Cecilia

Lehai immediately disengaged and took a couple steps back, sword pointed at Descal.

"Why did you come back?" (Lehai)

"I placed a cup with a string attached to it behind the bag of gold. A little magic enchantment was added so I could hear everything. I have been told that people have a tendency to reveal who they really are when they are near death. So, after hearing the conversation, I decided to give Cecilia the benefit of the doubt." (Descal)

"You do understand that she could be lying to you. You could be playing straight into her plans." (Lehai)

I saw Descal look at me with doubt in his eyes. It was clear that he still doesn't completely trust me.

"You are right. I could be playing straight into her plans. But, I see a bit of myself in her, and if she isn't lying... I want to see her succeed. Maybe it will give me some rest regarding some aspects of my past. However, if Cecilia is lying to me, I will swear here and now to both of you that I will kill Cecilia myself." (Descal)

"I find that hard to believe. Even if I do believe that you will actually follow through with it if the time comes, I highly doubt you will survive to do so. She would probably think of multiple ways to take you down before you get even close to her." (Lehai)

"Pfff. Hahahaha. Lehai. You don't know how strong I REALLY am. Neither of you know. And Lehai, I WILL be able to follow through with it should the time comes. Maybe you are confusing my motives here. I am not helping her out of love or pity. It is for my own benefit since if she succeeds, it will give me hope that I could find peace myself. If she plays with that hope and I wasted my time, I will have sufficient enough reason to kill her." (Descal)

"... I can't tell if you are actually serious or if you are simply crazy. However, understand that even with those words, I do not trust you. I will not allow Cecilia to pass me. I also don't think you can take down the numerous assassins that have surrounded us that are at least gold ranked mercenaries while protecting Cecilia at the same time." (Lehai)

"You're bluffing. If not, you would have used them since the beginning to try and intimidate me." (Descal)

"I was trying to save on the cost. I would only have to pay them at half price if I never needed their help. Money doesn't grow on trees you know." (Lehai)

"Wow. That phrase exists here too?" (Descal)

"Enough." (Lehai)

Lehai took out a whistle and blew on it. We were quickly surrounded by numerous assassins. As each of them released their mana, I shivered at the sheer amount of gold ranked humans around us. Even though I know how strong Descal is, I don't think he can protect me in this fight. But, I won't go down without a fight at the very least. It's the least I can do for him coming back to me.

"Sigh. All these people are going to die today..." (Descal)

What? Did he seriously just say that? Is he that strong?

"Cecilia. What you see here you will engrave it into your eyes. Because should you have lied to me today or should you falter in your path in the future, it will be ME that comes after you." (Descal)

And with those words, the same pressure from back in the woods was released from Descal. I had a hard time trying to stay conscious just like last time. In order to stay awake, I had to pinch my hand so hard that blood came oozing out. The worst part was seeing Descal melt in front of me. No, melt wasn't the right word. Absorbed would be better. In the place of the absorbed flesh, dark shadows came springing out. The sunlight seemed to dim as his form started to absorb the surrounding light. Even though the sun was high in the sky, it felt like dusk.

As I watched Descal transform, I began thinking of a certain piece of writing in the castle archives. A small excerpt from a torn and worn fictional story of an elvish princess from about a thousand years ago. It was in journal form and talked of a princess' dreams, nightmares, and hopes. Of course, due to the excessive exaggerations in the diary, many court scholars relegated this as fiction, and it got buried in our castle archives. After all, why would the journal of a real elf princess be in our possession? In addition, the writer of this "journal" contradicted or exaggerated many of the established facts obtained from other records. But... I was beginning to think that maybe it truly was a journal.

To think I would still be haunted in my dreams about the day the Shadow came to our halls. I never thought that the day would come. No. We all knew the day would come, but we just never fully accepted it. The Shadow came to our court demanding that we surrender. It took everything to even try to stay ALIVE while near it. Its sheer presence threatened to shut down my heart through fear. I had to consciously think about my heart to keep it beating. I could only stand there in fear as it walked toward the king. It had no constant form. One moment it was a blob, the next a form of a human, the next a form of an animal. With every step it took, shadows seemed to burst out of it, trying to flee its body. The only thing constant about the Shadow was its eyes. Those horrid red eyes. Every time its piercing red eyes gazed upon my kin, they would simply freeze and shriek in fear. When its eyes fell upon me, I felt empty. Cold. Alone. To think anything in this world could have those eyes...

The Dark One, The Shadow, The Emperor, and The Dark Reaper. They were all names for the boogeyman of all intelligent creature's childhood. Even dragons teach this story to their younglings to remind them that the dragons are NOT the strongest creatures to have walked this world. The one who caused the first Calamity and mysteriously disappeared. To think, it was next to me this entire time. Soon the pressure burden was too much causing me to become unconscious.

By the time I woke up again, the sun was setting over the horizon. Then, the stench hit me. The stench of blood. I looked to the side to see the torso of a man right beside me. Shocked, I stood up too fast and tripped over a skull. Looking around, I saw red. The scattered bodies and the sheer amount of red everywhere began to remind me of a certain massacre. As I looked around, I saw Descal... no... the Dark Reaper... on top of a hill staring at the setting sun.

Knowing the futility of running, I began to walk toward him... it?

"You know. I think you are the first person ever to approach me in this form without killing intent." (The Dark Reaper)

"Are you really..." (Cecilia)

"I have been given a lot of names, and I have outgrown many of them. You are probably the most familiar with these though. The Dark One, The Shadow, The Emperor of Despair, and finally the Dark Reaper. Dragons called me The Bane. During my banishment, I was gifted the name of Cal. Finally, the name Descal Binus. In an old language, Binus means pair. Descal Pair. The Cal is the basis of who I am at the moment. Ah sorry for rambling." (Descal)

"I'm sorry. It's just hard to wrap my head around this sudden development. I thought that you were a general in the Dark Reaper's army. Not The Dark Reaper itself." (Cecilia)

"Get used to it. Life rarely gives you time to prepare you for whatever it throws at you. The same goes for me as well. I thought that you were simply a sheltered princess who got shoved unwillingly into a political conflict. Never did I expect that you were a mass murderer underneath. I would expect a mass murderer to be able to keep their head in a fight." (Descal)

"I never wanted to be a princess. And I never killed someone directly. They only died by my orders..." (Cecilia)

"That makes it worse. You didn't even have the courage to kill someone with your own hands." (Descal)

"Yes. That's true. So what now? Are you going to destroy this world again?" (Cecilia)

"No. That is in the past. I no longer desire such things." (Descal)

"Then, Dark Reaper. What..." (Cecilia)

"Descal, please. Also, I consider myself to be a male. I was male when I became this, and I still think like a male." (Descal)

"Then, Descal. What are you going to do?" (Cecilia)

"Before I met you, I was planning on exploring this world after I managed to get my powers under control again. But now, I have some promises to keep first. I'm going to help you become Queen and observe you. I am lost right now. When I fused with the abyss, I ended up getting rejected by the world. The abyss has no role in this world and such I lost my role as a human in this world. As a result, I ended up becoming unable to influence this world in any way. Imagine being unable to eat, drink, touch anything. Only allowed to observe how this world goes on without you. It made me grow mad. Insane. Until I snapped. I then tried to destroy this world in an attempt to remake this world in my image. A world in which I could live in. I tried to force the circle of life to revolve around me. I tried to place myself at the center of everything in this world. I almost succeeded." (Descal)

"The hero right?" (Cecilia)

"Yes. The hero. He stopped me. I got banished, had some time to reflect. At the moment, I have no wish to continue on my past path. I spilled enough blood for a long time. Am I fading away right now?" (Descal)

"Umm. No. You're still here. You don't look like you are fading away." (Cecilia)

"That's weird. I should be disappearing... I've lost my human body so..." (Descal)

"What do you mean?" (Cecilia)

"Like I said before. The abyss has no role in this world. Since I bonded to it, I don't have a role in this world. As a result, the will of this world should have pushed my presence to the edge... Unless..." (Descal)

"I have no idea what you said." (Cecilia)

"Okay. I'll give you the really dumbed down version. The world is like a book, a story, and the abyss is nowhere in the story called the world. As far as the story is concerned, there is no character, no setting, nothing about the abyss. Since the abyss isn't part of the story, the abyss should definitely not exist where it can influence the story. When I was in the human body, I was a character in the book. A human that got teleported into this world. But I just lost the human body so as far as the book is concerned, I no longer exist anymore. So, I should be getting banished to outside the book... Except I am not getting banished..." (Descal)

"Maybe the world decided to accept you? Maybe you are part of the story now?" (Cecilia)

"On what grounds?" (Descal)

"I don't know. How did you get back into the world last time?" (Cecilia)

"There are some species that have the ability to escape outside the world for certain periods of time. One of those species were the fairies. I captured one, and using that fairy, I infected each of them with horrible nightmares of me. Since fairies are masters of illusions, with the number of fairies that believed in me due to how realistic the nightmares were, it created a massive illusion spell that fooled the world into thinking that I was the destroyer of worlds. I essentially made a character for myself in the story. That was how I got back last time." (Descal)

"Wait fairies are real?" (Cecilia)

"That's your question?" (Descal)

"Well. I've always liked the stories about fairies. My mother used to tuck me to bed with those stories." (Cecilia)

"Fairies are bitches. Nothing like what the stories portray them to be. Be happy that they are all dead." (Descal)

"Umm. Changing the subject, maybe things are different now?" (Cecilia)

"Nope. Every time I used the abyss powers recently, I could feel a rejection. A strong rejection. So the world still hates me. Something has anchored me into this world." (Descal)

"Isn't that a good thing?" (Cecilia)

"Depends. I don't know enough about this so it is making me very nervous. If this anchor has conditions for it to function, I want to know the conditions..." (Descal)

"Sigh. What a way to end the day. I am sitting on a hill, watching the sunset with the monster that almost destroyed this world a thousand years ago." (Cecilia)

"And I can actually sit on the hill. But I am sitting next to a girl who has the blood of thousands on her hands." (Descal)

"Of all the things in this world, that is the last thing I want to hear from YOU." (Cecilia)

"Hey. I didn't have a choice. Also, I was insane." (Descal)

"Being insane doesn't excuse you from almost destroying worlds." (Cecilia)

"No, it doesn't. Neither does almost destroying a world prevent me from pointing out the faults of a murderer." (Descal)

"Well. I believe that you said that you were going to help me become queen. Baniti was kinda right about you. I am probably going to succeed now with you by my side." (Cecilia)

"Ehh. You may want to tone down on that... Umm... I am kinda weak? I can't exhibit my full strength anymore. I realized that while I was on that killing spree." (Descal)

"Weak? You call yourself weak?" (Cecilia)

"No. Look the problem is that I can't use my power willy-nilly anymore. I could when I was destroying the world since it was my ROLE. It fits into the character that I tricked the world into making. Now... I only have this puny "string" tying me to the world. If I go overboard with my powers, I could seriously break the string and get rejected. As a result, I can't go around one punching every single challenge you will face. It's gonna suck, but I have to use my powers in proportion to the circumstances." (Descal)

"I don't get it. Can you fight or not?" (Cecilia)

"I can fight. But depending on the strongest individual I am fighting, my mana use is restricted. For example, if I am fighting against a silver level enemy, I would be able to exhibit gold level power level. A gold level, platinum. A platinum, Mythril. Yadayadayada. You get the point. However, the amount I am fighting against doesn't matter. If I fight against an army of gold ranks, I will still only get the power levels of a platinum. So I can get overpowered by numbers... man this sucks. I used to be able to solo an entire country before..." (Descal)

"But you were still able to defeat all those gold level assassins." (Cecilia)

"Yeah. That was because I still had my human body. In order for me to use my full power, my body paid the price. Damn. I was finally human again only for me to lose it so damn fast." (Descal)

"Are you sure you want to tell me all this. You know. Like Lehai said, I could be scheming to use and kill you." (Cecilia)

"Yeah. Nope. I believe you." (Descal)

"So easily?" (Cecilia)

"See these eyes. They can read someone's "story". You may have the stains of a murderer, but you don't have the drive anymore. If anything, I see the desire to be kind and to achieve a sense of peace for what you have done. Although I am curious, what made for such a drastic change?" (Descal)

"Long story short. I met someone that made me reflect on myself. Locked myself in the room for a long time. Eventually, my father dragged me out of the room and went on a vacation to a small village in the mountains. It turned out that my father hid his identity as king and was known as a traveling merchant in that village. We had a good long talk and did some stuff together. He explained why he named me his successor. He wanted someone who could stand up to the nobles and bring change to this country. When it was time to head back, I met a witch. She said if I wanted forgiveness from all the spirits that hung on to me, I was to create a country that they could be proud to leave behind. That's the gist of it." (Cecilia)

"Heh. At least you are trying to seek forgiveness and making reprimands. Better than me." (Descal)

"It's getting dark. I'm gonna ask you again. What's your plan now? Uwile is only a day and night walk from here. I don't think you would be able to get past the gates in that form." (Cecilia)

"Yeah. Go sleep, Cecilia. As soon as morning comes, I'll teleport you to the front gates. I have some stuff to get first. Although my initial reason for going to the dungeon is now useless since I lost my human body, I still need to get an acceptable body. Can't walk around like this. Once I get all that out of the way, I am coming straight back. Don't worry about the assassins anymore. I broke their spell while you were unconscious." (Descal)

"To think I have my only friend now is the Dark Reaper of all things." (Cecilia)

"You consider me a friend?" (Descal)

"Yes." (Cecilia)

"You have a twisted definition of a friend then." (Descal)

"Yes." (Cecilia)

"I don't consider you a friend. Are you okay with that?" (Descal)

"You aren't going to betray me first though. That's good enough for me." (Cecilia)

"I'll just go clean up all those bodies. Go to sleep." (Descal)

"I know I promised to think of a nickname for you. Do you still want to get one?" (Cecilia)

"Is there a point anymore?" (Descal)

"No, I guess not." (Cecilia)

End of Arc 0