A Villain's Survival Guide

The Endbringer stood around six feet tall, and the sword she carried could arguably rival her height. Despite its size, she wielded it with remarkable fluidity and precision. Darkness continuously radiated from her body, trailing her movements in strange currents as though it were a second shadow.

Initially, Leomaris and Lucius had argued that the Endbringer was a man, but the moment she rose to her feet, that assumption became difficult to maintain. Everything about her appearance resembled a woman, yet there was nothing gentle in the way she moved.

The eyes hidden behind her helmet were barely visible. They seemed devoid of anything human, containing nothing but an endless void.

A single swing of her sword was enough to make the ground tremble, and Leomaris was certain that wasn’t even a fraction of her true strength.

The Endbringer stood before her throne with her gaze fixed on Leomaris and Lucius at the far end of the chamber. Her presence alone was enough to make them uneasy, but it was her eyes that unsettled Leomaris the most.

He felt as though they were pressed against the back of his neck, breathing heavily as they searched for an opportunity to swallow him whole.

Not even Raine’s ethereal eyes, which constantly floated above her, had ever given him such chills.

When the Endbringer took her first step forward, both men instinctively assumed defensive stances. She paid them little attention. Instead, she swung her sword, and the powerful gust that followed tore through the room, blowing away the roots, veins and debris that had spread across the floor.

She cleared a path for their battle as though this was something she had been waiting for over countless years.

"Damn... she’s strong."

Leomaris dug his feet into the ground to stop himself from being blown away by the force of the wind.

"Are you ready?"

Leomaris nodded.

They had no intention of defeating the Endbringer today. Their goal was to gauge her strength and prepare accordingly. This would be an ongoing process until they were finally capable of bringing her down.

No sooner had Leomaris finished considering how they would approach the battle than his Sixth Sense flared.

His eyes widened as he realised that the Endbringer, who had been standing several metres away only moments ago, was suddenly right in front of him with her sword raised overhead.

Fear and confusion seized him. His mind urged him to move, but his body refused to respond. As the blade descended, time seemed to slow around him. It felt as though he had an eternity to avoid the attack, yet his hesitation only made the situation worse.

Through it all, he forced himself to move.

Leaping aside despite the fear gripping him, he narrowly escaped the strike.

The Endbringer’s sword crashed into the ground and shattered everything in its path. Before Leomaris had the chance to recover, she was already attacking again. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He barely avoided the second strike and immediately tried to create some distance between them. Before he could, however, the damage caused by her previous attack became an obstacle. The ground had been left cracked and unstable, and scattered debris caught his footing, slowing him down.

Despite the danger before him, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this battle was somehow his alone.

Why was the Endbringer only interested in him?

More importantly, where was Lucius?

The questions barely had time to settle before Lucius suddenly appeared and delivered a powerful strike that sent the Endbringer crashing into the wall.

Given a brief moment to breathe, Leomaris quickly freed himself from the debris around him and moved into a more favourable position.

Lucius did the same. While the Endbringer rose from the rubble, they used the opportunity to discuss their next move.

"I think we can defeat her, Leomaris. I don’t know why she’s more interested in you than me, but we can use that to our advantage. Keep her attention on you and I’ll use any openings she leaves behind."

Leomaris frowned.

The plan sounded risky, but he had a fair idea of why the Endbringer seemed focused on him. She was likely reacting to the unholy presence within him. He doubted it had anything to do with the Goddess’s curse, though.

Lucius met his gaze.

"You don’t need to worry too much. So far, all she seems to have is destructive power. With your reflexes, you should be able to avoid her attacks."

Leomaris nodded and watched as Lucius deliberately moved far enough away to encourage the Endbringer to focus solely on him.

Something about the arrangement felt wrong.

The feeling lingered in the back of his mind, and the plan itself left him uneasy. Even so, having decided to let go of some of the paranoia that had shaped many of his decisions, he chose to trust Lucius in good faith.

Soon enough, the Endbringer closed the distance.

Her sword was already in motion, but before the attack could land, Leomaris stepped aside and drove a powerful kick into her, knocking her off balance.

Yet it was as though human anatomy meant nothing to her.

Her body moved with unnatural speed as she recovered, still intent on landing her strike.

This time, Leomaris allowed the attack to come close before avoiding it by the narrowest of margins.

One strike followed another. Thanks to his Sixth Sense and Hyper Boost, he was able to evade her attacks while landing a few of his own in return.

Then a sudden chill spread through him.

His chest tightened.

Why hadn’t Lucius attacked yet?

Leomaris glanced towards him through his peripheral vision and saw him casually sitting on a chunk of concrete without a care in the world.

Leomaris grimaced.

’What?’

That brief moment of distraction was all it took.

The Endbringer’s sword rose high into the air, and even at a glance he could tell this attack carried far more power than the first.

As he turned, he caught sight of something else.

A faint smile on Lucius’s lips.

The sight only worsened the confusion already clouding his thoughts. His mind stalled and his body followed.

He knew that if the attack landed, he would be finished.

Everything suddenly began to make sense.

He was led on to lower his guard. And he had.

The strange feeling he had ignored, Instructor Moon’s plan, Lucius’s behaviour, all of it seemed far more suspicious now than it had moments ago.

Even so, understanding the situation changed nothing.

The attack was already descending, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Then, as though by some miracle, a glowing chain wrapped itself around his body.

Leomaris barely had time to process what was happening before the chain yanked him backwards. At the same time, he felt someone catch hold of him from behind.

The next thing he saw were five barriers materialising around him, enclosing everything except the Endbringer and Lucius.

The barriers absorbed most of the force from the Endbringer’s attack and remained standing despite the impact.

’Wait...’

"Charlotte?!"

Leomaris turned and found Charlotte standing behind him.

Beside her was Raine, fully clad in armour, unlike during the Terror Rune Realm raid.

Both women looked furious.