Rise Of The Villain : In a World Ruled By Anomalies

Chapter 152 - 151 : End of the Entrance Exam (1)

The forest-city had shrunk into a cramped killing ground.

What had once stretched for dozens of kilometers was now compressed to barely two. Buildings that had stood at the outskirts were gone, erased as if they had never existed.

Trees that had towered in the distance now pressed close from every direction, their trunks overlapping and their roots tearing up broken streets.

Only twenty candidates remained.

Even that number was dropping quickly, one flash of light at a time.

High above the chaos, four figures lay hidden among the thick branches of a colossal tree that had stood in the city’s center since the exam began. Its trunk was wide enough to house a small building, its crown spreading like an emerald canopy over the shrinking battlefield.

They had survived by never joining the chaos directly.

Instead, they watched. They waited.

They hunted.

Elvin’s breathing was calm as his eye stayed glued to the scope of the massive rifle resting in his hands. A complex barrel, long and reinforced, glinted faintly whenever light slipped through the leaves, and faint arrays glowed along its length.

They had taken down candidate after candidate from this very vantage point.

By combining their sniping talents and carefully laid traps, they had thinned the competition without ever exposing themselves. A few well-placed shots, some triggered snares, and a bit of misinformation spread at the right time—they had reached the top twenty without facing a frontal clash even once.

The strategy had worked like a charm.

"It was worth the prep," one of the boys behind him whispered. "Top twenty without even bleeding."

"Don’t jinx it," another muttered.

Elvin did not respond.

His attention had suddenly snagged on movement below.

Through the lens of his scope, he watched a white-haired boy sprinting across the cracked ground, heading straight toward a distant area where the air trembled with booming impacts. Every few seconds, a flash of light burst from that direction, like bombs being dropped one after another.

The white hair, the posture, the speed—Elvin recognized him.

Aiden.

’He’s heading straight into the storm,’ Elvin thought. ’Idiot. Or confident. Or both.’

He shifted his rifle slightly, tracking Aiden’s path.

"We can’t stay here any longer," Elvin said, not taking his eye off the scope. "This tree will disappear soon enough once the zone shrinks again. But..."

His lips curled into a thin smile.

"Let’s take down as many as we can before that happens."

His teammates exchanged looks, then nodded. They knew he was right. Once the city contracted again, their vantage point would vanish, and their safe strategy would crumble with it.

Elvin adjusted the rifle, aligning the crosshairs with the center of Aiden’s chest.

"Go and keep that guy busy while I take the shot," Elvin said. "I’ll handle the rest from here."

The other three boys nodded without hesitation.

"On it."

Leaves rustled as they dropped silently from the tree, disappearing into the chaos below.

Elvin exhaled slowly, his finger resting lightly on the trigger.

’Stay still for just a second,’ he thought. ’That’s all I need.’

—

Aiden sprinted toward the sound of distant explosions, the ground trembling faintly beneath his boots.

He did not make it far.

Three boys stepped out from between the trees ahead of him, blocking his path. They wore the same exam uniforms, but their expressions were arrogant, confident in their numbers and unseen support.

"Tsk." Aiden clicked his tongue, coming to a stop. "You three seriously have time to play roadblock right now?"

One of them snorted.

"Look at this guy," the first boy said loudly. "Strange white hair and a death wish."

"Think you’re special or something?" the second added. "You’ve been running around like you own the place."

The third grinned, lifting his weapon lazily.

"Come on, hit us. Try it. Or are you just good at running in a straight line?"

They were not trying to kill him.

They were trying to keep his attention glued to them—keep him facing forward, his eyes on their insults and his back exposed.

Aiden’s gaze slid over their stances, their spacing, and the slight tension in their shoulders.

Their words were loud, but their eyes kept flicking upward.

Toward something behind him.

Or above.

’Snipers,’ Aiden thought.

He smirked.

"You’re all very noisy," he said. "Is that part of your talent? Annoyance-type?"

The first boy’s eyebrows twitched.

"You little—"

—

Up on the colossal tree, Elvin’s heart steadied.

Through his scope, Aiden’s chest filled the crosshairs perfectly.

The white-haired boy had stopped moving, his attention locked on the decoys in front of him. The alignment was clean. No wind interference. No obstructions.

"A perfect shot," Elvin whispered. "Sleep."

He squeezed the trigger.

The rifle bucked against his shoulder.

A bullet of compressed force and metal tore through the air, splitting the leaves without a sound and cutting a straight line toward Aiden’s heart at frightening speed.

Elvin did not consider the possibility of failure.

His aim did not miss.

—

The world narrowed.

From Aiden’s perspective, time seemed to stretch.

A faint whistle, almost lost beneath the taunts and distant explosions, brushed against his hearing. His instincts screamed.

Without turning his head, Aiden shifted his footing and drew his blade in one smooth, blinding motion.

The bullet reached him.

A bright spark burst in front of his chest as steel intercepted metal, the impact sending a sharp vibration up his arm. The deflected shot ricocheted into a nearby tree, carving a deep hole into the trunk and sending splinters flying.

The bullet had been only a few centimeters away from his body.

The three boys froze.

Their expressions, a second ago full of mockery, twisted into pure shock.

"H-he blocked it?" one of them stammered.

"Impossible..." another breathed.

Up on the treetop, Elvin’s eyes widened behind the scope.

"Impossible," he whispered. "That should have—"

He did not get to finish the sentence.

Because as he repositioned to line up a second shot, he caught sight of something that made his blood run cold.

His three teammates—those same boys who had been standing in front of Aiden—jerked almost simultaneously.

Three bullets punched cleanly through their foreheads with surgical precision.

Their bodies went slack, their eyes emptying in an instant. Before their corpses could even hit the ground, their forms fragmented into motes of light, scattering into the air and vanishing.

Elvin’s breath hitched.

"Impossi—"

He never got to complete the word.

A sharp pain lanced through his own skull.

A bullet, cold and merciless, bored straight through the side of his head.

The world flipped sideways, his vision splitting apart into shards of spinning leaves, sky, and bark. Then his own body broke apart into light, dissolving above the branches without a single drop of blood hitting the tree.

—

On another massive tree not too far away, a magenta-haired girl lowered her rifle, smoke still curling from the barrel.

She watched the last motes of Elvin’s light fade, then shifted her gaze toward Aiden, who stood below with his sword still raised from blocking the first shot.

"Our plan worked," Evangline said, satisfaction coloring her voice.

She slung the rifle over her shoulder and hopped down from the tree, landing lightly on the ground. Leaves swirled around her boots as she walked toward Aiden.

She stopped a few steps away from him, hands on her hips.

"Alright," Evangline said. "Where to next? We make a pretty good team."

Aiden sheathed his blade, the faint tension leaving his shoulders.

"I’m sorry, my lady," he said, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "But this is where we part ways."

Evangline sighed, already guessing the answer as her eyes flicked toward the distant direction where explosions and violent auras still clashed.

"You’re going after Arthur, aren’t you?" she asked.

Aiden chuckled and nodded.

"I’m going to put that bastard in his place," he said. "Ally or not. I just have a feeling he’s a lot stronger than he shows... and I want to see who comes out on top if we fight."

Evangline shook her head.

"You guys are really... dumb," she said.

She was about to continue when movement in the distance caught her eye.

Between the trees, two figures rushed past—Jasmine and Arina, running as if death itself were biting at their heels.

Evangline’s lips curled into a sharp smile.

"Screw what I just said," she laughed. "You have your target—I’ve found mine. Good luck."

Without waiting for a reply, she turned and sprinted after the fleeing girls, her magenta hair streaming behind her like a banner.

Aiden watched her go and snorted.

"Looks like girls are no different after all," he said.

Then he turned toward the direction of the strongest explosions and the densest aura, rolling his neck.

His eyes sharpened.

"And now... Arthur."

He broke into a run, heading toward the heart of the chaos.

—

Meanwhile...

Jasmine and Arina kept running until their lungs burned and their legs trembled. Branches whipped past them as the shrinking forest tightened like a noose.

Finally, Jasmine raised a hand.

"Stop," she said, breathing hard. "We’re here."

Arina slowed to a halt beside her, chest heaving, sweat trickling down her neck. She looked around, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.

All she saw were massive stone formations and trees.

Gigantic rocks, towering higher than most buildings, loomed in a rough circle around them. Strange storage symbols and elemental marks were carved into their surfaces, some glowing faintly and others dormant. Thick trees filled the spaces between the rocks, their roots snaking over the ground.

"What is this place?" Arina asked. "Is this your plan? Is there something special about it?"

Jasmine smiled, some of the tension easing from her face.

"I’ve prepared several places like this around the island," she said. "This is the only one that’s still inside the safe zone."

She placed a hand on one of the carved rocks.

"I set these up in case I ever met an opponent stronger than myself."

Inwardly, she added, ’And I can’t exactly tell you I built them in case that bastard Arthur turned out stronger than me.’

Arina looked around again, curiosity replacing some of her fear.

"Alright," she said. "But what’s special about this place?"

"Just wait and see," Jasmine replied, her smile turning sharper.

Before Arina could ask more, the sound of footsteps echoed through the trees.

The red-haired maid stepped into the clearing, brushing aside branches as if they were nothing. Her uniform was still immaculate despite the earlier battle, her expression slightly irritated, her eyes cool and focused.

Elizabeth Crimson had found them.

"So this is where you decided to stop running," Elizabeth said, glancing around at the stones and trees. "Did you come all the way here just to get eliminated in a more scenic spot?"

Jasmine’s smile did not fade.

"Let’s see who gets eliminated," she said.

Then she raised her voice.

"Begin."

The effect was immediate.

Tiny elemental spirits emerged from the surrounding trees—faint, glowing shapes flitting through the air. Small motes of light with wings of leaves, flickers of flame with eyes, and droplets of water hovering like living jewels.

In the next moment, the environment moved.

The trees came alive.

Vines whipped forward, thick and thorned, lashing toward Elizabeth from multiple directions. They coiled around her arms, legs, and torso, pulling tight. Every time she tore one apart, more replaced it, doubling and tripling in number.

Elizabeth’s brows drew together as she snapped another vine with brute force.

"Hmph."

Then her expression shifted.

She tried to take a deeper breath—and failed.

Her chest tightened.

The air around her grew thin, then thinner still, as if something were devouring the oxygen itself. Invisible pressure squeezed her lungs while she was still wrestling with the vines.

The ground beneath her feet heated.

The soil darkened, then glowed. Slowly, almost lazily, it turned into molten magma, bubbling and creeping upward. Trapped by the living restraints, Elizabeth began to sink, inch by inch, into the glowing red mass.

Heat licked at her legs, threatening to swallow her whole.

She looked around sharply.

Wind spirits swirled overhead, compressing the air around her.

Earth spirits pulsed beneath the magma, feeding it and shaping the stone.

Fire spirits danced along the lava’s surface, amplifying its heat.

Water spirits did not douse the flames—they flowed strategically, protecting the carved stones and maintaining the structure of the trap.

’Wind, earth, fire, water... all four?’ Elizabeth thought. ’Crap. I got careless. This entire area is a formation. A trap.’

She gritted her teeth.

’If I had all my strength, getting out of this would’ve been a piece of cake.’

Bound by vines, sinking into magma, and struggling for every breath, she lifted her gaze.

On the edge of the formation, Arina and Jasmine stood side by side, watching her.

Both were smiling.

Arina let out a low gasp of awe.

"Wow," Arina said, looking at Jasmine. "That was amazing."

Jasmine’s smile was thin and strained.

"That was my final trump card," she said quietly. "If this doesn’t work... then it’s game over."

Elizabeth looked furious.

’Are they looking down on me...? If I’m going down here, I’m taking them with me.’

She clenched her fists.

With every ounce of strength she had left, she pushed her powers to the limit of a B-Ranker. Her body began to glow, veins lighting up one by one as if molten light were being poured through them. Heat pulsed beneath her skin.

The air around her wavered.

Her entire body turned red, like metal heated to the point just before melting.

Arina’s eyes widened.

"Jasmine...?"

In the next second, it was as if an atomic blast had detonated directly in the center of the clearing.

Light erupted outward, so bright that it swallowed everything—trees, stone, magma, vines, Elizabeth, the formation, even the air itself.

Both girls had a single heartbeat to react.

Arina’s instincts screamed.

Without thinking, she turned, grabbed Jasmine by the shoulders, and hurled her away with everything she had.

The blast hit her.

There was no time to scream, no time to feel pain. Her body was swallowed by the blinding light and disintegrated instantly, turning into countless motes that shimmered for a moment in the lingering glow.

Then Arina’s particles of light drifted upward and vanished.

She was eliminated from the exam.

And the battlefield grew just a little quieter.