Parting

"I don't think he's one yet, but possessing and using dark magic is just like a ticking time bomb."

'How Uruk was able to defeat the Anino makes sense now, and so is what Gilberto told me when I first used my light magic on him earlier.'

Yes, Lyrica remembered it very well.

"You can also use light magic...? It's not that impossible to manifest more than one elemental magic, but for you to manifest light magic... Now I have a reason why I have to kill you right here." Gilberto said in the middle of his duel against Lyrica.

'If my understanding is correct, then my light magic could be a formidable ability against dark magic and an Anino.' Lyrica thought. 'Now that I think about it, it seems pretty obvious, but with my current level, even if I have light magic, I don't think I'm going to win in a fight against Uruk.'

As the girl escaped from her thoughts, Lyrica urged the woman to continue her story. The woman obliged and told that the dark flames that ate Uruk's servant right before his and the four heroes' very eyes were the effects of the curse implanted on the people of Kruule—A curse that triggers whenever someone takes any actions or any thoughts that go against Uruk himself.

"We, or at least the ones who fell under Uruk's curse cannot even think of rebellion or going against him." The woman stated. "But that's not the whole purpose of his curse."

"What do you mean?" Lyrica questioned.

"The curse he put on the people of Kruule was made to make everyone hate him."

"Huh? A curse to make everyone hate him, but why?"

Yes, why? Why does the Hari of Kruule implant a curse that makes his people hate him? What's the reason behind it? Unfortunately, the woman doesn't have much clue as to the reason behind it, however...

"The people eventually found a way to counter the sumpa—by devoiding themselves of genuine thoughts and emotions."

"What? They devoid themselves of their genuine thoughts and emotions?"

All this time, Lyrica thought that whatever Uruk did to the people of Kruule is keeping them from speaking their thoughts and expressing genuine emotions, but the woman's statement proved her otherwise.

It never crossed Lyrica's mind that it was their own doing because of the fact that they cannot go against Uruk and the kingdom in any way, otherwise, it'll result in their death.

"They seem to be doing it rather naturally, how long has it been since they started doing it?"

"My family and everyone else has been doing it for three years, perhaps doing it for so long became a natural talent or something for them."

Right as she responded to the girl's query, a pool of tears suddenly started flowing down from the corner of the woman's eyes.

"They've been doing it for so long that I can no longer recognize if sometimes my daughters' smiles are genuine or not."

Her cry that's overwhelming with emotion reminded Lyrica of the time back when she was lying in the hospital bed and seeing her parents, especially her mother crying in pain and regret for not noticing the result of their outburst in the past.

"How troublesome..." She mumbled, her left eye started twitching in anger.

"Huh? Did you say something?" The woman sniffled.

"Sorry, it's nothing," Lyrica replied as soon as she turned away from the mother. "So what happened after the servant's death?"

"That moment, I felt a horrifying sense of danger for my life, so I tried to get as far away from the street as possible." The woman answered as her youngest daughter came and wiped her tears with a white thin cloth. "But before I could get far, I heard one of the four heroes shout:"

***

"So you summoned me here just to try and control me...? So even in another world, I can't escape from being manipulated by someone?!"

As I took each step further from the street, an ominously pitch-black air became bigger and bigger around the hero. Eventually, it grew so much like a storm blackening the morning sky. And then, a flurry of meteor-like black energy that's almost as big as a house itself come raining down on Kabba, destroying everything where it all landed.

Crash! Rrrummble!!! Boom!!

'W-We have to get out here! My daughters, please be safe!' I said to myself while watching the endless storm of destruction as I tried to muster all the strength in my body to get to our house.

Ddoom! Fwoooshh!!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, a massive dark flame emerged and began matching the destruction the Anino was inflicting to our town as it slowly collide with the pitch-black energy. It's almost as if two hells are battling over who should house the souls of the dead that have been massacred.

Banngg!! Crash!! Ddoom!!

As much as I tried to get to safety and see my family safe and sound, their powers are so strong and destructive that each of their clashes would send a powerful shockwave throughout the whole of Kabba.

'O goddess, please protect my family!'

In the end, I was forced to hide in one of the broken houses' empty basement, praying to the Goddess Mousai to protect my husband and daughters.

***

"By the time the chaos ended, the sun was already plunging into the edges of the mountains," The woman mouthed. "I was in despair, thinking that I might be the only one who survived until more and more people are coming out of hiding including my daughters and my husband."

The survivors of that battle are the crowd present in Lyrica's eyes.

"To think that this much managed to survive in the middle of such a chaotic battle... Seems like you guys were blessed with luck." Lyrica mouthed her thoughts.

"I guess you could say that," A middle-aged fellow interjected. "I saw the Hari's battle with the Anino up close. In truth, I was about to get struck by one of the Anino's attacks, but Uruk appeared before me and deflected the black energy with his dark flames."

The middle-aged man still remember what happened more vividly than his last words towards his wife who died on the same day the battle took place. He thought he was going to follow his wife to the next world when suddenly, Uruk came about and stretched his right hand forward, sending a massive ray of dark flame that struck the Anino's black meteor until it shattered into pieces.

"It felt strange, I never felt a sense of gratitude towards Uruk in the past three years until that moment, but I wouldn't be standing here in front of you if not for him."

"Really?" Lyrica gazed at the fellow with a wondrous gaze.

Right then, more and more people are coming out and admitting that they also went under the same thing as the middle-aged man, explaining how Uruk was protecting at least some of them from the Anino's flurry of attacks while it's all transpiring.

"Uruk showed his cruel, evil side to the people of Kruule three years ago," The mother uttered. "But after hearing all that, it's kinda confusing isn't it?"

Lyrica wordlessly nodded.

"It's almost as if you guys are talking about a completely different person."

Incidentally, Lyrica decided to look up into the sky and observe its positioning. If she were to guess what time it is, it would be around 3:30 PM.

"I may have spent a lot of time here in Kabba, but I'm glad I got some good information," Lyrica uttered as she pointed her left thumb behind her, directing everyone's eyes to the direction where Takkot resided. "You guys may be planning to rebuild the town, but I don't think it's a good idea to do so with the current situation. I've taken care of the high commander in Takkot, so it should be safe for you all to stay there for a while."

"You defeated Gilberto?"

"Yeah..." Lyrica replied to the person as she lowered her face, trying to hide her face that's been warped with remorse. "...I killed him, just like this one here."

She gave the dead high commander a long gaze.

"Where are you going?" The woman asked curiously.

"Actually, I still don't know," Lyrica replied. "But like I said before, I'm on the run so I can't stay in this kingdom any longer."

The woman knew there was nothing she could say to Lyrica except "Be careful... and thank you once again for saving us."

"I-It's okay, it's a win-win for me." She answered as she turned away. "I have to get going, and so should you all. Farewell."

Lyrica immediately turned away and walked out of the scene as if she's in a hurry, though it's probably the case since she knew that the Kingdom would send someone to chase her down.

As calmly as Lyrica made her exit, the crowd have also decided to head to Takkot and spend their days there indefinitely. However...

Thud, thud... Flail, flail...!

Amidst the end of Lyrica's encounter with the people of Kabba, a mysterious figure hidden in a wide and torn brown robe gave her distant back a mysterious glare.

"Lyrica Ley Rael, huh..." The figure's lips parted, uttering Lyrica's name. "If she's not one of the four like the woman said, then who summoned her here?"