Let it known that Rem, in the crudest term, never gave a fuck about anyone feeling.

He smashed the brick on Melody’s face, leaving the demoness bruised and bleeding down her busted lips. If Melody counted on her national-grade beauty to save her from Rem, she was in for an immense disappointment. Rem gave as much fuck for the face worthy of Ms. Universe as he gave about feelings.

At that moment, Remus Breaker hosted an avatar of an infamous image-board’s most helpful arseholes — judgmental, nasty, but genuinely wanted to help.

“STOP!!!”

Ebony rushed in. For her, the brawl was a hard pill to swallow. The savagery was appalling even for the Demonic Continent. Even the demons avoided the face. Most considered slapping a beauty’s face shameful. But exploding a tear gas in their mouth then bashed them with a brick? Even Aztellic Empire didn’t get that low.

“Don’t tell me you are surrendering?” Rem replied sarcastically. “Did that unyielding confidence in your girl vanishes with your house. Don’t give up. Maybe [Heavenly Eye] have an anti-brick function? No? Okay, easy-mode then. Anyone mind exchanging the brick for a plank of wood.”

Melody wanted to shove his insult back into his mouth, but Rem got both her legs pinned, not to mention her broken arms.

Ebony’s hand blazed

“Excellent,” Rem groaned sarcastically. “You beat up the daughter, and mommy come to the ring. Should I be expecting Majesty’s ghost after I floor you? Pathetic. The once-mighty Solarmaria Clan reduces themselves to bully a pubescent teen over hurt feelings. What are you? CNN? Your husband must be squirming in his grave.”

“You don’t understand a damn thing!” Melody furiously tried to rise, but Rem dismissively dropped the brick on her.

“Lame,” Rem said. “Lame beyond all comprehension. I know a gay priest who said that phrase when an insignificant kid beat the shit out of him after he reset the universe. At least, I will give you credit for the JoJo meme.”

“Let her go,” Ebony said. After the disastrous string of defeat, she knew taking Rem in wordplay was suicidal — better keep it simple.

“What will you do then?” Rem mocked. “Burn my head off? That only proves my point on how you will burn the world. You are not a victim, Ebony. You are the future culprit.”

Ebony stepped forward to throw a punch before realizing the truth. There was no path to victory. If she threw a punch, Rem would forever be an unsurpassable shadow for Melody. An embodiment of an unyielding victor, a symbol for his comrade to rally against her.

Melody’s only path to victory was conceding defeat and trying again. As long as Rem lived, Melody could erase this humiliation by beating him in a rematch.

But…

“Ma,” Melody managed. “Don’t mind me. Take the shot and wipe that smile from his face.”

Ebony’s heart sank. She finally realized what Rem noticed in Melody.

Melody Solarmaria never lost her entire life. Her flawed pride came from standing above those below her. In contrast, Rem prided himself on his ideal and the obstacle he overcame to achieve it. A demoness carried the same pride as those who butchered her father. Meanwhile, the human walked proudly under the beauty of his vision.

One was pure arrogance, and another was glory in all its meaning.

Rem lifted his foot from the demoness’ legs, and turned toward Ebony, opening himself to the attack.

“Take the shot,” Rem demanded. “Your tormentor will do it. Your daughter will do it. Surely, a savage like you can do it too. Look in my eyes and roast me like a monster you are.”

Ebony hesitated.

The fire flickered.

Melody watched with expectation, but then her smile faded. She never saw her mother looked utterly defeated until that moment. It was an expression fill with guilt.

Finally, the flames faded. Ebony hunched and dispiritedly sighed as Rem walked past her. The greatest craft-master in Phantasia failed, not from magical power or physical might, but from an ideological truth. She successfully created a candidate for the greatest of empresses, but failed to raise a wise daughter. It was the mistake repeated throughout Aztellic’s history, and Rem had proved that, once again, they learned nothing.

Behind her, Rem managed a few steps before swaying alarmingly.

Sensing the danger, Luxinna rushed to catch Rem as he fell. As the elf caught him, Rem’s mind sank into another battle. A war he won time and again, but never achieved victory.

…

“How is Rem doing,” Luxinna asked Cytortia.

The house was in ruin. That last attack ensured the abode would be missing half its rooms and the roof. Luxinna sat on the dust-covered table, gazing at the goddess crawling out of a tent they set. The camping experience was haunting for Luxinna. Cytortia nearly set the tent on fire twice despite fire not being involved.

“Burst blood vessels, fractured right arm, muscles torn in several spots, and 3rd-degree burns,” Cytortia explained. “This is the worst injury I ever healed. Melody didn’t hold back at all during their fight.”

Both girls looked to their right.

Rem got battered, but Melody met a worse fate for her pride: utter humiliation.

The reinforced brick in the face did a number on her cheekbone. Rem’s attack on her [Heavenly Eyes] didn’t affect her in the long run, but it left Melody seeing double. The teargas in the mouth would wreck her taste bud for weeks. Yet, the injury from the house-made those ailments sounded peachy.

Considering this, Cytortia, being the generous soul, wrapped the demoness from head-to-toe in bandages soaked in a healing solution so powerful it left Melody screeching in pain. The goddess also applied a specialize gauze with even stronger remedies over her eyes and mouth.

Thus, the current Melody resembled more of an immobile cucumber of bandages tied to the bed than a person.

“Mmmm,” Ebony complained.

Dr. Cytortia was not amused.

“No! Right now, you need rest, a humble pie, and more lecture from Rem!” the doctor shouted at her squirming patient. “If you reopen your wound, I will go Rem on your ass and bury you under another house, before patching you again without anesthetic. Do you understand?”

The squirming stopped.

“I will go Rem?” Luxinna looked at Melody with a teasing expression. “Did Rem just become a verb?”

“Yes,” Cytortia declared, showing the elf her notebook. “I have been keeping records!”

“Record?” Luxinna glanced at the goddess in disbelief. “We have a record?”

“Of course,” Cytortia handed the elf her notebook. “Here!”

Luxinna took the notebook, flipped it open, and balked.

“Cy, I never kept a record before, but I’m sure recording doesn’t involve stickmen and scribbles string together with a red pen. What with a triangle and pony? Plus, what with these curses threw at Chuang Tianshang and description of Rem kicking my behind.”

“What?” Cytortia read her bizarre language in outrage. “The triangle is Rem. The pony is you under Paracis’ corruption. My noting is perfect!”

Luxinna gave up.

“Okay, so Rem and Luxinna are out. What about us?”

“I don’t know,” Cytortia said. “Today event reminded me of one particular person.”

“Who?”

“LinLey,” Cytortia said. “Melody reminded me of her.”

Melody started listening at the mention of her name.

“She is the Heavenly Daughter of Water, right?” Luxinna said.

“Yes,” Cytortia said. “I once asked how did she betray people without thinking. LinLey laughed in my face, claiming she will be the apex of Queens. Compare to her ambition, plights of mere mortals are worthless. LinLey often calls herself a dragon soaring above the waterfall, with the masses being mere rocks for her grand steps to glory.”

Melody quietly listened, while the two ignored her and enjoyed their conversation.

“She sounds like a bitch,” Luxinna said.

“She is a bitch,” Cytortia said. “She is not as talented as Tai Hua, but her bottomless trick can press even Shuang. She has no empathy and sees everyone as a pawn to win her game.”

“Kind of like Melody,” Luxinna commented.

“Yep,” Cytortia agreed.

Behind them, Melody’s finger twitched, but the bandage prevented her from retorting.

The conversation continued.

“But I am not afraid of her anymore,” Cytortia said, flipping over her notebook.

“What change?” Luxinna asked.

“Well, I realize it during Melody’s fight with Rem,” the young goddess said, looking at the tent fondly. “Do you realize that, despite the overwhelming odds, we believed Rem would beat Melody.”

“Yeah,” Luxinna said. “Kinda obvious. Melody is strong, but she lacks the substance to defeat Rem. If I have to say, it is the fact that Melody looks tiny compared to him.”

Behind them, the forgotten Melody listened in silence.

“That is when I realized,” Cytortia said. “Melody spouted the same speeches people have been spouting since the dawn of time. And what do they have in common? They screw themselves over and over until they fail spectaculary. Rem must have known that. He could leave Melody to blow herself up like all the dictator before her and finish the job later, but he intervened.”

“Are you telling me Rem beat her as a favor?”

“What else could it be?” Cytortia said. “Look at LinLey. No genuine friend. No productive goal. Wanting to be a queen, but probably can’t decide what type of queen she wants to be. Like LinLey, Melody is in love with power. Isn’t that a type hero like Rem consistently defeats?”

Luxinna conjured up a lotus of glass.

“Hey, Cy,” Luxinna quietly looked into the flower. “I wonder why I lost, while Rem won. I think Rem is more innovative with his power compare to us.”

“My master is not a fan of innovation,” Cytortia airily stretched. “Nu Wa emphasized on the orthodox doctrine and building something to the natural perfection. Life is about harmonizing with destiny and toying with nature is a forbidden evil.”

“Really?” Luxinna dispelled her lotus. “I don’t think harmony can do shit when Rem throws a house.”

“Ditto,” Cytortia said with a grin. “My master never takes my opinion seriously, so it’s time I ignore hers. Want to help me bends natural order.”

“Hell yeah,” the elf grinned savagely. “Let burn the house down.”

Soon the two left, leaving behind a demoness in deep reflection.

…

Meanwhile, far from the house, Scathach and Ebony were catching up.

“That is how it happened,” Ebony finished. “My husband burned our manor to the ground, tricking Jekyll into believing he killed his wife and child in a fit of madness, before taking his own life. And you know Jekyll’s modus operandi.”

Scathach sat, silent. His rival’s pathetic death would thrill Jekyll Aztellic. Given his sadism, the opportunity to draw and quarter Majesty’s body was a cherry on top of his victory.

“I’m not much of a fighter,” Ebony said. “And you would never help someone who couldn’t afford the price. The Grand Empire and Aurorin would kill me on sight. The rest of Phantasia is hardly better. Enma might take me if I remarried into their clan, but how could I face Melody afterward?”

“Then your daughter developed [Heavenly Eye],” Scathach said.

“Do you know how elated I felt?” Ebony said. “Among the Aztellic history, only the founding emperor wield the [Heavenly Eye]. He was the strongest emperor, and Melody has the potential to surpass him. She could kill Jekyll and get justice for us. Her ascension will avenge our house’s humiliation. My bloodline will write the next grand chapter of Demonic Continent.”

Scathach sat, tensely waiting for the maniacal light behind Ebony’s eyes to die, replaced with regret and pain.

“Today must be quite a wake-up call,” Scathach sympathized.

Ebony giggled madly. The laughter soon faded into depression.

“A day,” Ebony said. “A day and a mere mortal disassembled my dream. Melody losing to that boy is already hard to swallow, but the fact a teenager is wiser than me is worse. What did you teach that kid?”

Scathach chuckled dispiritedly.

“I only teach him basic swordplay and knife-throwing,” Scathach replied. “The rest is all him.”

Ebony stared at her old friend.

“All of those?”

“Yes,” Scathach answered. “His tactic. His speech. He innovates the unorthodox. He uses my knowledge as a ladder to discover a path to toy with the magical order. Brick-by-brick, he writes his manual using experimentation and my input. Those two girls don’t realize this, but they are sailing uncharted water.”

“And you let them go down that route despite realizing that?” Ebony was aghast. “You let him break every tradition we ever wrote!?”

“I know,” Scathach downed a cup of alcohol. “But once you understand Rem, you will discover innovation is inevitable. Just look at Rem and Melody. Rem disabled [Heavenly Eye] with a technique he came up by the seat of his pants! Those two girls must rival that abbreviation at all costs. We can’t survive the rise of an unrivaled Remus Breaker.”

She rinsed another cup and handed it to Ebony.

“Imagine it. All the 33 Stars, produces with the best teaching under heavens, pitch against the boy hailing the spirit of hero from the faraway stars. They won’t survive. Rem would dissect and twist the very essence of magical history and beat all of us with what he stitches up with its corpse. With the top of divine totem-pole gambling on him, my hands are tied from interfering. The only chance we have to preserve ourselves...”

“...is for someone we trust to understand his invention and slow him down,” Ebony finished the drink.

…

In the yard outside the house, Scathach wished was coming true in the worse way possible.

The goddess stirred a blood color-cauldron with a chilly, perverted smile. Sandy ground around them, cracked from the unstable heat. Ingredients inside the boiler of doom crackled ominously.

“We are getting there! The Serene Sun Root and Burning Lemonade finally hit 92% purity,” the goddess laughed maniacally. “Time to add the lightning summoning pill. I always find it strange substances often got upgrade by lightning. Master will faint once she discovers I use an alchemical explosive in healing potion, but who cares! To hell with a perverted technique. I should have done this years ago and teach those bitches a lesson.”

Luxinna handed her the pill to Cytortia, trying to look calm in the face of overwhelming odds. Weakest of the Heavenly Daughter? What sick joke was that? This witch wasn’t the clumsy but nice girl she knew. No, she was an incarnation of chaos, desiring the world drowned in anarchy.

And thus, the Alchemist who would soon be renowned as the Anarchist Pill Goddess was born.