I'm in Love with the Villainess!

As soon as we stepped off the stairs and onto the cavern floor below, red flames suddenly erupted from the divine letters carved into the pillars. The latent magic in the air compressed at once, making it harder to breathe.

"Arden..."

"Yeah, I got it."

I stepped in front of Marcellus, planning to destroy the carvings on the pillars, which seemed to be activated traps. But before I could hurl fireballs at them, they fired first.

FWISH!

Five beams, five pillars—but within those magical blasts was divine magic, which shouldn’t have been a problem at all.

’Hydra.’

[Holy Flame Manipulation]

[Malignant Flame Manipulation]

Five invisible heads appeared from my back, each one opening its mouth. Just when I thought I’d gained an extra brain, it turned out I’d ended up with multiple minds at once.

FWOOSH!

The hydra unleashed a powerful beam that blended both attunements, clashing with the divine beams and buying us time.

But...

CRACK!

The ground beneath me cratered the moment the beams collided, my feet slowly skidding back a few inches as they fought for dominance.

The divine magic was stronger than I’d expected...

"I can’t hold them for long—get us out of here, quick."

Marcellus nodded, already leaving my side as he went to search the area for more clues, using his light magic to move quickly to examine the pillars and circular arena in the middle. Trying his best to hold back his curiosity about my new strange magic as he tried to get us out of this situation.

As for why we didn’t seem so worried.

Well...

We could just teleport out of here anytime we wanted. It may be a failure of a mission, but our lives weren’t exactly at stake.

"Interesting..."

The voice came from above, calm and almost casual despite the chaos of colliding beams. The pressure in the cavern shifted, and all five divine beams winked out at once. My hydra’s attack kept going, slamming into the pillars, but the divine letters had already gone dark. Stone cracked. Nothing else happened.

I pulled my magic back, the invisible heads retreating as I searched the shadows near the cavern ceiling.

A figure dropped from one of the pillars and landed in the middle of the arena without a sound. He was tall, dressed in white and gold robes that immediately marked him as someone important, well above the grunt I’d slammed into a wall earlier.

A High Inquisitor, no question. His dark hair was cropped short, and there was a faintly amused look in his eyes behind the golden mask.

"That’s a kind of magic I haven’t seen before," he said, tilting his head as he studied me. "Flame manipulation, yes, but... there’s something else mixed in. Something darker."

A small smile touched his lips.

"You’re an interesting one."

"Glad I could entertain," I said.

Marcellus had given up searching and now stood about twenty feet to my left, relaxed on the surface but ready. "High Inquisitor Valtor," he said. "I thought you were stationed in the eastern provinces."

"I was." Valtor spread his hands. "But when rumors started spreading about a certain prince sticking his nose where it didn’t belong, I decided to relocate. You’ve been busy, Marcellus. Killing my men, burning my safe houses, interrogating my informants."

His smile never slipped. "Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?"

"I was counting on it," Marcellus replied. "Makes it easier to draw out the rats when you kick their nest."

Valtor laughed, warm and genuine, completely at odds with the underground cavern around us.

"Bold. Stupid, but bold. And you brought one friend? To face me?"

"He’s enough."

"We’ll see."

Valtor lifted a hand, and the divine letters on the pillars blazed back to life, but instead of firing beams, chains of solid light burst from the stone and shot toward both of us with blinding speed.

[Light Manipulation]

Marcellus flicked a hand and sent the chains aimed at him into the ground, where they shattered on impact. I handled mine differently.

[Dark Manipulation]

I thrust out my palm, and a wave of shadow rolled outward, swallowing the chains whole. The light fought the darkness for a moment, then fizzled out.

Valtor’s eyes narrowed.

"Normal dark magic? No... not quite. Something stronger."

"You can figure it out later," I said, already shaping my next attack. "Right now, you’ve got bigger problems."

I drove my hand forward, and the hydra’s heads surged out again—not to fire this time, but to strike. Five invisible serpents of pale and gore lunged at Valtor from different angles, jaws spread wide.

He moved.

Fast—faster than I’d expected. He slipped past the first head by inches, spun under the second, and knocked the third aside with a burst of light magic from his palm. The fourth clipped his shoulder, tearing through cloth and drawing blood, but he caught the fifth in both hands mid-lunge, fingers clamping around its throat.

Even if he couldn’t see it, he could sense it quite well.

"Impressive," he said, veins standing out in his neck as he fought the construct. "But not enough."

He squeezed.

The hydra’s head shattered like glass, and pain spiked through my skull so sharply it felt like a needle had been driven straight into my temple. I staggered back, clutching my head.

"Arden!" Marcellus started toward me, but Valtor was already moving, crossing the distance in a heartbeat.

"You rely too much on that strange magic of yours," Valtor said, lifting his hand for the killing blow. "Let me show you what real—"

He stopped.

A blade of condensed light rested against his throat. Marcellus stood at his side, arm extended, face cold.

"I said he’s enough," Marcellus whispered. "And I meant it."

Valtor’s smile returned, wider this time. "You won’t kill me, Prince. Not without answers. And you came all this way because you need those answers, don’t you?"

"Besides, do you really think you can deal damage to me?"

Marcellus’s jaw tightened.

The pause held.

"Enough would be an understatement."

"What?"

[Malignant Heavenly Eclipse]