The Villian Who Broke The Story

Charlotte stood quietly among the spectators, her eyes fixed on the arena below. Even as the crowd buzzed with anticipation for the final battle, her thoughts remained on the conversation she had with Kael before he left for the waiting room.

"Mana Emphasization is a very powerful technique... and not something that is used out of mild inconvenience."

She slowly lowered her gaze.

"Well... I guess he was right."

"Mana Emphasization is a very powerful technique, and not something that is used out of mild inconvenience."

The repaired arena looked no different from before. It was difficult to believe that only moments ago it had been reduced to rubble after Kael’s battle with Zion.

The referee stepped into the center of the arena.

"The finalists, please enter the battlefield!"

The entrance gates opened.

Kael slowly walked onto the arena.

The moment Charlotte saw him, she couldn’t help but tighten her fists.

With the way both opponents looked...

It was easy to guess who everyone expected to win.

Kael looked bruised and battered, carrying the scars from his previous fight into his current battle. His academy uniform was torn in several places, stained with dried blood from the battle against Zion.

Standing opposite him...

Auriella Voss remained completely pristine.

Not once throughout the duration of the tournament had she needed to draw her weapon.

She had simply observed every battle that came before hers.

That privilege belonged only to the academy’s top-ranked student.

A position Kael had been fighting to reach ever since entering the tournament.

Charlotte quietly watched him.

The moment he stepped onto the arena...

It felt as though he was attempting something impossible.

Because who wouldn’t doubt him?

Someone who rose from the one-thousandth ranked student in the academy.....

The weakest participant...

Who now stood before the strongest.

The referee slowly raised his hand.

"Begin!"

He immediately stepped out of the arena.

The instant the match started—

Darkness Mana exploded from Kael’s body.

Black mana flowed around him like smoke, completely enveloping his figure.

"...That dumbass idiot."

Stella muttered.

Charlotte immediately remembered everything Kael had told her earlier.

For a brief second...

She felt as though every word he said had been complete nonsense.

"Mana Emphasization is dangerous."

"Don’t use it carelessly."

"Even Magic Knights use it with restraint."

And yet...

He activated it the very moment the battle began.

"Does that boy want to kill himself before he becomes my student?"

Lyra said, sounding slightly hysterical.

Stella simply sighed.

"I knew he was up to no good."

Across the battlefield...

Auriella quietly observed Kael.

Her calm gaze never left him.

"Is it really advisable..."

"...to be using that technique at the beginning of a fight?"

She asked.

Kael slowly walked toward her.

"Well..."

"You’re the one with the special eyes."

"You tell me."

He answered casually.

His footsteps never stopped.

"And based on what I know..."

"You end your fights quickly."

"You know, Auriella..."

"You’re the only person in the Top Ten rankings of our year whose technique I haven’t copied."

Auriella tilted her head slightly.

"So..."

"You didn’t fight my simulated version."

"I wonder why that is."

She asked curiously.

Kael smiled.

"Well..."

"Because I couldn’t reach you."

"But you won’t understand anyway."

The moment those words left his mouth—

Auriella’s eyes flashed violet.

Her expression changed ever so slightly.

The Kael standing before her...

Was merely an afterimage.

Almost simultaneously—

Steel clashed behind her.

Kael had already appeared at her blind spot.

He was utilizing the same movement Zion had used against him while using Aura.

Only...

Kael wasn’t using Aura.

He was using Mana Emphasization to replicate the effect of Zion’s Aura.

Without hesitation, Auriella drew both of her daggers.

Their weapons collided.

Kael immediately attempted to retreat the instant he saw Auriella’s eyes glow violet.

But the damage had already been done.

Two thin cuts appeared across his neck.

Blood slowly trickled downward.

Kael rapidly stepped backward, widening the distance between them before locking his gaze onto Auriella.

She stared at him with her usual blank expression.

"So..."

"You dodged that."

She muttered softly.

The next instant—

She vanished.

Using Vanishing Step, she rushed toward Kael once more.

"Sixth Form..."

Kael declared, immediately preparing to create a defensive ring around himself.

Kael’s blade immediately began revolving around him.

"Sixth Form... Celestial Orbit."

The sword moved in a continuous circular motion, creating a defensive sphere capable of intercepting attacks from every direction.

Auriella didn’t slow down.

She stepped into the range of the rotating blade without the slightest hesitation.

Her daggers danced through the narrow openings between the rotating arcs of steel, forcing Kael to adjust the rhythm of his defense.

The clash of steel echoed across the arena.

Auriella suddenly aimed one dagger directly at his neck.

Kael instinctively abandoned his defensive stance.

He ducked beneath the strike before using his free arm to swipe toward her like the claws of a Beastkin.

Auriella twisted gracefully in midair, avoiding his hand before landing several steps behind him.

The instant her feet touched the ground—

Kael’s sword shot toward her.

He had gripped the weapon at its center.

Darkness Mana surged around the blade, stretching it outward until it resembled a long lance.

The thrust pierced through the air with frightening speed.

Auriella sidestepped avoiding the attack.

Rather than retreating, she closed the distance immediately.

Almost simultaneously...

The Darkness Mana surrounding Kael’s blade receded.

The elongated weapon shrank back into an ordinary sword.

Kael swung it upward just in time to intercept Auriella’s incoming strike.

Clang!

The impact forced both of them backward before Kael immediately stepped forward again, refusing to surrender the initiative.

Their weapons collided repeatedly.

Neither combatant allowed the other even a moment to breathe.

Auriella quietly activated her unique eyes once more.

Her violet pupils carefully analyzed Kael.

Then...

For a brief instant...

Kael’s appearance changed.

Standing before her was no longer just one opponent.

She saw the Rank Five Tigerkin he had defeated earlier in the tournament.

Then the Combat Dwarf.

Then Zion.

One after another...

The shadows of the opponents Kael had copied seemed to appear behind him.

Each carried a different stance.

A different technique.

A different rhythm.

The constant transitions between them made Kael’s movements nearly impossible to predict.

It felt as though she wasn’t fighting one person.

She was fighting every opponent Kael had ever defeated.

Kael disappeared.

The next instant he appeared beside her.

"Too much information for your eyes to carry."

He said calmly.

Before he could complete his attack—

The world spun around him.

Auriella had effortlessly flipped him over her shoulder.

Using one dagger, she immediately aimed for his neck.

Kael twisted while still airborne.

Instead of crashing onto the arena floor, he landed lightly on both feet before sliding backward several meters.

His sword, which had almost slipped from his grasp, returned firmly to his hand.

Without hesitation, he once again gripped the blade through its center.

Darkness Mana poured into the weapon.

The blade lengthened once more, transforming into a spear-like weapon.

Kael immediately lunged.

The extended blade forced Auriella to retreat for the first time during the match.

She narrowly avoided the thrust.

Before she could recover...

Kael canceled the extension.

The Darkness Mana instantly collapsed back into the blade.

Using the shortened weapon, he stepped inside her guard and blocked her counterattack.

The force behind his strike pushed Auriella backward.

One step.

Then another.

Until she reached the very edge of the arena.

Auriella frowned slightly.

Fighting Kael...

Was unlike fighting anyone else.

His fighting style changed almost every few seconds.

Swordsmanship.

Beastkin techniques.

Spear techniques.

Hand-to-hand combat.

Then back to swordsmanship again.

Every adjustment erased the rhythm she had just begun reading.

"Fighting Kael..."

"...is like fighting multiple people at once."

She muttered quietly.

"A chamber of blind weaknesses..."

Before she finished analyzing him...

Kael changed his stance once again.

Kael suddenly abandoned his swordsmanship altogether.

Instead of raising his blade again, he lowered it and rushed forward with his bare hands.

His movements became savage.

Every strike resembled that of a Beastkin hunting its prey rather than a swordsman fighting a duel.

Auriella calmly retreated, avoiding each claw-like swipe by the smallest possible margin before answering with precise strikes of her own.

Then...

Kael suddenly stopped.

His crimson eyes dropped toward her hands.

He immediately noticed something.

One of Auriella’s daggers was gone.

"If this was your strategy to win this fight..."

"I’m sorry to say..."

"It won’t work."

Auriella said in her usual monotone voice.

Kael lowered his head.

A dagger was buried deep in his stomach.

Blood slowly flowed around the blade before dripping onto the arena floor.

The spectators collectively held their breath.

Instead of panicking...

Kael smiled.

Without hesitation, he wrapped his hand around the dagger’s handle.

He pulled it out in one motion.

Blood spilled freely from the wound.

Yet the grin on his face only became more unsettling.

"I was expecting..."

"No..."

"I was waiting for that attack."

His voice remained calm despite the injury.

The dagger dropped from his hand onto the arena floor.

Kael slowly lifted his gaze toward Auriella.

The Darkness Mana surrounding his body continued flowing around him like smoke.

His crimson eyes remained locked onto hers.

"Tell me, Auriella..."

"Have you ever fought yourself."