The Return Of The Exiled Villain-Chapter 28: Destroying The Instructor

[HEHEHE~! OH THIS IS GONNA BE GOOD! RIP HIM TO SHREDS, GRAY! MAKE HIM YOUR LITTLE TOY~!]

Before the referee even said anything, Jasmine was already excited.

"...Haaah..." Gray exhaled softly, his hand brushing past his coat as he slowly adjusted his right glove.

Crack!

One of his fingers even cracked at that, causing the instructor’s eyebrow to twitch at his actions.

Because Gray was acting like the fight would be a damn breeze.

Ãnd then, the referee’s hand shot up.

"Begin!"

And just like that...

BOOM!!

The instructor vanished from Gray’s sight.

Gray didn’t even have time to blink.

WHAM!!

The first punch came from the side, straight toward Gray’s ribs. But Gray still had the time to twist his waist, just barely slipping past it.

His coat flapped from the wind pressure alone.

CRACK!!

The punch hit the ground behind him, tearing through the platform like a hammer smashing concrete.

Dust exploded into the air.

Gray’s boot scraped the edge as he tried to keep his balance, but the instructor was already coming again.

WHOOSH!

Another blow came, this one aimed for Gray’s shoulder.

He ducked low, but not fast enough.

BAM!

The punch grazed his upper arm, sending a shock through his bones. His body flew sideways, hitting the ground with a hard thud.

He rolled twice before stopping.

"Kh..."

Gray coughed, holding his arm.

His sleeve was already torn, and his arm stung like hell... although, it obviously didn’t hurt as much as when he was in the Inheritance Dungeon.

That aside... that wasn’t even a full hit.

And yet... he was almost out.

The instructor stepped forward slowly, mockingly raising his arms.

"What happened to all that confidence?" he growled, his voice sounded arrogant as hell.

"Not so cocky now, are you?"

Gray didn’t answer.

He just sat up... and smiled.

That twisted little devilish grin.

"...You’re not wrong," Gray said quietly, brushing the dirt off his glove.

"You’re faster than me. Stronger, too."

Then he lifted his fingers.

Twitch~

The instructor paused for a second, and his left leg twitched oddly. But of course, he thought that it wasn’t anything.

And that made Gray’s smile wider as he finally sheathed his rapier.

Fwoop!

The instructor finally rushed towards him again, punching right towards Gray’s handsome face.

[Roll to the right!]

Gray instantly rolled to the right, following Jasmine’s words. But at the same time, he flicked his fingers mid-roll.

Pull.

The instructor’s knee suddenly jerked backward as he tried to turn.

"Huh?"

He stumbled.

Seeing this, Gray took the opportunity and kicked upward, straight into the man’s stomach.

BAAM!

"Ugh..."

The instructor staggered two steps back. Gray’s kick didn’t hurt much, but he was... strangely confused.

His movement didn’t feel normal.

[Ooh~, that was a good one. Just keep the flow... and maybe try to irritate him. That can probably make him lose his concentration a little...]

Jasmine advised, and Gray... decided to follow her advice.

"You okay?" he asked, tilting his head.

"You’re moving kinda... clumsy."

"SHUT IT!"

The man charged again.

Gray backed off quickly, dodging as a punch flew above his head.

Whoosh!

He slipped behind the man’s side, crouched, then jabbed a small throwing needle right into the instructor’s back.

Barely visible, and that was another string.

Now he had five attached.

[Heehee~ You’ve tied him up nice and tight now~! Now... just do what you must do, I don’t need to help you anymore... just make him bleed a little for me, okay~? ]

Gray simply ignored those words... but kept them in mind as his eyes narrowed at the instructor’s movements

He turned fast and slammed a fist down on Gray’s back.

Boom!

Gray leapt to the side just in time. The attack missed, but the impact still sent a blast of air that pushed him back.

Then he flicked his fingers.

Twitch.

The instructor’s elbow snapped mid-swing.

Not broken, just bent the wrong way for a second.

Long enough for Gray to step in... and long enough to give Gray the swing needed to win the fight.

Fwip!

Splurt!!

Gray’s rapier slid deep into the instructor’s chest, piercing through muscle and flesh like a hot knife through butter.

"AAGHHHH!!"

The man screamed, loud and hoarse.

Blood burst from the wound, splashing across Gray’s arm and cheek in warm, sticky drops.

His body jerked back from the force, but Gray held the hilt tightly, twisting the blade as it dug even deeper.

Tchkkk—

A wet, sickening sound followed as the metal scraped against bone.

The instructor’s eyes went wide, veins pulsing in his forehead.

He stumbled back, gasping before grabbing Gray’s wrist with one trembling hand and shoving hard with the other.

Gray didn’t resist.

He let go of the rapier and stepped back, licking some of the blood off his glove with a slow flick of his tongue.

"...Hnn~ tastes bitter..."

Although he didn’t know why he did that, he somehow wanted to. Maybe he had hemophilia, but he didn’t give a single shit about it.

"HAAARGH!"

The instructor yanked the blade out of his own chest with a shout.

Shhhlk!!

Blood spilled down his front in thick streams. His shirt was soaked red in seconds.

"Hah... Hah... You little bastard—!"

His knees were shaking.

But even still...

Even bleeding, even dizzy...

He roared and charged again!

"RRRAAAHHH!!!"

Gray didn’t blink; instead, he just smiled.

Flick~

He pulled another thread.

Snap!!

The instructor’s ankle twisted at the wrong angle, snatched back by one of the hidden wires.

He tripped mid-sprint, body crashing forward.

CRASH!!

His face smashed into the floor.

Gray casually stepped to the side to avoid the flying blood.

"Careful... You’ll break your pretty nose."

The instructor growled, spitting out blood, one eye already starting to swell.

He pushed himself up on one elbow, his body constantly trembling under Gray’s gaze.

But his limbs, they weren’t listening properly.

As he looked down, he still didn’t see anything strange, and that made his eyebrows furrow in complete confusion.

So, he looked toward Gray...

"You... What did you do...?"

Gray crouched beside him.

One hand pressed lightly on the man’s shoulder, the other reached to pluck a thread tied to his back.

"I tied you up... Isn’t it obvious?"

Yank!

The thread pulled tight.

Crick—SNAP!

The instructor’s shoulder jerked back violently, cracking out of place with a sickening noise.

"GAHHHHH!!"

He screamed again, face twisting in agony.

Gray stood slowly, looking down at him with a calm, tilted gaze.

The tip of his boot touched the man’s jaw, gently raising his chin.

"You’re strong," he said softly.

"Faster than me. Better trained."

He stepped forward, putting pressure on the instructor’s injured shoulder with his foot.

The man writhed under him.

"But..."

Gray leaned down, looking straight at him with his hypnotic eyes.

"You can’t fight properly with strings stuck in your bones."

His voice dropped to a whisper.

"And now you’re... pretty much dead."

Flick!

One final pull.

CRACK—!!

The threads tightened all at once.

Arms twisted.

One leg snapped back unnaturally.

The instructor’s body jerked like a puppet in the air before collapsing in a heap.

"AAAGHHHHHHHHH!!!"

He shrieked, thrashing, foaming at the mouth from the pain.

Gray stood above him, his black & white hypnotic eyes glowing slightly, his fingers twitching with the leftover tension of his strings.

Blood soaked the floor beneath the broken man.

[Fufufu~ You made him such a beautiful mess, Gray~! He’s all tangled up in you now~! Doesn’t he look perfect like this?]

Gray smiled quietly.

He bent down one last time.

Pulled his rapier from the floor and rested the tip just above the man’s chest.

"Thanks for the easy Silver Knight rank," he whispered.

Then he raised the rapier and drove it down again.

SHHKKK—!!

Straight into the same wound from before, pushing even deeper.

The instructor didn’t even scream this time.

His body just twitched, breath ragged.

Gray leaned close again, whispering into his ear.

"...Don’t worry..."

"You won’t die."

He smiled sweetly, although his smile looked like a devil’s smile under the instructor’s gaze.

"Not yet."

He added darkly, causing the instructor’s eyes to roll back as he gasped and passed out directly.

Then, Gray slowly stood up, the blood still dripping from the tip of his rapier, tapping gently against the floor with soft plink... plink... plink...

The silence was deafening.

Even the other instructors, all of them far stronger than the average man, looked pale.

Their eyes were locked onto Gray, not with judgment or mockery... but something else.

Unease.

One of them even took a small step back without realizing.

This wasn’t just some cocky brat.

This was something else entirely.

Gray turned his head to the side and gave them that crooked, playful grin.

"Does someone want to go next?"

He flicked his wrist, and the blood on his blade sprayed in an arc across the stone tiles like crimson paint.

Then he sheathed it in one smooth motion.

Shhhk.

And behind his back...

Five almost-invisible puppet strings snapped back into his gloves with a faint shimmer, like silk threads melting into the air.

Gone, as if they were never there.

[Heehee~♡ They’re scared of you now, Gray~ You’re soooo scary when you fight like that~ I’m getting all fluttery watching you~! Do it again~! Kill another one~! Paint this place red for me!]

Gray didn’t respond.

He simply turned away, casually dusting his coat as if he had merely tripped and spilled a drink.

The referee finally managed to raise his hand, though his voice cracked a little as he declared:

"V-Victory... goes to ’Fingercrusher’!"

The crowd watching from the edges of the training field... remained silent.

No cheers or clapping... just entire shock.

And a huge wave of fear.

The crowd immediately opened space for him as he just walked past the others if he didn’t even notice them.

And then, without turning his head, he spoke softly.

"...Someone clean that mess up."

Then, he slowly adjusted his gloves once again, as if he was uncomfortable with them.

’...I didn’t even need to use Swap against an Advanced user... am I that strong? Or is that Puppet Strings skill so overpowered?’

’...The Clown Lineage really is something...’

Gray grinned slightly.

He thought that he was really strong.

But what he didn’t know was that the instructor was holding back more than ninety percent of his power, and because of that, he was careless against someone like Gray.

After all, once all the threads were put into position, even a Grandmaster would have trouble against them.

But if they could find them...

Gray would absolutely have no chance against an Advanced user, not to mention a Grandmaster, even if he used his unique skill.

After all...

The difference between some ranks was like Heaven & Earth.

So, Gray only won because of the instructor’s carelessness and his subtle planning before the fight even began.

Because if he hadn’t put the strings before, he would obviously lose.