The SSS Ranked Villain's Return

[Neraxis's POV]

Was he always such an edgelord? Neraxis thought with raised brows.

He had watched the entire match from start to finish, and the only one who truly stood out was Soren.

The time mages weren't as special as he thought. Merely speeding themselves up and slowing objects down wasn't that special.

Even he could do that, the effect would just be slightly weaker than theirs.

Nonetheless, the match was pretty entertaining—or rather, Soren was entertaining.

However, his focus kept being interrupted by either Aella, Celina, or quite literally, Alice.

She was staring at him from time to time, which was strange considering he hadn't even made any moves yet.

[Maybe she's attracted to your charm?] Evangeline remarked softly. [After all, you are much more handsome than Lar.]

Be that as it may, I feel like there's something going on behind the scenes. Neraxis replied and turned toward Aella before whispering, "Your trackers don't happen to have a listening function, do they?"

"Pfft..." A smug smile appeared on Aella's face as she pulled out a pair of headphones from her dimensional ring. "Of course they do. Who do you think I am?"

Neraxis let out a chuckle and put on the headphones.

Immediately, the sound of Alice chatting with her friends was heard.

—Are you serious? He's not even that handsome.

—Clara, if he was looking at you like he was looking at Alice, you would tense up.

—Girls... calm down. I'm trying to read his thoughts.

Hearing that, Neraxis froze.

—Pfft... Alice, you're too silly. Looking into someone's eyes doesn't let you read their mind.

—Well, it doesn't hurt to try.

His brows furrowed at their conversation as he took off the headphones and handed them back to Aella.

"Done already?" she asked.

"Yep. They were just talking about something stupid." Neraxis replied, and the moment he did, he noticed Lar standing up and jumping down from the platform.

It wasn't extremely high up; therefore, no one paid attention to him as he began walking out of the arena.

Neraxis glanced toward Soren, who was dominating Chronus Academy, and heaved a relieved breath.

It looks like Kael and I won't have to step up. He stood up from his seat, puzzling Aella and Celina.

"I'm going to the toilet." Neraxis whispered to alleviate their confusion and jumped down from the platform.

There were multiple pathways other than the one he had come in from, and some of them led deeper inside the arena.

Therefore, Neraxis followed one of them while also glancing at the attachment Aella had sent earlier.

It was the location tracker—minus the sound.

He downloaded the app, and soon, a red bleeping dot appeared on his phone, getting further and further away.

Despite that, Neraxis didn't panic. He held his composure and waved at the crowd before taking the stairs leading down to the underground area.

The moment he did, however, Neraxis realized Lar had halted and was now waiting.

So he's in the toilet. For some reason, I don't believe that. Neraxis thought as he slowly approached.

It was a spacious arena, almost like a soccer stadium.

However, the number of cameras was simply overwhelming.

Every corner and inch of this place was under full surveillance.

But... Neraxis waved his {Aura of the Abyss}-infused hand in the air, slightly cracking space.

That wasn't all it did. The cameras that caught this motion soon caught fire—almost like the frequency of {Aura of the Abyss} fried their systems.

Neraxis rotated his hand around until, finally, every single camera in the vicinity was gone.
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And now, the only thing in front of him was the men's bathroom, followed by a red dot leading him there.

Taking a deep breath, Neraxis went inside.

The moment he entered, he saw Lar sitting near the sink and playing on his phone.

Yet, the moment he noticed Neraxis, a smile appeared on his face. "Neraxis Valen, correct?"

"Lar Hardcrest, right?" Neraxis replied, maintaining composure. "I heard a lot about you from my friends. You seem pretty famous."

"I am," Lar affirmed with a shrug before narrowing his eyes. "But you seem equally famous. I didn't expect Havenspire to force their students to finish the Dreamspire. Even we are only going to start in the second year."

"But I assume you already began climbing?" Neraxis asked plainly.

"Nope, I am a sucker for the rules." Lar chuckled. "I don't believe I'm strong enough to do that just yet. After all, my swordsmanship skill is only B ranked."

Hmm... not a word he has said since I arrived here has been the truth. Wish I had these eyes in my previous life, Neraxis thought with a poker face.

"But my, my, the 10th floor within a month of entering the academy—I do have to give you credit." Lar praised as he began approaching Neraxis and stretching out his hand. "What do you say we become friends?"

"I don't see why not." Neraxis replied with a smile as he held back his disgust and reciprocated the handshake.

However, not even a moment later, a red system window flashed in the corner of his vision.

[Debuff Blocked! Low-Level Mind-Control - Inactive!]

Neraxis stared speechlessly at the text before a frown appeared on his face.

He tightened his grip and immediately heard a cracking sound coming from Lar's hand.

Lar jumped back, startled. "You prick. I was just trying to gauge your abilities."

"You gauged them," Neraxis stated coldly. "Now fuck off. Let me take a piss."

"...You will regret this," Lar threatened with a glare as he began walking toward the exit, wincing as he held his broken hand.

From time to time, Neraxis spotted Lar scratching his hand as though it was itchy.

Courtesy of {Aura of the Abyss} decaying his hand at an extremely slow pace due to him reversing the Acceleration property.

[That was genius,] Evangeline said, holding back a laugh. [But it was almost dangerous. If the skill was higher level, he would have taken hold of your mind.]

Neraxis tilted his head. You don't sound so worried.

[Well, if it ever comes down to it, I can dispel any kind of mind control inflicted on you by simply turning you into a vampire—temporarily, of course.] She explained.

I see. Well... at least I kicked my plan off on a good foot, kind of. Neraxis pondered.

While he did make an enemy out of Lar, he also ensured that Lar could be killed at any moment.

After all, Neraxis infused a fair deal of mana into the single dot of Decay—so even if he didn't accelerate the speed back to what it should be, Lar would be dead within a month.

But of course, it was only a temporary measure, as Alice was likely to pick up on it.

In the meantime... Neraxis focused on the mana he left on Lar.

As he did, he made the {Decay} property switch into {Frost}, and it spread throughout Lar's entire hand, destroying each nerve in the process.

He saw the red dot on his phone halt, which meant it worked.

—AAAH!!

Hearing that, a smile appeared on Neraxis's face.

Just you wait, you little shit stain. This amount of pain is nothing.