Reverse Hero

Hero Vs Villain

(Bell POV)

With her sword pointed right at me, I took out my own daggers. Everyone around us was quickly displeased, but they took Zeus with them.

"..."

"..."

There were no last words between Zeus and me as he was escorted out, leaving only Ais and I  alone for what would likely be the last time

"Ais Wellenstien, do you know what it means to be a hero?" I asked, still with my guard up

"I believe that is a question that will vary on the person."

"True, but the underlying message is that you save people no matter the cost, right? So, in order to save everyone from the chaos going on outside, can you truly kill me? Or will you let other emotions get in the way again?"

"I've just said it, but I will repeat myself just this once. I will kill you, Bell Cranel."

Her eyes were locked with mine, there was no sign of the hesitation from last time. There was no 'Maybe...' or 'but...' there was only her true desire to end me once and for all.

Instantly she charged at me first and I narrowly blocked using both daggers and twisting to the side. I wasn't going to go into killer instinct yet, not until she used her own skill.

I was thrown out of the building through the wall from the attack but landed on the ground after doing a few flips in the air.

Ais slowly walked out to the broken wall, where she looked down at me.

"Getting a bit ahead of ourselves, are we?" I asked as this time I went on the offensive.

I wasn't nearly as fast as she was, even without her using her skill, but I was still able to put up a decent fight. I swung both daggers at her in a pincer formation. 

She ducked under them but before she could act again, I raised my knee and slammed into her lower jaw knocking her up into the air.

 I then jumped up to kick her back to the ground, and she grabbed my leg and threw me first. I was able to catch my landing a little bit but it hurt like hell.

I still decided to not waste any time and went in again, this time with us just trading sword blows and going back and forth against each other.

She should have obviously had the advantage, but she rarely went on the offensive, she mostly relied on counters or just dodging. 

After a while of just going back and forth, and realizing we were nearly on the other side of Orario, we both sought to catch our breaths after spacing back a little bit.

"Why are you still holding back against me? Was your resolve earlier just a show or did you really mean those words?"

"SHUT UP!"

Her hair behind her then flew into the air, as if a huge gust of wind flew right into her.

"You...You don't even know how much trouble you've caused people, or how many second chances I gave you. I...I wanted to believe you were good, after what happened with the Xenos, I thought you were a good person but I was wrong."

"I do know what I've been doing, every ounce of pain that everyone feels here, I know about it. I'm not going to act like I'm insane and don't know what I'm doing, in fact, I'm doing the opposite."

"Then-"

"Then why?" I said, cutting her off "Because you can do it."

This made her eyes widen, but she didn't understand what I meant "What do you mean? What did I ever do to deserve this upon everyone in Orario?"

Other adventurers started to surround us now, but no one was actually getting involved. They all knew that the area in which Ais and I were fighting, was a death trap.

"Ever since we first met, way back when, I knew you were a hero. One from the fairy tales. But I wanted something more special, someone who could save everyone and take on the burdens that came with it. So, I set up these trails. You know about the note I left for you about the Xenos, which then led you to befriend them. And even now, I figured that we would end up having this eventual fight. A Hero vs a Villain."

"And just like in those stories...The Hero's going to win," She muttered before appearing in front of me so fast that I couldn't even activate killer instinct in time.

I was deeply cut to my side as I activated killer instinct and raised my guard. This time I could keep up with her, but my speed was still a step behind.

We started to go around trading blows again, all the adventurers had already run away in order to not get caught up in the crossfire.

After a few blows, I slammed both my daggers over my shoulders and onto her, and Ais was forced to block with her sword. The impact, however, pushed her against the ground with such force that a small crater formed.

She seemed to be winded but got up quickly before I could get another attack on her. 

She leaped back at me after gaining some distance, but her speed became even faster. I hurried to put up a block and just barely managed.

I then kicked her right in the gut to try and push her away, but she dodged then overpowered me and slammed me back into a building using her elbow.

I coughed up blood this time, as my wound from earlier still bled as well. I had around 10 more seconds until the battle was up when I heard loud footsteps racing towards me.

'Fuck off!' I screamed in my mind as I turned to see Asterius running at me at full speed, His two-sided axe in hand

I hastily jumped backward to get away from both of them but they both were against me now. I needed to be in killer instinct to just face one of these two alone, right now I was doomed to lose.

I quickly blocked a strike from Ais and then moved to try and block the attack from Asterius, but he overpowered me easily. 

I was flung backward again, luckily I landed on some cloth this time instead of the hard stone floor.

As I got back up, Ais arrived on top of me again, her sword pointed right at my chest. She somehow managed to get even faster.

She waited with the sword pressed right against my chest until my limit was up, at which I laid my head back against the cloth, unable to even lift it.

"Why don't you use the other skill?"

She was likely referring to my survival instinct, but I kept quiet, unable to speak.

She looked at me disappointingly and stabbed me right through the chest.

'That's right...' I thought right before my thoughts blacked out 'You want to save everyone, including the villain.'

(Ais POV)

I took my sword out of Bell's chest and turned around to Asterius.

"Thank you," I said in a quick voice

He shook his head in response as if to say it was no issue.

I then turned back to Bell and lifted him up. What I planned to do with him...I don't know. I still couldn't manage to kill him.

I hated myself for it, I was just being a massive hypocrite but I still had this underlying desire to save him for some reason. I didn't even notice it until just before I stabbed him.

I decided that I would take him to the guild and have him locked up for right now, and I would work with everyone else later to find a fitting punishment