Prologue - Welcome to the Villain's World: Chapter 16; Egos Clashing

The screen turns on as the chapter title plays "Chapter - 16; Egos Clashing".

Yuu and Deuce are losing against the monster as it shouts at them "Begone! Begone! Begone!"

It then hits Deuce as he falls on the ground as he shouts "Bwaaah!" Yuu backs away from the monster as Ace yells "Aw, crap! He's got loosey-Deucey on the ropes! Not on my watch! Heeyah!" as he fires a spell at the monster.

…

And it hits it!

The monster cries out it seemingly pain "Rrroooarrrgh!" at the attack.

But it then hits Ace and as he falls to the ground he lets out an "Oof!"

Grim is now fully terrified of this thing, of this monster. Grim yells out "Myaaah! Stay away from me!" He then lets out a fire attack to try and keep it away.

But this sadly appears to only agitate the monster as it shouts "Grrraaawrrr!"

Grim is now panicking as he yells "It's like nothin's even hurtin' it!"

But suddenly something seems to sparkle behind the monster as Yuu panickily yell asks "Did you just see that sparkle?!" Ace then also notices as he shouts back "Behind the monster! There's something sparking in the mineshaft!" Deuce continues the thought yelling the question "Could that have been a magestone?!"

The talk about magestones further angers the monster as it yells at the group "GWAAAAAAAH! Nooo give yooouuu stooooooone!"

Grim being in panic is somehow the voice of reason as he yells to Yuu "Yuu, we need to book it, and fast! Or that thing's gonna pound us into tuna paste!" Yuu, not willing to sacrifice Ace or Deuce yells out to the other two "Retreat! Retreat!" Ace and Deuce hear this and spare one look at each other before booking it behind Yuu and Grim.

This of course catches the monster's attention as it yells out "GRRRAAAWRRR!" Luckily the monster doesn't seem as interested in chasing them out to kill them so they're able to make an escape.

They had run all the way back to the front of the cottage, since although old and unstable it's at least some kind of shelter. All of them are panting as Grim asks "This should be far enough, I think?" Ace is still in pain as he says "Owwww… What was that thing? No one said there'd be anything like that!" Deuce responds "That was no normal ghost, that's for sure."

Ace, although somber and disappointed, says "Let's just give up and go home. I'll happily take expulsion if it means never having to fight that thing again."

This shocks Deuce as he determinedly yells out "What?! Nuh-uh, not happenin'! I'd rather die than get expelled from Night Raven! How can you give up when the stone is right there?"

Ace, although confused on what Deuce's motives are to not leave the school says in a teasing tone "Pfft. Big talk from someone who's not even half the mage I am. You want that stone so bad, go get it yourself. I'm out."

Deuce now having a total change in attitude yells at Ace as he walks away "OH YEAH?! Fine, go back to your coop, you big chicken!"

This surprises everyone there as Ace stops in his tracks and turns back around to face Deuce challenging back "Whaaaaat?! Who're you callin' chicken, huh?!"

Grim then curiously asks "Whoa, Deuce… Is it just me, or did you, like, turn into a totally different person just now?"

Deuce then switches back to how he was before as he shouts "Huh?!" then clearly fake coughs twice before saying "Sorry… Lost my cool for a second there."

Yuu thinks 'So what now?' then asks the three still wanting to at least try something to get the stone "Can't you do something with your magic?" But Deuce answers "The headmage said it himself – magic has its limits." Then kinda explains "If you can't visualize your magic, it isn't going to happen. Using magic at a greater scale, or using different types of magic – those things require training." Ace continues Deuce's explanation "Yeah, that's why magic academies exist. It takes a lot of training before you can snap your fingers and turn your thoughts into magic. And the more flustered you are, the more likely you are to make mistakes."

Yuu thinks 'So that's why Grim can only summon fire.' before apologizing saying "Oh, I'd assumed spellcasting just came naturally." Ace answers "Nope, although if the magic's your specialty, you can use it more intuitively."

Deuce switches the topic back to why they came there in the first place "Anyway, we need to find some way to defeat that creature and get the magestone."

Ace then sarcastically teases Deuce saying "Yeaaaaah. Just like the time with the chandelier, right? You 'found some way,' and now here we are. We just fought that thing and it creamed us. So what exactly is your plan here, genius? Because I sure don't trust you to improvise!" Deuce gets annoyed as he shouts back at Ace "What?! You're the one who –"

But it switches to Grim who is now floating next to Yuu saying "Aaand they're at it again."

Yuu then in a clearly fake enthusiastic voice says to the others "So I guess let's all just get expelled, then!"

Which surprises everyone as Ace and Deuce stop fighting and turn to Yuu as they at the same time ask "What?" Grim then also flies in front of her as he asks "Whoa, that was harsh. Where'd that come from?"

Now having everyone's attention moves to stand in a way that's in front of everyone exasperatingly asks them "Why not try cooperating a little?"

Ace does not take kindly to the idea as he states "With Loosey-Deucey? No way. He'd get me killed!" Deuce then yells back "Like it'd be some treat for me to work with you?!"

Yuu sighs as she rolls her eyes and breaks up the potential and most likely soon to be by the way they act, by asking everyone in the same tone as before but with a sharp edge "What if we came up with a proper plan first?" Ace makes fun of the statement saying "A proper plan? Like some kinda buddy move? Is that a joke? You always say the lamest things with the straightest face, Yuu."

Yuu's eye twitches which causes Grim to show a worried look at the two as Deuce continued Ace's point with "Agreed. No way could I work together with him."

Yuu then flashes Grim a fake warning smile to back her up and Grim counters saying "Yeah, but… Gettin' expelled' on the first day and twenty-four hours… That's pretty lame too. Maybe even lamer."

This surprises Ace as he tries to say something to counter that "W-well…" But comes up with nothing as Deuce is silent too.

Yuu then tries to lead the group in some way, offering to them "I did have one idea…" But doesn't finish that sentence giving them the opportunity to decide if they want to listen or not. Deuce shrugs as Ace sighs and says "Gah… Fine. Let's just get this over with, then." Grim puts a fist in the air for the win.

The three are now paying attention to Yuu as Ace asks her "All right, Yuu. What's the plan?" Yuu puts on a smirk and is about to explain her plan before there is a black wipe on the screen and it instead shows the entrance to the mines instead.

Grim worriedly asks her one final time "Yuu… Is this plan of yours really gonna work? I'm sca– I mean, I'm a little…uh, hungry?" But Yuu confidently answers "Don't worry! I think this could really work!" Deuce backs her up saying "It really could. Let's go, Yuu!"

But before the plan is acted out the screen fades black as "To be continued" appears before it fully turns off.