Duel with the Villainess

The participant for the final duel is Lady Amari of House Durendal!

“Huh? I thought it was over? I didn’t see her at all during the matches.”

The moment I saw the final challenger’s face, I recognized her instantly and voiced a light protest, a sense of unease creeping over me.

But my attempt to slip away was immediately blocked by the woman herself.

“I was simply meditating in the knights’ lounge to maintain peak condition until the match began. You don’t appear particularly tired, so you won’t back out now, will you?”

That’s not the issue…

I knew the name and face of Amari Durendal all too well.

She was one of the major supporting characters you’d meet when playing Romance Tale the normal ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way—that is, when you actually focused on the romance like the game intended.

The problem was that Amari had a personality from hell. A complete human disaster.

The playable characters in Romance Tale consisted of the protagonist—the sole heroine—and the various male leads trying to win her over.

Amari Durendal was obsessed with one of those male leads, and whenever it looked like he was getting close to the heroine, she would appear and torment her with vicious cruelty. A classic villainess, in other words.

It was a role that usually showed up once or twice in any rofan story, but the real issue was that her bullying crossed so far beyond the line that it would have earned her eight or nine official school violence charges in a modern setting.

Her harassment was so severe and malicious that it couldn’t possibly be excused, yet her face was so stunning that even as a supporting character she drove both fans and haters absolutely insane. A superstar in her own right.

But that was only something you could enjoy lightly when she existed as a character inside a game.

If I get tangled up with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that crazy bitch here, there’s no telling what she’ll do to me later. She’s the type who nearly beats people to a pulp the moment the person she likes starts getting along with someone else.

Anyway, this wasn’t a gladiatorial match I absolutely had to win, and nothing was at stake, so I decided to just go through the motions and lose on purpose. I let every ounce of strength drain from my body.

I felt my tensed muscles relax, and at the same time, an incredibly intense gaze bored into me from behind.

An incredibly intense gaze?

The instinctive alarm bell screaming in my head made me turn around, only to find the old man glaring at me with bulging eyes.

Shit! I completely forgot the old man was watching!

The old man saw through every single one of my tricks.

He had definitely noticed me slacking off.

And right now, his eyes were practically shouting at me.

Even giving it your all might not be enough, yet you dare pick and choose your opponents while holding back? Are you trying to insult her? Has your spirit still not fully awakened?!

The moment I saw the old man’s expression, goosebumps exploded across my entire body.

If I kept slacking off and pretended to lose… I would definitely receive the Fivefold Intimidation!

Would I rather fight properly and get marked by that insane crazy bitch, or slack off, throw the match, and get the Fivefold Intimidation from this dementia-ridden old fossil?

Why were these my only two choices?

But in the face of cold reality, I had no choice but to be rational.

I’ve finally escaped that damn mountain and earned my freedom! There’s no way I’m going back to that nightmare! Being marked by that psycho is terrifying, but nothing is worse than the Fivefold Intimidation!

I gathered my strength once more and prepared to face Amari.

Even after the knight serving as referee declared the start of the match, Amari didn’t charge forward. She simply stood in place, gripping her practice sword.

Every previous participant had rushed in the moment the match began, so seeing Amari calmly observing me instead made me tilt my head in confusion.

“Aren’t you going to fight?”

Amari remained perfectly still as she answered.

“You come at me first.”

“...Huh?”

“I’ll yield the first move. I want to see your skill with my own eyes. Attack me.”

If it had been anyone else, I would have happily taken the free hit and charged in. But the problem was that the person speaking was Amari Durendal.

Amari was not the type to accept defeat gracefully.

That twisted psychopath—if I actually attacked first when she invited me to, and the match ended right there, she would grind her teeth and torment me for the rest of my life.

At least if she attacked first and lost, she wouldn’t have any excuses. But if the match ended without her ever attacking, she would definitely insist, “If I had gone on the offensive, you would have been finished!”

I shook my head.

“No, there’s no need for that. Please attack first.”

“I said I wanted to see your skill. Stop standing there and move already.”

We weren’t getting anywhere.

Does she really think I’d dig my own grave when I know her personality so well?

At this point, extreme measures were the only option.

I deliberately lifted one corner of my mouth in an obvious, mocking smirk.

“It seems you’re mistaken, so let me clarify something.”

I raised my index finger.

“You’re the challenger here.”

Crack—

Amari’s eyes looked ready to burst from her skull. Veins bulged violently across her forehead and temples.

In a single instant she had been treated like an inferior, and the rage that flooded her made her tremble from head to toe, breath coming in furious gasps.

“Ah… is that so…? I’m the challenger, am I…? Ha… haha…! You worthless bastard… You really are… a natural at provoking people!!!”

In her towering fury, Amari drew out every ounce of her mana. In an instant, an incredibly clear and stable aura bloomed across her practice sword.

The moment the nobles and previously defeated challengers saw the aura, gasps of admiration rippled through the crowd.

“Ooh, so that’s Lady Amari’s aura…!”

“Such a clear, defined shape at her age… she’s already reached that level?”

“I don’t know what trick that guy used, but he can’t possibly beat Lady Amari. Damn it, I should have fought more seriously…!”

“Hoo… I had heard the rumors about Duke Durendal’s granddaughter, but seeing it myself, she exceeds all expectations.”

“She’s only eighteen, yet she can already produce an aura of that quality.”

“So the stories were true—she really has reached the Sword Expert stage. But if even a genius like her wasn’t enough to satisfy Sir Luke, why would he choose some boy of unknown origin…”

I ignored the buzzing commentary from the crowd and rapidly analyzed the aura she had created—the arrangement of mana that formed it, the way each strand connected.

Once I had it memorized, I replicated the exact same mana structure and connections onto my own blade, like pressing a decal onto paper.

The old man’s aura was a nightmare to copy, but this is way easier. It’s still harder than the guys I fought earlier, though.

The moment the aura bloomed across my practice sword, Amari’s eyes widened in shock.

“You… can use aura…? Tch. So you really do have skill. In that case, I won’t hold back at all!”

Amari kicked off the ground and charged, swinging her practice sword in a fierce arc.

It was my first time seeing anyone’s aura besides the old man’s, but…

Compared to the abuse that dementia-ridden old fossil called “sparring,” this is nothing but a child’s toy!

The mana arrangement, the connections, the focal points that held it all together—if you could see all of that, you could also see exactly where to strike to make the entire structure collapse.

I spotted the spot in Amari’s rushing aura that linked the greatest number of focal points, closed the distance in a flash, and swung my sword straight at it.

The instant our blades met, I concentrated the mana of my own aura into a single spear-like point and drove it straight into the core of hers.

Crackle—!

The moment the critical connection was struck, Amari’s aura shattered like glass. In less than a second the mana lost its anchors, scattered apart, and vanished completely.

Clang—!

In a single exchange, Amari’s aura had been completely dismantled. Only her plain practice sword remained, while my own aura-coated blade hovered steadily at her throat.

The difference in power and hardness between an aura-covered sword and an ordinary one was overwhelming. Amari lost her grip in one blow and now stood with my sword at her neck.

She stared with trembling eyes, muttering in disbelief.

“I-it can’t be… My aura… How… I didn’t even feel outmatched in strength… How is this possible…”

I turned to the referee, who was standing there with a completely stupefied expression.

“Referee. You need to announce the result.”

#####

The instant Aran drew out his aura, several sharp-eyed experts—especially the mages of the Magic Tower—let out cries of shock.

They had felt a strong sense of dissonance throughout the previous fourteen matches but couldn’t quite identify its source. The moment he manifested a clearly defined aura, the truth hit them like a thunderbolt.

“N-no way! This is impossible! He didn’t even use mana refined inside his own body—he seized natural mana on the spot and artificially created aura with it?!”

“And what was that final movement of mana? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It changed shape as if it were alive! How could mana that had already taken the form of aura…?”

Duke Durendal watched the mages practically foaming at the mouth and turned to Luke.

“Sir Luke, is what the Magic Tower mages are saying true? Is such a thing even possible?”

“It should be impossible. Or at least, that’s what I believed until now.”

“How can something so absurd… Just how strong is that young man?”

In answer to the Duke’s question, Luke gazed toward the training ground.

“Your Grace. The longest I was able to endure on Mount Ksir without descending was three years. That boy lasted seventeen. Seventeen years on that mountain. From an ordinary person’s perspective, is it even possible to measure the strength of someone like that?”

Luke turned to face Duke Durendal directly.

“I never said a word because I didn’t want the boy to become arrogant, but he already surpassed me long ago. His combat technique is still crude from lack of real experience, and because he himself believes he cannot defeat me, he has unconsciously set his own limits.”

While Duke Durendal stood frozen in shock, the Emperor stepped forward and declared the end of the exhibition.