Fool!

Sorath stood there, frozen. The way the candidate called him 'villain' had left him thinking: who is he?

No one in Havenlock ever called him a 'villain' even though he behaved like one, and if there was one, they would have yelled the word in a high voice as though they were chasing a rat out of their house.

This boy, however, he referred to Sorath as 'that villain' casually. By that fact alone, Sorath guessed this boy wasn't a Tower resident, or he could be, but something was happening to him. For example, yes, he got possessed. And since he referred to him as 'that villain,' the possessor might be someone from another world just like the Author.

When the boy pulled him out of his thoughts again, Sorath cleared his throat and smiled. He put a friendly facade, just as how the novel described him as a multi-faceted character, to test the water.

"Sorry, but who are you? Why are you calling me villain?"

The boy staggered and turned around for a while. Then he forced a smile as sweat streamed down his tanned skin, looking like a kid getting caught for lying to his parents.

"Y-you must hear it wrong!" he denied. "A-anyway, what are you doing? Isn't this supposed to be a Solo Trial?"

Sorath shrugged.

"It is a Solo Trial. But, we can still meet up with the other candidates if we keep venturing the labyrinth."

Surprised, the boy gasped.

"Huh, you can do that?!"

Then he murmured to himself. 'That's not in the novel, though?!'

The boy was clueless about his volume being a little loud for a murmur, making his words caught by Sorath's ears.

Just as Sorath thought, a possessor was taking over the unknown boy's body. Enlightened, Sorath immediately devised a plan on the spot.

Since his first encounter with Luke's possessor, Fred, Sorath was expecting a similar situation to happen somewhere out of his watch. He had thought about how to deal if he was to meet with another possessor, especially if it was one with the knowledge of the novel like the Author.

To appeal to this kind of possessor, Sorath would present himself as the novel version of him. However, this was actually a gamble because he didn't know which persona he should pick, considering there were two versions.

The original novel had the stubborn, proud, annoying Sorath. Meanwhile, the remake had the multi-faceted Sorath.

But, since the remake story was more popular, he also liked the idea. Sorath decided to act as the multi-faceted Sorath. Not only that it would fool the possessors with the novel's knowledge, but it was also a handy tool to achieve his goals.

With him acting like that, it would make it easier for him to gather followers he could use. That's why, he changed how he approached a situation with the tall candidate in Aquila House Training Facility after the 11th rewind.

Sorath didn't bring him down with a bullet to the knee anymore. But he outright avoided him and influenced the other candidates instead. Although the effect wasn't as instant as he shot the tall candidate, it was understandable because Sorath's reputation was at rock bottom. He knew it would need more effort to build a new image without incorporating violence like he did in the past.

As for his current situation, Sorath corporated a mask to hide his true nature. And as expected, the unknown boy was fooled by him.

"O-okay, so, you haven't answered my first question… what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just resting for a while."

Sorath had all of his attention on the boy while they were talking. He grasped every detail of the unknown possessor, from the obvious to the subtlest; how he kept glancing at the small entrance behind Sorath, how his hands were shaking while holding a rusty sword, and so on.

Unable to contain his curiosity, the boy finally asked Sorath about the small tunnel behind him.

"What is that tunnel, where does it lead to?"

Sorath glanced at the tunnel, then he reacted with a sigh.

"Oh, I'm not sure. I'm just guarding this place until Atri is done with whatever she's doing inside."

The unknown boy grabbed Sorath's shoulders, eyes wide.

At that moment, Sorath looked at the hands on his shoulders with disgust, but he quickly diminished it before the unknown boy noticed.

"Atri?! You mean Atri Aquila?!" the boy screamed excitedly.

Sorath nodded.

"Yes."

"Oh my god, really?! She's my favorite girl!" the boy slipped up.

"What?"

Sorath couldn't believe what he had just heard. Even though Sorath could understand where that came from, he didn't expect the boy to say that, whether intentionally or slipping up.

"Oh– I mean…" The unknown boy tried to clarify, but suddenly he clicked his tongue. "You should have told me that my favorite girl is there."

Without notice, the boy swung his sword at Sorath.

Sorath, a little surprised, saw it coming. He backstepped and jumped behind, creating a distance between him and the boy. Sorath noticed the swing wasn't something a beginner could perform, which led him to think that the boy was a Divergent with a Trace that allowed him to use a sword to a certain degree.

'He is good, however, that's not enough to win the fight against that trash.'

The moment he saw that boy, Sorath had thought if he was the one who killed Julian and made him live in a loop. But, after seeing his presumably mastery-type Trace, Sorath dismissed the idea.

"I don't remember you being agile."

Sorath ignored him, keeping his eyes on the sword. He dodged all the boy's attacks without breaking a single sweat. 

Then as minutes passed by, Sorath felt that the swing was faster than before, with no sign of slowing down. It was at that moment he realized that the boy's mastery-type Trace was at least a Superior rank, three ranks below Julian's supposed Trace which was at Supreme rank.

'I can't win against him.'

Overwhelmed, Sorath decided to flee. He ran toward the entrance, where a large cavern was located with haste. Glancing behind, he spotted the unknown boy trying to crawl his way inside the secret room.

'Idiot,' he smirked.

He kept running until he saw a familiar figure in front of him.

'Julian!'

He clicked his tongue, feeling trapped. Julian was standing ahead of him, and the unknown boy behind him.

Left without a choice, he increased his speed and dribbled Julian like a star player in a soccer game.

Surprised, Julian froze as Sorath passed by him like a mist. Turning around, he saw a dark figure gradually escaping from his sight.

"Who is that?"

…

A few moments later, the unknown boy returned to the main tunnel with a brand-new sword in his hand.

"I was scammed," he clicked his tongue and stared at his sword. "But at least I get the hidden treasure that's supposed to belong to the protagonist!"

He laughed out loud, his voice echoing in the narrow tunnel. After practicing a few swings, the unknown boy dashed, chasing Sorath who had fled.

"Do you think I'll let you go? Heh, what can a villain like you do, anyway?" he mumbled.

As he had just started to run, the boy encountered Julian. As soon as he saw the protagonist of the novel, he waved at him with a wide smile.

"Oh my, it's the protagonist! How are yo—"

Before he managed to finish his words, Julian cut him like a cake with ease. 

"So it was you!"

The unknown boy looked clueless as to why Julian killed him out of nowhere. He was so happy to meet his favorite character besides Atri Aquila, but that character ended up slicing him like a cake the moment they met. That character also gave him his iconic death glare, which only his enemies deserved.

After the boy was embraced by the light and disappeared, the sword he obtained in the secret room dropped on the ground.

With a sigh, Julian retrieved it and finished his trial.