Young Master's PoV: Woke Up As A Villain In A Game One Day

Chapter 320: A Demon, A Bird, And A Swordsman Fell From The Sky

Meanwhile, Juliana’s dual swords clashed with Vaeghar’s claws in a rapid exchange of sparks and deafening sonic booms... until he folded space and vanished.

Juliana quickly hopped back several paces and swung her wakizashi behind her with the full force of her newly ascended body.

SWOOSH—!!

It cut through nothing but empty air.

At a glance, it looked like a wasted swing.

It wasn’t. It would help her later.

For now, though, she felt a presence — something heavy like a mountain plummeting toward her from above.

Juliana craned her back to see Vaeghar’s towering figure dropping from the sky.

Space buckled around him as gravity itself seemed to bend out of his way, his massive frame plunging down with murderous intent, his claws drawn back like executioner’s blades.

Juliana turned and ran, pushing herself to get out of the impact zone as fast as possible.

BOOOOM—!!

The caldera floor convulsed, and lilac water erupted skyward in a massive ring-wall like a reverse waterfall. Vaeghar burst through it, looking every bit a vengeful god, already in motion and already chasing her.

Juliana was fast, but the Moon Eater was on her in the blink of an eye.

So she bent her knees and jumped.

It was the wrong move.

It accomplished nothing.

Vaeghar considered that it might be bait, but he didn’t care. He chose to punish the insolent girl for her mistake and lashed out.

But then her body suddenly started rewinding.

Her upward momentum was immediately cancelled as she dropped back to the ground into the same crouched position she’d jumped from.

Vaeghar’s claws passed harmlessly over her head.

Then she began moving backward, just as fast as she’d been running forward, tracing her steps in reverse motion.

”Wha—!” Vaeghar blinked, visibly thrown off. But he wasted no time in whirling around and giving chase to her once again.

Juliana slid back to the exact point where Vaeghar had crashed down like a meteor moments earlier, before stopping and turning around... presenting her back to him.

For half a split second, Vaeghar couldn’t believe the audacity of this mortal girl. Then he unleashed a furious slash.

His claws tore forward with enough force to peel the air apart... and met steel.

SWOOSH—!! CLANG—!!

Sparks flew as Juliana’s wakizashi caught the strike... in the exact same slash she had made earlier.

Vaeghar’s eyes widened. He realized that the wasted swing from earlier wasn’t a waste at all.

It was an anchor in time.

Since this girl could pause, rewind, and fast-forward her body’s personal timeline, she didn’t need to rely on linear attacks.

She could deal an attack before it had ever connected, so long as she made sure it would do so in the future.

Vaeghar was impressed. By all of them.

The level of skill on display by these human children far exceeded his expectations. And they were still young, still unfinished.

He understood, then, that if— no, when these fledglings ever reached their full potential, most of them would surpass the current protectors of Earth.

The Monarchs.

And to some extent, he was right.

It would happen.

But that story was still far away.

In the present, Juliana canceled her rewind at the exact instant her wakizashi deflected Vaeghar’s claw to the side.

In her other hand, the katana vanished. A rapier replaced it.

Vaeghar’s arm was still being forced inward. And since his massive limb was momentarily displaced, his side was open.

Juliana had created a clear gap in his stance, so she stepped in to capitalize on it.

She twisted her entire body with the momentum of the parry and drove the rapier straight toward the demon’s chest.

Vaeghar had two choices now.

He could tank the blow and crush her with the sheer mass of his larger body, swatting her away like the insect she was. It would be easier.

Or he could—

His lips curved back.

He lunged forward and snapped his jaws shut.

CRUNCH—!!

His teeth bit down on the rapier mid-thrust. Metal screamed as the thin blade was caught between his jagged fangs.

At the same time, his free claw surged toward her exposed side, turning Juliana’s attack on herself as his talons aimed to skewer her clean through.

It should’ve ended there.

...But it didn’t.

Because he couldn’t move. ”Huh...?”

The lilac water around Vaeghar’s feet froze solid. Ice crawled up his body and locked him completely in place mid-motion.

Yes, it was the courtesy of yours truly.

His claw stalled inches from Juliana.

She exhaled in relief, let go of her rapier, and jumped back — all in one motion. Then she yanked a kunai from... somewhere. I don’t know where.

Swiiish—!!

The kunai sped through the air and smashed into the bridge of Vaeghar’s nose with a thunderous crack.

It still didn’t pierce, but it did topple his center of gravity and sent the Eighth Demon Prince crashing onto his back.

Vaeghar grunted and spat aside the mangled remains of the rapier. The thin blade was crushed like a toothpick between his teeth.

But before he could recover any further...

Kevin fell face-first onto his skull, his beaks and wings and sheer vindictive mass colliding with a wet, vicious splat.

That gave Juliana enough time to dash past the Moon Eater, scoop up Kang, and follow after us into the cavern.

Vaeghar roared as Kevin continued pecking at his face, trying to rip his flesh off out of sheer hatred.

”Get off, you pest!” the Demon Prince bellowed before grabbing the bird and literally tearing him apart in equal halves, hurling both parts aside like trash.

Then, when he looked up again...

Michael was falling down on him this time. His dark sword raised high with layers of screaming shadows churning around it, he brought the Fang of Xaldreth down with everything he had left.

”Oh, come on—” Vaeghar started, throwing his hands up, but it was too late.

THWAAAAAM—!!

The impact shook the entire caldera.

The lilac pond was shoved back beneath Vaeghar for an instant, exposing cracked stone as fractures spiderwebbed outward.

And for the first time since this battle began... Vaeghar’s blood was drawn. He finally bled.

A thin, shallow scratch marred his cheek, leaking a rivulet of viscous black liquid that was blacker than his charcoal skin. It was hard to see, but it was there.

The silence that followed was only broken when the water came flooding back in.

Michael remained standing over the Moon Eater’s massive body, chest heaving and eyes wide as he stared at the mark he’d carved into the flesh of this godlike being.

Then he raised the sword again, but froze.

Because the shadows around his blade were... vanishing. No, not vanishing. They were being eaten.

They were being spiraled into Vaeghar’s open maw like smoke down a drain.

Michael’s instincts screamed at him to retreat, so he did.

...He did the exact opposite.

He dismissed the sword and cocked his fist instead.

”That fool—!” I snapped, yelling at him. ”Idiot, get back here!”

Michael hesitated at the sound of my voice.

When he saw Vaeghar’s mouth stretching wider, ready to suck in his Essence, he clicked his tongue and leapt away, retreating into the cavern just after Juliana arrived with Kang.

Inside, Lily and Vince were carrying Alexia between them toward the far exit on the other side. Her blood soaked their clothes, just as it had soaked mine.

Juliana followed with Kang.

Ray was left for Michael and me.

But the two of us stayed back for a moment, watching as Vaeghar sat up, then looked at us... and smiled.

He rose to his feet and lifted a finger, pointing past us.

I didn’t need to turn to see who he was pointing at.

I just knew it was Alexia.

”Remember what I told you,” Vaeghar said calmly. ”About fate?”

My jaw clenched.

”It can’t be changed. I have tried,” he continued. ”You can alter the path, but the destination will always arrive. The end will always be the same.”

I stomped my foot down again.

A colossal stone fist ejected from the ground and shot toward him like a battering ram.

Vaeghar turned and started walking back toward the center of the caldera, not even acknowledging the incoming attack.

The fist was pulverized mid-flight, reduced to dust by a casual pressure wave.

When the dust settled, he was grinning at us over his shoulder.

I stared back from the cavern entrance, breath short with anger, smeared all over in blood that wasn’t mine but hurt just as much.

”Your life is over, child,” Vaeghar said as he reached the center. The scratch on his cheek had already healed, his ember-like eyes much brighter than before. ”Even if you escape this place, even if you change your fate... you will not have changed anything at all.”