I Will Fulfill the Role of the Villain-Chapter 165

The black clouds thickened, and the air above began to vibrate. Just as Felix clenched his jaw, ready to tear into Luke’s flesh, thunder roared beneath the cloud cover—and a bolt of lightning struck down directly atop Felix’s head.

“GAAAH...!”

Luke, arm outstretched toward the sky as if he meant to seize and shake it, poured even more power into his hand. The lightning came down without mercy, striking not only Felix, but also the monster he was riding, scorching them both.

“You...! Using magic like this, your mana will—cough...!”

Luke’s eyes gleamed wide and fierce, and he unleashed his attack without hesitation. But even as he did, black smoke continued to rise from around his right hand.

As he expelled an enormous amount of mana, the corrupted mana within him surged in response. It felt like his arm was burning away, the pain so severe it was as though it were being scorched from the inside. Worse, that sensation began spreading from his arm to the rest of his body.

The knights, slowly regaining consciousness one by one, stared blankly at the hellish scene before them. The godlike fury of the lightning, raining down on a single point, was so overwhelming that none dared speak. All they could do was watch in stunned awe.

“Kh...”

Felix’s eyes began to roll back as he remained perched atop Luke. The monster, which had taken the brunt of the strike, let out a deafening roar before collapsing to the ground. A cloud of dust surged upward, and the black clouds above gradually began to recede.

The moment fell eerily silent, as if nothing had happened. The knights swallowed hard. The dust cloud made it difficult to see exactly what was going on now. freeweɓnøvel.com

But not long after, a single figure rose.

“Hah... ngh.”

It was Luke. He slowly pushed himself up, clutching his right arm tightly. As the wind blew the dust away, the battlefield came into full view. The monster lay still, completely blackened, not even twitching. The scorched, cratered earth around it bore clear witness to how intense the battle had been.

“Ghh...”

And there, crawling on the ground in front of Luke, Felix let out a low, pained groan.

“P-Prince...!”

A knight, seeing this, tried to rush forward—but froze when a hand shot out through the air. The knight commander silently extended his arm, signaling him to stay put. Even as his subordinate looked back at him with confusion, the commander kept his eyes fixed on the two before them, offering no explanation.

“Hey. Quit whining and get up. Do you have any idea how hard I had to hold back... ngh... to keep you alive?”

Luke barked sharply at Felix, who continued to moan in pain. Every word sent a wave of searing agony through him—especially in his right hand. Luke rolled up his sleeve to examine his arm.

The flesh where Felix had bitten him was torn and barely hanging on, blood still oozing between clotted scabs. But that wasn’t the worst of it. His right hand was now blackened all the way up to the elbow.

“...”

He’d expected it—but the corrupted mana had fully activated, and now it was beginning to consume his body.

“I really don’t want Theo to scold me over this.”

Luke began to approach Felix, who was trying to rise. Felix was the only one who could purify him. There were many reasons not to kill him, but right now, the most pressing one was removing the mana festering inside him.

Just as Luke reached out toward Felix, something sliced through the air and struck the ground.

“...”

A black arrow.

The arrow quivered in the dirt for a moment before melting away into shadow. A few seconds later, a familiar figure stepped forward and blocked Luke’s path.

“...Dante.”

Heath’s aide—Dante.

The face under the robe was unmistakably the Dante he’d seen before. As he bowed slightly to pull back the hood, Luke watched the transformation unfold. When Dante raised his head again, he was no longer Dante.

He was a young boy, half of his face blackened with burns. The aide that Prince Heath had trusted more than anyone. Luke had suspected all along that he was one of Felix’s pawns.

“Dante! Grab him! No—kill him!”

Felix screamed from behind. The boy’s shoulders flinched. He raised his hand, slicing through the air—and a black bow materialized in it.

“...”

Dante drew the string. And the arrow pointed straight at Luke.

“Can you really shoot me?”

“...”

His hand trembled on the string. Though it was hard to tell with his darkened skin, the boy looked as though he might cry any second, his face contorted with grief. He looked no different from someone begging for help.

“Dante! What are you doing?! Are you disobeying me?!”

“Benjie and Hays are still alive.”

Dante’s eyes widened.

“They’re captured, yeah—but they found the courage to do the right thing. I’m standing here right now thanks to them. If you want out too, lower that bow. I’ll help you.”

The boy bit his lip hard and bowed his head. The bowstring, once taut, slackened and fell to the ground with a soft thud.

“You worthless piece of trash!”

The moment Dante declared he wouldn’t fight, Felix sprang up and raised his hand high. As if he was used to being hit, the boy instinctively shrank back and covered his face. But before Felix’s hand could strike—

“The trash here is you.”

Luke dashed forward and kicked Felix hard in the side, sending him sprawling again. Already weakened from the lightning, Felix collapsed with a scream.

“Kn-knights...! Move! Now!”

“...”

Felix shouted toward the knights hidden among the trees. But none of them moved. They only glanced around hesitantly. The knight commander hadn’t issued any orders.

“Commander...”

The knight commander, ignoring the prince’s cries, stared intently at Luke.

"See it for yourself and decide."

Those words pressed heavily on his chest. Not to be manipulated—but to think and act for oneself. That’s what Luke had said. And now, the battle they’d all just witnessed with their own eyes.

The commander couldn’t deny it. That man was no longer Prince Heath. And the one who had saved them from the monster’s rampage—was Luke. That alone made it clear where their swords should be pointed.

“Y-you bastards...”

“Let it go. You’re just being pathetic now.”

As Luke approached slowly, Felix backed away.

“C-call the strike teams. Dante! If you won’t do it, bring someone else!”

It was barely more than a desperate scream now. Come to think of # Nоvеlight # it, Hays had said there were ten total strike team leaders under Felix’s command.

“You think you’ve won? You’ll never get out of here... Not before my plan succeeds...!”

“Oh, that plan? Yeah, I already won.”

“...What?”

“I should be getting a call any second now.”

Luke glanced at the knight commander. Just then, a faint glow pulsed from inside the commander’s cloak. A communication crystal—someone was contacting them.

“This is the commander. Speak.”

—“C-Commander...! This is Brian from the Eastern Border Defense Force!”

The frantic voice of a knight spilled from the crystal. The atmosphere fell silent. All attention turned to the orb.

—“J-just now, the Hainere Empire’s Commander-in-Chief crossed the border into Welharun leading his army...!”

“...What? What are you talking about?! Who gave permission to cross the border?!”

The commander snapped. The other knights nearby began murmuring in confusion. Felix, hearing all this, trembled, his eyes vacant with shock.

—“P-Prince Cailern himself came and forced the gates open... He said he’d take full responsibility for whatever comes next! We had no choice!”

Luke’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“Prince Cailern...?” he muttered.

It was unexpected—but regardless, the plan had succeeded.

“You heard that, right?”

Luke clapped his hands together out of habit. But pain shot through his right hand, and he winced, furrowing his brow.

“Why... why would Hainere send troops...?”

“Why else? To arrest you and help fix this nation’s mess.”

“T-that can’t be...! There’s no evidence! How could Hainere act without any proof?!”

“Who said we didn’t have evidence?”

Luke rummaged inside his robe and pulled out several sheets of paper, tossing them to the ground.

“By the way, those are blank.”

Felix, crawling along the floor, reached for the papers. He picked them up and unfolded them—only to find them exactly as Luke had said: completely blank.

“There never was any evidence on me. You were just trying to steal something from the wrong person.”

Felix’s face went ghostly pale. His expression, once arrogant and loud, now crumbled. He kept muttering the words “impossible” over and over again.

Luke let out a slow breath and thought briefly of Paul, Levi, and Jade.