.

The personalized bible had already worked wonders on the bastioneers, indoctrinating them into absolute loyalty while imbuing them with advanced skills and knowledge. It would do the same for the clones.

As the Landship's engines roared to life, signaling the continuation of our journey, the Maids had already been integrated to our moving bastion of a Landship, learning their jobs and responsibility lest they want to break their end of the contract.

Per guidance of Kuzunoha's sadistic mischief and Viviane's strict dominion, they were in the great hands of the experts that were more than happy to have fun over these enslaved demigods from another world.

"So, since they basically possess the same blood and flesh as you, can we refer to them as your sisters?" Callista joked with a mocking sneer.

"Maybe," Nausea answered, still unsure of what actually had just transpired, as in, her bastion now suddenly having 20 new demigods as the specialized servants of this bastion. "Just, let's be kind to them from now on."

Oh right.

I also had already established that these demigod maids were one rank below the bastioneers in terms of hierarchy.