A Villain's Survival Guide

Leomaris’s POV:

He felt the countless gazes on him. The anticipation, the admiration, and those who simply wanted to have a go at him. Heaviest of the lot was Instructor Moon’s cold gaze.

But standing at his corner of the field with Lucius Cutler opposite him, all he thought about was how to lose this match in the most convincing way he could manage.

’Lucius isn’t someone I can go toe to toe with, even with the Abyssal Cube. Hell, the reason he was called the Arcane Mercenary in the novel was that he took money from powerful organisations just to eliminate targets he was already hunting. The tricks in his arsenal are beyond anything I can understand.’

His eyes followed Lucius as he stepped onto the stage, a soft smile on his lips. He’d already shown his prowess, and everyone knew he had what it took to give Leomaris a proper run for his money. And that was exactly what Leomaris was counting on. Losing to Lucius was something no one would question.

’But that can’t happen. I must maintain the image of the Apostle of Death to the masses, while also appearing weak enough to make Instructor Moon avoid me completely. The worst-case scenario is fighting at full strength... or worse, winning this duel.’

Once Lucius stepped onto the stage, he gave Leomaris a slight bow, a few strands of his silver-blue hair spilling over his face.

"Let’s have a pleasant fight, rival," he said with a knowing smile, locking eyes with Leomaris. "Give me your all."

Leomaris was already used to the contrast in his personality from the novel, but he was counting on Lucius’s strategic approach to be no different from what was written.

Before long, the officiator began the duel, and almost simultaneously, fear gripped Leomaris, pulling him a step backward before he could think.

He frowned the moment he realized Lucius had vanished clean from his position. His sixth sense kicked in, pulling his gaze upward, and there he was. A few flips and his leg came straight for Leomaris’s head.

Leomaris sidestepped it sharpish, but when Lucius’s attack met the compacted sand, Leomaris felt the chill dead in his bones. The ground cracked clean beneath them.

He gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his brow, refusing to accept what he’d just seen.

’This motherfucker. Does he want to kill me?’

Instinctively, he backed off, putting more distance between himself and Lucius. Had that attack landed, he was dead sure he’d have walked away with a few broken bones.

’Has he already figured out I played a part in his family’s death?’

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Lucius would face him someday and likely kill him for the original Leomaris’s foolish actions, but Leomaris hadn’t bargained on it being this soon.

’What could it be then?’

While his mind wandered, Lucius had already closed the distance. Leomaris watched with fear in his eyes, but Lucius only smiled and drove a powerful blow straight into his gut, sending him crashing into the ground. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Like he’d teleported, Lucius was on him again in an instant, combined fists landing another powerful blow dead center into his gut.

Leomaris’s head was spinning. His entire insides felt reshaped, and all he could make out was the thumping pain across his body and the thick smell of blood leaking within him.

"Come on, Leomaris. You can do better than this. Wait... are you going easy on me?"

Leomaris cursed under his breath, watching Lucius act oblivious as though he wasn’t the same person who’d just been trying to kill him.

’Dammit. If this continues, it will stain my name, and worse, I may be bedridden for days. Everything I’ve built over months will collapse in an instant.’

His golden eyes drifted up to the stands and locked onto Instructor Moon’s piercing blue ones. He was watching, and as ever, not a flicker of emotion in his eyes.

’This guy would probably kill me if I became his trainee. But I have no choice now. I must fight now and deal with him later.’

He rolled his joints, a few stretches sending cracks through the air. Before Instructor Moon turned up, Leomaris’s main goal for this examination had been to test his personality synchronization with his entity. Was he mysterious enough?

He’d been working on it all day, but now he reckoned it was time to bring that mystery to the big stage.

With a heavy breath, he drew on his innate ability, Conceal, and brushing off all the agony Lucius had put him through, he assumed his stance.

’This must go beyond physical action but also psychological as well.’

Lucius looked as though he’d concluded it was finally time to enjoy himself. He dashed forward once more, then stopped dead in his tracks.

His blue eyes darted every which way as though he expected Leomaris to be anywhere but standing right in front of him. Even as Leomaris closed the distance, he looked dead perplexed, until Leomaris sent him skidding away, and it all seemed to click into place.

A soft smile tugged at Leomaris’s lips as he charged at Lucius, giving him no time to collect his thoughts. One attack after the next, and yet Lucius looked dead confused, as though Leomaris had disappeared clean from his line of sight.

But then, just like that, Lucius closed his eyes and relaxed his body. Almost as though he could see Leomaris’s movements before they happened, he drove an attack clean into his blind spot, his leg connecting with Leomaris’s ribcage and sending him crashing into the ground.

Leomaris gritted his teeth in agony. A few more of those and Lucius would do him in, and he knew it well enough.

Initially, he’d been embodying the personality of his entity, Mystery. Cunning and passive, never denying anything through his actions, never revealing anything either. Never a lie, but never quite the truth.

And since his innate ability, Conceal, made him harder to comprehend, actions and all, he’d managed to play mind games with Lucius without lying about his movements or making them plain.

He had Lucius doubting his own eyes. It wasn’t for Lucius’s eyes alone, but every eye in the arena on him.

Leomaris sneered.

’But in terms of raw power, the damage a single attack from Lucius would do, it would take me at least five to cause that much damage. Tch. I can’t nullify his ability either. The rules governing it aren’t something Lucius himself actually understands.’

He got back to his feet and assumed his stance. He knew well enough that without matching Lucius in terms of physical strength, all his elusiveness would mean nothing in the end.

Which left him with one last resort. He was going to use his final ability to get on equal footing with Lucius. It was going to cost him something.