I Will Fulfill the Role of the Villain-Chapter 163

Veins popped visibly on Felix’s forehead, clearly caught off guard by Luke’s counterattack. Then, with a tilt of his head toward the knight commander, the knights all simultaneously raised their swords and charged at Luke.

“Gang up tactics, huh? Cowards.”

At that moment, Luke swept his arm wide through the air. A strong gust exploded outward from around him, scattering dirt and stones in every direction. The knights charging toward him found it difficult to approach, stalled by the force of the wind. Seizing that brief moment, Luke pressed a hand to the ground and poured power into it.

With a violent tremor that made the earth itself quake, massive ice pillars erupted from the soil, sending the knights flying into the air. Cries of confusion filled the air as Luke clenched his fist once again.

With that single motion, the knights stationed further back were frozen solid. Some of the hundred or so knights groaned in agony, clutching broken arms or legs from being struck by the ice. The rest stood petrified, literally—transformed into frozen statues, expressions still locked in shock.

In just a few motions, the battlefield was completely cleared. Heath scanned the area where large-scale magic had been unleashed. His lips twitched into a disbelieving laugh at how precisely Luke had targeted only the knights who had charged.

“Use your mana like that, and you’ll end up consumed by mine!”

“Exactly. That’s why I need to end this quickly—by taking you down.”

Luke picked up a spear that had fallen nearby—one a knight must’ve dropped. As he gripped it, the blade instantly froze over with a sheen of solid ice. It had been a long time since he’d used a weapon; it felt awkward. But if he could help it, he wanted to minimize his use of magic.

Even after all his bravado, Luke couldn’t ignore the taint of mana still clinging to his hand.

Spear in hand, Luke kicked off the ground and launched himself forward. Locking eyes on Felix, he thrust the spear forward, aiming to skewer him.

Felix leapt back, extending his hand as thick black smoke exploded outward, distorting the arc of Luke’s attack.

But Luke didn’t let up. He pressed the offensive, stabbing and swinging his spear with relentless force. Felix blocked the attacks with clouds of black smoke, retreating quickly, dodging each strike.

Now.

The moment Felix’s foot touched the ground, Luke’s eyes flashed. From beneath Felix, a spear of ice surged up from the soil, aiming straight for the back of his neck. Felix noticed it just a moment too late and dodged to the side—

“Ghhk!”

—but not fast enough. The ice spear pierced through his right shoulder, not his neck, but clean through. Blood dripped steadily, soaking into the dirt below. Crimson stained the white spear of ice beneath the moonlight.

Confirming that he’d caught his opponent, Luke raised the spear high—but Felix summoned black smoke again and shattered the ice, barely slipping away.

“Tch. Fast little bastard.”

Luke clicked his tongue and swung the spear through the air with a rough flick.

“Hah, your skill really is impressive.”

“Nothing feels better than getting compliments from your enemy.”

Smirking slightly, Luke adjusted his stance and returned to a combat-ready posture. He knew the fundamental traits of summoners well: they wield powerful and dangerous magic that could control monsters—but the summoners themselves were often physically weak.

It had been the same when they’d captured Benzie and Hays. While the monsters they summoned were trouble, taking down the summoners themselves hadn’t been difficult. Well, aside from the unexpected injury to his hand. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

Now, from the way Felix fought, Luke could confirm it—he fit the summoner profile perfectly. Despite being the head of NOX, Felix’s raw combat ability wasn’t particularly threatening.

Luke glanced behind him—toward the other side of the palace gates. The early morning air remained still and silent, as if none of this had happened.

“I have a question—mind if I ask?”

Still clutching his wounded shoulder, Heath nodded. Luke hated how calm the bastard still looked, but for now, he needed to stall as much as possible.

“You used Memburn before, and now Welharun—you’re doing all this to strike at Hainere. Even pretending to be a prince to make it happen.”

“......”

“Do you have a grudge against Hainere or something?”

From his earlier conversation with Hays, Luke had learned ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) one thing: NOX wasn’t doing this just for money or power. At its core, this was personal—a vendetta, a pursuit of revenge.

Since then, Leo had been working every angle trying to track down any meaningful information about someone named “Felix” within Hainere’s records—but they’d turned up nothing of significance.

So naturally, the motive became all the more intriguing. Why go this far? Why target the Empire?

“It must’ve been... ten years ago? When Hainere went to war, conquering small neighboring nations one after another.”

Felix lowered the hand that had been clutching his shoulder. Perhaps the bleeding had stopped—no more blood dripped from the wound.

“My homeland was one of them. Overnight, because of Hainere, my country became a war zone.”

“...So you’re seeking revenge for losing your homeland?”

If that was the reason, it made a degree of sense. Just as the sun rises, it also sets; just as clean rivers flow, they eventually meet dirty streams. The stronger and more prosperous a great power becomes, the more the weak and voiceless are trampled beneath it.

At that time, Prince Cedric Loelard had begun his regency and embarked on territorial expansion. Just as Felix said, Hainere had absorbed smaller nations, sometimes through treaties, but when those failed, by force.

And after the expansion ended, Cedric had poured support into rebuilding the ruined territories and helping the people living there. He’d never discriminated, always trying to make them proud citizens of the empire.

Perhaps that was why few raised their voices against him, despite the bloodshed.

But not everyone had accepted it. War, in the end, always leaves behind blood and tears. Most might have accepted Hainere—but not everyone.

Not someone like Felix.

“Revenge for a lost homeland, huh... Well, that’s not wrong.”

Felix smiled. For a moment, the smile resembled the warm one Heath used to wear—it was deeply unsettling. And that not wrong—did that mean there was something more?

“So you understand my motive? Then tell me—do you still think you have the right to interfere with my revenge?”

“......”

No. If there were wounds left from that war, they weren’t his to speak on. Luke didn’t want to pretend Cedric or Hainere were innocent, nor use the excuse of national interest to brush it all aside.

“Felix... you’ve shed the blood of countless people just to carry out that revenge.”

But that didn’t erase what NOX had done. They had abused and manipulated war orphans like Benzie and Hays, incited nations into war, and now he was hurting Prince Heath and threatening even the life of their father, the Emperor.

“That kind of revenge can’t be justified. If you’re planning to spill more blood by invading Hainere, then I have more than enough reason to stop you.”

No matter how much pain someone had endured—not everyone chose to become like him.

At those words, Felix clenched his teeth so tightly his jaw muscles bulged.

“You’re going to stop me? What then? Purify your mana and drag me back to Hainere to expose the truth? Luke, maybe you should think about your situation first.”

A grotesque laugh echoed into the air.

“You were caught right before smuggling the evidence out of here. This is Welharun, and everyone thinks I’m the prince. You’ll never make it out of this palace alive. What can you possibly do now? Want me to tell you how this ends?”

Felix laughed so wide it looked like his mouth might split open. Luke simply stared.

“You’ll either die here—or you’ll use too much magic and end up like that corpse of an emperor lying in the palace, your body rotted through by corrupted mana. And three days from now, I’ll open the gates at the western border and release the monsters into Hainere.”

“You think Hainere’s just going to sit there and take it?”

“Luke. Do you think I’m doing this to conquer Hainere? No. I just want that land to drown in screams and blood. Just like I did!”

Luke frowned. So that was his purpose—to kill, to ruin, to unleash meaningless destruction. Once war began, both Hainere and the people of Welharun would bleed.

What Felix wanted was collapse. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Then yeah. You definitely need another beating.”

Even as Luke delivered the warning, his expression didn’t change. He simply readied himself for another clash. Felix clenched his fist tightly.

“You arrogant little bastard...!”

Felix shouted and slammed his hand into the ground. As a magic circle began to etch itself into the floor, Luke flinched and muttered low under his breath:

“Ah, shit.”