This article contains spoilers for Season 2 of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom.
It's a wrap for Season 2 of My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom, but instead of the happy ending that Season 1 provided, Season 2 ends with the potential to place Katarina in the worst danger she has yet to encounter.
Season 2 held some major turning points for Katarina and the crew. Confessions and kisses caused turbulence in Katarina's harem, but the reappearance of black magic and introduction of new characters have made life far from a snack and nap paradise for the villainess.
Romantically, some big changes occurred with Geordo and Keith confessing their love, leading to Acchan -- Katarina's best friend from her former life -- cutting in to cheerfully declare that their routes have been conquered. This seems to imply that Nicol and Alan are somewhere down the line, but Geordo and Keith's overtures have finally awakened Katarina to the idea of romance. It's not necessarily a happy awakening; Katarina often looks uncomfortable when being wooed and seems quite happy to not be actively dating anyone.
Black magic made a terrifying return this season with the introduction of Sora and Sarah in two separate kidnappings for the Claes siblings. Katarina was kidnapped as part of a plot against the royal family, and it was during her capture that Katarina met Sora, a black magic user who had been given those powers against his will.
Sora is a victim of child trafficking and joins Raphael on the list of children used in black magic experiments. Later, when Keith was kidnapped, he was subjected to torture by Sarah, who was also revealed to be a child test subject and had the most powerful black magic yet encountered. While Sora was taken into custody and then began work at the Department of Magic, Sarah disappeared into thin air. Her reappearance has the potential to cause complete disaster.
The usage of black magic and the kidnappings of the Claes siblings introduced a new cast of characters in an ever-evolving world. Most notable of these is Larna, who works in the Department of Magic as Director of the Magic Tool Laboratory. With Katarina and Maria joining the Department of Magic after their graduation, Larna as well as Sora and Raphael are sure to make frequent appearances, especially if black magic begins to surface once more.
The show was set up to detail Katarina and Maria's adventures within the Department of Magic, but it seems that game developers in another world thought the workplace was the perfect spot for romance. The big twist at the end of Season 2 was Katarina discovering through a vision of Acchan that Fortune Lover 2 now exists, with a whole new set of characters to pursue and a terrible-as-ever Katarina Claes back from her banishment. The love interests are all boys in the Department of Magic, including Sora, and the playable character will have to thwart Katarina all over again to win their love.
There are several possibilities that Fortune Lover 2 could take. Acchan mentioned that Katarina was back, yet Katarina in her own world never left. She has already defied the story. Is she safe because of that, or will the NPCs have their memories forcibly altered? Katarina had practically her entire childhood to win over her friends before the story began, but starting from scratch with no allies could be deadly.
Katarina could choose to leave the Department of Magic and not interact with the new love interests, but her involvement with black magic makes it possible Larna won't make that easy. The worst-case scenario is that she is thrust into Fortune Lover 2 with absolutely no clue what her death flags are so that there's no possible way to avoid them and no chance to make allies with the possible love interests. Worse, there's Sora, who Katarina has accidentally already made herself an obstacle to in his route. She could accidentally trigger a death flag at any moment and find herself exiled or killed.
This is where Maria could change things. Katarina is able to conquer Geordo and Keith's routes but not the girls' routes, since they were never written for Fortune Lover. However, as the playable character, Maria could have possible access to routes that Fortune Lover 2 has made available. Given how hated Katarina is as a villain, wouldn't it be interesting if the developers of Fortune Lover 2 included a route that involved a way into Katarina's heart and perhaps warmed her to the idea of being in love?
All these questions may be answered with the recently announced My Next Life as a Villainess movie and in Season 3 as well. Season 2 has set itself up well to be continued with romance, black magic and a new game intent on getting Katarina killed.
