The Villain Is Destined to Die: But as the Creator, I know All Endings

—Whoosh! Crackle! Clang! Clang!

As the handful of chimeras launched themselves towards Alice at once, she became wary.

One chimera at a time was alright, but when more than that came running towards her, she knew she was fucked.

"Oh, fuck me sideways!!" Alice cursed, bracing her grip on the scythe's rod.

She bit her lower lip, eyeing all five chimeras.

Positioning the scythe with both hands, she was ready to swing when they came in point-blank range.

"Haah…"

'Alright, it's fine, think of them as just bunnies. Yes, they are just small motherfucking bunnies—'

"KREEAAAAAAAAA—!!!"

They let out an ear-piercing scream, making Alice flinch.

"Fucking hell!"

All five chimeras, with their rotten, mucus-covered hands, extended them toward her. The exposed bones on their fingers were sharp as knives. One hit, and she'd have a hole in her body.

Alice waited for the exact right moment, and just as all the hands reached for her throat, she lifted one of her feet off the ground and spun her entire body counter-clockwise.

Slash–! Slash–! Slash–! Slash–! Slash–!

All ten hands fell to the ground without a sound. But as Alice expected, this didn't stop them, their mangled bodies still pushed forward, jaws snapping for her skin.

'Shit! I can't—!'

Just before a rotten head reached her arm, she heard a long whistling sound cut through the battlefield.

WEEEEEeeeeee—!

The air itself sang. For a moment, time seemed to freeze. Alice blinked once.

All five chimeras attacking her were diced into pieces.

She blinked again. This time, she found herself staring at the back of a young man, his black hair fluttering in the wind.

"Wha–?" Alice was lost for words.

The young man tilted his head slightly, his golden eyes flashing with mischief.

"Thanks for the performance earlier. Now…" his voice rolled across the field, calm yet domineering, "allow me to demonstrate how you kill them with proper etiquette."

Alice's mouth hung open. Then her face twisted, her brows furrowed, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Proper etiquette? What are you, a butler with a sword?" Alice clicked her tongue. "Tch, show-off. I could have handled it all myself."

"Yeah, sure." Leon, ignoring her, shifted his focus to his surroundings.

As the name Black Mountain suggests, the ground beneath Leon's feet was all black. From boulders to small rocks, they looked like black jewels.

The tall mountain in the middle of the zone had many small caves carved all over it. From a distance, it looked like a giant beehive.

Leon could see a few lesser demons stationed at each cave entrance, weapons in hand. Though they looked blurry to him, he could still tell by their build that they were lesser demons.

They weren't attacking, just enjoying the fight.

A mild grin crept across Leon's lips as he traced it with his tongue.

'Should I try Hoshigami Style again?'

Leon thought of using the atomic attack for once, but he quickly rejected the idea.

'Miss Lumina forbade me from using it.' He sighed inwardly. 'I guess I'll have to wait until I return.'

He could channel the unstable mana just fine; the problem was that whenever he tried to throw the strike, it detached from its actual path.

As he was thinking, Leon noticed movement from the chimeras surrounding them.

"Ah, fuck. How many are there?" he muttered.

His thoughts drifted to Alice, standing behind him.

'With her stamina and weapon art, she can handle one or two more chimeras, but…'

There were literally hundreds of them!

Even with Alice, Leon wasn't sure if he could survive if they all attacked at once.

The demons were deploying those chimeras a few at a time, as if they wanted to prolong the fun.

'Good thing Miss Lumina is here.'

Will Lumina handle it if something goes wrong? Maybe.

But that didn't mean Leon could become reckless. He needed to do it himself without her involvement.

He didn't know why, but he wanted to show her what he could do.

'I really hate this feeling.'

Baang–!!

A loud bang, like rock colliding with metal, echoed across the mountain zone.

Leon turned his attention to the source.

Just eighteen feet above, a demon with an unnatural animal build slammed his steel shield against the cave wall behind him.

Baang–!! Baang–!! Baang–!!

Sparks scattered, and the sound thundered like war drums. As soon as the shield rang, a hurdle of twenty chimeras surged forward, charging straight toward Leon and Alice.

"What?" Alice's eyes widened. She noticed it too.

"Don't tell me that fucker is ordering them."

A lesser demon.

As the name suggested, they were the lowest ranked among all demons.

Weakest in raw attack power, lacking refined skills, and with intelligence barely higher than beasts. They could mimic commands and act in packs, but nothing more.

The easiest way to distinguish a lesser demon was its animal build. Half-wolf, half-bear, sometimes even a twisted mix of reptilian scales with fur sprouting across their backs. Some were so deformed they looked like nightmares stitched together from different monsters, just like chimeras, but instead of humans, it was animals.

"Kekekeke!"

"Kekeke!"

"Kekekeke!"

A hideous laugh rang out as the lesser demon banged its shield again.

Its beastly mouth spread wide, and its animal-like eyes glowed red. It looked at Leon with mockery, like a predator amusing itself before biting down on its prey.

"…"

Leon didn't say anything. He simply stared back at it, his gaze cold and deadly.

The lesser demon's laughter faltered midway. Its grin froze, and its breath caught as Leon's golden eyes lingered on it. It saw something in those golden gazes.

"Ke…uuee."

It let out an inaudible croak and quickly shut its mouth. The earlier mocking laugh died in its throat.

"Alice," Leon called, not moving his eyes away from the demon. "Can you handle two more?"

Alice sneered, clicking her tongue. "Oh please, I can do five… only if they come one by one."

At least she was honest.

Leon noted her words and nodded.

"Alright, here's what I plan to do."

He lowered his voice, quickly explaining his thoughts while the twenty chimeras advanced.

Alice listened without interruption.

By now, she knew his plans were always spot-on. The bastard was irritating, smug, but rational to a terrifying degree. Even in moments like this, surrounded by monsters, he spoke calmly, breaking down steps like a strategist moving chess pieces.

Alice didn't bother asking how he could think so clearly. She had already decided: If he made a plan, she'd follow.

"Alright, I understood," Alice replied, shifting her scythe to her left hand, readying her stance. Then she raised a brow at him. "But… are you sure they'll fall for it?"

Leon finally turned his head, his eyes glinting faintly.

He didn't answer directly. Instead, he gave her a smug look, lips curling into a grin and winking at her.

"It will be fine."

Alice clicked her tongue again, muttering under her breath. "Smug bastard…"

But she didn't argue further. "Alright, here I go!"

Alice bent her knees, gripping her scythe tight. With one strong kick she launched herself half into the air, her scythe spinning with her momentum. This time she accumulated mana at the blade's edge, just as Leon told her.

The violet steel groaned, vibrating under the strain of her pure fire affinity.

She adjusted her posture midair, thighs snapping like springs to generate torque, and then…

BAAAAAMMM–!!

The scythe slammed into the middle of the hurdle of chimeras. A loud explosion ripped through the zone, the blast force equal to a stick of dynamite. Flames swallowed the chimeras whole, their grotesque bodies engulfed in orange and black.

The impact sent a shockwave across the ground, throwing rubble in every direction. Even the ground shook.

Many chimeras were engulfed by the blast, their bodies mangled, arms and legs blown clean off. But they were not dead. The twisted monsters still crawled forward, limbless, dragging themselves, regenerating.

Smog spread thick, choking the battlefield. Dust and smoke covered everything, making it impossible to see clearly.

Alice's landing point vanished inside the cloud. Even Leon couldn't trace her for a moment.

The lesser demons stationed above went wide-eyed. Their jaws hung open, their mocking laughter frozen in their throats as they watched the battlefield turn into chaos.

Then the smog began to clear.

And…

Alice was gone.

She was not there where she had landed.

"Kaaak—!"

A painful animal scream echoed across the mountain wall.

Every lesser demon's eye snapped upward.

On the eighteenth-foot ledge, the very demon who had been banging its shield against the stone now had a purple scythe pierced straight through its skull. Blood gushed down the wall like spilled ink.

And behind it stood Alice.

Her figure emerged with the smoke, cold and ruthless.

She had used her short-distance teleportation skill to reappear behind the beast, taking advantage of the moment when their eyes were still locked on the smog.

With one fluid motion, she slid her blade out from the skull.

"He was right," Alice muttered coldly, flicking the blood off her scythe. "You really are a bunch of retarded creatures."

Leon smiled faintly as he witnessed the scene. His golden eyes narrowed with amusement.

"Well," he whispered to himself, "no wonder the players liked her."

.

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[A/N: Alright, this arc ended in the latest privilege. Let's move on to Academy Arc next. Also, support me with Golden tickets and Power stones!! Thanks, if we cross 100 PS today, I will update 2 more chapters next.]