A Villain's Survival Guide

Leomaris’s POV:

’This dude is toying with me.’

A glance around, and Leomaris caught wind of the dire predicament his people were in, Ren and Hazel most of all. He had wanted to end his battle with Instructor Moon and lend a hand. But Instructor Moon only toyed with him.

’It’s strange, though. His creature’s regeneration is top-tier.’

Leomaris put a distance between himself and Instructor Moon, panting heavily as he glanced down at his revolvers. It was a pity, only four bullets at most between both cylinders.

His body screamed in protest, limbs and shoulders especially. The night was growing thick, edging toward morning, and for someone who’d been fighting a life and death situation since dawn without any healing abilities, he was proud of himself for lasting this long.

He knew one thing for certain, though, his remaining bullets weren’t enough to make a dent in Instructor Moon.

With his mind just as spent as his body, he knew he had to make it work somehow.

He charged at Instructor Moon like he didn’t have a brain in his head, and within reach, pulled the trigger, spinning the revolver to give the bullet a ricochet spin.

The creature moved for it, but Instructor Moon went still for a moment, confused. The bullet ricocheted as though it had bounced off the air itself. And yet his body moved regardless, as though taking a gamble.

Leomaris knew the fallen beast was unpredictable. He didn’t waste a moment, another ricochet bullet was already fired.

Even so, the fallen beast’s eyes moved the moment Instructor Moon’s did. It outstretched one arm and blocked one bullet, the other bypassed it entirely, heading straight for Instructor Moon. He vanished and reappeared in less than a second, as though unsummoned and summoned again.

The fallen beast’s jagged hands appeared before Instructor Moon, trying to block, but the trajectory was too unpredictable this time. The bullet tore a chunk of flesh from the beast before leaving a paper cut across Instructor Moon.

Moon was visibly confused, thrown by how the bullet had landed. Leomaris didn’t waste a second, he seized the opportunity immediately.

He concealed his presence and closed in fast. Within reach, he pulled the trigger and, in the same motion, drove a kick at Moon. But a massive pull of gravity dragged him down, crashing him into the ground and killing the bullet with him.

He gritted his teeth in irritation. His face pressed flat against the ground, the force bearing down harder with every second, and still he moved out of its area within seconds.

Once out of the gravity area, he held his knees, panting.

This had gone on for what felt like forever. His bullets were unpredictable by nature, and with a ricochet, made it harder still, but beyond regeneration and gravity, he had no idea what the fallen beast could do. It always found him. Even his concealed presence was useless against it.

"You’ve actually wounded me. The last person to do that was your sister. I guess it runs in the family."

Instructor Moon said, wiping the blood from his face with a handkerchief.

Leomaris sneered behind his mask.

"Why are you speaking highly of my sister when you want her brother dead and her as well?"

Instructor Moon’s expression darkened, confused.

’Wait. Is he not the one?’

Moon took a deep breath and spoke.

"I really expected a lot from you, Jester of the End. The community has a lot to say about the man behind the digital mask. I’ve given you too much time... waiting for you to show me that elusiveness, the bullets that could tear through anything, even Archmage flesh, and a presence that rivals many false entities. You are supposed to be a Philosopher, aren’t you?"

He shook his head in disbelief.

"My patience has run out... I will end this now."

Leomaris was dumbstruck, his expression teetering between confusion and admiration. He knew the underworld had plenty to say about the Jester of the End. He just hadn’t known the man was shrouded in enough conspiracy to be a genuine mystery.

A soft smile found his lips. He didn’t waste a second before murmuring the word.

"Paradox."

A terrifying presence loomed over the arena immediately, enough to bring anyone to their knees. Ally, enemy, and nonhuman alike.

Instructor Moon bore the worst of it, struggling to breathe as though the presence were pulling every breath from his lungs.

His cold blue eyes darted frantically, fixed on Leomaris and nothing else, though he wasn’t certain this was Leomaris anymore.

Leomaris was cloaked in a chilling aura that seemed to have a mind of its own. His clothes had changed entirely to the elegant look of a rebelled noble, and the mask had grown disturbing to look at. The question mark floating within it seemed to stare back, as though trying to devour him whole.

Glad as he was to see Instructor Moon in such a pathetic state, Leomaris was confused by what was happening to his own body. It felt light, he felt more humorous than he wanted, and yet a coldness ran through him that made him feel less human. More apex predator than anything else.

’Something is wrong. Something is definitely wrong.’

—

Charlotte’s POV:

Charlotte felt Leomaris’s presence. So did everyone, Raine, Hazel, and Ren included, even the grotesque rubber-like creature they’d been fighting.

She hadn’t had time to finish Cian before the suffocating presence arrived. It had been enough to knock her out cold, foam forming and all.

’I need to do something. The others are struggling as well.’

Among the lot, only she and the living statue Raine had been fighting were left standing. Her allies were caught up in Leomaris’s presence. She couldn’t leave them to die.

But first, she used the opportunity to seal away as many of their opponents as she could. A few words, and a black cube materialised, roughly ten inches thick and seven feet long.

The cube dragged in three bodies, Cian, the grotesque creature Ren and Hazel had been engaged with, and its master. It closed shut around them, sealed away in a position they might never return from.

Her attention shifted to more pressing matters. None of her allies were on their feet, and even though Raine was still holding her own against the living statue despite being on her knees, weakened more by fatigue than anything else, it wasn’t a favourable position. She needed to do something.

Her mind ran through everything, considering how she could help them all, and then it settled. The tree of life.

It was a tree connected to all the Orthodox, especially to the Lady of the Frozen Veil herself; said to give life, strength, courage, and healing.

She didn’t waste a moment reciting her poems, the words feeling magical, elegant, and beautiful as they left her. They glowed white, floating overhead. Within seconds, they began forming a tree, starting from its roots, pulsing with white light through the ground.

The moment the last leaf shone, the whiteness carved through the darkness, and it was enough to bring all her allies back to their feet.