A Villainess Should Be Strong

Estelle became puzzled. At the same time, she was frantic. With her left leg, she tried to kick the man with her hardest force, but it wouldn't loosen up his hold.

The man's toothy grin was creepy, instilling fear into your heart.

"This is what you get for snooping around in other people's business," The man said, charging his hand with mana and rendering Estelle in tears in mere seconds.

Akin to electrocution, strong currents of the man's filthy mana seeped into her.

A poison. That was what she wanted to describe the foreign element as. A corrosive material.

[Impossible.] Estelle realized the severity of the matter.

This disgusting mana, she would recognize it in a flash.

Black Magic. Those who wielded Black Magic had a distinctive stench to them.

Although her body was able to withstand the attack, Estelle still felt discomforted.

Her body repelled the Black Magic away.

Even so, it didn't change the fact that her magic was sealed away somehow.

"What- it didn't work?!" The man showed a disgruntled expression. "Tch!"

Clicking his tongue, he tugged on Estelle's ankle with great force, enough to make the girl lose her balance and start to fall.

The man was scared that the girl would have other cards up her sleeves other than her absurdly strong magic power, so his intent was to knock Estelle's consciousness down as fast as he could.

Estelle held back her fall by positioning her palms so that she would still be sitting after the fall.

However, the man was quick to react. The moment he released the grip on Estelle's ankle, he grabbed her two arms and pinned it over her head, overpowering her struggle with ease.

"Heheheh.. can't use magic now, can you??!" The man taunted, gloating over his victory.

With a grunt, he landed a heavy punch on Estelle's stomach, making the girl widen her eyes and even tear up over the sheer pain and shock.

She had never fallen into the hands of such a rough approach.

More like, she had never been punched before.

She had no resistance to it since her magic was taken away. A gag reflex was formed, making Estelle cough and choke in pain.

Her mind was dazed from the sheer pain. With just one punch, she felt something inside her shatter, possibly her lowest ribcage.

"HAHAHAHAH!! TASTE THIS! HOW DOES IT FEEL, HUH?!" The man's crazed laughter rang throughout the street, but precisely because this building was located in the city's outskirts, no one could hear neither the man or Estelle's pained voices.

He continued the barrage of punches, and itt got to a point where blood was being coughed out.

With her consciousness becoming hazy, Estelle's resistance dropped and her vision darkened. She knew that she couldn't afford to collapse here, but she couldn't fight back any longer.

[Minerva.. Heine..] Estelle recalled the two figures.

If they had a strong intuition and inkling towards her departure, then there was a chance that they would find her in wherever the man was about to bring her to.

Weak whispers were the last thing Estelle did before she was subdued by the man's relentless punches.

As a result, she was taken into the last base.

When she woke up, she was chained up to the walls and had some inscriptions written around her.

Staying calm, Estelle surveilled her surroundings.

The man was nowhere to be found, but it was also impossible to break free from the restraints.

[He didn't kill me.] Estelle's eyes burned with the desire to live.

As long as she wasn't dead, there was always a chance.

She was the abnormal one.

In a few minutes, the man came back. Peeking through the narrow doors, Estelle caught emotions of joy brimming inside his eyes as he stared at Estelle like she was prey.

"I purposefully let you live," The man said. "So I can kill you while you're conscious,"

"You made a mistake," Estelle retorted.

The man clenched his fists in anger. He had a sword sheathed on his belt.

The long steel sword was drawn out. The blade pointed against Estelle's slender neck.

"Mistake? Me? In this situation, the only one who made a mistake is you. You should've stayed being a pretty child.. nothing more,"

Estelle was silent.

"It's because you children who get random powers, because you become arrogant! You don't know how vast the world is and even got tricked by me!" The man laughed once more.

"Kill me if you can. Stop blabbering," Estelle taunted.

She had a plan.

She didn't know how successful it'll be, but she would try it.

The man let out a low grunt. He too had enough with this farce. He had been particularly close to one of the people Estelle killed in her cleaning session, and knowing that the same comrade who spoke to him not long ago was now dead enraged him.

"Die!!" The man slashed down at Estelle's torso in an attempt to cut her down.

Slash!

Estelle's flesh was cut. A large wound was made, stretching from the shoulders down to her stomach.

Like a blooming flower, blood splattered, some of it hitting the man and the other droplets flying about.

[Now.]

Estelle closed her eyes, letting her entire mind shift to conjuring mana.

Blood traveled up the blade, twisting around it and reaching the man's hands. It was absorbed into the skin, making the man drop the blade instinctively.

Something wasn't right.

How did the girl manage to do this?

Something wasn't right!

The man took a couple steps backwards, staggering and losing his balance in fright.

"I forgot to tell you... My HP is at the hundred thousands," Estelle wiped off the blood from her lips and spitted the remaining traces out.

A nonsensical number.

She was able to feel the pain of being beaten up, but that did not mean that she would die.

As long as her Health Points did not drop down to zero, she wouldn't die.

The reason she collapsed up until now was only because she couldn't bear the pain.

She hated pain. Badly.

Gnashing her teeth, she tried her best to coil mana around her.

There seemed to be a blockage preventing her from channeling her mana.

Ignoring this, she forced the unnatural. Knowing that there was a surplus of blood in the area, coming directly from her, Estelle decided to use said liquid as a medium for Water Magic manipulation.

"Magician, today is your last day on this world," Estelle flashed a battle-crazed smile. She didn't expect to meet this interesting of an opponent.

The man made a choked gurgle, foam coming out of his mouth as a result of Estelle's electricity magic being imbued into her blood. The attack she made allowed her mana to seep into the man's internal body, creating a shock from within.

After hardships and struggles, she was able to free herself somehow. By overloading the restrictions posed against her, she destroyed them.

The mana depleting spell the man used was also battled through this way.

However, since she used brute force, her mana bank was considerably shaken.

She opted to use another type of magic: Enchantments.

They required low mana and could overturn the battle in one go if used right.

She bent down to the shocked man, extending her palm to reach for his neck. With a light huff, she lifted the man up. Her left hand constricted the man's thick neck like it was nothing.

The lithe, harmless looking hand single-handedly raised the man into the air. The man tried his best to struggle, wanting to pull off the grip.

But it was of no use.

Estelle's enchantment magic rendered her unbeatable even in close combat.

Even if she had only learned to utilize it mid combat as a last resort, she was able to gain control over this new ability.

Too powerful.

The girl could only be restrained if mana wasn't in existence, or a method to make her magic ineligible for use was present.

Then, she raised her right hand. Forming a ball of condensed mana, she closed her eyes.

Battles always made her tired, but it brought her a deranged joy at the same time. A forbidden pleasure. A media to satisfy her underlying discomfort of being confused over the world.

[Aah.. perhaps this was why I'm more suited to be called a 'villainess'.]

These tendencies weren't ones you would expect out of an adult, let alone a ten year old girl.

Estelle mumbled incoherent words, shoving the ball inside the man. The ball lodged itself within where the man's heart was positioned.

The man was no longer hostile. If he struggled with full force before, now he was only scared for his life. He couldn't speak, but his eyes begged for his life.

Even shaking his head left and right was an impossible thing.

Teacher Estelle will demonstrate for you.

Your core will be overloaded, and just like a puffer fish, you would bubble up. Your body would not be able to tolerate the pressure, and as a result..

Explosion.

"Boom," Like a sound effect, she flashed the man a twisted smile. Her right hand waving him a special goodbye.