A Villain's Survival Guide

The white portal opened into a circular room ringed by towering bookshelves, columns, arches, and tiered balconies. The sort of place that couldn’t decide between classical and neoclassical and was grander for it.

Leomaris glanced upward. A large glass dome capped the chamber, several panes cracked or missing entirely, rainwater and pale daylight trickling through in equal measure.

There were rubbles, broken furniture, collapsed railings, and shattered architectural elements littering the area. Parts of the upper structure seemed unstable or partially collapsed.

The towering shelves and scholarly trappings suggested a prestigious library from the Novel Ages, the sort that could easily be mistaken for a grand hall consumed by ruin. But the light coming through the broken dome had other ideas, spilling into the centre of the room and drawing the eye toward an open doorway in the distance, no less grand for all the decay around it.

But it wasn’t just the sight of it that drew him. Something cold and forbidding pressed down from above, the kind that made it hard to stand straight. A glance at Lucius confirmed he wasn’t the only one feeling it.

"This... has to be the presence of the Endbringer."

Sweat pricked at Leomaris’s brow as he spoke, and he wiped it away with an awkward smile.

A Malice Endbringer was leagues beyond anything a Terror Rune Realm could throw at them, and their last encounter with a Terror Endbringer had been harrowing enough, given the creature’s sheer magnitude. This stood to be considerably worse.

"But it’s good, isn’t it? The fact that the Endbringer is within a castle must mean the creature isn’t as massive as the Terror Endbringer..."

When Lucius spoke, Leomaris’s golden eyes cut to his blue ones for a moment. His expression stayed flat, unlike Lucius, who wore a soft smile.

Lucius wasn’t wrong. Even so, Leomaris wasn’t entirely convinced. Optimism had no business in a situation like this given the choice, he’d have erred on the side of caution and prepared for the worst.

His gaze drifted to the broken dome, then carefully picked apart every piece of furniture around them. The room was a proper wreck, all of it the Malice Endbringer’s handiwork.

The main reason they’d failed to hold their own against the Terror Endbringer was straightforward enough: they were both close-combat mages, and the creature had called for long-or-mid-range engagement.

"Well... I don’t really think size matters in this situation. The creature caused this destruction, did it not?"

Lucius gave Leomaris a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "That is why we have all the time in the world to prepare, is it not?"

"Hmph. I think you are right."

There was little reason to think this was the main event, but Leomaris was certain of it all the same. He’d spent five days training in the real world and picking the other cadets’ brains for advice, and he still had nothing to show for it. No proof that Instructor Moon truly wanted him dead.

Worse still, Instructor Moon had been scarce for those five days. He’d shown his face only this morning, full of encouraging words and cheerful smiles, bid them farewell, and by now had probably cleared off with the other cadets.

’I still don’t know how exactly he intends to kill me... am I being paranoid?’

Lucius quickly drew his attention. "Let us determine the Endbringer’s location. After that, it would be prudent to find shelter and food."

Leomaris motioned positively.

Grand as it was, the corridor felt narrow and suffocating. Cracks ran through the walls, the lamps were dead and cobwebbed, and from the fissures below, dark veins crept upward, pressing against the stone.

The further they went, the thicker the presence grew, and the corridor gave them more to contend with. Dry skeletons first, then old blood stains, then fresh corpses, still twisted in their final desperate scramble for escape.

’These are all mercenaries. They must be at least Sorcerers or like Lucius... this wouldn’t be easy.’

Before long, Lucius came to a stop, and Leomaris followed suit. They were near a throne room now. Judging by the sheer weight of malevolent energy bleeding through the walls, the Endbringer was almost certainly inside.

"We don’t need to see it, but its structure alone will be enough to help us plan. This is a Malice Rune Realm, we can take all the time we need to eliminate the Endbringer."

Lucius whispered, and like cockroaches hugging the wall, they edged forward to peer into the room. Their eyes scraped from one corner to the next, and every corner sent a chill down their spines.

The throne room’s roof had largely given way, opening the chamber to the sky above. Massive roots and vines dominated the space, twisted and sprawling, threading through broken walls, archways, and columns as though nature were quietly reclaiming what had always been hers.

The floor, though, was covered with shattered stone, fallen masonry, and fragments of statues, whose foundations remained within the walls. At the far end, atop a staircase, sat what appeared to be a throne.

It was grand and attention-grabbing, and on the walls behind it were bloodstains, covering them in a pattern that felt deliberate.

What had their attention most was what sat on the throne. It was a fully armored knight, its sword threatening its seated height.

The creature was more human in bearing than they’d expected, broad and armoured, almost commanding. Not that it mattered what lay beneath. The cold, dark energy radiating off it had swallowed it whole in black, trails of shadow spilling behind like something foreshadowing its own existence.

Not a word passed between them. They didn’t need one. Being discovered by the Endbringer now, without any preparation, was trouble of the worst sort, and neither of them was ready for it.

The weight of it all pressed down on Leomaris. He had nothing to regret, he could have refused the raid entirely, through a little trickery and he might have managed it, but he’d chosen to be here. Chosen to face his enemies head-on.

And yet he was beginning to wonder if that had been wise.