Nerfed

I still could not accept the things that I saw. I need to let Vale know what my Key Insight's vision had shown me. I need to tell other heroes that Valir is gone, and his aquamarine was now taken by Helcurt.

I ran through the forest, faster and faster using my Chrono Dash. It was heart-breaking to traverse this forest again. This was once an enchanted, colorful and fragrant magical forest. But now it had become wild and void of darkness. For twenty years it remained sad, and sadder... as sad as its empty trees longing for its lost leaves.

Eversince the start of Helcurt's reign, light from the universe did not pass through the Land of Dawn, enveloped by his black curse. Order was no more. Chaos took over.

To end the threat of breeding powerful mages that might rebel against him, he destroyed the Magic Academy. He made sure none would stand a chance.

Several heroes, old and new, have sacrificed to take back the Celestial Palace in the Land of Dawn which was now brutally reigned by Helcurt and his squad of dark force. I knew that Hanzo was one of them, when he slain Alucard. And that monstrous, bloodthirsty Khufra when he ate Fanny alive.

I now ran past the magical forest, and reached the foul-odored tavern houses.

"Harith! Come over, have a drink!" invited Bane, who is seated beside Franco, as he raised his bamboo wine cup.

"Anything you've seen with your Key Insight today?" Franco asked.

"Valir. Valir... he is gone," I replied.

"That idiot. I told him to stop being ambitious but he won't listen. He deserved it!" said Bane, with a proud tone.

"Vale, he has to know. I'm going to tell him," I said.

"Vale? That new mage? He may have won the battle of his Valley, but mind you, dude, he has no idea what the Land of Dawn looks like, how terrible the land is, and what it tastes like to be in the midst of darkness all the time!" yelled Bane.

"He's a nobody! Helcurt will just step on his thin, tiny back like a pest!" Franco seconded.

What I heard irked me. It irked me that I suddenly Chrono Dashed to their direction and about to cast Synchro Fission.

"W--- wait wait wait! Don't be a jerk, kid!" raised Franco. "We're just having fun here! You see, if only Valir pledged his allegiance to Helcurt, it wouldn't have ended that way. It's the same, simple logic to apply all over again: if you can't beat your enemies, join them! Like you, stop wishing to defeat Helcurt! Let him have the entire Land of Dawn!"

"And instead of looking for a miserable ally like Vale and waste your time, why not join us in this cold night?" Bane gestured.

"Join you? Have you forgotten? Have you forgotten how they decapitated our friend Alucard, when he tried to save us from their invasion? Have you forgotten how they sucked Estes' blood to acquire his healing ability? If you have forgotten what happened twenty years ago, then I haven't!" I shouted at them, stroke my Zaman Force so they can't move, and destroyed their drinking table.

"You're no heroes anymore. You're not the mythic tank and fighter anymore I once knew! You're now a grade lower than those minions! If you feel being nerfed, I'm not!"

After a while, they started to freeze and began looking pale, so I decided to cool down my Zaman Force. They suddenly coughed, kept on catching their breath, as I release them. At least it made them come back from the bottom of their senses.

Bane stood, looked straight into my eyes. "Then best of luck, young Harith. Always remember that reaching Vale and telling him your news is no easy job. You need to traverse the Minoan Mountains, sojourn through the Death Market and pass through the Cursed Temple before making it through the Wind Valley," advised Bane.

"And by then, you're a roasted feline, kid! If not fooled by Cyclops, maybe eaten by Roger! Haha. They have pledged their loyalty to Helcurt too!" the drunk Franco, warning me.

"I'm going to find Vale, and be worthy of becoming a hero. I will never be a traitor, just like you."

They gave me an intense, terrifying look. I knew I had offended them. That it hurt their egos. But it's the truth, and they must take it. And they surely knew it. They knew that they had become worthless drunkards over the ages.