Chapter 151 - 150 : Villain vs hero (2)

Suddenly In the sky A deep, mechanical chime echoed across the entire forest‑city, cutting cleanly through the clash of steel, exploding spells, and distant screams.

The clouds rippled like disturbed water, and glowing letters carved themselves into the air above everyone’s heads.

{ Top 20 candidates have been confirmed...

The forest city will now begin to shrink. }

For one strange heartbeat, the battlefield held its breath.

Then, as if obeying an unspoken command, every fight slowed... and stopped.

Blades halted inches from throats. Spells fizzled out before being released. Even the air seemed to thicken as the realization sank in—this phase of the exam was almost over, and from here on, every action mattered.

Only one person would stand at the very top.

—

On one of the shattered plazas, Damian and Victor stood facing each other, chests rising and falling heavily.

Their clothes were in tatters. Cuts and bruises painted their skin in ugly colors. Blood ran in thin lines from Damian’s eyebrow and Victor’s lower lip, both of them breathing like they had been sprinting for hours.

And yet—they were smiling.

Victor dragged in another breath, then let it out in a rough laugh.

"You bastard," he said, voice hoarse but amused. "How did you get so much stronger than before?"

Damian rolled his aching shoulder, spear resting against his back.

"I could say the same about you," he replied. "What kind of monster grows this fast."

’Without a system at that ’ he thought inwardly.

’If I didn’t have my system, I wouldn’t stand a chance against someone like him,’ Damian thought. ’The Radiant Valor System... I’m leaning on it more than I want to admit.’

Victor lifted his sword, pointing the dark blade straight at Damian’s chest.

"That’s enough playing around," Victor said. "I know you’re still not using everything you have. Don’t look down on me."

His eyes hardened.

"You bastard... go all out. I will too."

Damian blinked, then burst into laughter.

Victor’s eyebrow twitched.

"What’s funny?"

Damian rested the spear across his shoulders, hands hooked lightly over it as if they were having a casual conversation instead of standing in a death match.

"To be honest," Damian said, "those other abilities are only for emergencies—when I have no chance of winning."

He tilted his head, grin widening.

"Using them against you would be cheating... when I can already defeat you like this."

Victor’s smile vanished.

"Then I’ll force you to use them," he said quietly.

The air thickened.

Demonic energy surged out of Victor like a black tide, pouring from his core and down his limbs, then expanding outward. His sword drank it all in, its dark metal turning almost liquid with power before the aura burst free again, coating his entire body in writhing shadows.

The ground at his feet cracked in a spiderweb pattern.

Damian felt it immediately.

With every passing breath, Victor’s presence grew heavier, sharper, more suffocating—like a blade being forged in real time, hammered endlessly and sharpened beyond reason.

’He’s still climbing,’ Damian thought, eyes narrowing. ’No system, and he can push himself this far...?’

A thrill ran through him.

"Looks like I’ll have to go all out after all," Damian murmured.

System windows flared at the edge of his vision.

[ Limit Breaker has been activated. ]

[ Adaptive Hero’s Boon has been activated. ]

His heart kicked into overdrive.

A massive red aura exploded from Damian’s body, roaring outward like a shockwave. The air trembled. Cracks raced through the ground, and loose debris rattled and lifted a few centimeters before falling again.

The pressure of his presence swelled until it met Victor’s demonic energy head‑on.

Victor bared his teeth in a feral grin.

"Now that’s more like it."

The forest‑city around them groaned.

Distant buildings creaked as their edges began to blur, the outer districts dissolving slowly into motes of light, shrinking inward. But in the center of it all, on that cracked plaza, two figures stood absolutely still.

Damian lowered his spear into a ready stance, the tip angled toward Victor’s heart.

Victor brought his sword up beside his face, body coiling like a compressed spring.

They did not need to speak to understand.

Their next move would not be feints, not tests.

They would be kill shots.

One of them would be eliminated here.

—

They moved.

Or rather—they tried to.

SCHLK.

A wet, tearing sound cut through the charged silence.

Victor’s body jerked.

A black, clawed hand burst through his chest from behind, long fingers punching cleanly through his heart. Dark blood splattered across the cracked stone.

For a moment, Victor’s mind refused to process it.

His eyes dropped to the hand protruding from his own chest.

Then he turned his head, slowly, as if the air had turned to tar around him.

Behind him stood Arthur.

No longer weakened, no longer hiding behind trees. He stood tall, posture relaxed, eyes half‑lidded in amusement. The black arm piercing Victor’s chest was not his own, but an extension—twisted, monstrous, born from a shadowy corruption that crawled up his right side like living ink.

A devil’s limb attached to a human body.

Arthur’s mouth curved into a devilish smile.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I’m afraid this little bromance of yours ends here," he said lightly, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "Besides, you two looked like you were having far too much fun without me. I figured it was only polite to cut in."

Victor’s fingers spasmed around his sword hilt.

For the first time in their entire fight, his expression was completely blank.

Then his body began to turn transparent.

Cracks of light ran through him from the point of impact, spreading outward until his entire form was made of luminous fragments.

He did not scream.

He did not curse.

He simply stared at Arthur with wide eyes, as if trying to understand how he had not sensed him.

Then he shattered.

Victor’s body dissolved into countless motes of light, scattering into the air like fireflies caught in a gust of wind, before vanishing completely.

Silence fell over the area.

Damian stood frozen in his stance, spear still pointed at where Victor had been.

His breath caught in his throat.

"Victor...?" he whispered.

Then his gaze snapped to Arthur.

For a heartbeat, Damian could not put words to what he felt—shock, fury, disbelief, all tangled together and set on fire. The radiant red aura around him fluctuated violently.

’He attacked from behind,’ Damian thought, his stomach twisting with disgust. ’He killed Victor from behind... even after Victor spared him when he was down.’

His system did not wait.

A notification burned across his vision.

[ Damian now perceives you as true evil.

First condition has been met. ]

Arthur glanced at his own system window and smiled, pleased.

"Perfect," he said under his breath.

His eyes lifted, meeting Damian’s.

Where Damian’s aura burned like a righteous inferno, Arthur’s presence felt like a quietly growing void, subtle yet terrifying—something that did not need to shout to be dangerous.

And for the first time since the exam had begun, Damian realized something with crystal clarity.

In his eyes, in his heart, Arthur was no longer just a troublesome examinee.

He was pure evil.

A man without honor—someone who could only claim victory by driving a blade into another’s back.