Villain's POV: The Heroines Want Me!

Rize sighed as he looked at the other boy, who was still conscious but twisting with pain. "Why do you have a fake badge on you?"

"Ugh… What…" The boy didn't seem to understand what he was saying as he struggled to breathe. However, Rize didn't leave him alone as he walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar. His eyes were chillingly cold, piercing through the boy's mind with ease. After what he had experienced in his life, Rize's entire aura had changed completely.

Long gone is the innocence he had when he was still a kid who didn't know how this world worked. Now he was a seasoned fighter and someone who had faced horrors beyond most people's understanding. It didn't simply make him stronger but also made him much more intimidating and someone who would command attention whenever he went, if he wished for it.

So, when he wanted to threaten someone weaker than him, all he needed was just a glare, and the boy would crumble out of fear, fearing the dangerous killing intent wrapping around his neck like a snake trying to choke him.

"Who has your badge? Speak." Rize said coldly.

"..." The boy's lips quivered, but he didn't reply.

"I said speak, or I'm going to beat you till your mother can't recognize you anymore." He said.

Still, the boy didn't reply as he clenched his teeth. He tried to look as courageous as he could, even against the fear of getting beaten up to near death.

"Is that so?" Rize muttered as he nodded his head. "Well, suit yourself."

Clenching his fist, Rize aimed it at the boy's face before he launched it forward. That was all it took for the boy to see his life flash before his eyes. A punch was going so fast that he almost couldn't even see it. At that moment, all his will crumbled to the ground.

"Wait! Wait!"

The punch stopped a mere inch away from his face as he closed his eyes. Then, he slowly opened them. Looking at the knuckles, he gulped, realizing how close he was to being completely destroyed.

"I will speak! I will speak!"

"Go on, who is it?"

"... The leader! Our leader is keeping them with him! He's the strongest guy I have met here, so he promised he would keep mine safe too if I join him!" The boy yelled loudly.

"Who is your leader, huh?" Rize asked. 'This is getting quite interesting.'

"I don't know his name, I swear! He never introduced himself! Please don't hit me!"

Rize squinted his eyes as he looked at the boy silently, as if trying to gauge if he was telling the truth or not.

"Let him go. He is telling the truth." Rose said from behind him. "He doesn't know."

Rize looked over his shoulder and then sighed. Releasing the boy, he fell to the ground roughly as Rize turned around and walked past Rose.

"Let's go." He said as he headed to the stairs. She looked at him silently, her eyes mysterious as ever, before she followed him. She was seeing a side of Rize she hadn't seen before. He looked annoyed and almost… worried.

'Does he have a suspicion as to who the leader is? Perhaps someone he knows?' Rose squinted. 'Or someone I know.'

The unique and outstanding individuals their age are few and far between, so she was certain that she knew most of them. This person, whoever they are, has to be very famous.

As the two headed up the stairs, they were slower and more meticulous about it. As they took a turn around, they started hearing a voice speaking in the distance.

Rize's eyes squinted as he continued his way up the stairs very quietly until he could finally peek around the wall. There, he finally saw them… A group of 8 people standing in a circle in the chaos, with one of them speaking loudly.

"We have gathered enough badges for everyone to get a good position in the test. However, we still haven't found our friend's badge. We can't give up on him right now, so we must continue searching until the very end."

"Yeah, you're right."

"We are really good as a team."

"I could see us finding it with some luck."

The one they were talking about looked around as they showed their support with smiles, and he felt extremely touched. The fact that he finally met really kind people who would treat him well.

"Thank you so much, guys… Thank you."

The leader approached him with a smile as he tapped his shoulder. "Of course, we are a team, and a team looks out for one another."

"Now, we will be heading upstairs to check the rest of the building."

Rize watched the entire scene silently while Rose stood next to him. She peeked around the wall, and her eyes squinted.

"Is that…?"

Rize didn't reply as he simply continued watching with a blank expression. However, in his mind, turmoil erupted out of nowhere. What he had just witnessed was akin to a bombshell being dropped on his head.

'What the actual hell is he doing here?!! No, no, no, no! What?! What the fuck is the protagonist doing with Fate?!' He yelled in his head.

What he just saw was Fate, one of the main villains of the story, patting Kaizer on the shoulder as if he were talking to a friend.

'They were never friends in the story. Kaizer was always wary of Fate, and so he never tried to interact with him until he realized his true intentions, and it became a deadly animosity. Now they're allies?'

A million thoughts rushed through Rize's mind. But he tried to remain calm and take the situation as it is.

'The two were talking about his badge? So they're… looking for me.' He clenched his teeth. 'Great. What should we do now?'

"I didn't expect to see him here," Rose said. "But that explains the fake badges. It is something only he would come up with."

Rose naturally knew of Fate. In fact, he was on the shortlist of people of interest that she wanted to keep an eye on in the future. He was shrouded in mystery, with a very bleak past and very questionable behavior as a kid and as he grew up. She knew that Fate was a very dangerous individual, but she was someone who sought danger, so that didn't bother her at all.

Instead, she was now even more curious as to what he was planning to do.

"Rize?" She said as she looked down. "Why are you silent?"

"Hm… I know who that person is. Let's say my first meeting with him wasn't positive."

"What? Where did you meet him?"

"Sigh, I will explain later. For now, I don't think we should interact with them. It would be too risky, as we don't know what he's planning."

"Hm. Well, do you still plan to follow them?" She asked. "Didn't you say the person you're looking for is probably in this building?"

"I know."

'This is getting stickier and stickier by the second. I didn't want to interact with Fate or the protagonist, but if Venera is here. I need to find her before Fate does.'

"Let's just move." He said coldly.