Villain's Valor: A Noble Fantasy Resurrection

Anthony quickly opened his eyes, startled by a sense of unease that ran through his body. With a swift movement, he drew his sword, but the darkness of the cave seemed even denser around him. After a few moments of tense vigilance, Anthony scratched his head, confused. He detected no threatening presence, and he was sure he had thoroughly checked his surroundings.

With a shrug, he decided it was probably just his imagination playing tricks on him. He sat back down, trying to relax and closing his eyes to focus. However, a persistent feeling of unease lingered in the back of his mind.

***

A great red flame consumed trees in its path; Eleanor moved gracefully with her sword in hand, her amber eyes shining intensely. The flames of her sword began to greedily devour the oxygen in the area, a torrent of flames spreading rapidly throughout the forest. Trees fell without any objection to the terrible flames, and the temperature quickly rose to 60 degrees Celsius.

Eleanor's red hair shone brightly as she gripped the hilt with maximum power; her body was engulfed in flames as she soared through the air like a meteor.

Edward frowned, sweat dripping down his forehead. He gripped his cloak tighter as the muscles of his body contracted, and his aura enveloped his body, trying to ignore the intense heat around him accompanied by the consuming flames. His eyes widened as he watched a huge incandescent ball heading straight towards him; swinging his hammer, he clashed head-on with Eleanor's flaming sword.

A massive explosion of power accompanied by a sea of flames filled the area once again. Eleanor, with her beautiful wings of amber and dark red, elegantly moved through the air; the temperature in the area rose to 80 degrees Celsius. Edward had a solemn expression; his four-meter-tall body was large and magnificent, a beautiful armor completely covering his body.

His red eyes fixed on Eleanor as she descended like a meteor once again.

Edward ran at full speed towards the front; his footsteps were powerful, and the ground beneath him cracked and sank. Gradually, his body gained more speed, and just as the ball of earth was about to collide with the incandescent ball, Edward gritted his teeth.

His hammer grew larger, and the veins in his arms bulged from his skin; his body heated up quickly, and a loud explosion echoed throughout the area consumed by flames, so powerful that even the flames around extinguished, sword against hammer clashed several times.

Eleanor gritted her teeth as she felt some bones in her arms break under the brute force of Edward's hammer; she did not hesitate. Her body gained even more temperature, turning her skin into a bright red, the flames around her hair rose upward, and the air around simply disappeared.

Edward opened his eyes; his mana quickly ran through his veins, leaving his body. In milliseconds, a small sun rose above him, the size of a human fist, however, the temperature increased by more than one hundred and twenty degrees Celsius.

Edward covered himself with his armor, which increased with the earth rushing madly towards him; in seconds, the small sun exploded, a huge wave of energy like an atomic bomb that had just fallen on the island, the ground shook, and the heat radiated from the epicenter spread for several kilometers. Continue your journey with My Virtual Library Empire

Some unlucky students found themselves within this radius, and their bodies were quickly burned alive, dying instantly.

In the center of the battlefield, where the flames danced and the air trembled with the intensity of their confrontation, lay Eleanor, exhausted and battered. On her knees, she coughed violently, expelling a large mouthful of blood contrasting with her charred skin. Most of her body was engulfed in flames, barely recognizable, but still, her bloodshot eyes remained fixed on Edward's body.

Standing before her, tall and with his armor now broken and worn, stood Edward. Despite the chaos around them, his gaze was serene and profound, showing an unexpected respect for his rival. He had underestimated Eleanor at the beginning of their confrontation, but after almost four hours of relentless combat, he had learned to recognize her power and skill.

They had fought on equal terms, each deploying their bloodlines.

Edward looked at his own body, marked by some second-degree burns caused by the fierce flames. In contrast, Eleanor's body was completely destroyed, her endurance tested to the limit by the intensity of the confrontation.

Eleanor let out a laugh mixed with blood, aware that the ability she had just unleashed, the "Rising Sun," was far from being under her control. By activating her bloodline, she had concentrated all her flames in one point, an act that required exceptional mana control to prevent it from becoming unstable.

But Eleanor had tried anyway, willing to risk everything to take Edward down with her, although she knew that in this dimension, she wouldn't truly die. If that had happened in the real world, she would have perished consumed by her own flames.

The instability of the small sun created by her technique caused a violent reaction in her own body. Although she had bet on this extreme move, Eleanor did not achieve her final goal. Nevertheless, she felt satisfied with herself; she had wounded and almost defeated one of the three greats of the first year, having given her all without regrets.

Clenching her teeth, feeling the flames consuming her insides, she released another mouthful of blood.

Her eyes fell on her sword, lying on the ground, and she picked it up with a trembling hand. The skin of her hands peeled away from her flesh due to the intense heat, but Eleanor endured the pain, placing the tip of the sword against her own heart.

Blood adorned the hilt of her weapon, but she, with a smile on her lips, thought to herself, "Yes, this is the pride of a phoenix," before piercing her heart with her own sword.

Edward remained motionless as he watched Eleanor's body stay in the same position, her blood oozing from her wound only to fall to the ground before small flames emerged from her.