A Villain's Survival Guide

Raine’s POV:

’I know Instructor Moon is within this realm. I need to go and help Leomaris.’

She was relieved Leomaris finally got to face the person who’d nearly killed him. That said, she wasn’t exactly chuffed about the idea of someone else finishing Lucius off.

Not only had Lucius befriended her with the sole intention of killing her fiancé, but he’d taken her for a fool. Every time he’d shown up, every smile he’d put on, all that warmth and innocence. Every bit of it a lie.

Part of her blamed herself, though. Even knowing the culprit was a Calamity, even with Lucius already under suspicion, she’d still felt rotten about cutting him off.

None of it mattered now. Every gamble she’d taken, every secret she’d kept from Leomaris and it had all come good in the end.

She had no way of knowing for certain that Leomaris would win. But she’d chosen to trust him, and that was that.

Over a week she’d sat on it, the knowledge that Lucius and Instructor Moon wanted Leomaris dead, and said nothing. She needed it to play out on its own terms. That way, when the truth came to light, he’d have no reason to doubt her.

She tracked Instructor Moon for days, and by now she was certain he was lurking somewhere within the realm. She’d already picked him up with her ability, and more to the point, his forces weren’t something Leomaris could handle alone.

’Their plan was perfect. If Leomaris defeated the Endbringer, he’d be too weak for Lucius to finish him off. And even if he somehow survived that, he’d never be able to face an Instructor in that condition... I need to help him.’

Raine and Charlotte danced with the Endbringer across the throne room. She had clothed herself in her Divine Aura and activated a ten-meter barrier around herself. She perceived everything within it, helping her distinguish ally and foe.

Raine met the Endbringer head-on, her sword crashing against her own. Each time their blades connected, she twisted her strikes aside at the last moment, refusing to absorb the full force behind the creature’s blows.

In terms of speed, there was little between them. Within her domain, her reactions were every bit as sharp as the Endbringer’s, perhaps even sharper.

Yet something about the Endbringer felt deeply wrong.

The moment she deflected another attack, Raine shifted her footing and swung hard at the Endbringer’s armoured head.

The creature’s body bent away at an impossible angle.

It was not a practiced dodge or a display of agility. Her torso simply folded where no human body could have folded, twisting bonelessly beneath the armour to avoid a strike that should have landed cleanly. A heartbeat later she had straightened again, and her enormous sword was already descending towards Raine.

A chill ran through Raine despite the heat trapped beneath her armour.

She retreated just enough for Charlotte to act.

A colossal hammer materialised above the battlefield and crashed into the Endbringer with enough force to launch her through the air. The creature smashed through wall after wall before driving her sword into the ground, carving a deep trench and halting herself entirely.

Raine tightened her grip on her weapon.

The Endbringer’s presence alone was enough to leave sweat trickling down her back. Her unnatural movements were unsettling, but they were not the worst part. It was the sheer destructive power behind everything she did.

Her gaze shifted to Charlotte. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Determination burned in the woman’s dark eyes. Raine was fighting because she had to. Charlotte was fighting because her future depended on it.

’We just need to finish this.’

After more than two weeks of training and fighting together, they understood each other well enough to act without words.

The Endbringer surged towards them once more, crossing the distance with frightening speed.

Charlotte raised three barriers in rapid succession. The creature shattered all of them with a single swing.

That was exactly what they had expected.

The instant the barriers appeared, Raine channelled Divine Aura through her blade. As the final barrier burst apart, she released a slash of condensed power straight at the charging monster.

The Endbringer managed to block, but the impact hurled her backwards.

Charlotte was already moving.

Words of light formed beneath her fingertips as she traced symbols through the air. Two enormous glowing hands materialised, one in front of the Endbringer and one behind.

They slammed together. The force was tremendous, crushing the creature between them.

Then they struck again. And again. And again.

Each blow landed harder than the last before the luminous constructs finally dissolved.

Raine seized the opening immediately.

Another empowered slash tore across the battlefield. This time the Endbringer failed to raise her guard in time.

The attack struck squarely against her armour and sent her crashing into a wall.

Before she could recover, Charlotte enclosed her within a transparent cube of glowing energy. The Endbringer staggered inside the prison, struggling to rise.

Raine frowned.

"How is she still moving after all that?"

Charlotte’s jaw tightened as her eyes remained fixed on their captive.

"I don’t think this is a person," she said. "I think that’s just armour."

Raine looked more closely.

Darkness leaked constantly from the gaps in the metal. There was no visible flesh beneath it. No glimpse of skin. Nothing that suggested a living body occupied the armour at all.

Her stomach twisted.

’Charlotte might be right.’

It would explain the impossible movements. The thing inside was not flesh and bone. Whatever they needed to destroy was the darkness inhabiting the armour, not the armour itself.

The thought had barely formed when the shadows pouring from the Endbringer thickened. The pressure filling the battlefield intensified instantly.

Raine dropped to one knee, clutching her head as pain lanced through her skull.

The Endbringer rose.

Without lifting a weapon, without striking the barrier even once, she shattered Charlotte’s prison. The darkness spilling from her armour exploded outward, ripping through the construct with raw force alone.

Confusion and dread crashed through Raine’s mind.

’What’s happening?’

She gritted her teeth and fought through the agony as the oppressive presence continued to grow.