Raghhh!
With monstrous roars, the villagers turned into monsters and ran, slaughtering everything they saw.
Houses got destroyed, and blood spiked everywhere.
However, none of the monsters stepped into the middle of the city where Mordred was.
Under the dark sky, fire burned the village, making it appear more in an orange color.
Through the fire, the shadow assassin appeared. Walking toward Mordred, he dragged a young man across the ground.
Thud!
Once close, the assassin threw the man in front of Mordred's feet.
"Ah!"
Deroth struggled to keep his head up in front of this man with an otherworldly charm. Just a moment ago, he remembered going to bed and falling asleep, and right after, he was awakened while being dragged through the floor.
"You know,..."
Suddenly, he heard the voice of the man standing in front of him.
"Throughout my journey, I met this man who had a rare ability—to enchant whatever he desired. But despite possessing such a great ability, he still ended up as a thief. A shame, some people really don't know the value of the things they possess."
"Aren't I right, mischievous pixie?"
Mordred gazed at Deroth on the floor. Deroth, in turn, looked at Mordred in horror.
His deepest secret—how did this man know about it?
"How... What are you talking about? What pixie?" Deroth obviously denied it, but at that moment, in front of him, a purple glow appeared, and a tiny flying creature became visible in the space.
"This is new," she said with a sharp and thought-provoking tone as she gazed at Mordred curiously.
Similarly, Mordred's cold gaze landed on her.
In the game's lore, there were two beings: the Benevolent Pixie and the Mischievous Pixie. The two were born together, like a pair of wings, yet with vastly different intentions from one another.
The Benevolent Pixie's intentions are pure and kind, and her ultimate goal is the birth of the Pixie Kind—a goal she has achieved countless times throughout the ages.
The Mischievous Pixie's intentions, however, are cruel and sinister. Her final goal is the birth of the Calamity Kind—the one who would bring forth the apocalypse to the world.
But despite her endless struggle and battles against the Benevolent Pixie throughout the ages, the Mischievous Pixie has never won. If she had, there would be no peace in the world.
Naturally, since the Benevolent Pixie chooses a new successor, that means the old Pixie King's time is coming to an end. And the Mischievous Pixie would once again try to turn the tides.
If I do not appear, Celins would eventually become the successor of the Pixie King and defeat the Mischievous Pixie and her successor—who is drawn right here.
But unfortunately for him… I'm inevitable.
At that moment, the Mischievous Pixie flew closer to Mordred.
"You feel strangely familiar. Your heart... it's not pure at all."
She flew around him as if she had found a valuable treasure for herself.
"You... You make my heart beat faster."
"Then why don't you make me your successor?"
Mordred lifted his finger, which bore a strange-looking ring. Getting closer, the Pixie slowly landed upon it.
"No... You... Don't," struggling words escaped from Deron as he tried to get up and use the anarchic force he had learned from the Pixie. However, as a purple glow appeared around him, it suddenly vanished.
His power had been cut off from its source—the Mischievous Pixie.
"Sit, Deron. You aren't qualified to meddle in," he heard the voice of the Mischievous Pixie. It was cold and emotionless, unlike the alluring way she had addressed him when they met in the forest.
"Once upon a time, when the life of a Chosen One comes to an end, Mischief and Benevolence battle again to reclaim the ownerless throne. After countless years of waiting, that time is finally drawing near. The Benevolent Pixie has already chosen her successor, and I, of course, must choose one as well."
"And your best choice is him?" Taking his eyes away from the Pixie, Mordred gaze at Deron, who lay on the ground.
"At that time, he was my only choice. And if you're requesting to change that, we would have to bend the rules of the world—which is something impossible."
"Then why don't I just get rid of him?"
"..."
The atmosphere fell into silence. Deron weakly lifted his head and looked at the Pixie.
"I don't think you understand the danger you're trying to get into. The two of us Pixies have been battling for countless ages, yet there are only a few records of us in the world. That is the reason I believe you even know about us..." The Mischievous Pixie cast a keen look at Mordred, but he remained silent.
"And why do you think that is? It's because the rules of the world do not allow anyone else to meddle in our affairs. And if someone tries, the consequences would be horrifying."
The Pixie flew off Mordred's hand and circled around him.
"But I'm sure someone like you, who has spoken this way before, wouldn't mind offending the world—or even the still-living Pixie King—would you?" she said mischievously. Truly to test him and provoke him.
"Of course not."
But his response surprised her. And in the next moment, he took out the Gaze of the deep and aim it at Deron, who directly looked into its eye.
The closed eyes in the Gaze of the Deep instantly opened and looked at him like a beast trying to devour.
. . . . . . . . .
Through the forest, Celine walked while observing the surroundings. In front of him walked a large pig, also sniffing around and looking as if trying to find something.
"Looks like it's hopeless. Even after looking around this area, we still can't find him. It seems he has gone past the safe area," saying Celine looked at Pixie.
"Then we should increase the limit of our eyes."
After getting the answer he expected, Celine looked up at the top of the forest, and on one of the tree branches, he saw a beautiful blue bird.
Celine's eyes focused, and the benevolent force channeled through him to the bird.
After a few minutes, the bird obeyed Celine's request and let him use its eyes.
Thuk! Thuk!
Flapping its wings, the bird soared into the sky and looked down at the forest.
However, its vision of the forest is not clear of the snow fallen the other day still remains on top of some large trees.
While flying, Celine on the ground heard a thundering sound. Out of curiosity, he looked around at the clouds and saw dark clouds in the far distance. At the same time, he also saw dark smoke rising to the clouds from the direction of his village.
"What's going on?"
The birds flew toward the direction of the village, and Celine saw it drowned in destruction and chaos.
Suddenly, Celine on the ground opened his eyes. Because of the sudden disconnection from the bird, he felt a weakness all over his body and fell to the ground.
"What's happening?" Pixie asked curiously.
"The village, it's in danger."
. . . . . . . . .
Standing on a branch of a large tree, Celine's gaze at the village that was burning and being destroyed. However, with the distance he had, he still couldn't clearly see the picture of what's happening.
"Act calm, Celine, this is a test from my opposite and also a trap to lure you. If you act reckless, she will end you."
"But my parents are in that village, Pixie. What do you want me to do, just stay here and watch them die?"
"As far as I know of my opposite, she would not choose to harm your family. She would keep them as hostages until you show yourself infront of her, then she will use them to weaken you."
Hearing her, Celine's mood became more depressed. However, after looking at the burning village, he regained some of his calmness.
"I need to see what's happening inside."
"Didn't I just say you can't go in there?"
"I won't, but somebody else will."
With a roar, a monster grabbed an old man and bit off his head, instantly ending his life. Blood flowed from the beast's mouth as the monster continued to chew on the remains of the old man.
Up in the sky, a tiny bird flew in the sky, observing all that was happening.
Seeing the destruction, the bird continued to fly until it came to the center of the city, where it saw a few figures on the ground standing completely fine, without any monster rushing at them.
"There's a human in the middle of the city, completely unharmed by anything."
In the forest, Celine murmured with his eyes closed.
"That should explain who's the culprit for this destruction. He should be the one chosen by the mischievous Pixie."
After observing them, the bird flew in the direction of Celine's house. There, he saw his house destroyed, and he didn't see any of his family members.
"There's no lifeless body; maybe what Pixie said is true."
Flying into the house, the bird went to the destroyed Celine's room and searched around for a few seconds before it found the fruit of the Stangra.
"I found it."
"Let the bird grab it carefully, do not disturb it. If we need to face off against my opposite's candidates, you need a decent weapon at least," Pixie instructed Celine from aside.
After the bird located the fruit, it carefully grabbed the fruit with its legs and flew into the sky.
It flew back through the air above the burning village and passed the middle of the city.
At the moment near where Mordred is, the long-beaked bird, which had been staying nearby upon a destroyed roof of a house, saw the tiny bird flying with a berry-colored fruit.
Caw!
With a scream, it flew into the sky and rushed toward the tiny bird, colliding with it.
Hearing the noise in the sky, Mordred looked up and saw the two birds fighting to save the fruit.
Although it appeared ordinary to anyone's eye, Mordred saw the secret hidden within.
"Familiar scene, how interesting. It really is one weird ability but very good in gathering information. If it were anyone else, they would surely be ignorant."
However, I played this game before. So there's pretty much nothing a hero could hide from me. Well, except for the development they take from going down a different path than in the game lore.
Looking at the two birds struggling to get hold of the Stangra fruit, Mordred stayed patient. He showed no interest in snatching the fruit for himself.
Tch!
"Shake it off, shake it off!" Pixie screamed beside Celine as he also struggled.
"Should I cancel my vision? It would give the bird more visibility."
"Don't. At the moment, we need every bit of information we can get. If we cancel the vision and somehow the bird doesn't return, we don't know what would happen to the Stangra fruit," Pixie alarmed.