I Enrolled as the Villain
Chapter 42: Rank 100

Chapter 42: Rank 100

Radger’s body unraveled into mist, fading like smoke into the scorched air. I let my shoulders drop, just slightly. The weight of the fight still clung to my limbs — not just exhaustion, but something deeper. Wasteful.

He was never here to win. He was just here to test me. To watch. To draw out everything I could do. And I gave it to him.

Radger, Fourth-ranked in the elite class.

"bastard..."

As I stood there, sweat ran down my body from the rising heat, so I forcefully activated my Mythrigan. My fight with Radger had already destroyed nearly the entire western forest of the map.

The ground beneath me, once wet with life, was now nothing more than black ash and it would only get worse the longer I stayed.

There — the relic.

I immediately jumped across the field and landed where it was located.

I dug my hand into the earth and grabbed a silver bracelet with strange archaic markings, but that didn’t matter.

I needed to go.

———

Marlen glanced out the window the Red Line students were already closing in.

She didn’t hesitate.

She sprinted out of the infirmary, boots slamming against the floor as she rushed toward the command room. Inside, the hologram was flickering badly, barely stable.

"How bad is it? And—"

Boom!

The room shook. Dust trickled from the ceiling.

"Damnit. Where the hell is Kael?!"

A student at the console slammed a key. The display jumped, then stabilized — a feed of the outside battlefield snapped into view.

The wall of ice Kael had constructed still stood — but barely. Cracks veined across its surface, each spear strike from the Red Line hammering it closer to collapse.

Twenty-five Red Line students were advancing in formation. At the back, a tall girl with a pixie-cut of bright red hair stood motionless, her eyes fixed on her watch.

Marlen’s jaw clenched.

"That’s Vera," she muttered. "Rank Twelve. And she hasn’t even moved yet."

She turned to the student nearest the console. "How many of ours are still in shape to fight?"

"Twelve," the student answered. "Including us. No sign of Kael. Cendric and Silas are still unaccounted for."

Marlen’s eyes scanned the battlefield feed. The ice wall groaned under the next impact.

"Don’t engage," she said sharply. "We’re outnumbered. Severely."

She stepped forward, watching the Red Line move like a tide.

"Hold position. Prioritize defense. Wait until Kael does something."

Her voice dropped low.

"If he’s still capable of doing anything."

Another spear slammed into the ice. Cracks spread fast.

Vera leaned back, watching from the rear line with a faint scowl.

"What the hell are these lower-class idiots doing? Where’s their pride?"

Her Synwatch continued playing —

"The top ten most powerful path user, number ten—"

She sighed and closed the screen with a tap.

"Can’t even watch in peace."

A crimson spear bloomed in her hand, its edge humming.

She lifted it lazily, voice cutting through the air.

"Litany of the Red Crown."

The fractured red crown shimmered above her head, jagged and incomplete, radiating heat.

"Break that ice. Now."

Suddenly, one crimson spear shot from Vera’s position bright as a comet.

Boom!

It tore into the ice wall. The structure collapsed instantly, like a building rigged to fall.

"Marlen, what—what do we do?!"

"I don’t—!"

Marlen then heard a group of Valery students standing close together, their voices rising in panic:

"Kael will stop them, right?"

"Where is he?"

"He wouldn’t let this happen—"

"Damnit turn on the turret!"

The half-broken turret activated and rotated, locking onto targets. It fired.

The shots pinged off red-tinted armor — useless.

Vera didn’t flinch. She stepped forward, voice calm but commanding.

"All of you — focus on the entrance. Break that door down."

As the Red Line continued hammering the entrance, the command room shuddered with every strike.

Marlen stood frozen, hand trembling, eyes locked on the display the wall of ice, shattered in seconds.

One move. That was all it took.

Her breath hitched.

Why did I even come here?

Why did Kael?

A sharp voice cut through the static panic.

"Marlen! Please! They need orders—what do we do?!"

She blinked, snapping out of the spiral. The room had gone quiet except for the sound of alarms and distant cracks echoing through the stronghold.

"We... we— I don’t know, I—"

BOOM.

The entrance doors blew open.

Red Line students poured in tight formations, spears drawn, moving like a living weapon.

"They’re in!"

Marlen stepped back, voice shaking but firm.

"Don’t engage. Stay in formation. Guard this room."

Her eyes swept across the Valery students bruised, scared, outnumbered.

We’re not ready for this.

Suddenly —

The command room door burst open.

BANG.

Smoke curled at the hinges.

Every head turned. Silence dropped like a guillotine.

Click. Click.

Slow, deliberate steps echoed across the floor.

Vera stepped in.

Tall. Unhurried. Her red cloak trailed behind her like spilled blood, sweeping the ground. She paused, scanning the room not with curiosity, but with disdain.

Her voice, calm and sharp as a scalpel:

"So this... is the mighty, untouchable Valery?"

She tilted her head slightly.

"Cute."

Vera’s eyes swept the room.

Rust lined the walls. Light flickered weakly overhead. The central hologram stuttered and buzzed a pale imitation of what the other factions used.

She took it all in without a word.

Then:

"Valery," she murmured, "the House of Sight."

She stepped forward, boots echoing.

"They say your visual prowess is unmatched. That you see what others can’t."

A pause. She smiled a small, mocking smile.

"But apparently, you can’t even see how pathetic this stronghold is. Ironic."

Her gaze shifted to the students some backing away, others frozen.

"And the pride. You wear it higher than the Keshar. Higher than Valkcross, even."

She tilted her head.

"But now? You look like prey."

Marlen stepped forward, fists clenched.

"You bastard!"

Vera turned, calmly meeting her glare.

"Oh? And you’re one of the four sent outside the academy, aren’t you?"

She looked Marlen up and down not impressed, just bored.

"Look at you now. Shaking. Pitiful."

She raised a hand, lazily pointing at the Valery banner above the stronghold.

"I could steal your banner right now," she said calmly. "I could end your run in this competition and humiliate the entire Velvet Eye faction in a single moment."

She leaned forward slightly, the light catching her red eyes.

"But I won’t. Not yet."

She looked around again, lips curling into something between disdain and amusement.

"I want to see how much lower you can fall."

As marlen locked eyes with Vera, heart pounding, every instinct screaming at her to act. But before she could move, something lashed out.

A length of red fabric coiled around her waist and dragged her to the ground. She hit the floor hard, the breath knocked from her lungs.

"Gah!"

Her arms jerked, trying to pull free, but the robe tightened. The more she struggled, the more it held, like it was waiting for her to exhaust herself.

Vera didn’t glance at her.

She walked into the center of the command room her boots tapping softly against the tile. Her crimson cloak dragged across the floor.

She reached the center chair the one meant for the leader of the faction and sat down without hesitation.

It was Kael’s seat.

The rest of the room froze. No one moved.

The flickering lights above cast long shadows, and the broken hologram buzzed faintly in the silence.

Vera rested one arm across the side of the chair and leaned back with quiet ease, surveying the room like she had already won.

The room fell into a cold, stagnant silence. The remaining Valery students stood frozen some clutching their sleeves, others gripping their weapons but unable to raise them.

No one spoke. No one moved. Whether it was fear, shame, or the weight of Vera’s presence, not one dared to step forward.

Vera let out a soft breath, bored already.

"Capture all of them," she said, her voice loud enough to echo against the command room walls. "But don’t disqualify them. Not yet."

Her Red Line squad moved immediately. Boots clattered as they spread out with sharp precision, stepping past shattered panels and flickering lights. Hands reached for restraints.

But then—

A faint sound broke through the tension.

Click. Whir. Click.

It wasn’t a weapon.

It was a wheelchair.

Liora

She rolled forward steadily, positioning herself between the advancing Red Line squad and the huddled Valery students.

Her uniform was stained mud streaked across the sleeves, scuffed at the edges.

Unlike the others, she had no assigned role in the stronghold. No command post. No combat position. Her body simply couldn’t keep up.

But she was here.

Everyone paused.

Even Vera tilted her head.

Liona didn’t flinch.

She stopped just short of the Red Line’s vanguard and looked up at Vera, calm and clear.

"No one here is surrendering."

Her voice wasn’t loud, but in the stunned stillness of the room, it landed like a spark in dry grass.

"We’re not done."

Liora didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. She simply stared ahead, spine straight.

Vera’s smile twisted.

Without warning—

Clang.

She stepped behind Liora, gripped the wheelchair’s handles—

—and lifted it clean off the ground.

The metal creaked violently.

"Let’s see how far your pride rolls without wheels."

Then—

CRASH.

She slammed the chair sideways to the floor.

Metal shrieked. One wheel snapped off. The chair twisted unnaturally, skidding across the tile like a broken toy.

Liora hit the ground hard.

Gasps rippled from the Valery students.

She didn’t scream.

She only winced, bracing herself with one trembling hand.

Silence.

Vera stood over her, sneering.

"Get a replacement," she said coldly. "Or crawl back to Kael on your hands."

Liora didn’t move at first. She didn’t cry out. Didn’t ask for help.

She just lay there breathing shallowly, limbs weaker than anyone else in the room.

And then, she moved.

Her palms scraped the floor. Elbows shaking. Knees dragging. Every inch earned.

She didn’t care how slow it looked. She didn’t care if it was stupid.

She just kept going.

Her grey Ketsugan, dull and plain, lifted to meet the one who shattered her chair.

And when she reached Vera’s boots, she opened her mouth—

—and bit down.

A small bite. Weak. Pathetic.

Her fingers pressed to the ground. Her voice trembled.

"They’re stronger than me. They can walk on their own. They can fight."

She glanced back at the other students some injured, some frozen and managed a faint smile.

"Their parents are proud of them. They still have places to go."

Her eyes dropped again.

"I’m just Rank 100. No one expected anything from me. I wasn’t supposed to matter."

Her voice cracked.

"If this is all I get... then let it mean something."

She looked up again. Eyes wet, but steady.

"Take me. Not them."