I'm a Villain in My Own Game?

[Raul PoV]

Hearing the announcer call my name, I rose from my seat and headed down toward the arena.

But just as I started walking away, someone suddenly grabbed my sleeve.

"Hey, Raul," Elena called out, looking me straight in the eyes. "You need to win, okay? Otherwise, I'll personally discipline you," Elena said, her tone carrying a note of threat.

"No need to worry, President."

I left the stands and stepped into the corridor leading to the arena. There, I ran into a woman with shoulder-length brown hair, heading into the same corridor.

In her hand, she carried a spear with blades on both ends. This weapon was called a Double-edge Spear.

A fighting style using a weapon like this was extremely difficult and rarely used among Lancer Club members. This alone showed just how talented Emilia was with a spear.

"Raul de Garcia," she called out to me. "Will the Student Council actually keep its promise if I defeat you in this tournament?"

"Of course. The other clubs would absolutely condemn the Student Council if they failed to honor this agreement," I answered her casually.

We began walking side by side through the corridor toward the arena.

Stepping out of the corridor, cheers and support from the spectators erupted throughout the arena, especially from one section of the stands filled with Lancer Club members.

"Defeat that rotten noble, Leader Emilia!"

"Show them the Lancer Club can't be looked down on!"

Walking to the center of the arena, Emilia and I faced each other.

Ughhh... thanks to the previous match between Valeria and Brian, the arena's ground had become uneven and torn apart, leaving almost nowhere solid to stand.

"I will defeat you, Raul de Garcia," Emilia challenged, gripping her spear tighter. "This marks the beginning of the Lancer Club's glory!"

I drew my sword and answered, "No... this marks the beginning of your club's downfall."

At my words, Emilia's expression twisted into something fierce, like a lion ready to pounce on its prey.

"Are both competitors ready!?" the announcer called out loudly.

We both nodded, signaling we were ready to fight.

"The fourth match of the first round in the Grunbelt Academy Tournament, begin!"

The spectators erupted in cheers the moment the announcer declared the match underway.

Yet the two of us simply stood there, neither making a move.

The Double-edge fighting style was a unique ability within the game, similar to a Dual-wield technique.

Unlike the aggressive Dual-wield style, Double-edge relied on counterattacks as the foundation of its fighting approach.

That's exactly why Emilia hadn't attacked at all yet, waiting for me to make the first move.

Nearly thirty seconds passed with neither of us moving, the spectators' cheers urging us to finally start fighting.

"You're pretty stubborn, aren't you," Emilia said, shifting her stance. "Fine, I'll attack first."

She appeared to make a thrusting motion, even though the distance between us was still far beyond her spear's reach.

For some reason, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

"..."

Suddenly, her spear extended, shooting toward me at incredible speed.

I quickly shifted my body sideways to dodge, but Emilia's spear still managed to graze my right cheek.

Damn it! I'd forgotten she had a Profound Codex called Almahara.

An ability that could extend the length of the user's weapon. It made sense I hadn't remembered—Emilia wasn't a significant character within Path of Destiny's main plot.

"Good reaction," Emilia said, retracting her spear back to its original length. "But my spear can still be even faster than that!"

She extended it toward me again, forcing me to run just to avoid getting skewered by her attack.

Emilia kept repeating the same attack over and over. All I could do was leap between the shattered remains of the Earth Wall from the earlier fight, dodging her relentless assault.

Eventually, I had no choice but to take the initiative and attack Emilia myself, if I didn't want this to continue indefinitely.

Activating Acceleration magic, I closed the distance toward Emilia after dodging her extending spear.

She pulled her spear back and extended it toward me again.

—Clang!

I managed to parry her spear with my sword, but she pulled it back and repeated the same attack over and over.

I kept running, dodging and parrying her strikes.

Once I was right in front of Emilia, I unleashed a vertical slash upward, but she blocked it easily with her spear.

Not stopping there, I spun around and delivered a horizontal slash aimed at her neck.

—Tang!

Emilia blocked my slash again, then swung her spear in a counterattack.

Sensing this, I shifted slightly to my left to dodge, then launched a left kick aimed at her head.

—Bam!

Emilia's body was pushed back slightly—she managed to block my kick with her right arm.

She then thrust her spear toward my right side with her left hand. I quickly leapt backward to dodge while creating distance from her.

"Not bad," Emilia said, smiling as she twirled her spear.

Fighting her with a sword wasn't particularly effective—she held the range advantage with her spear. On top of that, the blades on both ends made her far more flexible in both defense and counterattacking.

I figured it was time to go bare-handed. This time, I'd have the advantage in close-quarters combat.

I drove my sword into the ground and readied myself to fight again.

"Ah, a wise decision," Emilia said, watching me switch fighting styles.

She then extended her spear toward my head at incredible speed once more.

Ducking to dodge, I caught her spear with my right hand. She pulled it back sharply, dragging my body closer toward her.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

Activating Temper magic in my left hand, I threw a punch aimed at her head.

—Bam!

She managed to block my punch with her right arm, but her body was still pushed backward.

Not wanting to let the distance grow again, I used Charging to appear directly in front of her instantly.

"Tch! This is such a pain!" Emilia cursed, attempting a thrusting attack against me.

But I dodged it easily. She swung her spear at me again, but it was pointless.

After dodging her attack again, I threw a right hook aimed at her face.

She managed to dodge by ducking, but my left knee was already prepared to strike her face the instant she tried to evade.

—Bam!

She staggered backward after my knee struck her face. I quickly closed in and unleashed a Spinning Kick aimed at her head.

But Emilia managed to block it again. Her expression looked deeply irritated at my relentless assault.

At this close range, her spear would prove far less effective.

She tried leaping far back using Axio magic.

Not letting her create distance again, I used Acceleration to chase after her.

Emilia aimed her spear and extended it toward me again at high speed.

I managed to dodge her attack again. With this, her defense was wide open, giving me an easy opening to attack.

But Emilia smiled the moment I stood before her, ready to strike. Suddenly, her spear split into two halves, and she thrust the spear in her right hand toward me.

—Splat!

I tried to dodge, but she managed to graze my right shoulder.

"Warm-up's over, time for the real fight!" Emilia declared loudly, attacking me again with a spear in each hand.

Tch, so she can actually use a Dual-wield technique too!? I don't remember ever giving Emilia's character this skill. Did she develop it during her field practicum?

But I didn't have time to think about that right now.

At this point, I needed to focus entirely on dodging Emilia's attacks, which had now turned aggressive. In this situation, fighting bare-handed put me at a clear disadvantage.

"What's wrong? Not brave enough to close the distance this time!?" Emilia said, trying to provoke me.

Leaping backward using Axio magic, I retrieved my sword still planted in the ground from earlier.

Hm... she's not chasing me?

Emilia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, then opened her eyes again.

Her expression turned noticeably more serious this time, her stance shifting as well. She then charged at me with tremendous speed, flames wrapping around both her legs and her spear.

Grabbing my sword again, I tried to run from Emilia's pursuit.

"Don't you run!"

Turning around, I found her already right in front of me. Her speed had increased significantly compared to before.

Emilia unleashed a vertical downward slash, which I blocked with my sword. But she didn't stop there, following up with a spinning fire kick aimed at my head.

I ducked to dodge, but Emilia continued her assault, thrusting both spears at me in alternating strikes.

All I could do for now was defend, parrying and dodging every one of Emilia's attacks.

Several slash wounds now covered my body.

Leaping backward to create distance, I saw Emilia recombine her spear into a single weapon.

She aimed her left palm at me.

"Fire Wave!"

A burst of flame surged toward me. I ran sideways to dodge. But Emilia had already aimed her spear at me.

—Swosshh!

Her spear extended toward me again, faster than before this time.

I tried to dodge, but I was still grazed by the spear's blade. The flames she'd unleashed had narrowed my room to evade even further.

"You're pretty good at dodging, aren't you!"

I wasn't going to win if this kept up. The only way forward was to catch her off guard, then strike with a merciless, all-out attack.

Activating both Accel and Temper simultaneously, I charged toward Emilia. I saw her split her spear into two again.

There was only one way I could win this without relying on my Nature Mana.

Trading Blow, even if it meant she'd come out ahead in the exchange.

In the game, this was a strategy used to whittle down an opponent's HP to a predetermined threshold, so you could finish them off with a single decisive strike.

After that, I'd catch her off guard and take her down with one final combo.

[Elena PoV]

The match had already been going for ten minutes.

At first, Raul seemed to have the upper hand against Senior Emilia. But once she started using her Nature Mana and split her spear in two, Raul began struggling with close-quarters combat against her.

On top of that, the senior also had several ranged spells that were proving quite troublesome for Raul in this fight.

If this kept up, he'd lose, wouldn't he? Why was he being so stubborn about not using his own Nature Mana?

The Lancer Club members looked thrilled watching their senior gain the upper hand in this fight.

"Emilia can fight at any range, while that boy can only attack her up close."

"Exactly, he doesn't stand a chance of winning this."

I overheard the seniors discussing the match. It was true—last year, Senior Emilia had made it all the way to the semifinals, defeating several seniors in the first and second rounds of the tournament.

She really was a formidable fighter...

Back to the match.

This time, Raul unleashed a horizontal slash followed by a vertical one. But the senior dodged and parried them both with ease.

Still, Raul didn't stop there—he combined his attacks with a kick and a punch. One of Raul's strikes landed, but the senior's counterattack landed on Raul's body as well.

Both kept trading blow after blow relentlessly. Raul managed to land a few hits, but the senior was inflicting far more damage overall in this exchange.

Trading Blow, is it?

Raul's strategy wasn't a bad one, but it had a weakness. The one who initiated the exchange usually ended up taking more damage than the one countering.

The spectators' cheers grew even louder throughout the arena. It made sense—I suspected they preferred this kind of close, back-and-forth exchange far more than the earlier ranged fighting.

Back to the match. Several wounds were now visible on the senior's body. But her injuries still looked relatively minor compared to Raul, who was currently covered in cuts all over his body.

Based on my analysis, he wasn't going to win if he kept relying on this strategy.

What exactly was he planning?

[Emilia PoV]

I never expected him to be this tough to deal with, especially his close-quarters fighting style.

Even with my Dual-wield technique, which should have given me the advantage in close combat, he was still managing to keep pace with me.

We'd been trading blows for a while now.

Honestly, this gave me an edge, since it was proving incredibly difficult to outmatch this man in close combat, even with my Dual-wield mode active. My ranged attacks weren't particularly effective against him either, since he kept dodging them.

There was one more strange thing—he still hadn't used a single bit of Nature Mana at all.

The man's legs began to glow, signaling he'd activated Accel magic, and he charged toward me again.

Was he planning to trade blows once more?

I'd be happy to oblige.

—Clang!

He unleashed a vertical slash, which I blocked with my left spear.

I thrust my right spear toward him, but he tilted his body while delivering a right kick aimed at my head.

—Bam!

A splitting headache hit me the instant his hard kick connected. But my spear had also managed to pierce his left shoulder, and I heard him groan in pain from it.

We continued trading blows, slash after slash from him, thrust after thrust from me.

My heart pounded harder than usual. I'd never felt this exhilarated fighting anyone before. The wounds covering my body didn't weaken me—if anything, they only fueled my adrenaline and my will to keep fighting.

"I will win, achieve my dream, and bring glory back to the Lancer Club!" I shouted at the man.

He didn't respond to my words. His breathing had grown ragged, his body covered in slash wounds from my spear, blood pouring from his right shoulder from my earlier strike.

Given his condition now, my finishing blow was certain to land.

I would win this.

Leaping backward with Axio magic, I put distance between us. This time, he didn't chase after me at all. It seemed he'd grown exhausted and worn down from all the blows we'd traded.

Landing atop the remains of the Earth Wall from the earlier match, I began gathering mana for my finishing attack against him.

I recombined my two spears into one and began chanting.

"Dream... glory... and honor..."

Raising my right hand, my spear lifted into the air and began spinning at tremendous speed.

Seeing this, the man readied himself once more, preparing to dodge my incoming attack.

"Strengthen my will..."

"Become my power..."

Flames wrapped around my spear, transforming it into what looked like a fire tornado, ready to pierce through anything in its path.

The spectators' cheers roared through the arena once more. I could hear the Lancer Club members already beginning to sing a victory chant for me.

Yes... with this attack, I would bring glory back to our club.

The man began running sideways, trying to make it harder for me to target him with my spell.

Unfortunately for him, he was far too naive if he thought he could actually dodge this attack.

"Lanza del Fuego!"

Shouting out the name of my Profound Codex, I launched my flaming spear toward the man.

The flame trailing behind my attack streaked through the air like a comet falling from the sky.

The man activated Accelerate magic combined with Charging, trying to flee from my attack. But my spear veered slightly to the side and pierced straight through his right stomach.

—Boom!

An explosion erupted behind him as my spear slammed into the ground.

Lanza del Fuego...

A Profound Codex ability that let my attack track its target wherever they went. On top of that, this ability also made my attack five times faster than normal, making it far harder for any enemy to dodge.

The man collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain, clutching his stomach as blood began pouring out.

That didn't eliminate him outright? Did my attack only graze his stomach?

Climbing down from the Earth Wall, I walked toward the man to deliver my final blow.

My mana was nearly depleted after using that spell, and my body felt utterly exhausted. I needed to finish this man off myself as quickly as possible.

"Hey, lift your head and look me in the eyes," I told him. "Lose with some dignity, not screaming pathetically like that."

But he didn't respond to my words, instead screaming even louder like a coward, clutching his stomach.

Alright, time to end this match.

Activating Temper magic in my right hand, I threw a punch at him.

"..."

Suddenly, he sprang up, dodging my punch entirely.

—Bam!

The man landed a direct hit right on my solar plexus, forcing me down onto one knee from the overwhelming pain.

"Radical Blow!"

The man then unleashed a relentless barrage of punches against my body.

My stomach, chest, head—every strike landed clean. I couldn't control my own body after being caught off guard by that sudden assault.

—Bam! Bam! Bam!

I was on the verge of losing consciousness...

Was I about to lose...?

—Bam!

He delivered a brutal kick straight to my head, sending my body flying.

The last thing I heard before losing consciousness was the anguished cry of despair from the club members who'd been cheering me on.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!