Chapter 97: Chapter 97 : Taming the Villainous, And I Don’t Even Know How

It was clear now. Aria wasn’t just fighting her opponents.

She was fighting herself.

Something lived inside her. Something that would eventually become the calamity this world feared. A demon. An entity. Whatever the hell it was, the system had already dropped the hint.

Which meant I needed to make sure her sudden outburst didn’t become the cause of my death here.

I started walking toward her.

But Aria collapsed to her knees before I could close the distance. The mana pressure around her body was swelling. Growing larger. More terrifying with each passing second.

She was struggling badly. Screaming. Whether it was pain or something else entirely, I couldn’t tell.

From a few steps to my side, Charlotte called out. “What should we do now?”

Angelica pulled herself back to her feet. Her voice was steady despite the situation.

“We wait. We don’t know what’s wrong with her. She’s either absorbing a massive amount of mana from the air that her body can’t handle, or it’s something different altogether. Either way she isn’t giving up, and the judges haven’t intervened, so her vitals should be fine. But we should be ready for anything from here. Stay cautious.”

I ignored both of them and walked straight into the storm.

The mana around Aria acted like poison fog. The second I stepped inside it, pain struck from every direction. Just the pressure alone was enough to make my insides burn.

“Hey, Aria.” I kept my tone casual. “Snap out of it. We’re in the middle of a very important match right now. If you keep doing this, we’re going to lose.”

Her expression twisted. Anger. Like she was hearing a pest that refused to shut up.

I took another step. The resistance doubled. My lungs fought for air. My legs dragged against the force like I was wading through cement.

“What the hell are you doing? Fight whatever is driving you crazy. Otherwise I’ll have no choice but to beat you back to your senses myself.”

No reply came.

What came was punishment for running my mouth in front of her.

The fog twisted into a tornado. Blades of mana sliced into my skin. I tried forcing another foot forward but the force shoved me back. The intensity kept climbing.

And then I couldn’t breathe anymore.

My axe slipped from my fingers and hit the ground. Both hands flew to cover my mouth and nose, trying to block the crushing air pressure from suffocating me to death.

CLANG.

Angelica’s voice tore through from behind. “Don’t be stupid, Deculein! You’ll die at this rate for nothing! Just run before she releases all that mana or it explodes from her uncontrollable state!”

I ignored her.

My eyes stayed fixed on the face ahead. Aria. Hissing at me through the storm of her own power.

I forced one more struggling step. Covering my face. Bleeding from the cuts across my arms and neck.

“Run?” A cough ripped through my throat. “I won’t run. Not until I save you, Aria.”

Another step.

“I know you don’t know me. And you have no reason to hear me out. I get that.”

The wind tore deeper but the words kept spilling.

“So I’ll just say whatever my heart feels like saying.”

My voice cracked under the weight of the pressure but it didn’t stop.

“I know it’s dark in there right now. I know you’re fighting the darkness inside your own body.”

Another step.

“I know your life has been brutal. But every great soul has to pass through this stage. So fight it. Just a little more.”

I continued my slow, bleeding march toward her.

“I also know you’ve been fighting this for years. I know some days you fought and won. And I know on some days the thing inside you was stronger and you lost. And then the worst would follow. You’d have to watch yourself from somewhere far away. Doing things that didn’t belong to you.”

I was close now. Too close to her kneeling form.

Emotions I didn’t understand were swallowing me whole. I didn’t know where they were coming from but they drowned every rational thought in my skull.

“It must be hard. Seeing yourself become something you’re not. It must be too hard watching yourself do things knowing how much you’ll regret them when it’s over.”

My voice was shaking.

“It must be too hard to look in the mirror every day knowing you’re losing yourself. Knowing some other entity is slowly taking over you. Making you a hostage inside your own body.”

I dropped to my knees in front of her. My eyes were filled with tears. But more than that, I was filled with some foreign emotion that erupted just from seeing her in this state of pain.

“And I know you must be too tired to even try fighting anymore.”

My body moved on its own.

I wrapped my arms around her.

“But just one more time.” Tears dripped from my face onto her shoulder. “Just once. Fight it. Fight for yourself.”

A pause.

“Fight for me.”

Something deeper pushed through my chest. Whether it was my own emotions or Deculein’s memories bleeding into me, I couldn’t separate them anymore.

“I can’t lose you like this. And I refuse to. I won’t allow you to just give in. So if you can’t fight for yourself right now, then fight for me.”

The air pressure thinned.

Her expression was shifting. The emptiness cracking apart. Confusion spreading across her face like she couldn’t process what was happening.

I released her from the embrace. Placed both hands on her shoulders.

And used my debuff on her.

“You don’t have to fight alone anymore. Don’t have to carry it by yourself. Because as long as I’m alive, you will always find me standing right there when the darkness comes trying to consume you. And I’ll make sure every single time, you win.”

The words flowed from my mouth smoothly.

But deep inside? I knew exactly how disgustingly cringy every single sentence sounded. The urge to puke was genuinely competing with the urge to keep talking.

And another thought was gnawing at me too. Why was I being this emotional for her? Because in the end, I would be the one responsible for her death soon enough.

Then the mana vanished.

Everything. The pressure. The fog. The tornado. Gone. As if none of it ever existed.

My body was a complete mess. Cuts everywhere. Blood staining whatever was left of my sleeves. But Aria’s state was worse.

She was back though. Completely in her senses. And the very first thing she did was slap my hands off her shoulders.

Not from anger. Not from disgust. She just couldn’t digest that I was helping her.

“You are too insane and stupid.” She was struggling to stand, her legs barely listening. “And what nonsense were you spouting? Every single one of those lines was too cringe.”

I wanted to say the feeling is mutual.

But I swallowed that thought and said, “But it worked, didn’t it?”

She hissed.

And fell the very next moment. Exhaustion yanked her body down before she could take a single step.

I caught her before she hit the ground and guided her down until she landed on my lap.

“You need to rest right now.”

She answered by punching me in the gut first. Her personal thank you for saving her life.

Then through gritted teeth, while struggling to push herself into a sitting position, “The fight is still on. And I can’t afford to lose it.”

I stood up. Grabbed my axe from the ground. Turned toward the other side of the arena.

“Don’t worry about that. You’ve already done the damage.”

I rested it on my shoulder.

“It’s my turn now. We’re a team, aren’t we? So let me contribute my bit.”

I faced my opponents.

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