Transmigrated as the Villain Between the Heroine and the Villainess

Kaelen's body glowed like a golden sun. His Battleborn Will gave off waves of power that made the air feel heavy. He stood over Azrael, like a hero ready to give out justice.

Azrael lay in the dirt, his sword gone, his body was a broken mess. He was completely at the hero's mercy.

'So this is how it ends,' he thought, a strange sense of calm washing over the pain. 'Not with a bang, but with a whimper.'

He closed his eyes. Kaelen was not just trying to defeat him; he was trying to break him. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction. His hand moved slowly, painfully, toward the pendant on his neck. He was about to crush it.

At the same time, on another part of the battlefield, a different kind of fight was reaching its end.

Gareth of House Valois was fast and strong. His special skill,

KineticCharge

, made his fists glow with a dangerous energy. Each punch he threw was like a small explosion.

Boom!

He slammed his fist into a tree where Isolde had been standing a second before. The tree trunk splintered, bits of wood flying everywhere.

"You are quick, Princess," Gareth said, confidence on his face. "But you can't run forever."

Isolde appeared a few feet away, her dress still perfectly clean. She did not look tired at all. She just looked bored.

"Oh, I am not running, Sir Gareth," she said. "I am simply… dancing."

She had been playing with him for the last five minutes. Her wind magic was not strong enough to hurt him directly. His charged fists could punch through her tornadoes of leaves and dust.

But she was smarter than him. She was a puppet master, and the entire clearing was her stage.

'He is a simple tool,' she thought, watching him charge at her again. 'Strong, but simple. He only thinks in straight lines.'

Gareth lunged, his fist glowing with a bright, white light. He had stored a lot of power for this one, final punch.

Isolde just smiled.

She did not dodge to the side. She did not jump back. She took a single, small step forward.

It was the last thing Gareth expected. He was so focused on his target that he could not stop his own momentum.

He flew right past her.

At the exact same moment, Isolde stuck out her foot.

It was a simple, elegant little trip.

Gareth, a powerhouse of kinetic energy, was brought down by a move a child could do. He stumbled, his powerful punch hitting nothing but empty air. He fell face-first into the dirt with a loud thud.

Before he could even process what had happened, Isolde was standing over him. She did not have a weapon. She did not need one.

She lifted her small, delicate shoe and gently tapped him on the back of the head.

Thwack.

It was not a hard hit. But it was enough. Gareth's pendant glowed with a bright white light, and he vanished.

"What a clumsy boy," Isolde said to the empty air and dusting off her hands. 'Now,' she thought, her eyes turning towards the main fight, 'let's see how my other teammates is doing.'

She turned just in time to see Kaelen raise his sword over Azrael's broken body.

Kaelen's golden aura was blinding. He brought his sword down, a final, killing blow.

But the sword never landed.

Clang!

A wall of black ice rose from the ground, sharp and cold like winter, blocking his strike. The Kaelen smashed through it with one hit, but the wall had done its job. The final blow didn't land.

Kaelen stumbled back, his eyes wide with shock and anger. He looked past Azrael's body.

Selvara was walking towards them. Her face was pale, and there was a fresh cut on her arm, but she was walking with a calm, deadly purpose.

"Selvara!" Kaelen yelled. "What is the meaning of this?!"

He looked past her, back to the spot where she had been fighting. He expected to see her opponents. He saw no one. Just a field of shattered ice and a single, discarded shield. Leon was gone.

"It took a little longer than I expected," Selvara said, her voice a low, cold whisper. She did not even look at Kaelen. Her eyes were fixed on Azrael, lying helpless on the ground. "The big one was tough. But in the end, they were just children playing at being soldiers."

She now stood directly over Azrael, her body a shield between him and the hero.

Kaelen's face twisted with a new wave of hatred. "So you protect him? After all he has done? A monster like you, protecting a worm like him. It's perfect."

Selvara finally turned her cold, ice-blue eyes on him. "He is on my team," she said simply. "And no one on my team will be eliminated. Except by me."

Azrael, lying on the ground, pushed himself up onto his elbows. His entire body was a symphony of pain. He watched as Selvara stood in front of him, a dark angel of ice. He was safe. For now.

He slowly, painfully, crawled backward. He moved away from the fight, away from the hero, away from his protector. He found the base of a half-burnt tree and leaned against it, his chest heaving.

He was just a watcher now. This was not his fight anymore.

Kaelen looked at Selvara. The golden energy of his Battleborn Will was still pulsing around him. He was a hero, full of power and ready for a real battle.

"Fine," Kaelen said, there was a dangerous smile on his face. "If you want to fight so badly, Ice Witch, then I will give you a fight you will never forget."

"I was hoping you would say that," Selvara replied, her own lips curling into a cold, eager smile.

They did not waste any more words.

They exploded into motion at the same time.

It was a clash of titans. A storm of gold and a blizzard of black.

Kaelen was a roaring fire. His every move was full of power and aggression. His sword was wrapped in golden light, left glowing trails in the air. He was faster and stronger than he had ever been.

Selvara was a frozen river. Her every move was full of grace and deadly precision. Her sword, covered in a thin layer of black ice, moved like a snake, striking from unexpected angles.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Their swords met in a shower of sparks and ice shards. The ground around them froze and cracked under the force of their blows.

"You are strong," Selvara said, her voice full of a genuine surprise as she blocked a powerful slash from the hero. "Stronger than any of the other here."

"And you are a monster," Kaelen shot back, pushing her away. "You fight with a cold heart. Why do you protect him? He is weak. He is a coward."

"He is more than you think," Selvara said, a strange light in her eyes. She glided across the icy ground, her sword a blur. She was not just defending. She was attacking.

A spear of black ice shot from the ground. Kaelen was forced to jump back, his eyes wide.

"That ice…" he said, his voice low. "It is not normal. It is full of a dark, cold energy."

"It is the energy of my home," Selvara said, her smile never leaving her face. "A place you would not survive for a single day."

They clashed again, their fight a beautiful, terrifying dance. Kaelen was all power. Selvara was all skill. He was the unstoppable force. She was the immovable object.

He was a hero of the light. She was a queen of the dark.

For the first time since the test began, Kaelen was not winning. He was not losing either. He was in a real fight. A fight against an equal.

And a small part of him, the part that was a true warrior, was enjoying it.

Azrael watched the whole thing from the safety of the tree line. His body was broken, but his mind was clear. He saw the way Selvara looked at Kaelen.

It was not with hatred. It was not with anger. It was with a cold, analytical interest. She was testing him. She was measuring him.

She was seeing the power the hero had, the power that was growing with every second. The power her mysterious masters had sent her here to find.

A slow, tired smile spread across Azrael's face. He had failed in his fight. He had been beaten and broken.

But in the end, his plan had worked.

The two of them were finally clashing, just as the story intended. He had guided them to this point.

'I guess the script will remain the same after all,' he thought, a wave of relief now washing over him. He had done his part. Now, he just had to survive.