The Academy's Doomed Side Character-Chapter 208: Execution Of Trash [4]

Samuel—No—Avi magic pulsed around him—wild, incoherent, unstable. There was no rhythm, no chant, no structure. Just raw, bitter emotion wrapped in mana.

"You don’t know anything," he repeated, louder this time. "You don’t know her. You don’t know what she meant to me!"

He surged forward.

This time, I was ready.

He wasn’t fighting anymore.

He was lashing out.

I further used my Talent and enhanced my body again.

My muscles strained as the surge of power flooded through me—but with that pain comes to as over using my talent.

But this time I endure pain. I can faint here or caugh blood like normally I do.

So, I held on.

Tendons burned. Bones groaned. Veins throbbed like they were about to burst.

Because I had to.

Avi wasn’t aiming anymore. He wasn’t calculating. His strikes came in jagged bursts, each one fueled by some twisted cocktail of love, grief, and hatred.

He raised his arm. A lance of light flared to life—unstable and shaking, a mockery of what it once was.

I ducked under it, feeling the heat graze my scalp, and slammed my fist into his ribs.

His breath hitched.

But he didn’t fall.

Didn’t even flinch.

He just screamed.

"You think you’re a hero?!" he bellowed, voice cracking. "You think exposing me makes you right?! You’re nothing!"

Another wild spell detonated from his hands—a wave of wind and pressure that blew through the courtyard like a bomb.

I gritted my teeth and grounded myself, aura flaring around my legs. The blast knocked me back—but not far. Not this time.

I recovered in a blink, then blurred forward.

"You’re right," I muttered.

He blinked. Just for a moment.

"I’m not a hero."

My palm struck his sternum—hard. He staggered.

"I’m not some righteous fool out to save the world."

My elbow crashed into his jaw. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he stumbled back.

"I’m just someone who knows your true nature..."

My foot came down, sweeping his legs from beneath him. He hit the ground hard, gasping.

"... That’s why I am putting trash on it’s place. A dustbin."

I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him back down before he could rise again.

Sparks of mana fizzled weakly around his hands—but the fight was leaving him now.

Bit by bit. Breath by breath.

His body was strong.

But his will?

It was fractured.

"You built your identity around a lie," I whispered. "Around a twisted, broken obsession. And you thought if you buried the truth deep enough, if you killed enough people, you could erase what you felt for her."

He flinched.

"But it didn’t work, did it?"

I let go.

He didn’t move.

For the first time since the fight began, the mana around him began to recede—still glowing, but no longer surging with fury.

He was shaking.

"...She was everything," he rasped. "And they took her from me."

"They didn’t take her," I said coldly. "She left Elf world because she wanted. Because she wanted to explore the world beyond her relme."

His head jerked toward me, eyes bloodshot. But there was no fire left in them.

Only confusion. Grief.

"You remember it, don’t you?" I pressed. "The last thing she said to you before she left for human world."

He didn’t answer.

So I said it for him.

"I pity you."

He trembled.

And then—

"GET THE FUCK AWAY!"

He screamed—raw, guttural. Mana exploded outward as he lashed at me again, wild and unfocused.

The madness had consumed him completely.

"I’ll make her mine! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill Ryen and Leo—every human!"

He wasn’t just unhinged—he was gone. A hollowed-out version of the man he once was, a vessel filled only with hatred and loss.

But that made this the perfect moment.

One I couldn’t let slip away.

"Lan!" I called out.

The [Soulbound Staff]—which had shifted into blade form and fallen earlier when Avi had closed the distance—snapped back into my grip with a metallic hum, answering my call.

I didn’t say a word.

Just breathed in.

And activated Reinforcement.

The ability woven into Lan’s very essence—a versatile, all-purpose function that bordered on divine. If there was anything in my arsenal that could end this cleanly...

...it was this.

"Split. Sharpen."

In a blink, Lan extended—returning to its original 3-meter form.

Then, it splintered.

Countless shards broke off, morphing into blades, spears, and spikes that hovered around me like a swarm of death.

Avi—snapped back into focus, maybe sensing something was wrong. His instincts kicked in. He pulled every defensive artifact he had left—bracelets, pendants, runes—all glowing with desperate light.

But it was useless.

Lan wasn’t just a high-tier artifact—it was half-divine, crafted with divine essence. His protections cracked like glass under its presence. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Still, the swarm of blades wasn’t meant to kill him.

It was bait.

I needed him to choose defense over evasion.

And he did.

He planted his feet, anchored by pride and madness both, trusting his artifacts to hold.

That was his last mistake.

The pain surged up my arms—the cost of drawing on Lan’s full power. What little primal qi I had left burned at my core, draining fast.

’It hurts,’ I thought.

But I wasn’t the only one hurting.

He was more desperate than me.

He had more to lose—and less to protect.

With his defenses still raised, I called Lan back. The countless shards fused into one—back into staff form—and I flung it high above him.

"Grow."

It expanded mid-air, stretching wider, heavier—casting a long shadow as it began to fall.

"...Ugh—!?"

He tried to dodge. Too late.

Most of his artifacts were already shattered, smoking at his feet. One barrier flickered up—then broke with a dull snap.

"Become heavier."

The air warped as I layered command after command.

Lan crashed down like divine judgment.

THUD—!!!

CRACK—!!!

The ground shattered beneath the impact. Dust erupted in all directions.

He staggered.

One knee slammed into the stone, his body buckling beneath the weight. Still not crushed—but close.

His breath hitched.

His arms trembled.

And that’s when I decided—

It was time to end this.

"Become even heavier."

His eyes widened. "...Ughhhh?"

"Heavier."

A villain who had slaughtered dozens—no, hundreds—of people. A nightmare that haunted the protagonists from the very beginning.

He was a character created by my friend.

But I felt no sympathy.

Not anymore.

"I...!"

"Heavier. Heavier. Heavier...!"

His body creaked under the weight. The spell crushed down like a collapsing mountain, snapping the air with pressure.

"I can’t die here...!" he roared, spitting blood. "*I’m this close—*she’s about to be mine! I’ve waited years!"

Yeah.

There it was.

I felt it then—the shift.

[ Confirmed: This character plays a significant role in the main story. ]

Of course.

It would’ve been too easy otherwise.

His voice broke into a guttural growl. "She left our world. She gave her warmth to humans—filthy, fleeting things. If she could love them, why not me?!"

His fingers clawed into the dirt.

"She should’ve been mine. All of this... every death, every sacrifice—it was for her!"

He laughed—unhinged and shaking. "If I couldn’t have her, then no one could! So I will make her existence. Eternal. Only for me."

He had failed to control her.

So he will try to own her.

And when he couldn’t own her, he tried to destroy her and rebuild her as a puppet.

Obsession dressed up as love.

And now, as the last of his defensive artifacts shattered one by one under the crushing spell...

His aura twisted. Warped.

"Ha... There are things you don’t understand... If you knew what my true Talent was, you would’ve hidden yours instead of flaunting it!"

Then it hit me.

The artifacts weren’t the reason Leo and Ryen failed to stop him.

No—it was this.

The thing awakening inside him now.

The reason he was called a "cheat."

His Talent.

His eyes locked onto mine, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

He smiled.

Reality around him began to bend.

He was about to break through.

Not because of hope.

But because he still believed—

She was waiting for him.

And he’d destroy the world to reach her.

I stared at him.

His body buckled beneath Lan’s weight, mana flaring in jagged spikes that pulsed in every direction.

The ground around him cracked like an overripe shell, unable to bear the pressure of his unraveling self. But it wasn’t over. I could feel it.

The shift had started.

And my heart sank.

The system message had been clear—"This character plays a significant role in the main story."

Which meant Avi’s story wasn’t supposed to end here.

Which meant he still had something left.

Something terrifying.

And then I saw it.

Not with my eyes, but with instinct.

The mana around him shimmered. His aura twisted—spun—not like a spell or technique, but like something deeper. A restructuring. The spiritual equivalent of rewriting your own bones while still alive.

And I realized—

This is where it starts.

Avi’s mouth curled into a smile—lips bloody, jaw cracked, but the expression on his face wasn’t pained. It was triumphant.

"Do you feel it now?" he rasped, voice thick with something close to ecstasy. "My Talent... it’s finally answering me."

I froze.

Not because I didn’t know what was coming—

But because I did.

"...Copy," I whispered.

[S-Rank Talent: Perfect Replication]

That was its real name.

But everyone in the forums just called it "Copy."

Short, simple, completely unbalanced.

It let the user replicate up to three Talents from others... simultaneously. Not temporary skills. Not mimicry. Actual, functional replication.

And I knew from the novel—

That was the reason Leo and Ryen failed to kill him, over and over again.

Every time they fought, he just took their strengths.

Ryen’s [Holy Sword of Justice]—a mythical-grade Talent that allowed judgment-based enhancements.

Leo’s [Weapon Master]—an intuitive, adaptive fighting style that let him wield anything like it was an extension of himself.

Together, they were monsters.

Separately, they were strong.

But against Avi?

Avi made them kill each other’s reflections.

Because he copied both.

...And now it’s seems he going to copy my talent.