Next is stage four: the massive smear campaign. But this is not a normal smear campaign; a typical smear campaign has a strategy, a limit point, and a time when the person stops. A covert narcissist has no such boundaries. When they enter this phase, they will even destroy themselves if that is what it takes to destroy you. Their obsession with your downfall becomes so powerful that they stop caring about their own reputation, dignity, relationships, or even their career.
Their life reduces to one single mission: to erase you. From the moment they wake up to the moment they sleep, you are the only thing on their mind. They think about you while eating, scrolling, bathing, and conversing with others—nothing else. You become their fixation, fuel, enemy, and identity. They will lie, manipulate, and twist stories so convincingly that people start doubting you without questioning them. They will drag anyone into this war: friends, family, coworkers—whoever can be used as a weapon against you.
This is annihilation. They want people to isolate you; they want to turn every support system against you. They want you abandoned. Misunderstood and cornered. Why? Because seeing you powerless gives them a sense of victory they cannot find anywhere else. In this obsession, they sabotage their own career stability and future. They burn their own life to ashes just to ensure you do not get to stand in the light. Their hatred becomes stronger than their survival instinct. This is when you realize you’re not dealing with a sad, wounded person anymore; you’re dealing with someone who has but one goal left in life: to destroy you at any cost.
Stage 5: The Malignant Ascension
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