Chapter 22 - The Prelude to Ruin
The moment I claimed victory in the Ranking Duel against the protagonist, the audience suddenly erupted into noisy chatter.
“Godlike magic skills... and speed even greater than Allen’s...?”
“Not just speed—his power was on a whole different level...!”
“As expected of the infamous villainous noble. First place is well-deserved...”
For some reason, my classmates’ expressions were all stiff.
Judging by that reaction... I could assume I had at least maintained the bare minimum prestige expected of a “villainous noble.”
Still, I didn’t think it would go this smoothly... I guess this is what they call a ‘pleasant surprise.’
In raw stats alone, I had completely outclassed the protagonist. In a long fight, he would inevitably be worn down.
That was why Allen would, at some point, be forced to gamble everything on one decisive strike.
His trump card was almost certainly that one Unique Magic he kept hidden.
If I could make him waste it, my victory would be guaranteed.
So I lured him in.
I prepared a “clear and tempting target”—a three-dimensional defense using <Wall>.
As a result, the protagonist—mistaking the moment for his golden chance, no... being led to believe it was—unleashed <Zero Counter>, never realizing he was dancing in my palm.
Once I confirmed his hand was spent, I used my raw physical strength to slip behind him and ended the match with a crushing kick.
That last-minute “convenient power-up” did catch me off guard... but it wasn’t a real problem.
That phenomenon was Factor Resonance.
When the protagonist reached a peak of emotional intensity or faced a life-or-death crisis, the Hero’s Factor and the Demon King’s Factor inside him resonated, granting him an explosive burst of power—a blatant “cheat ability” given only to Allen.
The chance of Factor Resonance triggering was a mere 3%. It would wear off after a set amount of time or damage taken, but until then, his stats would climb at an accelerating rate.
To pull off a Factor Resonance in that place, at that time... you really are the embodiment of plot convenience.
Still, the stat boost was only temporary.
By now, he should have already returned to his original status.
In the end, the protagonist only got temporarily stronger. The crucial EXP he gained from this was next to nothing...!
After all, I had only used <Wall>, and my finishing move was an utterly ordinary kick without even mana reinforcement.
No matter how much of a main character you are, you can’t level up without experience points.
I had denied him EXP, kept my “villainous noble” image intact—and still secured an indisputable victory.
This Ranking Duel was nothing short of my complete triumph.
But, more importantly...
What truly deserved attention right now was not something so trivial.
Hehe... I see... I see, I see... So it’s still Zero Counter, is it!
Without a doubt, that was the single greatest harvest from this battle.
The protagonist carried the blood of the Legendary Six Heroes.
More specifically, the blood of the strongest among them—the Champion.
That was why his Unique Magic, just like the Champion’s, was Origin-Class <Zero Counter>.
A magic erased from history itself, unrecognized even by the Baptism Ceremony.
Because of this, Allen—despite having a Unique Magic—had been sorted into the White Uniform.
Due to various events in the past, it had become a highly unusual magic...
But the most exceptional trait of <Zero Counter> was that it was the only “evolving Unique Magic” in the original Ronzolkia.
Given the point we were at in the main story, Allen’s Unique Magic should have already evolved once...
I had been wary of that possibility, which was why I had fought so cautiously—only for it to turn out to be needless concern.
Because as of now, the protagonist’s Unique Magic was still just <Zero Counter>.
Which meant...
My plan—the “Protagonist De-MC-ification Project”—is working!
Most likely, because Allen’s duel event with Nia had been disrupted, the training arc that followed never happened, causing his leveling to slow drastically.
(Heh... hehehe... hehehehehehe...)
Ah, how delightful.
There was nothing quite like the joy of seeing everything go according to plan.
The moment when a scheme I had painstakingly devised bore fruit... truly exquisite.
While I was still savoring my post-match reflections—
“Hey! Are you alright?! Stay with me! I’ll take you to the infirmary right away!”
The referee-teacher was already carrying the protagonist off to the infirmary.
“...Hah... what a waste of time.”
With a disdainful line befitting a villainous noble, I quietly turned and left the scene.
■
After losing the Ranking Duel against the infamous noble, Hollow von Heisenberg, Allen completely lost consciousness and was carried to the infirmary by the referee-teacher.
The school nurse of Redrick Academy of Magic was an elderly woman over 120 years old.
Her eyesight had grown dim, her hearing had weakened, and her legs no longer moved as they once had... yet her skill as a doctor had never waned. She was still reputed to be one of the finest doctors in the entire Kingdom of Klein.
“Alright, alright, next patient... let’s see... Allen Fortis, huh? My, my, you’ve been beaten up quite badly... What? Just one hit did this? Hollow von Heisenberg—this year’s number one in the rankings, is it? Hah! What a monster we’ve let in!”
The doctor’s mouth and hands both moved tirelessly, chatting away at a rapid pace as she just as briskly carried out the treatment.
“—There, all done. Just dump him on a bed and he’ll wake up before long.”
After receiving the latest treatment combining healing magic and potion therapy, Allen was all but tossed onto a clean bed.
An hour later—
“U... ugh...! Hah?!”
Allen’s eyes slowly opened, and he shot upright.
“This is... the infirmary...?”
The scent of disinfectant, the clean bed, and the pure white curtains told him exactly where he was.
“...I see... I lost...”
As reality caught up with him, his emotions spilled over.
"That's strange... I faced it fully prepared... and yet, even so... it still feels... so frustrating…"
He bit down hard on his molars and clenched his fists tight.
Clear drops fell one after another, forming tiny stains on the sheets.
“That’s the strength of the number one—Hollow von Heisenberg...”
He had known.
He had known that he was the challenger.
He had understood.
He had understood that his opponent was someone far above his league.
And yet—
“...So far away...”
Never had he imagined the gap to be this wide.
Hollow was, quite literally, “a being above the clouds,” a strength on an entirely different level.
Hollow never even fought seriously. He didn’t use his Unique Magic, <Refraction>, and, just as he’d declared from the start, fought only with <Wall>... and still claimed victory with ease.
Losing was bitter—bitter enough to bring tears to his eyes.
But more than that, what crushed him was how little of Hollow’s true ability he had managed to draw out.
...No. This won’t do. Brooding over it won’t help one bit...!
He shook his head hard, cutting off the dark thoughts.
One thing’s for sure... Hollow was “complete.” He’s exactly the kind of mage I want to be.
It had long been said: If you wish to gauge a mage’s skill, look at their general magic.
General magic was the sum of the fundamentals.
Its precision alone was enough to measure a mage’s ability.
His <Wall>... was flawless
Magical strength, coordinate precision, construction speed—there wasn’t a single flaw.
It was a terrifyingly polished crystallization of the basics.
In truth, Hollow’s magic skill stood in the realm of the divine.
And on top of that... overwhelming physical strength.
Close combat, often a mage’s weakness, was yet another area in which he utterly dominated.
I was pretty confident in my own physical ability, but...
Hollow’s was on a completely different level.
When I stripped away his defense with <Zero Counter> and swung my dagger down on him—that moment... he was too fast.
He hadn’t been caught because of magic.
It had been nothing but the pure, overwhelming difference in physical ability.
And then, there’s his tactics...
Hollow’s fighting style was refined.
In the opening, he had used <Wall> as bait to measure Allen’s strength.
In the midgame, he had increased its strength and construction speed, relentlessly pressing the field.
And in the end, he had used his overwhelming might to land a perfectly timed finishing blow.
It was as if he were overlooking the battlefield from above, playing chess—calm, calculated, and without waste.
Every single move connected flawlessly to the next, a fighting style so elegant it could be called beautiful.
...Alright. I’ve decided. I’m going to stay close to Hollow, and learn from him!
To watch and learn.
Primitive, but undeniably effective.
Tomorrow, I’ll invite Hollow to lunch. Oh—maybe I could make a boxed lunch for him... I bet he’d like that...
Truly, he was the very embodiment of a “protagonist”... every act of his, born from pure goodwill, headed straight toward the thing the “villainous noble” Hollow would despise the most.
Indeed, it seemed that a protagonist and a villainous noble were destined never to see eye to eye.
■
After my victory over the protagonist in our Ranking Duel, the rest of the dull afternoon classes crawled by, and at last, the school day ended.
I headed alone to the main school building’s rooftop, gazed at the brilliant sunset sky, and drew in a deep breath of crisp, fresh air.
...Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yessssss...!
In my mind, I pumped my fist as hard as I could.
I’d done it!
The Ranking Duel with the protagonist—
Protagonist De-MC-ification Plan—
A resounding success!
“Heh... hehehehehe...”
—Oops.
The smile had slipped out before I could stop it.
Ah... perfect.
It had been one week since the main route had kicked into motion.
So far—me: 100 out of 100!
I was in an excellent mood.
It felt like finishing all my summer homework on the very first day of break.
Hehe... maybe I’ll have a sparring match with Mister Orvin tonight, for the first time in a while.
Still humming with good cheer, I started the walk home—
““—Haaaaaaah!””
Two voices, oddly familiar, brushed past my ears.
...Wait. Was that...?
An unshakable curiosity took hold, and I turned toward the sound.
Straying from my usual route, I followed a side path to the riverbank—and there they were. Allen and Nia.
“...What the hell...?”
The words tumbled out of me, dumbfounded.
Huh... why?
It made no sense.
Why in the world were those two fighting?
I went through all that trouble to stop Allen and Nia’s duel event...!
I quickly dropped into a crouch, keeping low as I peeked at them from the shadows.
Nia, are you kidding me...? Why are you fighting Allen?!
What in the world had happened while I was basking in my rooftop euphoria?
Damn it... I have to do something, fast...!
I couldn’t allow Allen and Nia to interact—I couldn’t allow the story to veer back to the main route.
I pushed my formidable Hollow brain into overdrive, desperately searching for a way to ruin their fight.
But... it was no use.
There was no convenient, “natural” way to wreck a duel between them.
“Gr...ghh...”
In the end, I could do nothing.
All I could do was watch, helpless, as their battle unfolded—gnawing on the bitter taste of my own powerlessness.
And so, the match ended in Allen’s victory.
It had been a close fight.
No doubt the protagonist had raked in a hefty haul of experience points.
...Hey—stop that. Don’t congratulate each other!
Idiot! Why are you smiling at each other like that?!
Wait—don’t you dare start some kind of post-battle “review session” knockoff!
Five minutes later, Allen and Nia shook hands and went their separate ways.
Meanwhile, I collapsed onto all fours, clutching my head in both hands.
...This is the worst... The two people who must never join forces—the protagonist and the heroine—are now connected...!
Was this... what they called “the world’s corrective force”?
The main route I had bent out of shape had been silently reconstructed by some unseen hand back into its “proper” form.
“...D-Damn it all…!”
Choking on the near-bursting overload of stress, I staggered upright like a wraith—and warped straight to Void Town in the Void Realm.
“Oh! Boss, welcome back!”
“Boss, about the magic-tool factory construction, I really need to consult with you—”
“Perfect timing, Boss! We’ve just managed to process the magic stones and—uh, wait, what’s with you?”
I brushed past the bandit crew without a word, heading to the edge of Void Town, to the scrap heap.
“...Damn iiiiiiiiiiiiit!”
I unleashed my jet-black mana and drove a savage kick into the pile of debris.
Massive boulders shattered into dust, colossal trees were hurled into the sky, a howling tornado ripped through the area, and chaos of apocalyptic scale erupted.
“B–Boss is in a worse mood than usual today...!”
“As terrifying as ever... one little tantrum and it’s like a natural disaster...”
“S–stop it, Boss! If you go on a rampage, the Void Town we all built will get smashed to pieces!”
Before long, I managed to calm myself, raking my hands roughly through my hair.
Why? Why did this happen?!
Up to now, I’d been perfect—a flawless 100 out of 100.
I’d been preparing meticulously for this since six years ago, playing my part to perfection.
I’d worked so hard.
Suppressing my naturally lazy, arrogant temperament, I’d forced myself to be humble and diligent...
And yet... why...?
The storm of emotion inside me cooled in an instant.
The brilliant original Hollow intellect hit the brakes for me.
“...No. I’ve done nothing wrong. The one that’s wrong—is this world itself!”
Some cruel fate, some god wanna-be, was playing the prelude to my destruction.
“...Fine then. No matter how much this world wishes for the ‘death of the villainous noble,’ I will survive!”
By any means necessary—I would survive.
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