Eternal Villain: I can enslave Reality!

The old man looked at the words on the wall, "Two Weeks."

His heart was heavy with despair. It seemed that Xu Shan had vanished, leaving them with nothing but a glimmer of hope and a ticking clock.

The young girl tried her best to console her father, her voice quivering as she said, "We must hold on for these two weeks, Father."

"Survive two weeks?" The old man wore a smile tinged with self-deprecation. "If only it was that easy. When two weeks are over, nothing will be left here but the ruins. And even if we manage to somehow survive, what then?"

"By two weeks, this whole world would be filled with those bastards. At the moment, their forces are weaker than they would be two weeks later. What if he couldn't defeat them at that time? All this seems like a false hope..."

The old man even wondered if Xu Shan only gave them an excuse because he was scared and wasn't capable of dealing with the enemies? He wondered if he overestimated Xu Shan. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Sighing, he stood up. He felt pathetic that he had fallen at the feet of a cowardly person like that man. In his rage and anger, he made up his mind.

"Even if death is in our fate, I will die fighting..."

He crossed the poison pill under his foot, his eyes brimming with rage. He could die but not be embarrassed.

"If we can survive two weeks, this war will be over..." The young girl spoke, but the old man didn't listen to her.

"Enough about that. You must've suffered a lot, didn't you?" He felt bad for his daughter for everything she went through, but as a father, he couldn't even protect her.

Now that she was back, he wanted to give her a welcome she deserved. Unfortunately, in this heavy atmosphere, it wasn't possible.

He wiped away his tears, and stood with a newfound determination. Even if it was just for his daughter, he was willing to give this war his all. They couldn't afford to lose hope now. They needed to make the most of these two weeks, for their world and their people.

****

As the days passed, the people of this besieged realm fought on with renewed vigor. Unfortunately, before the enemy forces, they kept losing every battle.

With each battle, their numbers decreased even more. The people of this world had realized that they couldn't defeat the enemies with their fighting skills. They needed something more.

They rallied together. Most of the Major Clan Heads had come together at the Alchemy Sect.

The Head of the Alchemy Sect didn't tell them about the two weeks deal. He himself didn't believe that Xu Shan was going to return even if they survived two weeks. He didn't want to give them false hope.

"We're getting slaughtered! Is fighting back even the right decision?! Should we just surrender? At least we can survive!" One of the Major Clan Heads put forth his thoughts.

The room fell silent only to explode in chaos as the other Clan Members resisted the suggestion.

"Surrender to become their loyal dogs? Those bastards killed my entire family! You want me to surrender to them? If you're such a coward, then scream with your tail between your legs!"

Another Clan Head chimed in. "Do you think that life would be better than death? You'll be nothing more than a slave. I would rather choose my dignity over my life!"

"But it's not just your life on the line! How many lives are on the line, even you know! If I had to work as a slave to save millions of innocent lives, then I'm more than willing!"

The group was split in two. One was the group that thought that surrender was better than unnecessary bloodshed as they weren't going to win in the first place. On the other hand, the other group was willing to die rather than surrender to the people who destroyed their world.

The Alchemy Sect Head sat in silence, sighing. They were already weaker than the enemy and even with their limited strength, they had to suffer through infighting.

"I have a plan..." As the argument increased, the old man couldn't stay silent.

He stood up, using some of his aura to make everyone remember who the strongest person here was.

All the Clan Members became silent, looking at the old man.

"What plan?" One of them asked.

The old man turned solemn as he explained his plan. "We are weaker than the enemy. We can't protect ourselves. The more we defend, the weaker we become. So my plan requires us to abandon defense and focus on attack."

"Did you grow senile? How does that make sense? When we aren't even strong enough to save ourselves, how can we be strong enough to attack? How many battles have we lost at this point?" The second strongest person in the room scoffed.

"I know we are weak and can't have a head on battle. But the attack I talk about doesn't involve fighting on the battlefield," the old man spoke.

The other clan heads started paying even more attention. If not on the battlefield, then where?

"I suggest that we create a different team... Team of our best warriors that won't fight on the enemy in our territory. Instead, it'll use a different tactic. It'll be an infiltration force. It will enter the territory controlled by the outsiders and try to assassinate their Strongest Warriors when they least expect it."

"With this tactic, we can distract their attention and slow down their progression."

Although he still didn't trust that Xu Shan was going to return to help them, he still couldn't forget that deal. If only he could delay for two weeks... It was worth the risk. And even if Xu Shan didn't appear, at least they could harm the enemy before their deaths.

His idea was simple yet it was risky, especially for the Warriors who were selected. However, this suggestion made the Clan Heads feel like this could work.

Most of the Clan Heads agreed to try this tactic, especially since the old man gave some concession to the other side. He told the opposing faction that if he couldn't show them results in the next two weeks, he would allow them to surrender.

****

As the natives of this world were forming a plan, Xu Shan was sitting in a tavern in a territory that was already taken over by the otherworldly forces.