Never Die Villain

Vera immediately gave chase.

The moment the man who had been following her realized he’d been discovered, he fled like a damned rat, abandoning any attempt at subtlety as he sprinted toward the other end of the alley.

"Render."

With a short incantation and a light step of her heel, Vera disappeared from where she stood. In the next instant, she reappeared directly in front of her stalker, forcing the man to skid to a halt before nearly crashing into her.

"...!"

The man wore a hood that concealed most of his face, but whatever surprise he felt lasted only a moment.

He immediately drew a dagger from beneath his coat and slashed at Vera’s neck.

"Oh?"

Vera didn’t move. Before the blade could so much as touch her skin, the steel glowed red, then orange, then white.

Whoosh——!

The entire dagger melted almost instantly before erupting into incandescent vapor, forcing the man to release what remained of the handle as he stumbled backward.

"Did you know?" Vera said, casually watching the last droplets of molten steel strike the ground. "Steel starts boiling somewhere around three thousand degrees Celsius, depending on what exactly you’re working with."

The man stared at the ruined weapon.

"Of course, getting it that hot normally takes quite a bit of effort." Vera took a step toward him, and the stones beneath her heel began to smoke. "Fortunately, I’m rather good at making things hot."

He immediately turned to run.

"Render."

Vera appeared in front of him again.

"Now, that’s just rude." She reached forward and grabbed him by the collar before he could change direction. "I’ve spent three days pretending not to notice you people following me around, and the moment I finally decide to introduce myself, you try to run away."

The man swung his fist at her.

Vera caught his wrist.

"Don’t."

Heat surged through her fingers, and the man jerked his arm back on reflex as smoke began curling from the sleeve around his wrist. Vera held him firmly in place, stopping the heat before it could do any serious damage.

"There we go." Vera smiled and loosened her grip slightly. "Much easier when everyone behaves."

Flick——!

With a flick of her fingers, flames suddenly spread across the man’s hood, burning through the fabric in an instant before stopping at his neck. The fire vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, leaving his face completely exposed without so much as singeing the skin.

Vera pulled the hood away from the man’s face and looked him over.

"I’ve had a nice dinner, I’m in a reasonably good mood, and I’d rather keep it that way." Her smile remained as she tightened her grip on his collar. "So I’m going to ask you once."

"...."

"Who sent you?"

"Get her!"

Vera turned her head slightly at the sudden shout.

The moment her attention moved away, the man drew another dagger and slashed at her, only for the blade to burn away the instant it entered the space around her.

"...!"

Fear finally appeared on his face.

"What the fuck is this?!"

There was no reasonable way for steel to burn that quickly, even with magic. Melting a weapon was one thing, but what Vera was doing was different. The blades were being reduced to nothing almost instantly, without Vera uttering an incantation or visibly casting anything.

More importantly, it happened at nearly the exact same distance from her every time.

"Stand down, alright?"

Vera placed her palm against the man’s cheek.

"Haah—Aaaahhhhh!"

His scream tore through the alley as heat surged from her hand, scorching the side of his face. Vera kept him firmly in place, watching without so much as flinching as the smell of burnt flesh wafted through the air.

Several figures emerged from the shadows almost immediately.

Vera counted them with a glance. Each carried a blade, and the aura surrounding their bodies was enough for her to tell that these weren’t ordinary thugs, nor were they anything like the academy brats who collected titles and merits from supervised matches and examinations.

These men had real experience.

Their stances were controlled, and none of them rushed forward despite the scream of the man in Vera’s grasp. Whoever they were, they had spent enough time fighting actual battles to know when charging blindly would get someone killed.

That only made Vera more curious about who had sent them.

She stopped burning the man’s face, though her palm remained pressed against his skin. Vera looked toward the swordsmen surrounding her, her earlier smile slowly returning.

"Move an inch," she said. "And I’ll really burn this bastard to death."

Nobody moved.

"Good."

Vera tilted her head.

"Now, let’s try this again. Who sent you—"

Before she could finish, they moved.

"...!"

They rushed her without the slightest concern for the man she was holding hostage, closing the distance quickly enough to force Vera into an immediate retreat.

"Render."

Vera vanished.

She reappeared behind the group an instant later, forced to release the man she had subdued in order to escape their blades.

Her feet had barely touched the ground when she sensed movement from behind, and another swordsman lunged at her back.

Vera twisted her body aside.

The blade passed within inches of her, and the swordsman’s momentum sent him shooting past. Before he could recover, Vera reached out, caught him by the collar, and pulled him backward.

"Got you."

The man screamed.

Steam immediately hissed from his body where Vera held him, his clothes blackening as the heat tore through them and reached the flesh underneath. Within seconds, his skin began melting.

The others finally hesitated.

"Still want to keep going?"

Vera released him.

He collapsed onto the ground, desperately clawing at his clothes as steam continued rising from his body. Vera stepped around him and looked toward the remaining swordsmen, waiting to see whether watching one of their own nearly melt alive had finally convinced them to reconsider.

Apparently, it hadn’t.

"She can destroy our swords, but there’s a clear limitation!"

The fact that she had chosen to dodge the attack from behind rather than simply allowing the blade to burn away had given them something to work with.

Perhaps her ability only affected what entered her field of vision, perhaps there was a limited range, or perhaps she could only respond to attacks she was aware of.

None of them knew. But in a fight like this, even incomplete information was worth acting on.

"Don’t let your guard down!" one of the men shouted. "Target is estimated to be at least Seventh Circle, possibly Eighth!"

Vera tilted her head before letting out a chuckle.

"Oh? How did you know?"

They rushed her.

Vera sighed.

There was no point trying to interrogate them like this, and Vera was quickly losing interest in dragging things out.

She drew a single breath.

"Muspelheim."

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