How to Redeem a Trashy Side Villain

Chapter 99: Repay the Gift

[Maya's POV]

As the sound of approaching reinforcements echoed in the distance, the troubles at the academy gradually subsided, bringing a sense of relief to the survivors, including myself.

The loss of life had mercifully slowed down.

"Maya? Was that your name?" Ichiko asked, her voice tinged with curiosity.

I stammered, "Y-yeah. H-how do you know that?"

We had been on the front lines, battling the relentless demonic onslaught. Just ten minutes earlier, Diana had cheered, reaching the mark of three-hundredth demonic monsters slayed first, leaving Ichiko trailing her.

Though Ichiko concealed it well, her frustration at the fact she lost was evident as she fought with more intensity and less grace than before.

"I did my research, just to know who the First Class students were," she explained, extending her hand.

"Nice to meet you," I shook her hand with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too. I just wanted to thank you for the assist from earlier."

Moments ago, Ichiko's weapon had broken as it clashed against the claws of a monster, and she found herself surrounded. With Diana too far to help, it fell upon me to rescue Ichiko.

I kicked the ground, sending rocks into the air, then thrust my fist, sending them hurtling toward the demons, giving Ichiko an escape route.

"No problem," I replied with a smile.

"You're very powerful," she complimented.

I chuckled, blushing from embarrassment at the fact that such a pretty person had just complimented me, "Hahaha. Not as powerful as you."

She merely smiled, acknowledging my words as if I were speaking the obvious truth.

That's what I call confidence!

Ichiko dusted off her shoulder, looking back at me. "Well, that was quite the ordeal, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," I sighed with relief, scanning the area as the human reinforcements arrived, including some anxious parents of students. "Thankfully, help has arrived... but not before we lost a lot of...."

I couldn't even finish my sentence.

"We did our best," Ichiko reassured me.

Diana, with a smirk, approached from behind. She didn't hear the context of the conversation so her words were a little insensitive.

"Did our best, Ichiko? I guess your 'best' wasn't good enough. Haha," she chuckled.

Her smirk spoke volumes about her dig at Ichiko for not winning the competition.

I thought fighting side by side brings people together.

"Oh, Diana, I'm sure you did a much better job than me, especially when I had to save you from that arrow that nearly pierced your body," Ichiko responded with a smile.

"I must thank you, then, for doing something I never asked you to do. I had it, but hey, if you're capable of reading thoughts that never existed, then so be it," Diana shrugged.

Trying to ease the tension, I chimed in, "Come on, you two. I don't know what's going on..." which is a lie, "...but can we just appreciate that we all made it out there in one piece?"

Ignoring Diana, Ichiko turned to me and said, "Of course, we should appreciate that, Maya. It's honorable to die in battle, but keeping your life is always better. But some people just don't know when it's the right time and place to insult others."

She shook her head, not specifying a name, but all of us knew who she was talking about.

Raising an eyebrow, Diana said, "You know, Ichiko, it must be so hard being so perfect all the time. The rest of us sometimes like walking without looking like a robot. We like to stretch, to yawn, to laugh until we cry."

Yeah... it must be tough to have to keep that up all day.

Ichiko sighed. "You don't even understand that you're inadvertently insulting another culture just because you don't understand it. Western people."

She turned back to me and resumed complimenting me, "Maya, I heard that you were talented in earth magic, I didn't know that you were already proficient at it."

That's because I never showed off because I'd rather keep a low profile for the sake of my other job, investigating spicy scoops and rumors.

"Thank you."

Diana, softening up a little bit also turned to me and said, "You were really a force out there, Maya. Your walls came at the exact times that I needed it."

Two beautiful powerful girls were complimenting me.

I was blushing in embarrassment but who wouldn't do the same in my shoes?

After thanking them, the conversation soon concluded, and the two of them left to assist the teachers and professors with problems elsewhere.

It seems that their involvement in the cleanup of the demonic monsters wasn't over yet.

I, however, had a different agenda — I wanted to investigate something from before that I had to momentarily push aside.

The mana presence I'd sensed earlier had intensified a while ago, but then, it abruptly vanished.

And I mean completely vanished.

I sprinted down the hallway, activating my invisibility. My earth magic had drained a considerable amount of my mana reverse, leaving me with just half an hour of invisibility.

I reached the part of the hallway where I had originally detected the mana.

A scene of chaos met my eyes.

I gazed up and found a massive hole in the ceiling.

Scanning the area, I observed the bloodstains on the floor, crushed lockers, and a grotesque collection of limbs strewn about, most of them right arms.

My mind raced in confusion.

What in the world is this!?

Curiously, some of these limbs were missing their right pinkies.

I can't deny it — I had studied Bell extensively over the past few months and knew almost everything about his body that was available online.

I knew his moles, birthmarks, muscle size, and even the shade of his skin. Using this knowledge, I could tell that the arms missing right pinkies belonged to him.

Panic began to set in.

What is going on? Where are they? Are they... okay? I hope so.

Just as I contemplated leaving, a sudden, overwhelming surge of mana hit me like a physical blow, nearly making me vomit.

What the—

I watched in astonishment as the space before me seemed to "unravel," revealing three figures as if they had always been there: Bell, Arthurr, and a demon.

Were they inside the demon's domain!?

Demons' domains were something every student had been educated about, and I knew they were dangerous places where many humans met their end.

Still, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of envy that Arthurr and Bell had experienced a domain firsthand.

Oh, how I would love to write an article about a demon's domain! Wait. Woah. What happened in the domain?

I had been so distracted by the fact that they were most likely in a domain that I didn't notice it right away but there were some changes with the figures in front of me.

Arthurr was the most visibly affected. He was missing both his arms and an eye, and his entire body was smeared with blood. His breathing was labored, and he looked as though he might collapse at any moment.

The demon, though I couldn't discern its original form because I never got the chance to see it — it had one of its horns sliced off, and its chest and back had multiple gashes from which blood seeped.

I observed its body slowly mending the wounds, but the process was agonizingly slow.

The demon bore a look of extreme distress as if it had endured something unspeakable inside the domain.

"How dare you?" it rasped, grinding its sharp teeth together.

Its accusatory gaze was fixed on Bell, who, in comparison to the other two, appeared considerably less disheveled.

Bell still had all his limbs intact, but his glasses were missing the left lens and his clothes were a mess.

His torn uniform revealed his well-defined abs as the fabric fluttered with each of his movements.

"Heal yourself first," Bell instructed Arthurr.

Heal himself? How is that possible?

I observed, perplexed, as Arthurr started to split into two separate bodies, merging back together, and then splitting once again.

There's two of them!? Wait! I can report about this without breaking the oath... right? It doesn't have anything to do with Bell's secret. It's about Arthurr...

I had never witnessed anything like this before.

The demon continued to vent its fury, screaming, "How dare you!?"

"What?" Bell retorted. "Didn't you appreciate the gift I gave you?"

As he posed this question, he idly rubbed his right pinky.

Right pinky? Some of the severed arms on the floor were missing their right pinkies.

What could it possibly mean?

.

.

.

[Bell's POV]

"What? You didn't like the gift I gave you?" I inquired of Selgaath, who glared at me, his eyes smoldering with a mix of anger and resentment, a stark departure from the calm facade he had maintained until now.

Just a minute ago, as the domain was about to close, I activated Vaulheshia's unique ability.

If you've forgotten, Vaulheshia is the artifact that replaced my right pinky.

With Vaulheshia's ability, the damage I'd inflicted and the injuries I'd endured combined themselves and then divided in half.

The resulting damage total could be unleashed upon a single target, in this case, Selgaath.

I had calculated that Selgaath was initially hovering around forty percent of his health before I triggered the ability.

Now, he was teetering on the brink of his final transformation, a few blows away from twenty-five percent health.

You might wonder why I hadn't waited to amass even more damage I could deal all at once.

The answer lies in my own mental well-being.

The damage I inflicted upon my adversary was mirrored within my own psyche meaning that I receive the same amount of mental damage as he receives physically.

Waiting too long risked overwhelming my own mental defenses which could lead to self-inflicted death of the brain.

This ability was no trifling matter; Vaulheshia, exhausted from one use, would be sleeping for a daunting eight months.

Such was the price for such a powerful ability.

Selgaath broke the silence, his voice even more distorted than before, "I like you, Bell. I like you a lot."

From the way he was smiling and staring at me, it sure didn't seem like that was the case.

"I like you soooo much that I can't wait to consume your FUCKING SOUL!!!" he bellowed, lunging at me with murderous intent.

"That doesn't sound like you like me very much," I quipped, swiftly parrying his fist with my sword, sending a searing bolt of lightning toward his face, evading his kick, and artfully allowing Sun's fiery projectile to collide with Selgaath's chest.

"I do like you! I like you so much that I can't wait to repay your generous gift. Give you a taste of what you gave me," he retorted.

I chuckled, "No thanks. I'm good," before leaping into the air and landing gracefully on the second floor through the large hole in the ceiling.

"Come back here! I promise I won't hurt you!" he screamed, preparing to leap after me, but I conjured my lightning bow and shot three lightning arrows into his face.

Sun and Moon also unleashed a flurry of coordinated attacks, causing Selgaath to stagger to his knees, howling once more.

25 percent health. The final form is here.