Save 10 – Hero vs. Villain

Both, I and the spectators made a "Huh?" at what this guy said. It was there that he spoke words I never imagined I would ever hear.

"My name is Liam von Altfode, crown prince of the Crown of the Altfode Kingdom."

(Uh, today is a rather strange day about thinking unimaginable things.)

I put aside my unnecessary questions to concentrate on the strange event in front of me.

I looked around and everyone's mouths were hanging open in shock, I was a little amused to see that the girls were the same.

I laughed enough so let's get back to the point.

"This... Your Highness, I thank you deeply for your heroic shout and it seems that the referee disqualified me so you are the winner-"

"Don't talk nonsense!!!" -I was shouted by the furious prince.

"I saw perfectly what you did to your opponents!!! It wasn't only enough for you to destroy their precious mobile knights, you also hurt their pride and treated them badly, no doubt you are the worst!!!"

The people in the stands looked at me waiting for a reaction, but what can I say, partly true, but they brought it on themselves.

The prince continued.

"Your name was Bradford, wasn't it? I have heard that you have done more ungodly acts how to beat innocent viscount students with some strange magic, or that you abuse students of different courses in your wicked meetings and..."

The prince stopped himself from speaking, but he looked annoyed as his teeth made a grinding sound.

"You... not only dare to treat my childhood friend badly, but you also use a poor commoner as a servant and take her with you everywhere and even now you have her doing maid for Alicelotte!!! Unforgivable!!! You are without a doubt the worst kind of villain my eyes have ever seen and my eardrums have ever heard!!!"

The audience suddenly rose to their feet in support of the prince.

"It's true!!!"

"This guy is scum!!!"

"Teach him a lesson your highness!!!"

"..."

These fuckers... they're upset because they lost their bet, I don't think he'll buy that-!!!

"Bradford, fight me this instant!!!"

He did!!! He really swallowed that whole thing!!! This guy is so fickle to any nonsense!!!!!

"Referee, in the name of the crown prince I ask you, no, I implore you to please make him continue to have our final battle."

The referee kept looking at the prince and me to then turn and look at some teachers who rather gave the impression of saying "do what you think best."

Then, the referee with his hand slowly pointed at me and said "-Bradford can continue as the winner of the semifinal. We will now begin the final match-"

With those words the audience rose to their feet and gave the prince a standing ovation.

"Teach him a lesson Your Highness!!!"

"Show that poor peasant the power of aristocracy!!!"

"Crush him for the sake of my purse!!!"

(Hey, that last one sounded pretty obviously mean!!! Did you seriously not hear it?)

I wanted to tell him that, but I watched him look dumbly at the bleachers then turn to look at me.

"Bradford, today will be the day your crimes will be judged by me, prepare for the hammer of justice to fall on you!!!"

After his ridiculous speech I asked him a question.

"I want to ask you something."

"Umm, what is it? If it's asking for clemency I won't give it to you."

"It's not that." -I replied angrily.

I looked up the bleachers towards the direction of the girls, I observed Alicelotte crying being comforted by Irisdina.

"Ixion, can you get audio?"

I asked Ixion a simple question and he ever so casually replied "of course I can."

Ixion then played back what was being transmitted by spy drones hidden in the audience.

"Ahhhh, ahhh, my life without a doubt is the worst!!!"

"Alicelotte-san, don't say that!!!"

"Of course it is!!!! The prince himself sees me as a horrible woman and defends his friend!! My fiancé which is the real culprit, I am a woman born in disgrace!!!"

"It's not like that!!! Alicelotte-san is not a bad person nor were you born in disgrace!!!"

I watched that heartbreaking scene and then cut the transmission.

Then I asked my question to the prince.

"May I know under what evidence do you base that I have a commoner as a slave and that your childhood friend is a victim of mine?

"...And also, why do you speak thus of Alicelotte?"

The prince was silent for a while and then spoke.

"I'm saying so based on the information I got from my friends."

"Hoo~ and may I know who your friends are?"

"The students of this academy."

"No, I asked you who your friends are."

"I already told you they are-"

"THAT'S NOT A FUCKING ANSWER, YOU PIECE OF ASSHOLE!!!"

The people around me fell silent at my statement and then I continued.

"I'M ASKING YOU UNDER WHAT RESEARCH ARE YOU BASING THAT ON!!! IS YOUR BRAIN MADE OF BIRD FOOD OR WHAT?"

The bleachers fell silent again.

"Under what evidence is there that I force a commoner student to be with me? Show me your evidence!!!"

"I don't have..."

"On what proof do you know that Alicelotte has her as a maid?"

"I... I was informed of it..."

"And finally... On the basis of what statements do you know that your childhood friend is innocent?"

Unlike the other questions this one he answered without thinking.

"He's my friend and I believe e-"

"WRONG!!!! YOU HAVE NO EVIDENCE TO PROVE ANYTHING!!! YOU ARE JUST AN IDIOT MANIPULABLE BY OTHERS, IT SHOWS!!!"

Then all the bleachers in unison loudly said "This guy is a real scumbag!!!"

I didn't care what they said, these idiots don't understand that their future king is a very manipulatable man. It terrifies me to think that in the future he might be tricked by some corrupt person thus harming the country.

"Ahh~ screw it... let's fight for once, listening to your bullshit makes my head hurt."

My cutting words made the stupid prince agree looking down at a wounded Klein being carried away on a stretcher.

Turning his gaze back to him, I noticed he had something on his back.

His armor is platinum in color with golden joints and a few touches of purple paint in different areas. His appearance is true mechanical armor with a semi-humanoid face.

His bright green eyes were very glowing capturing Ixion's interest.

"Master, I detect a great source of power from this individual, not only from his machine, also from himself he gives off great power."

Looking at him in amazement I said.

"Is that so? Well it doesn't matter, with you here I doubt I'll lose to anyone."

There was no response to my flattery, it was very strange indeed.

Turning my eyes to the front again I noticed my opponent's hand pointing towards me saying more nonsense.

"Deploy. vorpal swords!!!"

(Why do these guys have eighth grade syndrome at an adult age?).

From his back six curved swords floated out floating around him, I can tell they look like shotguns fused with slashing weapons. What a strange scene I was looking at.

The floating swords danced elegantly around him, after a few seconds still the fight started.

◇◇◇

From the stands, Irisdina and Alicelotte watched Rudel's encounter.

Alicelotte had finished crying and was wiping herself with a handkerchief given to her by Irisdina. Her eyes and nose were red, but she still wanted to watch this bizarre encounter.

Rudel had won her fight against Klein and with it her bet, but something inside her didn't feel right, she thought it was her feelings for Klein, but she didn't know if that was it.

Instead, she now had complex emotions watching her squire fight mercilessly against the crown prince for insulting her name. She had a great gush of happiness from her loins just because of that.

◇◇◇

Erselica looked with a terrifying smile at the encounter. Her small face made a mischievous expression watching the scene before her eyes.

Her mind was lost in her thoughts that she didn't listen to the people around her.

"Yesssss~ we finally reached a key event in the story!!! With this duel begins the development and growth of the main characters after their fight against the villainous bastard!"

"It was very painful to see how everything was going well, but now is when things will no longer go the way you wanted them to, Rudel. The prince will be using that shortly."

Several shouts rang out from their sides, but Erselica didn't react to them.

"Your heinous deeds end today. On this day, you will die."

Erselica's fingers tightly clenched her skirt and her cheeks were red.

"After the prince's victory, you cowardly decided to attack the audience in revenge, the prince no longer tolerated your wicked deeds and forcibly decided to put an end to you here."

"Using the lasers of his guns he blew your strange machine to smithereens."

Erselica looked excited just suddenly seeing that scene.

"Soon I'll hear your wails of pain at the protagonist's victory."

◇

I was covering myself with my arms so that the attacks of mysterious lasers wouldn't hit my chest.

From the curved part that looks like a shotgun, high-powered energy beams were shooting out.

I did not attack as they were annoying to receive their attacks. It barely received scratches as they were produced from pure aether.

I shouted in exasperation at Ixion.

"Is there any way to avoid these pests?"

The attacks continued relentlessly, a mobile knight is supposed to use its pilot's prana to move and use magical attacks. Through the controls, the pilot sends his mana into conduits called magic circuits; these reach the core which is called a plasma tree, which is located in the head of the armored unit.

Ixion spoke after a while of being silent.

"Ready master, I finished analyzing the enemy unit, now we will proceed to eliminate the enemy!"

"Hah? What the hell are you talking about? I don't want you to kill the prince of the country, I just want to crush him."

Ixion clicked a virtual tongue, how was that even possible.

"Very well, I recommend doing this for a crushing victory..."

I listened to his suggestion as I covered myself, after I finished hearing it I made a ghoulish grin from cheek to cheek.

"Alright!!! let's do it!!!"

I moved the controls to remove my defense and then running my tongue over my lips, I pulled the submachine guns from my shoulders and proceeded to make the counter attack.

"Eat thiiis!!!"

Bullets shot out at high speed as the lasers with more force fired.

It was such an epic encounter that the light became more intense with the clashes between the two.

After a while the sounds of gunfire stopped.

Ixion informed me that the machine guns had melted, but four of the enemy's weapons had been rendered unusable as he had destroyed the magic circuits connected to their core, so they could no longer receive prana.

"Very well, now you have no choice but to resort to hand-to-hand combat."

The stupid prince grabbed his remaining weapons and then the edge began to glow.

A light blue tone emanated from the blades. I saw that, but I didn't care, I extended my left hand and a pipe shot straight into my hand.

Making some ridiculous martial arts moves I said to the prince.

"Hey, what do you say we finish this?"

"Sounds good to me."

We both ran off at high speed and our swords clashed together, big sparks could be seen with each impact.

The crowd screamed in motivation, but me....

"Not bad for a manipulable prince, but let's level up!!!"

...I was relaxed.

I increased the strength, momentum and speed of my attacks and my opponent was making a crunching sound of discomfort from my attacks.

The crowd didn't notice, but the prince was slowly backing away until he fell backwards to the ground.

It was only then that the crowd fell and I spoke.

"Is that all the crown prince can do with the best the royal family has to offer? How pitiful you look."

There was no response from him.

Let's move up a level.

"I will not give up or be defeated by you, unless.... You decide to use your authority as the future king?"

There I heard a sound of anguish from his booth to mine. The people in the stands supported my idea so that the prince would win.

They really are human trash, I wonder if this guy got my hint....

"D-don't you dare to make fun of me!!!"

...It seems it wasn't like that.

"I don't need your pity or mercy towards me, someone like you will never-"

I stopped him immediately.

"You're wrong."

"I'm not talking about letting you win just because you are he future king, he talked about you can win, only if you use your decree as someone of higher status."

A "-What-" is heard between him and the audience in unison.

"That's right, I won't surrender or lose unless you say -Lose to me, I command you- as a royal decree."

A dry sound was heard from within, he must be thinking it over.

"Do not mock me!!!! That's arrogance and abuse of power, something like that is unthinkable for-"

"That's how I felt in this place."

"Huh?" -Said in a silly voice he prince.

"Ever since I came to this place I have observed that the nobles are scum, they abuse the commoners and care about nothing but their personal satisfaction."

I continued to expel what my heart had in store.

"But the aristocrats are even worse than them, acting as if their family is the best, doing as they please and saying absurd and rude things in front of those of lesser status!!!"

Few sounds of complaints could be heard, but I didn't take any notice of them. I went even higher up the ladder.

"You call yourself a friend of that bastard Klein, but you didn't know he abused his power at the academy? No, of course not, you're so dumb you don't realize you're being played."

The screams were getting louder and I silenced them with a thump of my pipe to the floor.

"Klein wasn't just doing as he pleased." -As I said that I looked in a certain direction and continued. "He also mistreated Alicelotte and treated her as if she were a pest." -This time there was no reaction because they finally saw the point I want to get to.

I looked in that direction again and watched as tears came out of her, I hate nobles and aristocrats, but I feel she is just a case of bad parenting compared to the others.

"You're wrong!!!" -shouted the prince.

"Klein isn't a bad guy!!!! Since we were kids he always came to play with me, in the palace when we played hide and seek in father's office we always did it for fun, he at lunch time always gave me his desserts and more treats and-"

(This guy... I don't want to jump accusations, but doesn't that all sound very favorable to that bastard?)

I don't want to probe any further, but you don't seem to realize that it's very suspicious the way you describe that guy.

"-In contrast compared to him, that girl, Alicelotte has just been arrogant!!!"

"Hey..."

"She was always trying to win over the adults ever since I first saw her, there was never a single time she didn't bring out her greatness as the daughter of an archduke. Even here, she takes great pains to polish her father's title!!!"

He started babbling out of nowhere this guy, but what he says sounds like her and like I said, she just gives the impression of being raised differently.

I had Ixion run a background check on her beforehand after what happened at the ball and found out that she has nothing wrong with her.

She has never used her name for special benefits or anything, never humiliated or hurt anyone of lower ranks or commoners. When I talk to Irisdina, it was to check if she was up to being in the academy only, I would recommend her a guide like the other girls to improve her composure, partly this girl is just an example of a strong woman who wants to show that aristocrats are an example of elegance and motivation to others, my judgment is based on that.

But this guy, this fool who calls himself the prince is just a moron who is manipulable like a small child.

I've had enough of listening to him.

I lunged towards him and with my two pipes I angrily struck the prince's weapons.

One of them flew off along with a pipe, I did it on purpose.

While with my remaining weapon, I cornered the prince and gave him some last words.

"This is a good lesson for you, I'll show you what happens when a buffoon like you tries to play vigilante."

I released my left hand and with it free, I tightly gripped the head of the prince's unit. I squeezed it as tight as a balloon.

Suddenly he dropped his gun and I dropped mine simultaneously.

Screams were heard from everywhere.

As I grabbed him I walked to the center.

Everyone was watching us.

I gave him one last chance.

"Come on say it, use your authority and tell me to lose, in the same disgusting way you talk about her, you too will prove to be an equal aristocratic scum!!!!".

"I refuse!!! In the name of the king, even if the result is unfavorable, I will never allow the result to be... ehh.... I have never taken advantage of others!!! This is between you and me, no one else will interfere you heard!!!"

With those words the bustling coliseum fell silent and I gained a vip pass to my escape.

I was thinking what to do after insulting the prince, but he spoke for me achieving a wonderful result.

"Thank you."

Saying that with no sarcasm in my words, I pressed a button and then....

"Hey, what's this?"

The Prince sounded puzzled as to why his machine was no longer moving, it's because I'm doing an energy overload on his core.

To put it more bluntly, I'm swelling it up like a lithium battery by being in the sun for several days.

Gradually the head and then the body of the mobile gentleman began to swell and crack, the fabrics he was holding were torn.

The screams from the audience returned, but I only cared about him inside.

"Waah!!! what is this!!! I don't understand what's going on, help!!!"

Screams of suffering could be heard from inside, but that's not what I wanted to hear.

Come on, just say it, it's two words.

"Somebody help me!!!!

"Not only are you contradicting yourself, but you're also refusing to acknowledge it, huh?

Ixion informed me later.

"Master, I detect that the pressure levels are already at maximum, the heat is reaching up to the cabin, soon it will be lethal radiation for the human inside."

"Woo, that would be bad."

I immediately stopped my hand and removed it from his head, his body looked like an amorphous piñata, but he was still standing.

I expected him to give up now, but....

"Me, I won't give up."

His annoyed shout showed a sign of hope to win even in that unfavorable state.

"I admit it, your only good point is those guts of yours."

But...

I pushed one more button.

"It's over."

A red light glowed in the palm of Battler's right hand.

I clenched my fist and pulled it back.

He kept talking.

"I will not lose to an evil how-"

"Shut up, your words only make me disgusted only."

I heard a slight - "Huh?"- from him before I made the light in his eyes fade.

My right fist swung at his body which exploded into hundreds of pieces.

Among them the cockpit shattered as well, I felt fear at the possibility that he was dead, but Ixion informed me that he just fainted from shock.

Among the debris flying in slow motion I observed something unique about her.

It was a human being, it had platinum hair and its eyes were open and blank. It was heading for the ground from several feet in the air.

"Ixion, now!!!"

I shouted and Ixion caused a large bed to inflate which I had secretly thrown when my machine guns were making a lot of noise.

The prince fell there very hard, but it was a big inflatable bed, so it absorbed the impact.

After that the referee and the medical team came running out to him.

The audience also made a fuss, I could hear absurd complaints about their lost money, etc. Only a shriek caught my attention.

"No way!!! Rudel was supposed to be the one to fall into despair when the prince won!!!"

Once again I heard a small voice talking over me, so I tried to identify who made that statement but the guards and several military men came towards me pointing at me.

Ixion informed me.

"Master, it seems they wish to take you under arrest for violence against the royal family."

"I figured it would end up like this."

"What do you wish me to do, kill them?"

"Don't be an idiot, I will obviously surrender, become invisible and protect me from the shadows."

After saying that, I opened the hatch and raised my hands, the guards were pointing at me.

"Hahaha, guys, you shouldn't be such sore losers."

A shore party approached me from a small boat and took me under arrest.

Being taken to the ground we were slowly walking towards a teachers entrance.

It was there that I saw two figures running towards me. They were Irisdina and Alicelotte.

"Rudel-san, why did you do all that?!!!"

"Bradford, I warned you not to do anything foolish!!!"

The guards stopped because Alicelotte asked them to.

"You needn't worry about me." -I said with a cocky grin.

"More importantly, ojou-sama."

Calling her important she made a face of discomfort.

"I have fulfilled my squire duty, I expect you to keep your word."

Hearing me say that, she made a complicated face and parted her red lips.

"...I know, I remember my promise."

With that said, she looked down and Irisdina asked her what was wrong. Then, the guards followed with me towards the door.

Before I got there, I turned one last time to see Irisdina's sad face.

It hurt me that she is sad, couldn't she smile at me one more time? The place I'm going to is horrible and classless, that smile can light me up there.

After entering, the door closed and there was only darkness.