A Villain's Survival Guide

The living statue appeared to be female, and, ironically, the smallest among the surrounding statues. Gracefully built with a round shield in one hand and a refined sword in the other.

Her armour stopped short of her full ten-foot height, baring a strip of stomach, belly button plainly visible. The helmet took care of the rest, leaving only the eyes exposed. Except they weren’t eyes: two rubies, and both of them on fire.

Leomaris understood immediately how the creature had been made. They had sacrificed the souls of their victims and bound them within the statue.

"Hazel, get out of here."

Leomaris muttered something, and Hazel threw up an illusion of herself, vanishing in the same motion.

He was already surrounded by three First Orders of the Crimson Order, trouble enough by themselves. And now a knight statue on top of that?

’I need to do something.’

He pulled the trigger in quick succession, three bullets already heading for the First Orders. Before they could connect, something appeared in the distance and blocked all three.

Leomaris took a backward step, confused.

A reddish hand blocked the bullet heading for Cian; a left arm took the one meant for the red-haired girl; and the last, the one heading for Moon, was caught by nothing but a mouth. Jagged teeth, clenching the bullet between them.

’Shit! He’s a summoner.’

His thoughts never truly settled before a massive gravitational force drove him downward. It felt as though a boulder had been dropped on his shoulders, growing heavier by the second.

"Farewell, Leomaris."

Instructor Moon’s fallen beast took shape. A reddish creature with long red hair and teeth its mouth couldn’t contain. This was definitely his doing, and Leomaris knew it.

The statue headed for Leomaris. The First Orders and the summoned creature peeled back in the same motion, clearing the path neatly. The statue had all the room she needed.

The moment she awakened, Leomaris had watched her cut down the four ritualists who summoned her in a single strike. He had no chance of surviving any of her attacks.

With gravity pushing him down, he was nothing but a sitting duck for the living statue. It left him with no choice but to resort to his last option: summon a force entity.

The thought alone made his stomach turn, but the ground trembling in the statue’s wake was no place for hesitation.

He combed through the hymns and forbidden knowledge in his mind, searching for the right verse for the situation, but every thought brought agonising pain.

Reciting the hymns was all it took, and since he’d always carried the forbidden knowledge and knew his false entities well enough, they would answer. The problem was weathering the forbidden knowledge as it grew.

Being nothing but a pseudo Philosopher, he couldn’t command the false entities the way a true Philosopher could, and he had to pick a hymn that fit the situation precisely. Pick the wrong one, and the false entity simply wouldn’t show.

Having just summoned Myrasol moments ago, riffling through the hymns and forbidden knowledge again was making his head throb. Almost one thought away from his head exploding entirely.

’Come on... come on.’

The statue closed in, far closer than he’d like. The moment he saw her raise her sword overhead, he threw caution to the wind and settled for whatever came to mind.

"O— 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The word had barely left his mouth when a slash of wind tore through the air and struck the statue, nearly knocking her off balance. She forced a step and held her ground, but two more slashes came, sending her skidding backward.

Leomaris was relieved he wasn’t going to die, but at the same time, he hadn’t the faintest idea what that was.

A daunting presence loomed over them, and sweat broke beneath his mask. Even the gravity pull hadn’t managed that.

The looming presence was something else entirely. Suffocating and horrific, almost as though they were in the presence of an Endbringer.

He forced himself to look in its direction, and the sight left him dumbstruck. The presence was coming from Raine, and floating inches above her head was a crown. Not something he recognised. But he was glad she’d saved him.

Charlotte, Ren, and Hazel were at her side. She wasted no time handing out instructions.

"I will take care of the living statue. Leomaris will take Instructor Moon, so you should choose between the remaining two."

Instructor Moon took a few steps forward, looking as intimidating as he always did.

"Who would’ve thought your mates would show up too. I take it they always suspected something was going on behind our backs."

He let out a sigh. "Well, people die within Rune Realms all the time. I think the academy would understand—

The words had barely left him before Charlotte was already tracing glowing words in the air. They attached to her body in an instant, and within seconds, she was before Instructor Moon, her fist already driving for an uppercut.

Instructor Moon panicked, but before Charlotte’s attack could connect, the fallen beast was already there, matching her speed and blocking the hit.

The fallen beast couldn’t handle the attack, and he was sent plummeting to the ground.

The gravity around Leomaris deactivated, and he was on his feet immediately. He didn’t waste a moment, pulling the trigger on Instructor Moon, but the fallen beast was quick enough to block the bullet all the same.

He made an agitated sound. His bullets never missed, that was the whole point. But if they were blocked before they could land, they were worthless.

"I think you should be careful, Young Master. You need stronger bullets."

Ren said, drawing a weapon that had Leomaris furrowing his brow. It looked like a normal revolver, but there was nothing normal about it.

She aimed at the red-haired woman and pulled the trigger. The bullet that came out was no smaller than a cannonball from a muzzle that small. Inches from connecting, the red-haired woman raised her hand, and something appeared: an elastic, rubber-like grey creature, its head balloon-shaped and covered in countless eyes. It swallowed the cannonball whole.

She giggled. "These kids are interesting."

Charlotte formed her glowing daggers, but Cian snapped her fingers before they could launch, and they broke into nothing like shattered glass.

Leomaris frowned. Just as Raine had instructed, she’d headed straight for the living statue. Ren and Hazel, meanwhile, had their sights set on the red-haired woman, and clearly the feeling was mutual.

Cian had her eye on Charlotte, not that Charlotte looked best pleased about it. Hard to be, when Cian could break her spells with a single gesture.

Leomaris was left with Instructor Moon. Much as he feared his own situation, he knew he had to pull something off, something that would swing this in their favour. Left unchecked, Cian alone could be a right handful.