DOOMED TO BE A VILLAIN

Davies already had a surefire method to deal with the strange poison which was probably a kind of mana poison, but the method he had in mind was not the kind of method he would willingly use as it was a method that had terrible consequences for him mentally.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he had that much of a choice and it was probably this method that he would end up using as there didn't seem like there would be enough time for him to figure out the exact effects of the poison, not to mention, devising an antidote that could solve the poison in his body… but that was a thought for later, for now, someone was going to pay.

His ice spread continuously spread around at high speed while he simultaneously used his 'snowfield sensing' skill to look for any signs of the culprit and soon he detected something that was probably the culprit.

Without waiting or bothering to check and confirm, he immediately called out,

"Nilfheim's rain… x 100"

His great amounts of mana immediately swarmed out from his body and shot out to the sky and sharp projectiles of all kinds were being formed at unbelievable speed until they covered the area above them.

All the Megas who were mana sensitive immediately felt the huge outpouring of mana from a source and their attention was immediately turned towards that direction. 

The people inside the banquet hall that were mana sensitive, including the head of the Lecroy family, Rafael Lecroy immediately had their necks snapping quickly in the direction of the door that led into the banquet hall.

Even the Megas who were the security detail for the banquet were attracted by the large amount of mana that they were sensing from where Davies was.

Due to the darkness of the night, the ice projectiles that had filled up the sky and covered the sky above the banquet hall could not be seen, but Melinda who was an extremely strong Mega and had mana-augmented eyesight was able to easily see the sheer volume of the ice projectiles that Davies had just conjured.

It did not help that she was directly beneath the swarm of sharp ice weapons and being on the business end of that many sharp weapons was guaranteed to make one feel uncomfortable.

'...Oh, my God,' Melinda had been surprised by all of the sudden actions that Davies had taken after getting hit twice by the poison darts, but this particular action caused her to lose all forms of cohesion and she could only gape in wonder and slight fear.

Sure, she was powerful, and she could probably deal with this kind of attack if she was to fight, but the sheer amount of mana used to create the attack as well as the fact that the attack was being conjured by someone who was countless times her junior was enough to give her that much of a shock.

Melinda had always been known as a genius like Davies, but even though he was called the genius of the century she hadn't thought there was that much of a difference in their talent levels. She had advanced to the mana zone stage at the age of thirty-five, which was two years ago and she had only been behind the currently known record by one year, but here was Davies who was currently breaking her imagination about what was humanly possible.

(A/N: obviously not the main point of the conversation, but yes, she is thirty-seven years old)

There was no way the attack Davies had just conjured out of thin air and almost instantly could be done before one entered at least the mana zone stage.

She glanced at him subtly, trying hard to estimate in her mind whether she could defeat him in a fight should such a situation occur, but to be honest, while she thought the fight would be tough as their abilities countered each other, she still wasn't sure who would win as she knew that she hadn't seen all of his abilities, and at the same time, she wasn't some soft persimmon that would simply be blown away by just anybody… unless of course, if that somebody had crossed the taken a step into the mysterious fifth stage known as "Awakening".

All these things that she was seeing and had discovered about Davies only made her more interested in him, she also did not forget that she owed him a favor for getting hit in her place as it was obvious that the second dart was meant for her.

Unfortunately, she wasn't sure what kind of effect the poison from the dart had as an effect on Davies and she was finding it hard to stay her hand while waiting for Davies to finish what he was trying to do so she could check up on him. 

She didn't want anything to happen to him because he took a 'bullet' so to speak, for her.

Shockingly, even though Davies had inadvertently played the role of a knight in shining armor who was a hopeless romantic that he could take a bullet for his beloved, it didn't spark any romantic thoughts in her mind, which was the kind of effect that Davies wanted and why he had made sure to establish a non-romantic relationship with her.

If his actions were seen as something romantic, the only effect it would have was to give her a strong impression of his devotion to her, which unfortunately, wasn't what Davies was looking for, after all, he wasn't a simp, but since he had done so under the guise of friendship, she would feel extremely indebted and would be able to trust him completely as well as letting even making her catch feelings for him, which while may not be romantic, but would still give him a place in her heart which was exactly Davies's goal, as all he required was that spot in her heart that wouldn't be shaking even if she had another romantic interest.

It was a different route, but in the end, he still arrived at the correct destination, everything that happened after was left to him, which was a testament to how great of a method this was.

One of the reasons why Davies used this method was because it was a tested and trusted method.

How else did besties get to enjoy the benefits of a relationship without all the hassles that it came with?

Davies who didn't know that the goal he had come to the banquet to accomplish was already completed due to an unintentional reflexive movement of his arm to swipe away what he thought to be a threat, continued conjuring even more sharp ice projectiles with his hands raised at his sides.

Suddenly, he put one of his hands down and used the other hand to make a gesture of using a finger to press a button down hard,

"Fall," he muttered, and with his voice came the swooshing sounds of thousands of sharp ice objects cutting through the air at an alarming speed and moving towards the direction of where he had sensed what was most likely to be the culprit… he wasn't sure as he hadn't bothered to crosscheck and confirm, but he didn't care anyway, one of his goals for attacking was to try and waste away mana so he wouldn't mind the need to attack more than once.

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* 

The booming sounds in the distance of where the ice projectiles crashed into the ground, leaves, trees, stones, and hopefully, flesh and blood, filled the ears of Melinda, Davies, and everyone in the vicinity, including those that were in the banquet hall, some of whom were already freaking out and wondering if they were being attacked.

The ice projectiles rained down on the designated area for almost a full minute and when it finally stopped, there was a sudden silence as no one was moving and wondering if it was all over.

That was not to say that people weren't moving, the Megas who were the security detail were already running towards the relationship of the noise, but it was going to take more than a minute for them to arrive, so they were not here yet, and for the people inside the banquet hall, they decided to stay their ground and wait for a progressive report of what was happening outside.

No one wanted to poke their heads out first and be the scapegoat who will probably be killed if there was an attack.

Rafael Lecroy also stayed in place while waiting for the progress report, he was too cautious to go out before being absolutely certain of the situation.

Just outside the banquet hall were Davies and Melinda who stood in place, waiting for a reaction to see if the culprit that had shot the poison darts at them somehow managed to survive the attack though it was most likely not plausible as if the person was that strong, then he would have had no reason to attack so cautiously.

Davies wasn't sensing anything after the attack but,

'Just to be sure…'

"Devastati-" he was about to use another extremely destructive moment when,

[STOP, YOU IDIOT!!!] Miya shouted inside his head, her voice ringing around inside his head and giving him a headache.