Chapter 59: The Difference Between a Hero and a Third-Rate Villain

4th Floor of the Demonic Palace.
Ice Garden.
A dazzling frost erupted from all directions, centered on Nikita, who was engulfed by the Elder Dragon’s magic.
But amidst that frost, a different heat intermingled—A searing heat that hadn’t been there before.
The frost seemed to waver with confusion.

Whoooosh!
From within Nikita’s body,
A hidden coldness bared its fangs at me.
Fear.
The biological intimidation exuded by the Elder Dragon.
Even though I had anticipated it, a rough and chilling terror swept over me.
But the fiery heat forcibly snapped me back to my senses.
This damned remnant of the Elder Dragon had finally revealed its true nature.

This was another reason I allowed Nikita to dabble in the Elder Dragon’s magic.
It was because of the bloodline of the Cynthia Marquis family.
In the Cynthia family, it is said that one child is always born without any notable talents.
So much so that there’s a saying: When a Cynthia child is born, ensure there are at least two.
The reason is simple.

Long ago, before the Empire’s unification wars, the Cynthia Marquis family originally served an Elder Dragon.
This loyalty granted them access to the dragon’s magic in secret.
But for reasons unknown, the Cynthia family betrayed the dragon.
Enraged, the dragon spared them from annihilation but left a curse behind.

The curse was simple.
When the most talented child of a generation was born, their talent would be stolen.

The Remnants of the Elder Dragon
A child marked by the dragon’s remnants would possess only one remarkable talent—mastery over the Elder Dragon’s magic.

The Cynthia family kept this curse hidden for generations.
Even Nia Cynthia, the family’s heir, was unaware of it.
As it stands, only the current head of the Cynthia family knows the full truth.
They couldn’t risk revealing it to outsiders.
If word spread, the family would be shunned under the stigma of being cursed.
Especially since the curse came from an Elder Dragon, finding a way to lift it was nearly impossible.

And so, the Cynthia family concealed it thoroughly.
By now, they had grown accustomed to children being born without talent.
Generations of talentless children had been used for political marriages, and the family knew well how to handle such children.

Thus, the remnants of the Elder Dragon continued to pass down through the Cynthia family.

In modern times, Nikita, the second child of the Cynthia Marquis family, was born devoid of any talent.
She should have soared with the wings of her talent, but because of the family’s curse, those wings were stripped from her, leaving her to crawl on the ground.

Yet Nikita never gave up her entire life.
She wielded her sword, trained tirelessly, and eventually became the vice president of Zeryon Academy’s Student Council.

But in this world, there exists a massive wheel of fate.
Even if not today, Nikita might have been destined to wield the Elder Dragon’s magic eventually.
At least in the Blazing Butterfly arc I know,
Nikita dabbles in the Elder Dragon’s magic no matter the route.

Of course, it’s a mystery—what if she had been stopped from touching the dragon’s magic?

Nikita might have gone her entire life without ever touching the Elder Dragon’s magic.
But I had no certainty about a future I couldn’t foresee.
A fool who struggles to keep up with the present right at his feet has no chance of painting a new future.

More importantly,
Even if Nikita never wielded the Elder Dragon’s magic, the remnants of the dragon would remain within her.
And one day, if she were to find happiness, marry, and have a child, the remnants of the dragon might manifest once again in that child.

I didn’t want to imagine the sad expression Nikita might wear, seeing her own child, born without talent, as she once was.

That’s why I prepared for this.
The remnants of the dragon cannot be removed until they fully emerge in unity with the host.
But now, as Nikita wielded the dragon’s magic, the remnants finally raised their heavy head.

“Go ahead, struggle all you want in there.”
A desperate measure to expel the dragon’s remnants.
“I’ll burn you to ash.”

The mystical power passed down from the Steel Empress—the Skin of Steel—coupled with the elemental power of Ignis Flamma, the Lord of Fire, possessed the heat to rival the frost held by the dragon’s magic.

The Steel Empress craved heat more than anyone.
And the Skin of Steel inherited this trait.

However, aside from that craving, the mystical power had another dilemma: It repelled heat.
The Steel Empress longed for heat, but if she accepted it directly, the steel would melt.
Thus, the Skin of Steel instinctively pushed heat away.

Here, the unique property of Ignis Flamma came into play.
Ignis Flamma is the corpse of a spirit lord born of fire.
To let its final flame burn brilliantly, Ignis Flamma attempts to incinerate anything that seeks to extinguish it.

Currently, the dragon’s remnants posed the greatest threat to Ignis Flamma.
As a result, the Skin of Steel pushed Ignis Flamma away, and Ignis Flamma latched onto the dragon’s remnants instead.

The more my flame-laden hand clashed against Nikita, the more Ignis Flamma consumed the dragon’s remnants.

For frost, the worst opponent is, of course, heat.
As the heat intensified, the power of the dragon’s remnants rapidly weakened.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The frost raged, revealing the wrath of the dragon’s remnants.
Nikita staggered backward.
Sensing danger, the remnants sought to escape this place.

Bang!
But there was no way I would let that happen.

I closed the gap with Nikita and thrust out my hand like a blade.
Nikita’s sword hastily blocked my hand.
The dragon’s remnants had realized that direct contact with me was dangerous.
If they were touched even once, Ignis Flamma would pour in en masse.

Knowing this, the remnants couldn’t afford to ignore me.

“Trying to run away?”
My crimson eyes glinted ominously.
“Nikita-senpai wouldn’t run.”

Red streaks of flame cut relentlessly through the swirling frost.

Boom, Crash, Boom!
The heat-infused strikes kept hammering the dragon’s remnants, driving them into a corner.

“If you’re going to run.”
I planted deep fear into the remnants of the Elder Dragon.
“Run alone.”

The dragon’s remnants trembled violently.
In that instant, Nikita’s mouth opened wide, unleashing a blinding white flash.
Seeing it, I twisted my body sharply.
The flash narrowly missed me and shot past.

Boom!
The ceiling of the Ice Garden shattered under the direct hit of the flash.
Shards of ice from the ceiling began to rain down on us.

I dodged the falling debris.
Nikita also pulled back to avoid the shards.
Through the falling ice, Nikita moved farther away.
The dragon’s remnants were urging Nikita to flee.

Crunch-
My foot pressed firmly against the ground.
I took a stance to leap and pulled my hand, blade-like, far behind me.
I took a deep breath.

The moment Nikita’s figure disappeared behind the falling shards, the magic inscription I had placed beneath my feet activated.
The activated spell—explosion.

In that moment,
The synergy between mystic power and the magic inscription created an amplified effect.

Boom!
With an explosion that felt like it could tear my feet apart, my body shot forward like a cannonball.
As I reached toward the ice shards obscuring my view, my hand, sharp like a blade, struck directly at them.

Crack!
My hand pierced through the shards, creating fractures throughout the entire debris.

Shatter!
Breaking through the debris, I launched a surprise attack on Nikita.

But the dragon’s remnants had anticipated this move.
Nikita gripped her sword tightly, condensing frost onto the blade.
Her eyes, now reflecting the dragon’s influence, glinted sharply.
The murderous intent to kill me was palpable.

Seeing this, I activated a ring on my hand without altering my striking stance.

Come forth, Lightning Magnet.
Crackle-
A blinding white bolt of lightning illuminated the ground.

Disregarding even the rules of the Demonic Palace, the descending lightning swept through everything in its path.
The dragon’s magic roared in defiance as it was caught in the storm of electric fury.

I raised my hand toward the sky.
The current flowing along the Skin of Steel surged into my grasp.

Magic Inscription • Lightning Catcher.
The swirling lightning was momentarily captured in my hand.
With the lightning spear in my grasp, I stomped hard against the ground.

Boom!
With an explosive force from my elbow, my body bent sharply, and the lightning spear flew from my hand.

Crack-crackle!
The spear of lightning pierced through Nikita.

Both Nikita and the remnants of the Elder Dragon screamed in unison.
As her body was lifted into the air, I didn’t hesitate—I threw myself forward without a second thought.

The Flame of Fire was once again grasped in my hand.
I slammed it into my palm with all my might.

“Nikita!”
I shouted her name, clenching my fist tightly.
“It’s time to wake up.”

The fist, imbued with my full power, came crashing down on Nikita.
Her body was driven into the ground as the Flame of Fire raged uncontrollably.

The remnants of the Elder Dragon fought back, refusing to be overwhelmed, releasing a wild torrent of frost.
The clash between the two forces felt as though it would tear my body apart.
Even my clothes were shredded, and parts of the wrappings of the veil unraveled.

Underneath the veil, my true face was revealed.
Snow-white hair whipped in the howling winds, and sharp amber eyes glimmered.
My skin had partially transformed into a patchwork of Skin of Steel.
The heat seemed to be melting the Skin of Steel, causing it to seep inward.

‘The Flame of Fire of the Spirit Lord is akin to the Flame of Determination.’
Just as with Lucas, the steel was being absorbed, transforming my body into one of steel.
Moreover, having been struck by lightning twice, scars from the bolts were now etched across my body.
I was in utter disarray.

What kind of expression would others make if they saw me like this?
But at this moment, I didn’t care.

I poured every ounce of the flame into Nikita.
The roaring fire consumed all of the frost.

Sssssssss!
The remnants of the Elder Dragon screamed in agony.
Meanwhile, my body absorbed the frost, sapping away the heat.

However, my eyes didn’t lose their resolve for even a moment.
Instead, they burned brighter than ever, with a fiery determination unmatched by anyone.

‘You know it too.’
I spoke to the remnants of the dragon.
‘If you take in any more heat, it’s over for you.’

The remnants thrashed wildly, but soon they realized what I meant.
There was only one way for them to survive.
They had to abandon their host and find another.

The Flame of Determination that had filled Lucas left no room for such an escape.
The remnants couldn’t switch hosts, so they perished along with Nikita.
That was the main reason Lucas couldn’t save her.

But I wasn’t Lucas.
I was merely borrowing the Flame of Fire.
Inside me, there was plenty of space for the remnants to move into.

This was the critical difference between Lucas and me—the one thing that allowed me to save Nikita.

Lucas, the protagonist, couldn’t save Nikita.
But I, a third-rate villain—Vikarmern Niflheim, cast out of the main plot—could.

This was something only I could do.

‘I never had talent in the first place.’
Vikarmern had none of the magical talent Nikita had longed for.
So instead, I used magic inscriptions, painstakingly engraving them one by one to cast spells.
Even if the talent-devouring remnants of the dragon entered me now, I had no talent to lose.

That was the true difference between Lucas and me.

Unlike Lucas, who was so full of talent that there was no space for the remnants to enter,
I was completely and utterly empty!

Within Nikita, the remnants of the Elder Dragon wrestled with an internal conflict.
But the struggle did not last long.
The remnants could no longer endure the searing Flame of Fire surging into her.

And so, it made its choice.
It would switch hosts.

The thrashing remnants surged upward, climbing along the fist I had pressed against Nikita.
At that moment, a dense cold surged deep into my body.

The scales that had been scattered across Nikita’s body melted away and disappeared.
Her horns and tail also dissolved like snow.
Only faint traces of her fangs and eyes remained.

In contrast, faint scales began to sprout on my skin.
A sharp, bone-chilling cold surged through me, so intense it nearly obliterated my consciousness.
It was a cold so severe it felt as though it would freeze even my brain.

This was the frost Nikita had endured to wield the dragon’s magic.

Crack!
However, remnants of the Flame of Fire still lingered within me.
The heat clashed with the cold, canceling each other out in a delicate balance.

The dragon’s remnants, having transferred hosts, thrashed wildly, attempting to seize control of me.
But I had no intention of letting it.

The remnants were already greatly weakened, having been struck repeatedly by the Flame of Fire.
In this state, they lacked the strength to fully dominate me.

Fsshhh—
Ultimately, the weakened remnants were pushed into a corner within me.
The scales that had appeared on my face crumbled away.

However, my right eye momentarily transformed, taking on a reptilian appearance reminiscent of a lizard.
It was as though the remnants, utterly exhausted, had fallen into a deep slumber within my eye.
Soon after, my eye returned to normal.

The intense heat of the Flame of Fire also began to subside.
The frost and heat faded, leaving only a gentle warmth behind.

Drip, drip—
The snow above, melted by the battle’s aftermath, turned into a light rain.
The warm rain soothed me, providing a fleeting sense of relief.

My head drooped forward.
I had no strength left to move—not even the slightest bit.
Barely breathing was all I could manage.

But it wasn’t over yet.
Nikita had to ‘die’ here.

‘To preserve the main story and save Nikita…’

She, too, needed to be excluded from the main plot.
The story advanced because of her death, after all.

With trembling hands, I reached out.
I gently cradled Nikita’s unconscious head and lifted her legs.

My battered body staggered as I rose.
With the remnants of the dragon now dormant, everything around us was beginning to melt.

Step by step, I walked with no clear destination.
My goal was the fifth floor of the dungeon.

There, hidden away, was a secret passage few knew about—
A passage that allowed for an immediate return to the surface.

It was a feature designed for the player’s convenience.
One that Lucas would later discover by chance.

I made my way toward it.

Descending the stairs to the fifth floor,
My body nearly collapsed multiple times, but I somehow managed to steady myself.

At some point, I realized my leg was broken.

It seemed the shock from the earlier clash had caused my leg to break.
If I fell here, I wouldn’t be able to get back up.
Knowing this, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to endure.

“Phew… H-Hanon.”
At that moment, Nikita’s voice reached me.
She was slowly regaining consciousness.

This was bad.
I hadn’t managed to fix the bandages of my veil, so my appearance was still that of Vikarmern.
It was a careless mistake born of having no energy to spare for anything else.

With no other option, I pulled Nikita close and embraced her.
I pressed her face against my chest.

Thankfully, unlike Hanon, Vikarmern had a sturdy build.
If I held her like this, my face wouldn’t be visible.

Besides, Nikita was likely still disoriented from her encounter with the dragon’s remnants.
She was in no condition to recognize me.

As I held her a little tighter, I felt her flinch slightly in my arms.
In that moment, I realized how small Nikita truly was.

This small body of hers had endured so much effort and hardship all on its own until now.
But things would be different from now on.
The remnants of the dragon that had consumed her talent were gone.
So was the oppressive Cynthia Marquisate that had weighed her down.

“Nikita-senpai.”

I said, continuing as I descended the stairs.
“As I’ve always said, I respect you deeply.”

There was a time when I had my own period of effort.
I worked tirelessly, enough to be called a promising star.

But a single mistake left me injured, and I had to retire from athletics.
Having devoted everything to sports, I was left with nothing when it was taken away.

It was during that emptiness that I turned to gaming.
And in the game, I found Nikita.

No matter the circumstances, Nikita never gave up.
She held firmly to her convictions and worked hard, no matter what others said.

Seeing her gave me an indescribable sense of solace.
Even when her efforts were belittled by those around her, she stood steadfast.

Even though her fate was sealed in a political marriage, rendering her struggles seemingly meaningless, she refused to yield to her destiny, and that made me happy.

But in the end, Nikita couldn’t escape her fate and died.
Every time I witnessed her story, I swallowed my anger and frustration.

But now, finally,
I could ensure she wouldn’t meet the same fate.

“And it’ll remain the same in the future.”
No matter what path Nikita chose from now on,
I would respect and support her.

This was my way of repaying her for the solace she had given me as I watched her in the game.

“Outside, your brother, Nia-senpai, is waiting for you. I’m sorry for keeping it a secret until now.”

Earlier today, I had contacted Nia separately.
It was a promise I had made to him back when I saved him.

Since this was about Nikita, I was certain he would come running.
I couldn’t imagine what Nikita’s reaction would be when she saw that Nia was alive.

That was something I wouldn’t get to see for myself.
Since Nikita had been involved with the dragon’s magic, she couldn’t appear before the world again.
Nia would undoubtedly take care of this matter for her.

“You hated being used for political marriage and living a life devoid of expectations, didn’t you?”

I gently cradled Nikita’s head with care.

The bad ending, ‘Elder Dragon.’

The words she had cried out so many times echoed in my mind:
「I hated my life so much—my life bound to the Cynthia Marquisate—that I was willing to throw it away so easily.」

Now, she no longer had to throw it away.

“From now on, live freely and do everything you’ve ever wanted.”

At some point, my steps came to a halt in front of the secret place on the fifth floor.
I pushed open the heavy stone door with my body, revealing a peculiar passageway.
Gently, I eased Nikita into the passageway.

This passage didn’t lead to the entrance of the Demonic Palace but to another location.
I had already summoned Nia there—he would be waiting.

This was my last moment with Nikita.
As I opened my mouth to bid her farewell,

Tap—

Nikita’s hand grabbed mine.
Had she fully regained her senses by now?

I couldn’t fathom the strength of her will.
But this was troublesome.

I still hadn’t fixed the bandages of my veil.

“Junior… No.”
Nikita’s trembling hand gripped my arm tightly.
“Vikarmern.”

…So she had figured it out already.
I didn’t have the presence of mind or energy to deny it.

As I gave a wry smile, Nikita looked up at me with her lips pressed tight.
She seemed to have so much to say, yet her lips only quivered slightly.

Her face showed she didn’t know what to say, as if her emotions were overwhelming her.
Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to fall.

“I… I always ignored your feelings…”

It hit me belatedly why she was reacting this way.
Vikarmern had loved Nikita.

And Nikita had known that all along.
But she had no intention of accepting it.

She was a woman destined to be used in a political marriage.
Dating someone, let alone loving them, had never been an option for her.

So she chose not to like anyone.
And Vikarmern, understanding that, had never confessed.

“Why would you go so far… for me…”

As if everything I had done finally made sense to her, Nikita poured out her feelings.

“It’s fine.”
It was true that Vikarmern loved Nikita.
And now, I was Vikarmern.

I couldn’t deny it.

“Nikita being safe is enough for me.”

It was a shame I could no longer call her senpai, but…

“Nikita.”
I gave her the brightest smile I could muster.

“Be happy.”

A miserable end didn’t suit someone as strong as her.
So I let go of her hand and pushed her into the passageway.

“Vikarmern, wait!”
It seemed Nikita had something more to say, but I couldn’t listen any longer.

From the distance, demonic beasts and apostles had noticed me and were closing in.

“No…!”

Nikita’s final voice echoed as she disappeared into the passageway.

Thud—

Soon, the passage sealed shut completely.

I couldn’t use this passage to escape.
If I did, there would be no way to explain my disappearance from the Demonic Palace.

Staggering, I pulled myself up.
With difficulty, I managed to wrap the Veil Bandages around myself haphazardly.

Soon, I reverted to my Hania persona.

Dodging the approaching demonic beasts, I began moving toward the stairs to the fourth floor.
The stairs’ passage was a safe zone; no demonic beasts would follow me there.

But as I entered the passage and tried to climb the stairs, my foot gave way.

Thud—

I collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.

Damn it… I was really at my limit.

‘Just a little more.’

Just a little rest.
As my consciousness began to fade, I slowly closed my eyes.

【 Act 3, Chapter 6 ‘The Dragon Girl of Calamity’ 】
【 CLEAR 】

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【 Act 3 is complete. 】
【 The Act 3 Side Story will now begin. 】