Young Master's PoV: Woke Up As A Villain In A Game One Day
Chapter Summary
The fact that I was able to keep up with him at all was solely because my battle experience was so much higher than Jake's that, even with Asmodeus feeding him tactics, strategies, and timing — he just couldn't keep up. He could mimic my fighting style and use my own moves against me. He straddled my torso, his knees pinning both my arms just like I'd done to him — and raised his dagger high over my chest.
It was all according to my plan.
The thing is — I knew fighting Jake head-on in my current condition would be a problem.
He had an ancient — downright mythical — entity on his side, constantly whispering in his ear, telling him what to do and how to counter my moves.
On top of that, he was in much better shape than I.
And he could also use a special Essence Circulation Technique that was similar to Michael's and mine.
That's why he was able to punch way above his weight.
The fact that I was able to keep up with him at all was solely because my battle experience was so much higher than Jake's that, even with Asmodeus feeding him tactics, strategies, and timing — he just couldn't keep up.
He could mimic my fighting style and use my own moves against me.
But experience is not something you can copy.
It has to be earned.
Still — experience alone wasn't enough to tip the battle in my favor.
I needed something more.
I needed Jake to stop listening to Asmodeus.
But how could I possibly make him do that?
Simple.
Get him angry.
So angry that he'd stop thinking rationally.
So angry he'd tune out that demonic voice in his head and fight like a rabid animal — not a puppet being pulled by a nigh-godlike deity.
I needed to drown his logic in fury.
And I did just that.
As pathetic as it may sound, I knew all Jake ever wanted in life was validation.
If I denied him that, he'd lose his fucking mind.
So I spoke exactly the right words, showed exactly the right amount of disdain, and manipulated his emotions with such ease that it was almost pitiable.
Almost.
He charged at me, opening the attack by unleashing a devastating beam of crackling violet energy.
I dove to the side to dodge it.
And when I looked up, Jake surprised me again with his speed.
In the split second it took me to recover my footing, he was already there.
Right in front of me.
Before my sluggish mind could react, he whipped his leg in an arc and landed a snapping roundhouse kick.
My jaw took the full brunt of it.
The world spun.
I was flung to the side a few feet and hit the ground hard, shoulder-first, the breath knocked clean out of my lungs.
For a moment, all I felt was nauseating dizziness.
But I couldn't afford to stay down.
So I jumped to my feet…And once again, Jake was immediately on me.
He slashed at my chest with his obsidian dagger, but I whirled aside, narrowly avoiding the strike.
Then I began stepping around him, circling just outside his reach, letting him tire himself out with wild swings.
I kept my steps measured and light, baiting him with every breath.
Then I stopped.
Just far enough for his dagger to barely reach me.
Jake's eyes flared.
And he took the bait.
With a grunt, he lunged — thrusting the dagger at my face with all the anger and desperation he'd been bottling up since this fight began.
Exactly what I was waiting for.
I pivoted inward — letting the blade slip past me — then gripped his wrist and yanked him forward.
His body lurched off balance as I twisted my hips.
And with a clean judo throw, I hurled him over my shoulder like a sack of flour.
Jake was airborne for all of half a second — but the impact that followed was brutal.
His back slammed into the cracked stone floor, leaving him gasping and reeling.
He rolled twice to get away before coming to a stop — violently coughing, dazed, and spitting blood as he tried to get back up.
But I didn't expect that to keep him down for long.
So before he could fully regain control of his body, I dashed toward him at full speed.
Jake had just gotten back onto one knee when he looked up—And all he saw was me.
Rushing straight at him.
His eyes widened just enough for him to register what was about to happen, then——Baaam!!
I slammed shoulder-first into his midsection with every ounce of momentum I had mustered.
He gasped — all the air he'd managed to gather back into lungs was knocked out again in a single strangled grunt as I speared him.
But this wasn't just a simple tackle.
No.
This was planned.
Because behind Jake… there was a gaping hole in the wall.
The same hole I'd been crashed through earlier when this fight started.
And now, it was going to serve as our exit.
I let my momentum carry both of us forward until we burst through the hole, limbs tangled, my shoulder still buried in his gut.
The weathered floor vanished from beneath our feet as we tumbled over the edge.
The crumbling concrete walls around us were replaced by open air and cold night wind.
We plummeted together in a blur of blood and flailing limbs… before slamming into the pavement two storeys below.
—THWAAAM!!
The impact cracked stone.
My body bounced and rolled a few paces away.
Dust erupted into the night like a burst of smoke.
And for a moment, everything was still.
Except for the faint sound of groaning.
And the slow, shaky rise… of me.
•••"Agghh!
" I winced in pain as I forced myself to my feet after a while.
Since I'd used Jake's body to cushion the fall, I wasn't as hurt as I could've been.
But still, I looked at my right shoulder — and found it dislocated.
"Of course," I clicked my tongue, somewhere between a cry and a curse.
In front of me, barely five steps away, Jake lay sprawled on the cracked pavement.
His dagger had slipped from his grasp, fallen just out of reach.
He was thrashing feebly with his left hand, trying to grab it, but the rest of his body wouldn't move.
His fingertips clawed at the concrete, scrabbling for the hilt like a dying man reaching for his last breath.
Pathetic.
He wasn't even crawling — just twitching in place.
From the look of it, he had multiple cracked ribs and a fractured right leg twisted at an unnatural angle.
He was trying to look furious and determined.
But he looked like roadkill.
I shook my head and stepped closer.
Before he could close the last inch to his weapon, I dropped one knee on his arm, and the other on his opposite shoulder — pinning him down as I mounted him.
He whimpered.
And it was music to my ears.
Then, unceremoniously, I raised my one good arm — and started hammering his face with my fist.
—Thwam!
Jake's head bounced against the pavement.
He choked on his own breath.
Then I punched him again.
—Thwam!
A tooth broke.
His eyes rolled.
Blood splattered up my forearm.
I didn't stop.
—Thwam!
Then again.
And again.
And again.
Even after my knuckles began to sting…I kept hammering him — one blow at a time, grinding his face deeper into the blood-slick road beneath us.
His cries.
His broken gasps.
His pathetic grunts — all of them drowned beneath the wet sound of flesh thudding on flesh… bone breaking on bone.
"In hindsight…" I muttered, my voice barely audible between blows, "this was my fault.
"—Thwam!
"I should've been more thorough.
"—Thwam!
"I should've been more cautious.
"—Thwam!
"I should've killed you at the slightest suspicion.
"—Thwam!
"I left a loose end.
"—Thwam!
"And other people paid the price for it.
"—Thwam!
"I should've—!
"My fist suddenly froze mid-air.
Because the night around us bloomed into light.
The dark sky above the Night Sanctuary exploded into a corona of white as hundreds, maybe thousands, of radiant beams shot upward like pillars of pure light.
And in that instant — I knew.
I knew Selene had begun the evacuation.
She was teleporting people out of here.
The massacre had ended.
…Unfortunately, I forgot my fight hadn't.
My momentary distraction lasted only a second.
…But a second was all Jake needed.
He wrenched his arm free from under my knee and snatched the obsidian dagger with bloodied fingers.
My eyes snapped down — but by then, it was too late to react in any meaningful way.
His blade slashed across my face.
I turned my head just in time, but the obsidian still grazed my cheek — mere inches from taking my left eye.
I flinched with a hiss, momentarily blinded by the sting.
And Jake used that moment to curl his left leg and kick me in the chest with every ounce of strength he had in him.
I was shoved back hard.
My heel caught on a jagged stone, and I tripped — my dislocated shoulder crashing into the rubble as I fell flat onto my back.
"Gahhh—!
" I gnashed my teeth and bit down on the scream.
Agonizing as it was to move, I tried to rise—But Jake had already jumped on top of me.
He straddled my torso, his knees pinning both my arms just like I'd done to him — and raised his dagger high over my chest.
I barely managed to wrench my left arm free and throw it up to shield my neck.
—Squelch!!
The dagger came down and pierced straight through my wrist.
A guttural snarl ripped from Jake's throat as he pressed down harder.
"DIE!!
DIE!!
DIE!!
" he howled — his eyes wild with savage glee, his bloodied and deformed face distorted into a frenzy of hate.
I clenched my jaw and strained to push back — but I was losing.
The obsidian blade kept creeping downward.
Closer to my throat.
Closer.
Until I felt its cold edge touch my skin.
And draw blood.
…This was it.
I genuinely thought I was going to die.
…But I wasn't going to die alone.
"Aurieth!
" I rasped, barely able to shape the name.
And like a loyal hound answering its master's call… it came.
My precious sword came.
My will — frayed by pain and dulled by exhaustion — still managed to pull it to me.
Aurieth tumbled through the hole we had fallen from — spinning end over end in the air… falling fast.
Jake didn't even see it.
His bloodshot eyes were locked on me — rabid, blind with rage.
All he saw was the dagger he needed to plunge in my throat.
He pressed down harder.
And I fought back harder still, mustering every last shred of resistance I had left, eyes locked on the falling sword.
Aurieth was just a breath away from skewering his heart when——FWOOOOOSH!!
Our bodies lit up in a blinding white glow.
My vision instantly went black.
And then — I lost consciousness.
At the same time, both of us disintegrated into incandescent motes of light that burst upward into the sky like stars falling in reverse.
Jake's dagger never reached my neck.
My sword never reached his heart.
We vanished as if we'd never been there.
…Aurieth fell a split second later and struck the ground where we'd been — its golden blade biting nothing but stone.