WAS she consciously trying to impress something upon him or were her words devoid of some deeper, hidden meaning? The girl had died without revealing that secret. However, it was those last words of hers that drove a wedge in his heart, splitting it in two.
World domination, the long-cherished desire of all sorcerers, the calling that begs to be fulfilled. That was supposed to be the way of it, but her words had shaken the man to his very core. Part of him insisted, “I must,” while part of him cried, “I don’t want to”. It took the man loving the girl, and then losing her to start having his doubts.
He continued studying magic under his father’s tutelage. He went through with the training, his heart being torn apart by the irreconcilable contradiction all the while. It was as if another version of himself now resided within him, asking him, “Is this what you really want?” whenever he obediently followed his father’s teachings.
However, there was no erasing the lessons ingrained in his very being. He could not deny the part of him that worked towards world conquest, but there was now also a part of him that grabbed him by the hand in a bid to prevent him from going through with it. It was pure madness. The man felt himself going crazy.
That was why, after searching his soul, he reached a certain decision. Using technology he had developed for his job, he planted transmitters inside his own and his daughter’s body and handed his best friend a tracking device connected to them.
His father’s days were numbered. It was obvious that his health had been deteriorating since the day he fought the last of the true Rangers and obliterated their suits and weapons. If he continued to use magic in an attempt to take over the world at the current rate, he would soon perish. Yes, his father was wasting away, clearly so. When his father died, he would have to come forward to take up the mantle of Supreme Ruler of Evil.
However, his father’s time in power had stretched on for far too long. Most of the people that had been attending to him as part of their organization were no longer of this world. In fact, there were no field agents of the organization left; all that remained of the members was just a single lawyer who had a minor, background role in their circle.
No longer could his family call upon their bound servants, their homunculus, or the contracted eldritch abominations they had bound in pocket dimensions when they sought to feed upon the Earth and its inhabitants. All of their power was now limited to only the sorcerers.
This meant that the man would have to fight alone. That was true for the Champions of Justice as well, though. They, too, would have to entrust their mission to a new generation of young people with the passage of time. The new generation would no doubt see a marked decrease in manpower, and with the loss of their last base and the focal point of their power suits, they would not compare in the slightest to the giants of the past who had fought in giant mobile armor made in the image of animals capable of combatting even the greatest of eldritch horrors.
That was why he had given his friend the tracking system. It would display his current position on the map as soon as he cast a spell. This would enable them to find him wherever he would be, just like how the Champions of Justice always appeared before the villain in the nick of time to save the day in superhero shows. This would give them back the advantage they lost in that last horrific war.
When it came down to it, he wanted his best friend to become his opponent. His friend’s transfer to the police station tasked with monitoring the man’s evil organization might have been just a coincidence, but to the man, it was as good as fate, for he knew he could trust his best friend to stop him when he needed him to.
The man couldn’t break the hold his father had on him. All those things he had imprinted on his mind since a tender age: the necessity of world domination, wielding magic, the pride as the Supreme Ruler of Evil. If that was his very life, wouldn’t denying all of it mean the death of him?
When his love had breathed her last, the man had actually felt a momentary urge to follow her into oblivion. However, he couldn’t go through with it. …It had been because he had Mia. His darling daughter Mia, born from the woman he had loved so deeply.
Before long, his father passed away. The man, with the insurance of tracking devices in his own and his daughter’s body, lived on, struggling to bridge the gap between the two halves of his heart. His purpose in life was to reach world domination as the Supreme Ruler of Evil, to pass the secrets of magic on to his daughter who would eventually become his successor, to instill in her an indomitable pride as the Supreme Ruler of Evil, and to impress the necessity of world conquest upon her.
The insurance put in place by the man had worked as intended; whenever he caused a commotion, his best friend and two of his comrades would arrive and do battle with him. He fought until he felt his reserves of energy dwindling, and then he would always run. Every day, he felt relief at the way things had played out.
Phew, another day went by where I could avoid taking over the world, a part of him thought, and he couldn’t deny its existence. Even though a part of him knew that if he truly sought world domination, the current generation of rangers would not be able to stop him. But that’s why he chose his best friend as his opponent—he couldn’t bring himself to kill him.
At the same time, he further advanced his daughter’s education. Everything his father had done to him, he in turn applied to his child, in precisely the same manner. A part of him insisted that he had to raise her as the next Supreme Ruler of Evil; another part of him feared for the girl’s future and begged him not to do that to his own daughter.
The man spent his days trying to reconcile these colossal contradictions, both as a father and as the current Supreme Ruler of Evil. He taught his daughter magic, apologizing to her in his head all the while as he sabotaged her skills in magic—he just couldn’t bring himself to turn her into a menace. His little girl, hanging on his every word, reminded him very much of himself, the way he used to be when he had been but a young boy. And so, every day, guilt filled his chest, feeling as though it were tearing his heart apart.
I’m sorry. I am so sorry that you have to call such a disappointment your father. If only I could set my heart on one path, but it seems that I am an even bigger failure than I thought. Please, forgive me for the choice I made.