While Alastor was ‘dealing’ with Astrea, Ikarus was fighting against the ruler of Malatas, the elf king Aldol. While Aldol had received the power of a demon lord, he has never had any training in combat in his life, leaving him rather clumsy in his fighting style and inexperienced.

“” The young man shot a disintegrating ray of dark energy toward the celestial. Using her translucent wings, Ikarus gracefully evaded the laser and dived toward Aldol.

“” white flames spiralled around Ikarus before throwing itself onto the air and exploded into a rain of fire covering the entire area. The particular thing about the white flame was that it only damaged those Ikarus deemed as evil, in other words, her enemies. In addition, the flame healed her allies in the surrounding area, making it particularly effective when fighting group against group.

“” As the fire reached up to Aldol, a dark barrier adorned with myriad of light dots of different intensity which looked like stars in a night sky englobed his body and protected him from the fire. The problem was if it was a normal fire attack, the shield would be more than enough. However in this case, the white fire, as if it was alive, began to move toward Aldol and engulfed the shield like it was devouring it.

All types of barriers were only good for protection against one or two attacks. But if the attacks were continuously inflicting damages, eventually the shield would crumble, leaving the user completely vulnerable. And since Aldol wasn’t taught any of that, he has let the white fire blocking all his ways out. With the barrier beginning to crack and some fire has managed to sneak into it, Aldol was being burned from inside his own barrier. If he cancelled the barrier to get away, he would be burned to death by the rest of the fire. Yet if he stayed here, he would still be burned to death anyway.

“”

…..

Ikarus couldn’t see Aldol in those fires. The barrier has vanished yet where was his body? He couldn’t have turned to ashes that quick. Without any other way, she decided to approach where the barrier was. There was nothing, nothing inside that. Where was he?

“YOU BITCH” A hand appeared from behind Ikarus and punched her, throwing her off to the side. The rest of Aldol began to manifest itself as he walked toward her. His ability allowed him to slip into the cracks of dimensions and manifested himself back in another location. It worked in a similar way to Alastor’s dimensional magic circle; only, Aldol could actually saw what was happening in the real world even when he was in a crack.

The punch was quite straight forward but powerful enough to make Ikarus groaning in pain. But she didn’t give up yet. The gem on Ikarus’ spear now switched to a sapphire colour and allowed her to follow with a completely different type of attack. “”

In an instant, giant blocks of ice appeared out of thin air and fell onto where Aldol was. She made sure that he was definitely crushed this time. He didn’t have enough time to use that weird spell he did like before. That she was sure. Now Ikarus could only hope that was enough to beat him.

The mountains of ice began to crack and crumbled. Aldol was still alive, injured but alive. And he was very angry.

“You…you hurt me. I swear I will kill you in the most painful way you could imagine.” Aldol raged. “But I will have my fun first! ”

A tremendous force fell down onto Ikarus, smashing her against the ground. She felt so heavy that she couldn’t even lift a finger even though she was trying her best to move away.

“Again! ”

Blood began to leak from her mouth. It seemed that the last attack has damaged the celestial internally.

“Again! ”

The crater was even deeper and bigger now. Ikarus could barely hold her consciousness anymore. And her wounds were getting more and more opened. At this rate, if she would not die by the heavy weight then she would die from blood loss.

“And now, I will crush each of your bones, one at a time. For hurting me, I will let you have a taste of what hell is like. And when I finally have my fun, I will kill you in front of that brat who dared oppose me. It makes me wonder what he would do: crying out your name as I smash his skull? Begging for the sweet release of death for the both of you? Hahahahaha!”

“You..piece…of…shit….Just….you….wait! …Alastor….will….never…lose…to the likes of you.” Ikarus uttered with all her strength. It was a wonder how she could even move her mouth under that pressure.

“Your persisting attitude is annoying…..I changed my mind. I will kill you now and toy with your corpse in front of him. So now DIE!”

‘Alastor’ Ikarus thought about her beloved. The fear she was feeling….was it fear for her own life? No…it was fear for being separated from him? What would it be like when you were dead? Were you still conscious or would you fade away into nothingness? If the answer was the later, then perhaps it was for the best. For she could not handle being conscious of the fact she would never see Alastor ever again. Closing her eyes, Ikarus prepared herself for the inevitable.

…..

“Hohoho, we can’t have that, can we?”

…..

Nothing happened. Ikarus re-opened her eyes. She was still alive. What was even more surprising was that she no longer felt the pressure on her anymore. Raising her head to confirm it, she looked at Aldol. The elf king had a dismayed expression. He himself could not understand what was happening.

“My..my powers….it’s gone. Why can’t I use it? Why?” Aldol muttered.

Suddenly the sky brightened as a surge of power appeared on the sky in the direction where Alastor and Astrea went to. A short moment later, a dark portal opened with the court mage walking out of it.

“We are retreating, Aldol!”

“Astrea….I can’t use my power anymore….”

“We will take care of that later. Now we have to go!” Astrea grasped onto the confused Aldol and dragged him to the portal.

“Wait! Where is Alastor? What have you done to him?” Ikarus shouted as loud as she could but her wounds didn’t allow her to do so. “WAIT!”

* * *

A moment later, back at castle of Galahad

The palace has been void of people ever since Aldol took power. They feared for their own lives as one after another disappeared into this man-devouring castle, never to be heard again. So the moment Astrea and Aldol set out to the Whispering Forest, those who were left decided to flee from the castle. Even in the night, Galahad, the city who was renowned to be as bright as day at night time thanks to a magic system that distributed mana throughout the capital and lighting up thousands of crystal orbs, was now plunged into darkness. But it was not like everyone has left. Many people were still there, hiding in their homes but they had to turn off the light, to avoid being ‘spirited away’ by the kidnappers who lurked in the streets at night.

Yet there were still some noises coming from inside the palace. The owners have finally returned from war and judging from the sound, it didn’t end well.

“DAMN IT ALL!” Astrea shouted as she overthrew the candle stand in front of her. “My plan! My research! All that for what? For what * hic hic*?” A strange liquid fell on her cheeks. Tears? Tears coming from the Avatar of Spite? How could this be? She wondered. Just where did she do wrong for things to become like this? Betrayed by her father, the only person she cared about. Everything she had done was for him, at least in her point of view, so why did he do that? And now one of the six Gods has shown themselves to hunt her down. Even from here, she could feel their presence coming closer and closer to the capital. At this rate, Elemyr would arrive in just a few minutes.

Odium could try to run but where would she go? And most importantly why did she need to run anyway? She has dedicated her entire short life in this place so that one day, she could receive love, love from her creator. The moment he said he was proud of her, that she was his daughter. That day would never come. Odium understood that. She no longer had any reason to continue this miserable life. If death was coming for her, then she would welcome it. But not before she made her mark on the world.

“Astrea….” The elf king watched her in awe. Aldol has never seen the sorceress being so….emotional like this before. The fearful court mage who held the entire kingdom under her palm was now crying like a little girl who has just been refuted by her father. Aldol didn’t know what happened between Alastor and Astrea but clearly the two had some kind of history together. At least that was what he thought.

The elf king, all alone without his people, was powerless to do anything anymore. For some reasons he lost his power. And without his army, his demon lord’s power, what would he be? A hollow deviant shell who only knew how to kill people weaker than him. Was this how he would be remembered? Not as the villainous tyrant he thought he would be but a weakling who couldn’t do anything by himself? That thought terrified him deeply.

No…he still had something else: Eve the mermaid. She was still down in the dungeon, waiting for him. Surely she would accept him for who he was. He treated her so well didn’t he? He didn’t hurt her. He didn’t kill her. He fed her every day. Yes! She must have loved him. That must be it.

Deep in his thought, Aldol didn’t realize that he was so disillusioned by that thought that perhaps the truth about him was quite different. He didn’t need love. No he wanted something else. Control, that was what this was all about. To have someone obey him unconditionally. And what would be better than a mermaid who knew nothing of the world outside but him? That way, she could never leave him.

Suddenly, sound of footsteps echoed in the court hall. Despite the fact there was no light here, something was illuminating in this darkness. The Goddess Elemyr has come for Odium.

“What do we have here? Two ugly creatures who have lost their way and ended up being swallowed by their own darkness? Such a fitting end for miserable beasts like yourselves.” The godly figure spoke. “When I first came into this world, I was shocked. I could feel the corruption taken hold of my children and it took me a while to figure out its source: their very own leaders. And all because of that sludge.” She pointed toward Astrea. “But you too shared the blame, my child, for letting it controlling you. The sins you committed, nothing could ever undo what you have done. Therefore, in the name of Celestia, I give you my verdict: death!”

Light energy focused inside Elemyr as she manifested a luminous orb in front of her and shot it at Aldol. Helpless and powerless, Aldol could only watch as it flew toward his. This warm light, reflecting in his eyes, would be his death.

“”

Odium took out a black crystal gem at the size of her hand, much bigger than the ones used in the war. A red light brimmed from it and released a darkness that consumed the light orb from Elemyr.

“That’s…You dare use it in lord Eden’s world ???” shouted Elemyr in anger the moment her eyes laid on the crystal the sorceress held on her hands.

“Aldol….this is goodbye!” A black portal opened behind Aldol as Odium grabbed the elf and threw him inside before it closed again. “Find a purpose and live!”

With only the two inside this silent deadly hall, Astrea’s body began to melt into a black sludge and reshaped into her original form: a slim and tall figure wearing light armour with a purple veil attaching to the helmet. Raising the gem high as if she was praying to it, Odium spoke.

“Do you know the true nature of the soul? The God Magnus once created a magnificent flame that allowed him to forge the souls of every living being. Together with Eden and Lilith, they created the Primes and later the Demons appeared. But every living being would one day die. The flesh, in the end, is just a physical container for the soul and the life essence only serves as the link between the two. Time could degrade anything, the flesh and the essence but not the soul.

And so I thought: what if we could preserve the soul and later recreate the body, not just any body but the perfect one. One that could withstand the onslaught of time. Essence would be a simple matter. We take it from other beings and refill our own. And then together, the perfect being will be created.

…..

Do you know who do I intend to create first? …..Of course you don’t. You Gods never care about any of us anyway and why would you care about lesser beings than yourselves?

The answer is simple: I want to resurrect my mother Shana.”

“What? Resurrection?” Elemyr uttered.

“When mother died, father was so sad. He wanted to destroy the world. And I too shared that same desire. After all, I was born from a part of him. But would he be happy simply with the world destroyed? I don’t know the answer myself but there was one thing I am sure: Shana will bring him happiness.

But we, his children, were created from the fragments of Shana’ soul. Without us, her soul would never be completed. And so I waited here, continued to find a way to create the perfect body until when the time comes, I would kill my siblings and myself so mother could live once more.

Alas, dreams will remain distant fantasy. Look at me now! In front of the mighty Elemyr, I have no hope of winning…..”

Suddenly, Elemyre could feel the atmosphere in the air changing. A dreadful feeling took over her as the crystal began to shine.

“…But if I am going to die, I will make sure that the world will go down with me, including you.”

The crystal shined even brighter. This amethyst aurora it was emitting glared across the whole room, making the palace illuminating like a beacon in the middle of the night.

“Stop! The miasma isn’t just going to poison the entire land. It’s going to break the fabrics of time and space. The Veil will be broken!!!!”

“….” Odium remained silent.

“Even if you can survive in the Abyss, this much concentrated miasma will kill you instantly.” Shouted Elemyr.

“Why do you think I didn’t cross that portal earlier? Life…is no longer something I care about, as much as everything else. My father has rejected me. I have nothing to live for anymore.”

The crystal’s light has reached its peak. The outside shell of the gem began to crack as an enormous amount of energy seemed to be concentrated inside it, just waiting to be released.

“STOP!”

“Goodbye, cruel world!”

BOUM

…..

…..

…..

This event was later written down as the First Blight. On that day, the world was scarred forever. That day, the name Malatas was erased from the world.

* * *

A moment earlier, inside the dungeon under the castle of Galahad

Aldol has found himself in the undergrounds again. Last thing he remembered was that Odium was trying to save him by pushing him into her portal. Why did she do that? He wondered. Should he go back to save her? How? He didn’t have any power anyway. He would be just a burden.

Standing up, Aldol saw Eve, staring at him for a while by now from beyond the glass wall. Just the usual thing she did. At that moment, Aldol thought perhaps this was why Astrea sent him here, for him to go have a life somewhere else, somewhere with Eve. He has lost everything else so why stay here at all? Maybe he just needed to stay low for a while and one day his power would come back to him. And while waiting for that time to come, Eve would be there to comfort him. ‘That must be it’ he thought.

“Eve, I will get you out of there right now!” Aldol pushed the lever that controlled the water level inside the tank and released all the water. With all the water gone, the glass wall could be opened. And before he took Eve on his arms, he made sure to wrap a wet blanket around her to keep her damp.

The mermaid, during this entire time, remained still. She let Aldol do what he wanted and didn’t struggle or anything. Even when he looked at her naked body, she didn’t shy away. The whole time, her eyes were set on the young king’s face, just like the scene from a fairy tale Aldol once read where a prince rescued a princess and they lived happily ever after. This must be the same situation, thought Aldol.

With Eve firmly in his arms, Aldol decided to go up. However, he could see some kind of black smoke coming in through the gap under the door at the end of the corridor. Miasma…how did it get here? Based on what happened at the woods, he probably could go through it but not Eve. Unlike him, she didn’t have a gem implanted in her so she wouldn’t be able to survive in that thing.

With no other choice, Aldol decided to bear her even deeper in the underground. He remembered that there was a magic circle that Astrea has prepared beforehand in case of emergency. That magic circle could only be used once and would teleport him to outside. The only problem was she didn’t tell him where it would teleport him exactly, only saying that it would be somewhere she considered home.

Rushing down through levels of stairs, Aldol finally arrived at Astrea’s lab. The magic circle was right at the further end. He must hurry as the mist was already right behind him. But what about those? The objects that Astrea spent all those sacrifices to create. They were still here. He wanted to take them with him but unfortunately, the situation didn’t allow it. It was either them or Eve. And since Aldol didn’t know how to use them anyway, he decided to leave them there and perhaps come back later. If this place would to be drown with miasma, no one would be able to take them anyway. Walking into the magic circle, the ring began to shine as his body and Eve’s faded away.

…..

Opening his eyes, Aldol was stunned. Right now, in front of him, was a large body of water. An ocean perhaps? Or a sea? Also, one thing was strange. From the horizon of the sea, he could see land, not land as an island but more like a whole continent. And there was only one sea in the entire world where you could see something like this: the sea between Ragna and Ceadric.

Did the magic circle teleport him that far? But why here? And where was he exactly? Ragna or Ceadric? Well he could ask those questions later. Now, he must let Eve into the water before she dried up. Hopefully she would do well in salt water.

Walking across a bed of sands, he thought about what he would do next. Should he stay here or move on to another location? Wherever it was, it must be nearby a water source for Eve to stay in. And if possible he would prefer something closed in so Eve might not get ‘lost’.

Already a few minutes after letting her out, this man has already thought about keeping her in another cage. The only difference would be the size and perhaps the scenery around it. Could this be considered love? Perhaps, if you looked at it from a certain point of view.

But as he gently put her down into the water, Eve was still looking at him even though he has let go of her. She didn’t try to run away or anything like that. Aldol knew he was right. She loved him, unconditionally. If not, why would she stay still in his arms like this when she could just swim away?

As the moonlight shined upon her smooth pale skin, Aldol was mesmerised by her allure. Has Eve ever looked so beautiful? He knew that she was already beautiful since the moment they met but now she was even more, like a goddess. He wouldn’t mind spending the rest of his life with her. In fact, that was what he was planning to do. He began to imagine what would his future be like? The day he got his power back, he would conquer the rest of the world and bring it to his knees. With a goddess by his side, all men would be jealous of him. He would have everything a man could ever dream of: a beautiful woman, power, everything.

…..

“This is getting boring…”

“What? Who is there? Show yourself!” Aldol shouted. He looked around to find the source of the voice but there was nothing around him, no one but Eve. Could it be her? No…the voice was male and very grave….not human….more like some kind of creature.

“I am so disappointed in you. I guess every actor has to, one day, end his careers.”

A thought resounded in Aldol’s mind. He knew this voice. This was the same as the one who spoke during the battle with that celestial.

“You…You are the one that takes away my power!!!!” Aldol raged. He still searched around for anyone but still nothing.

“Well we can’t let you kill Ikarus like that. She is someone….important to our dear Alastor after all. She can’t die now….not yet anyway”

“Who are you???”

“What’s up with young people these days? You don’t even know the name of the one who gave you that power? Such insolence!”

“What?”

“…Guess I have no choice then. Allow me to present myself: I am Xenes, the Astral Tarragon! And if you are not an idiot, you should know that I am a demon lord and that power you have been using so carelessly belongs to me.”

“Demon lord??? Just what is you planning? Why did you take my power away? If only I had it, I could have saved Astrea!” Aldol shouted.

“You two have achieved the roles that were given to you. Now, the show must go on and I am afraid to tell you that we are letting you go. You are just not…interesting anymore. But worry not! I have found another candidate to replace you.”

“What are you talking about? Who?”

“Did you forget? There is another survivor from that experiment aside from you. And I am not talking about the weird thing you are holding in your hand.”

“You can’t mean…..You chose that bitch instead of me?”

“Don’t misunderstand me, kid! I like you! At first anyway. But then your popularity has…dropped off and after a careful discussion with the others, we have decided that you are no longer necessary to our plan. So….yeah… if you don’t mind, you can kill yourself right now! Or we will do it for you!”

“To hell with you! I am sick of being your pawn. I will decide my own future from now on. Don’t drag me into your plan anymore!”

“WoW! For a moment, you sounded just like Alastor for a second. GOOD! That’s what I was talking about. This…independence from the others. The thrill. The suspense. Romance. That’s what the audience wants. Unfortunately, it’s already too late for you and Odium. It’s time you leave the stage and let the main characters do their performance.

This is goodbye, young Aldol! It was fun while it lasted!”

The moment the voice vanished, Aldol felt a sudden pain in his chest. From the black gem, a black substance spread out and invaded his body. It was killing him. Blood was coming out of his mouth as he tried to get away from the water. If he fell right now, he would drown. But something else was holding him from getting to the land.

“Eve???Wh….what are you doing? Let me go! Or I will…… * vomiting blood*”

The mermaid remained silent. Her two hand were grabbing on his legs tightly. How could she be so strong?

“Eve…le..eet goooo!!!!” Aldol struggled hardly but he fell instead, submerging in the water. As he tried to get up, something was holding his head down, making unable to breathe. He tried to scream as bubbles violently gushed out his mouth.

It ended pretty quickly after that. A lifeless body was floating on the surface on water under the pale moonlight before it was dragging down to the bottom of the sea.

…..

Rumours had it that years from now, fishermen or sailors who travelled the sear around Ragna, would spot a half-fish half-man creature swimming along with their boats. But if you ever heard about its legend, there was something else you should know: never look at its eyes or else you would be dragged into madness as it would bring you down to the bottom of the sea, just like the many men it did before you.