Repeat Vice - The Villainous Noble Doesn't Want to Die, So He Swore to Not Die As One of The Four Heavenly Kings - Chapter 74: Jealousy

Chapter 74: Jealousy

Facing each other were Rofus and Abel.

The dark and fiery magic collided, scattering black and crimson mana particles.

A blue fireball clung to Abel’s head, thumping him lightly.

“Idiot! Fool! You were the one who said not to confront Rofus, Abel! You said he was unbeatable! Do you think protagonist perks will help here!?”

Ignoring the blue fireball’s frantic shouting, Abel glanced at Asteria.

Seeing Asteria’s slightly reddened, tear-stained eyes, Abel glared at Rofus in anger.

“Did you make Asteria cry…?!”

“Abel!? What are you doing here… wait, no! These eyes aren’t from crying!”

Asteria desperately denied it, but Rofus responded to his enemy’s taunt with one of his own.

“Ha! So what if I did?”

“I knew it!”

Abel became even more enraged.

Rofus had no memory of making Asteria cry but replied like that simply because Abel’s presence irritated him.

Meanwhile, Annegelt, who had been embraced by Rofus, blushed and shouted.

“What are you talking about!? He didn’t make me cry! Maybe I was a bit sentimental, but it ended on a good note! And you’re way too close!”

Neither Annegelt’s nor Asteria’s attempts to stop them reached the two combatants.

One, mistakenly believing his beloved had been hurt, lost his cool. The other, facing his most despised enemy, was filled with murderous intent.

Meanwhile, outside the barrier, Asteria’s knightly guard, Ritt, had fainted from the clash of magical energies.

Abel enveloped himself in flames, focusing his power into his sword.

Opposite him, Rofus created a dark scythe, the Dark Scythe, without chanting and poured more magic into its blade, increasing its power limitlessly.

As the two were about to unleash their powerful attacks, the blue fireball yelled.

“Wait! How did this become a climax scene in just five seconds!? That’s the ultimate full-power attack, the Dark Scythe! Abel, did you boost your evasion!?”

“If I dodge, there’s no problem!”

“I’m asking if you boosted your evasion to dodge! Stop being a muscle-brain! What was yesterday’s strategy meeting for!?”

The blue fireball lamented.

Asteria also desperately tried to call out, but her voice was drowned by the magic’s torrent.

“Hey, Rofus. Isn’t this position dangerous for me too? Dark magic is weak to fire, right?”

“Hmph, only if they’re equally matched. That level of flame, I can blow out like a matchstick.”

Though Annegelt worried about herself, Rofus gave a combatant-like reply with a smirk.

Oh, so I might die here, Annegelt thought, almost resigned.

As their magical powers reached their peak, a moment of silence fell.

Abel looked into Rofus’s eyes and muttered bitterly.

“Those jade eyes… Rofus, you really are on the side of the ‘Dark God’.”

“And you, a lackey of the Six Gods?”

“That’s enough for me.”

From this short exchange, Abel confirmed that Rofus was indeed on the side of the ‘Dark God.’

No more words were needed. Abel raised his sword, wrapped in superheated blue flames.

Rofus also raised his Dark Scythe to meet him.

As Abel brought down his flaming sword, and the extreme magics were about to collide—

A strong wind blew around them.

“Stooooooop!!”

A high-pitched voice rang out from the sky.

A small girl descended from above, landing between Rofus and Abel with outstretched arms to stop them.

Seeing her, Abel’s eyes widened in shock.

“Riruka!? Get out of the way immediately!”

Despite Abel’s cry, Riruka showed no signs of panic and didn’t move.

The flaming sword Abel aimed at Rofus had grown too powerful for Abel to stop.

Abel tried to halt it somehow, but it only slowed slightly.

Rofus, irritated by Riruka’s sudden interference, clicked his tongue.

As Abel’s flaming sword neared Riruka, Rofus’s Dark Scythe intercepted it.

A clash of dark and blue flames erupted.

Before the massive heat could be released, Rofus unleashed the Dark Scythe’s power, sending a huge black slash skyward.

The flaming sword was knocked from Abel’s hand and thrown into the air.

The blue flames exploded in the sky.

“Whoa!? The anti-magic barrier is cracking!?”

Voices of complaint echoed from above through a loudspeaker spell.

Rofus recognized the voice as Sigil’s.

It came from an invisible airship overhead.

“Thanks, Ro. You saved me. I almost died… just a bit.”

Turning and smirking nihilistically, Riruka spoke lightly as if she had never considered dying.

Rofus glared at her in annoyance.

“What would you have done if I hadn’t saved you?”

“But you did save me. See, you’re kind, Ro?”

“Ugh…”

Rofus turned away as if to say ‘so annoying’.

Abel, who had been watching in shock, came to his senses and looked at Riruka.

“Riruka… wait. Ro…? You mean Rofus? What the…?”

Confusion and bewilderment filled Abel’s face.

Talking familiarly with the enemy, Riruka, who was once his comrade.

Did Riruka remember him? If Rofus had past memories, had he used that knowledge to manipulate Riruka?

As these thoughts ran through his mind, Riruka smiled and spoke to Abel as if to dismiss his worries.

“Abel, long time no see. How have you been?”

It was a reunion with a former comrade thought to be dead, after a long time.

But Riruka’s greeting was surprisingly casual.

“Do you recognize me? So, are you an Apostle too…? Then why are you with him? Rofus is the enemy.”

Abel appeared bewildered and confused. It seemed as if Riruka was siding with Rofus, almost as if she was trying to protect him from Abel.

Riruka stared intently at Abel, walking towards him with a determined stride, her heels clicking on the ground.

“Abel…” Abel muttered, feeling a slight sense of relief. However, Riruka poked his chest with her finger sharply.

“By the way, Abel. If Rofus hadn’t stopped your attack just now, I would’ve been dead, right? I mean, I did jump in on my own, so I’m not blaming you, but…”

Abel paled as he realized the implication of her words. “I-I’m sorry…”

“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant. What I want to say is, Rofus isn’t our enemy.”

“What? Riruka, what are you talking about?”

Abel glanced at Rofus, skeptical and frowning. Riruka continued to explain calmly.

“Think about it. If Rofus were really our enemy, he would’ve blasted me along with his magic the moment I jumped in. And even now, he’s not attacking us while we’re talking.”

“That might be true, but…” Abel hesitated, unable to forget Rofus’ past atrocities as the “Shadow Wolf.”

Trying to dispel Abel’s doubts, Riruka clapped her hands loudly. “Anyway, we can’t have apostles fighting each other anymore.”

“Apostles… fighting? Are you saying Rofus is one of the six gods’ apostles?”

Abel looked at Rofus, unable to believe what he was hearing. Rofus neither confirmed nor denied it, remaining silent.

“I’ll explain the details later. Is that okay, Rofus? Abel might not be fully convinced since he was the one attacking.”

“I don’t care. I was just trying to brush off some insignificant trouble,” Rofus replied nonchalantly, turning his face away.

Abel’s temple throbbed in anger at being called “insignificant trouble,” but he understood that Rofus had no intention of continuing the fight. 

Rofus and Abel both began to suppress their heightened magic, stepping down from their battle stances. 

The sudden magic battle between Rofus and Abel ended without causing any significant damage or injuries, which was fortunate given the high-level magic involved.

However, the bystanders, Asteria and Annegelt, were not satisfied. They couldn’t keep up with the conversation and could only watch in confusion.

Riruka waved her hand towards the sky, signaling to the transparent airship hovering above. “I’ll head back for now. We’ll share information later, after school.”

“Ah, alright,” Abel responded half-heartedly, still struggling to process Rofus’ situation.

Rofus, on the other hand, didn’t respond and avoided eye contact with anyone.

Riruka noticed Rofus still holding Annegelt close, trying to protect her from the residual effects of the fire and dark magic. It seemed overly affectionate from Riruka’s perspective, even if it was a protective gesture.

Understanding Rofus’ intentions but feeling irritated nonetheless, Riruka walked over to him, grabbed his hand, and pulled him away from Annegelt without a word.

Both Rofus and Annegelt were taken aback by Riruka’s sudden action.

“What are you doing?” Rofus grumbled.

“You were too close,” Riruka muttered, sounding annoyed before disappearing in a flash of teleportation light.

Left behind, Rofus and Annegelt exchanged glances. Annegelt took a step back, eyeing Rofus skeptically. “I did think we were a bit too close…”

“…Sorry about that,” Rofus replied curtly, turning to face Asteria, who was still in shock. “Princess Asteria, we’ll take our leave now. If you have any questions, ask the commoner there.”

With that, Rofus turned on his heel to leave.

“Wait, Rofus! What about Riruka…? Hey!” Abel called out, but Rofus ignored him and walked away.

Annegelt chased after Rofus, bombarding him with questions, but received no answers.

Meanwhile, another person was pondering Riruka’s actions—Abel’s blue fireball companion. Riruka had seemed close to Rofus and even jealous of his relationship with Annegelt.

‘…What is going on?’

The situation was unclear, but one thing was certain: Abel’s plans for a harem ending seemed to have hit a major snag.