No More Pain For This Villain.

Chapter 379 He Came,He Conquered

379  He Came,He Conquered

[Mary Klein POV]

"Ren and Mary, you're up. Take it down."

As my name was mentioned, a shiver ran down my spine.

Then, for the first time, my eyes met his. They haven't changed that much—they're the same bright golden color I saw years ago in the park. It's just that… he no longer hides them behind his long bangs.

Since coming down here, not once did Ren meet my eyes. Or… it felt like he didn't even recognize that I had been looking at him the whole time.

He gazed at me for a mere second, but even in that short period, I recognized something creeping into his emotionless eyes before it vanished into indifference.

He took a sword from that filthy prince—why not ask me? I have dozens of great swords lying around in my spatial ring! I can lend him as many as he wants! He just has to ask…

But I know he won't. It took me a while to realize, but I do now—I hurt him.

I have hurt Ruu.

For some reason, it felt like I had been in a weird trance, unable to notice it. But I had made mistakes—the biggest one being telling him to stay away from me at the academy.

It all makes sense now. It does… He's hurt. Why wouldn't he be? I asked him to stop seeing me even though he loves me. That must have been devastating.

I get it. It's fine… It explains a lot of the changes in his behavior. He became strong—I'm not naïve enough to ignore it. Ruu has become stronger. When I left Sephra, he was barely a one-star, but now? I don't know.

He proved his mettle at Mage's Gambit, but for some reason, it felt like everyone just… ignored it, like there was a wall between him and us—making him unapproachable and… slightly forgettable.

I don't know if anyone noticed, but with each passing day, it felt like he was doing something extraordinary, while the reaction to his deeds was not what one would expect.

He killed an Amphiptere Dragon by himself. Yeah, it was with the help of a spirit contract, but it's still remarkable… What happened after that? It was just pushed under the rug and never mentioned again.

Then it hit me hard—how much I was caught up in chasing my own goal and catching up with Adam.

It's like sometimes I'm the only one who can see him—the real him—how much he's changed over a single year. But even that sense of superiority is starting to fade because now I don't know much about him. What he does, what's happening around him—it's all a blur.

It was then that I heard a sigh and was pulled out of my thoughts, noticing that my mouth was half open while staring at Ruu.

He turned around, and his broad back came into view. Past him was the unfocused silhouette of the Earfang Bat—a monster powerful enough to wipe out hundreds of low-level adventurers back home. At least six or seven stars.

I'm not doubting myself, but it's hard for me to counter it alone… I know Ruu's become stronger, but it's impossible for him to take that thing on by himself. I highly doubt he has another spirit contract because that's a once-in-a-lifetime scenario.

What about both of us? Isn't that what Falco wants… for us to fight together? Together. How long has it been since Ruu and I did something together? Ages. Even when I didn't break off the engagement permanently… I did not outright say it was only a short-term break and not a full annulment. I just wanted him to stop stalking me, but I bet he understood that.

Ending our bond altogether? There's no way he's going to accept that.

Still, it'll be fine if we fight together. We may have a chance to defeat that thing.

While I was thinking about how to approach Ruu, he just stepped forward.

"Huh."

I couldn't say anything. The Earfang Bat scraped its claws against the floor and hissed deafeningly.

In a split second, Ruu was already fifty meters away from where I was standing—fast. Too fast.

His hair danced wildly, his face pale, but there was a determined look—an expression of no hesitation.

Crimson, blood-like flames danced between his fingers while his other hand gripped the hilt of his borrowed sword.

With each step forward, towards the monstrous beast that was now waking into motion, it flapped its wings and created a mild wind barrier in front of it.

It's going to deflect the attack. Panicking, I immediately cast a spell. Spears of water sprang into the air, cutting through the atmosphere.

But something weird happened. Before the spears could even reach Ruu, they… vaporized.

"What the—" I gasped for air. The surroundings were unbearably hot, as if I were standing inside a furnace.

An extremely hot furnace.

My eyes tracked Ruu, but all I saw was a sword clad in fire being thrown. It clashed with the wind barrier the Earfang Bat had created, and then—

It hit the wall far back in the chamber, causing a few pillars to collapse into rubble.

Then there was another fall—this one less loud.

"R-Ruu—" I instinctively moved my feet, but before I could take a step forward, I saw something that shook me to my core.

"W-What…"

It was evident that I wasn't the only one surprised. Still ablaze in his hands, a crimson fireball rested above his palm as he walked.

Towards the body of the now-slain monster, Ruu stood by the corpse, and then his eyes finally shifted toward us.

"It's dead." His quiet voice echoed through the chamber, slightly haunting.

And just like that, it was over.

He came. He killed.

It was as if he didn't need me. Ruu didn't need me.

He traced his path back to where we were. I was standing at the front of the crowd, but he didn't stop.

He stood way back as if for him, I was invisible...is this how he felt? Is this how I made him feel?

It was all too much.

I'm back