Hero v. Villain

Come to think of it, this was not a smart idea. Ace crouched low and dashed forward. Many thoughts ran through my mind as he came at me. His stats were higher. I was still weak. I really was sticking my nose in someone else's business. Maybe I was the villain? Oh well, there was no backing down.

As usual, Ace raised his sword for an overhead strike, so I took a side step. Ace swung down… and his sword took a 90-degree turn!? No wait, he never intended to do an overhead strike. I was duped!

Barely moving in time, I raised my wooden sword to defend myself and used my other arm to reinforce the blade. The moment the two blades made contact, a surge of pain shot up both of my arms. I was sent flying into a tree. More blood flew from my mouth. My arms weren't broken, but they might as well have been. Forcing myself to stand, I prepared for another attack.

"You really think I would do the same trick after you humiliated me before?" Ace mocked me. "You're dumber than you look!"

He was right, that was entirely my fault, but something was wrong. Even though he was a hero, he shouldn't have gotten such a boost in his stats. This was something I should look into, assuming I survived this fight.

"Seems like you did gain some intelligence, maybe I don't have to hold back this time," I chuckle.

"You piece of shit," Ace's face scrunched up even more.

His eyes widened, revealing a crazed look in his eyes. Some hero he was.

"Lord Smarus, hold still," Aurora started to run towards me, but I stopped her.

"Aurora, don't you dare! This is a battle between two men," I said, not breaking eye contact with Ace. "If either of you interfere, don't consider yourselves my allies."

They were both shocked, but they nodded their heads. Aurora backed away. I felt sorry, and this was my second time saying her name without honorifics. I had to apologize later.

"W-we understand," They said in unison.

I raised my sword towards Ace. If I played fair, I would be dead in a matter of seconds. Slowly reaching behind me, I decided to provoke Ace. I reached my arm behind my back while Ace's attention was on my insults.

"You call yourself a hero, but you can't even end things in a single strike! Some hero you are!" I smiled, matching his energy.

"Please stop! You two are friends!" Luna begged.

"We're friends," Both of us corrected her.

Ace sprinted at me again. I pulled my skateboard out of my inventory and tossed it on the floor. Unfortunately, Ace jumped over it with ease.

"You thought a petty trick like that would stop me!" 

"Of course not."

As he was about to swing, I jumped back. I actually attached the end trunk to my fishing rod. As I created space between us, I pulled the skateboard back towards me. This moment of surprise made Ace's movement slightly sluggish, and as he took another step forward, his foot landed on top of the skateboard.

Without missing a beat, I tugged on the fishing rod, causing him to lose balance. Since he was in the middle of swinging, it was easier to cause him to be unbalanced. I threw the rod to the side and ran to the falling Ace. I swung the sword downward, aiming for his neck.

"Goodnight Hero."

Snap!

Ace managed to catch himself and simultaneously guard himself with his sword. My wooden sword snapped on impact.

"Dirty tricks can't stop a hero!" A flying uppercut followed his voice.

I threw my head back, narrowly dodging his punch, but now it was my turn to be thrown off balance. I still felt a gush of wind pass my face as his fist. I fell backward. Ace, in a swift movement, moved to make a finishing blow. Our eyes met as he prepared to swing one more overhead strike. This might be it. I smiled, satisfied that I tried my best.

Ace's eyes widened, and he hesitated. Why? Did he think I had something else planned? Regardless, I felt solid ground on my back. I was able to recover now. I grabbed a set of cooking knives from my inventory and slashed at his shin. Screaming in pain, Ace jumped back and I mimicked his action. We were both out of breath.

"You trickster," He muttered.

"You numbskull," I grinned.

In total, I had 12 knives. I placed them between my fingers, 2 between each finger, not including the area between my thumb and index finger. Ace dashed again, this time considerably slower due to his injury. I raised my hands up and threw my knives at him.

He defected some of them and dodged the rest.

"Was that your last hope!? Any last words, Smarus?" He prepared to lunge at me.

"Yeah."

Time seemed to freeze. Although Ace's sword was aimed at my chest, I couldn't help but smile. Due to the way I positioned my knives, it looked like I only had 6 knives from Ace's perspective. When I raised my hands, I actually threw half of my knives directly up and the other half in Ace's direction. Normally this would have been noticeable, but Ace was so focused on what he did know, he didn't consider the possibility of what could happen. In other words, tunnel vision.

Ace's sword inched dangerously close to my chest as the first knife fell, piercing his hand. Surprise and realization spread across his face.

"A king doesn't bow down to a mere peasant."

The remaining knives rained on Ace. One pierced his other hand, causing him to drop his sword. Two pierced his shoulders, one grazed his leg, and the other fell directly behind the knee of his back leg. Ace fell to his knees as I stood there, looking down at him. The Sun was starting to set. The vibrant colors that came from the sun were slowly being replaced by the purple glow of my eyes.

"Not today nor in a hundred years will you ever beat me, Hero. Why? That's because you… you are just fodder. No more than the soot on my clothes," I sinisterly said. I actually sounded like a villain now.

Shit! I was on another ego trip… this will come back to haunt me.

"How?" Ace weakly said. "I know I'm stronger, but I lost… why is there such a big gap between us?" Ace barely said before he collapsed.

Knowing that I had the victory, I dropped the act and soon collapsed myself. I was breathing heavily. The adrenaline wore off, and pain quickly took its place.

"Aurora! Quickly heal Ace before he dies!" I yelled wincing in pain.

"W-waht? But Lord Smaru…"

"Just do it!"

She flinched before she quickly ran towards Ace. She pulled the knives out and began to heal his wounds. She repeatedly said chants. Meanwhile, Myra ran towards me and handed me a potion.

"Here, drink this," She lifted me up slightly and poured it down my mouth.

I didn't question why she had it, but I was grateful since it greatly relieved my pain.

Defeated the Hero! New title, skill, and levels acquired!

Thanks system. It always knew when to give these notifications. Too bad I'm too focused on not dying!

Luna slowly walked towards the four of us and witnessed the bloody mess her two friends were in. Her eyes were red and puffy. It looked like she couldn't cry anymore.

"Is this… the struggles you guys face? Even my father never dared to cause me pain like this," She looked down.

Why were my friends both self-centered brats? Both times I either opened up or got hurt, they brought the attention back to themselves. If I wasn't half dead, I would have slapped her… again

"Get over yourself, Luna," I forced myself to sit up. "Even when you see us halfway dead, you can only think about yourself. Get your hands dirty for once and help out."

I tried to get up, but I only managed to with the help of Myra. My eyes weren't glowing, but I was still very pissed.

"Lady Aurora, Lady Myra, we are leaving. There is nothing more for us to do," I turned around with the help of Myra.

"Right!" Aurora immediately stopped healing Ace and stood up. "Sir Ace should be fine now, Lady Luna."

"Wait, Smarus. What about you?" Luna tried to stop us.

"I don't need fake friends. Where were you when I was banished? I'm sure you knew within days, yet you did nothing. I came here to knock some sense into you. Don't rely on me again."

Ding! Everyone's character log updated!

She tried to protest, but she knew I was right. She had no choice but to accept the results of her own selfish behavior. It was a massive grey area. We were all selfish to some extent, but where does it become a bad thing? I was too tired to care. I'll check my stats and logs later.

"I'm tired… I'll take a quick nap," My eyelids were heavy. 

I heard muffled voices, but I was already too far gone. Now, I had only one thing on my mind. Sleep.