The Last Sin - ONC 2025

Open Novella Contest 2025!

This is my interpretation of prompt 50. A supervillain has a midlife crisis and decides to become a superhero. But redemption might be harder than they imagined.

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Cassius Vale has spent his life in the shadows, a man forged by necessity-no questions asked, no hesitation. A fixer, a ghost, a necessary evil in a city that thrives on corruption and despair. He's become an instrument of violence, a blade wielded by unseen hands, but when a job leaves an innocent girl staring at him with pure terror in her eyes, something deep within him stirs.

For the first time, he questions whether he can be anything more than a weapon for hire. Can the blood on his hands ever be washed away, or is he forever stained by the choices he's made?

As crime tightens its vice grip on the city and a new wave of chaos surges, Cassius stands at a crossroads: remain the villain in this twisted narrative or fight for something greater than himself. But redemption comes with a heavy toll, and the path to heroism is littered with foes who won't let him slip away so easily.

In a world where justice is nothing more than a fading memory and second chances are rare as gold, can a man molded by violence ever transform into a hero? Or will the darkness that has shaped his existence finally consume him, dragging him back into the abyss from which he emerged?