When the Villain Joined the Knights to Avoid Doom Flags, but Somehow the Heroines Started Approaching Him - Chapter 22: The Villain’s Battle

Chapter 22: The Villain’s Battle

Yulis’s magic was centered around ice, specializing in freezing.

He used his magical energy to cool liquids and gases, creating frost and ice.

It was a simple yet relentless ability, which he could wield until his magical reserves were drained.

“Hah!”

The arena was now a frozen, silvery world.

During the practical exam, this technique alone had been enough to render the other candidates unable to continue.

But Thor wasn’t so easily deterred. He smashed through the ice surrounding him and emerged unscathed. With a swift movement, he closed the gap between them, stepping into Yulis’s range in a single motion, and swung his sword in a sharp arc.

“…!”

“You blocked it, huh? But that’s all you’ve got.”

One swing, then another—Thor’s sword struck toward Yulis with relentless precision.

As expected of one of the elite knights of the kingdom, Thor’s attacks were both fast and heavy.

Clang! Clang!

The sound of metal colliding echoed throughout the training ground.

At the center of it, Yulis struggled, doing nothing but blocking Thor’s strikes.

There was no sign of a counterattack—or rather, was he unable to fight back at all?

Thor noticed this hesitation, and a smirk curled on his lips.

“Flashy, but that’s all it is, huh?”

His attacks grew faster, the intensity of his swordplay increasing.

“Is this all it takes to pass the exam? If so, what a joke!”

After dozens of exchanges, Thor delivered a powerful strike.

Yulis’s sword was sent flying from his grasp, and his body staggered backward, leaving him completely vulnerable.

(Weak! I’ll show him just how far out of reach true strength really is!)

In truth, Yulis’s swordsmanship was far below the level expected of the royal capital’s knight order.

At best, he was on par with knights from a major city’s order. At worst, he’d barely make the cut for a frontier garrison.

As such, he couldn’t hope to match those who excelled in the royal capital’s elite ranks. Even in a straightforward duel with Iris, he’d likely lose more often than not.

(If I keep pushing, I’ll turn him into a punching bag!)

Thor’s sword, filled with unrelenting force, swung toward Yulis’s torso—

“Don’t grin like a creep.”

—and slashed through thin air, accompanied only by the sound of something shattering.

“…What?”

“The only people who might swoon at that smug face of yours are ladies with, let’s say, special tastes.”

Immediately after—

WHAM!!!

A deafening impact resounded as Thor’s body was sent flying backward with incredible force.

(What… just happened!?)

As he tumbled across the ground, Thor’s mind swirled with confusion.

His disoriented gaze flickered toward Yulis—or rather, two Yulises.

One stood surrounded by shattered, transparent ice, while the other, completely unscathed, wielded a massive warhammer.

(T-Two of him!?)

Why were there two Yulises? And where had that warhammer come from?

Thor couldn’t comprehend it—nor did he have the luxury to try.

“How shallow can you get? Strength isn’t just about swordsmanship, you know.”

Thor’s body bounced against the ground several times before he managed to sit up, coughing as he steadied himself.

But now, massive ice petals surrounded him, forming a glowing, crystalline barrier.

For a brief moment, Thor’s gaze was drawn to one of the radiant, shimmering petals. Its beauty was almost mesmerizing.

“And hey, flashy moves matter too, don’t you think?”

Yulis’s voice snapped him out of it.

The next instant, one of the nearby petals shattered as Yulis launched himself through it, driving a flying knee straight into Thor’s cheek.

“Gah!?”

“After all, even a fool like you can’t help but look, right!?”

Thor’s body rolled across the ground once more.

Alarms rang in his head, urging him to get up immediately.

The ground beneath him was coated with a solid sheet of ice, chilled to subzero temperatures. If his skin came into contact for even a moment, the surface would briefly melt from his body heat and then freeze again, sticking painfully to his skin.

But that wasn’t the only danger—

“Come on now, why don’t you try acting like a proper knight for once!?”

Ahead of him, Yulis’s massive warhammer shattered into pieces, only to reform into a sleek, icy sword in his hand.

Despite the distance between them, Yulis swung the blade—and the sword extended suddenly, its icy edge shooting toward Thor with impossible reach.

And that wasn’t all.

Thor felt a chill down his spine as a strange sensation came from behind.

Turning his head, he realized another Yulis had appeared behind him, mirroring the same attack, his icy blade slicing through the air toward Thor’s back.

“How are you going to block this, Senior!?”

Both Yulises shouted in unison.

“Dammit!”

Thor quickly detached the scabbard from his waist.
Using both his sword and the scabbard, he managed to block the icy blades swinging at him from the front and back.

It was an impressive reaction, a testament to the skill of a knight chosen for the royal capital’s elite order.
But unfortunately for Thor, he was facing the wrong opponent.

Yulis still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve.

“Alright, time to crush you for real.”

The moment those words left Yulis’s mouth, the entire arena seemed to tremble.

The ice coating the ground began to rise, shifting and reshaping itself.

“So beautiful…”

Someone in the audience murmured, awestruck.

The arena transformed in an instant.

What emerged was a glimmering garden of pale white roses, their delicate petals hiding razor-sharp thorns. The enclosed space felt suffocating, each movement threatening to pierce with an excruciating sting.

“Urgh…!”

“The man you mocked? This is what he’s capable of.”

In Yulis hand was a whip-like vine of ice, covered in deadly thorns.

“And now, I’ll be using a weapon I learned from the very girl you dared to lay a hand on—my partner.”

Thor couldn’t move. The fear of even a slight shift piercing him with the sharp thorns held him paralyzed.

But within this dangerous frozen rose garden, there was one person who moved freely—the one who controlled the ice.

Yulis strode slowly toward Thor, his voice cutting through the tension.

“Now, let’s wrap this up. You mocked the villain, didn’t you? Then even you, the audience, should be able to predict how this story ends!”

The whip of ice tore through the rose garden, slashing and scattering its pristine beauty as it lunged toward Thor.

Though he could technically move, his survival instincts held him frozen, dulling his reflexes.

At this point, anyone watching could predict what was about to happen.

(A disgrace like him… how could he…!? This is impossible—!)

The word impossible echoed endlessly in Thor’s mind, an unrelenting scream of denial.

Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible…!

“I, of all people, can’t lose to a disgrace like this!”

Thor’s voice cracked with desperation.

He couldn’t accept it.

And yet, as he watched Yulis approach, wielding that thorned ice whip with confidence, Thor’s teeth clenched in frustration.

The sight of Yulis, moving with precision and elegance, resembled a certain girl who had mastered a sword with a segmented blade.

“When you wake up, I’ll be laughing loud enough for everyone to hear. Until then, enjoy dreaming about how foolish it was to pick a fight with a villain.”

CRACK! SHATTER!!!

With an earth-shaking roar, the icy whip continued its rampage, shredding through the rose garden as it struck Thor.

The force was overwhelming, and with that final blow, Thor’s consciousness faded into oblivion.