— It reads Fallen Hero. By God, Cruz, your Title now reads as Fallen Hero! Even your Light Skills have become Shadow Skills! — An elderly elf with a long beard and white hair, wearing a dark blue robe patterned with stars, the sun, and the moon, stood behind his desk, slamming both hands on the lid of the desk in front of him. — Have you lost your mind?!

  — Celestino, my friend- — Cruz maintained a calm posture and a controlled tone of voice, but was interrupted:

  — Don't call me friend, for friends do not try to drag each other into the depths of darkness! — the old elf slapped the air angrily.

  — Just give me a chance to explain. Please, for all we’ve been through together — the Fallen Hero pleaded, sounding more sad than frustrated. He’d been feeling a lot of melancholy lately, not that I could blame him.

  — Explain yourself? — The old elf seemed almost wounded, in pain, as he looked at his former companion. Then, he turned to me with such boiling hatred, the temperature of the office where we found ourselves seemed to rise. — No. I already know very well what happened. This... creature used some kind of demonic technique to infest your mind with manipulative parasites!

  — If you won't listen to your old friend, who you should already know is incorruptible, why don't you listen to the System? — I opened a window, and immediately showed it to the enraged old man:

  Mission Title: Un-Plotted

  Objective(s): Defeat the current generation Hero (Veronico).

  Conditions: Shadow King Haicard, Master of Whispers, is not permitted to assume any governmental position after the completion of this quest, and all political, economic, legal, and similar influence, as well as treasure and lands obtained during the course of this quest, may not be enjoyed for personal purposes unrelated to the completion of this quest.

  Reward for completion: End of the Heroes and Shadow Kings cycle, end of the forced insertion of all elves into the System, Liberation of the Arsenal Continent.

  Punishments for withdrawal and/or failure: Death.

  — You may have-

  — You’re not going to say that I might have some way of interfering with the System, are you? — I raised an eyebrow, interrupting him. — If I had the means to do that, why not just give me a million points in each of the Attributes? Or send a false message directly to the Hero, saying that he is carrying an incurable and extremely contagious disease that will become active in a few days, and he must leave this continent in order to avoid tragedy?

  — I do not trust you. There is something in your eye, something in your posture, an aura about you that is not found in any of the great men and women... No, you do not have something, you MISS something. Even the Shadow King we faced in our generation had a certain dignity that you do not possess.

  — He's right — the entity commented, looking at the academy through the office windows, and despite her dry tone, I could almost hear her laugh at the old man's comment.

  — I know what you're talking about, friend — Cruz stood up, giving me a suspicious sideways glance. — And that's why the conditions imposed on me in the mission contract that Haicard gave me are completely different.

  Mission Title: Un-Plotted

  Penalties for withdrawal and/or failure: None.

  — No punishment? No special conditions for your submission? — Celestino scratched his beard, analyzing the mission more closely.

  — He seems completely confident that the nobility of this goal alone is enough to warrant my help. And that is why I have accepted this mission. If he is telling the truth, we can end this endless war once and for all, and if he is lying, then I am still a Hero, and I still have what it takes to kill a Shadow King.

  — It seems like everyone in this room hates you — the entity tried to rub salt into the wound, but failed miserably, because I couldn't care less about what those old men thought of me, much less about the thoughts of that ridiculous thing visible only to me. — He's trying to play tough, poor thing. Everyone cares about other people's opinions, especially when they come from their national idols. That's why I exist.

  Snorting, Celestino sat back in his chair and looked past the entity and the window at the buildings and lawn of the enormous magic academy he was headmaster of. Those facilities covered a space larger than entire settlements, and every building there had been constructed with some sort of Spell, and they were no less elegant than the mansions of nobles in high leadership positions... after all, all the people who served the place were, in fact, nobles.

  — I'll want to read that book you mentioned, but not before I run some tests to check for the presence of magic in the book. And it better really contain the answers to those cryptic Mission terms like “Liberation of the Arsenal Continent.”

  — Perfect — I agreed.

  — And I won't accept any Mission either. It's practically impossible that you've found a way to manipulate the System, but I'd rather not risk it anyway.

  — As long as you contribute to the cause, I don't care.

  — Tch! The worst part is that I really can't think of how you could be manipulating us.

  — You can think of ways I could be lying to you on the way — I stood up from the chair and pulled the linen hood over my head; as its shadow covered my face, a new face was magically projected over my own. That was one of the items I had borrowed from Cruz; as expected, someone who had pretended to be an adventurer without being recognized for so many years had ways of moving discreetly through the kingdoms of the continent. — There is one more person I want to recruit to the cause, and time is a precious, scarce resource when you have a Hero hunting me right on my tail.

  — I know well who you speak of, but surely we can wait a moment before departing. Gather provisions, discuss strategy, or the nature of this task, at least until I have finished this book you speak of?

  — No, Celestino, he's right. If we stay here for too long, rumors will start to spread about the strangers the old headmaster is sheltering, and by now the informant networks all over álfheim must be desperate for any information about Haicard. Any suspicious activity is a clue, and you don't want to see your precious academy turning into a battlefield, do you?

  — Urgh, you haven't changed at all, even after all these years, you never give me time to properly study! — Despite complaining, the bearded old man smiled.

  — Haha, unfortunately, there's no time for that in this war, friend, but once everything settles down, you'll be able to study as much as you want.

  — Not even your excuses have changed. Well, let's go to the underground laboratories, there is a passage there that will allow us to leave this academy in secret, and bring us a little closer to our objective.

  — Aren't you going to tell anyone beforehand? — I wanted to know.

  — They are already used to some period of absence on my part. I often travel for research, after all.

  — But do you know where we're going? — I asked, following the old director, who didn't need hoods to disguise his appearance, or Cruz's, with magic.

  — Of course, there's only one place you could be heading. To the abode of a certain Rogue!

  Using Celestine's Spells to transform walls into doors and the floor into stairs, we reached the deepest level of the Sacred Kingdom of Fanon's Royal Magic Academy in a few minutes without being detected by anyone.

  There was an extensive library and what I assumed was complex magical research equipment, but only a couple of tables and chairs. And in the center of the room that had no doors or windows:

  — A divine ruin — I commented.

  — A portal! — The Wizard defined the large circle of dark, opaque metal, with three levels of smaller concentric circles, each of the rings displaying tens of thousands of complex symbols that varied from the size of a small grain of sand to that of a palm. — It was not easy to get our hands on one of these structures, since the Order of Historians keeps them under extremely strict control, but during my adventures with Cruz, we discovered this particular ruin and kept it secret. I chose to build the academy in this location so that I could study such a construction. And after many years of research... — Celestino reached the center of the metal circle, encouraging us to follow him, opened his arms, and closed his eyes. — I managed to reactivate this structure!

  In the blink of an eye, instantly, and disorientingly, the three of us found ourselves in a sort of dark, stinking catacomb.

  — I initially tried to reach Paradise, but apparently a different, specially modified structure is needed for that. I've searched the entire continent for this portal, but I believe it must exist in the cathedral headquarters of the Jornadism, but I still haven't been able to come up with a good enough excuse to explore the place without arousing suspicion.

  — Where are we? — I asked, dizzy, leaning against a damp rock wall.

  — In the sewers of the port city of Large Disembogue — Celestino explained, and looking around, I saw that the tunnels where we were found seemed to have been, in fact, built on top of a structure identical to the one located in the basement of the academy, with exposed parts of the metal under the murky water and under the broken bricks.

  — So these things still work... — I thought to myself.

  — Surprising, isn’t it? After you, Celestino was one of the two people who came closest to the truth in recent times. Well, the people who came closest to the truth and weren’t killed by order of historians. Still, there has never been a single case where one of my favorites became fully aware of his situation. In the end, no one wants to admit that everything that belongs to them, their talent, beauty, and victories are not the fruit of their own effort — unfortunately, the entity had not lost our trail.

  — You know, Celestino? I think you'll like the book I lent you. Especially the part that blames the order of historians for... well, everything — Cruz smiled, taking a direction and heading confidently into the sewer.

  — Even if there is a fraction of truth in this book, it doesn't mean it's all true!

  Purposefully stripping themselves of effects that made them difficult to recognize, Cruz and Celestino guided me through the labyrinthine corridors of the sewer, to a metal door, as if they had walked that path thousands of times before. And considering the person we were about to meet, they must have.

  Cruz was about to knock on the metal door when it suddenly opened, and half a dozen rough, tough-looking men came out, led by a particularly tough-looking bald man. They didn't leave before they threw angry glances over their shoulders at us.

  Behind the massive iron door, what must once have been an administrative room for the workers who dug those tunnels displayed a number of miscellaneous luxuries, fine works of art decorating the rustic walls of the sewer room, heavy leather upholstery with carved wooden monsters for feet hid suspicious stains on the floor, and in the center of the room, a large desk in solid wood.

  — Cruz? — sitting behind the desk, a gray-haired man with spiky, shoulder-length hair and a scruffy beard, sounded confused. The only other adventurer of special classification, “Cornélio Turbar?o”.

  — Vincente! It’s been a long time, th- — before the Fallen Hero could even finish greeting his friend and former companion, the one whose real name was Vincente had already jumped over the desk and hugged Cruz, laughing loudly.

  — IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME! Why didn’t you come visit before, Cruz? I’ve been so bored lately.

  — Haha, yeah. Sorry — he looked genuinely embarrassed. — I didn’t come to visit this time. Actually-

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  — Okay, I'm in, what are we going to do? — Vincente walked around the desk and started picking up a series of objects and pocketing them.

  — Vincente, please listen to me. We are not going for a walk in the park, this is something serious-

  — Okay, okay, I accept this serious Mission. What is the objective this time?

  Since Cruz seemed genuinely hesitant to admit his goal to the friend who evidently trusted him so much, Celestino intervened:

  — We're going to help the new Shadow King defeat the Hero of this generation. And by the way, this little man here is the new Shadow King.

  — ...Hu? Okay, that's unexpected. — Vincente looked at me curiously for a minute. Then he shrugged. — But it's not like Cruz is going to become a villain now, I bet he has his reasons. Shall we go then?

  — Like that? You're not even going to question me?

  — Hahaha! Come on, Cruz, we've been through this many years ago, haven't we?

  — Vincente... I don't even know what to say. Thank you. And I'm sorry I haven't visited more. You know, the last few years-

  — I know, Cruz. I know — For the first time since I saw him, Vincente displayed something other than happiness. He looked sad, holding a vial-shaped pendant containing some kind of golden liquid. — I feel it too... No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for your loss.

  Interestingly, even Celestino revealed a curious pendant, as if a dry root, which he faced part with longing, leaves with melancholy.

  All of the surviving members of the last generation of Heroics team had reunited and were on relatively good terms, and were already starting to catch up.

  — Adorable, aren't they? — the entity asked. — Once you're torn apart by Veronico, maybe I'll do a slice of life story about superpowered old people, it could be interesting — I didn't understand what she was talking about, but I made sure to tell her to fuck off mentally anyway. — As for you, you're not adorable at all.

  — Hey, I'm glad everything worked out. Why don't we do what your friend suggested and get out of there- — before I could finish speaking, the ground beneath my feet gave way. Literally.

  With a loud bang, the entire room collapsed at once, the bricks that made up the floor turned to crumbs by a powerful explosion that also destroyed my legs completely, liquefying my skin, flesh, and bones down to my knees.

  The landing, unfortunately, had not been kind to my body either, and I was far more aware than I would have liked of the fact that my ribs and sternum had been broken and their fragments had pierced several of my organs.

  I wanted to scream and cry and struggle, but my body was so completely affected that I could do nothing more than move my eyes: then, Cruz, Celestino and Vincente saw themselves completely unharmed and paying little attention to my figure buried under bricks, and the four of us were right in the center of a large arena surrounded by high stands full of suspicious people.

  — Ladies and gentlemen! — the bald man with the particularly bad look from before smiled, triumphant from what seemed to be a position of honor in the arena's grandstand. — For today's show, we will see how much a special class adventurer, and guests, can endure... until his death! — He announced, and the audience cheered with excitement. — Open the gates!

  — Aargh! — Finally, I had regained movement in my torso, and the excruciating pain had lessened only a fraction. Before my very eyes, I watched as scattered pieces of bone and flesh, and globs of blood came out from under the rubble, and were drawn to my mangled legs, where they fit together like puzzle pieces, and slowly remade my limbs. But not fast enough. — A chimera?!

  From one of the raised gates of the arena came a creature at least three times the size of a horse, whose form combined a lion, a scorpion, and a serpent, with the body of the first beast, the many legs of the second, and the enormous neck of the third; a monster that would require the combined work of at least three squads of soldiers or four teams of skilled adventurers to slay.

  — What a disgusting creature, chimeras are not supposed to have such a form... — the entity seemed bothered, but with the monster approaching clearly thirsty for blood, I took little pleasure in that fact. — Having freed you from the Potential is already affecting this perfectly curated world.

  — Shut up for a second, holy shit...! — maybe because of the pain and adrenaline, I answered the entity out loud, albeit in a whisper.

  — Celestino? — On the other hand, Cruz sounded completely calm, almost indifferent, without even reaching for the hilt of his sword, even when the monster started running at full speed towards us, showing off a dental arch composed exclusively of canines dripping with venom.

  — I would love to study this strange chimera, but we are in a hurry: Stellar Pulse! — the old wizard pointed his wand at the monster, and from it shot a bright blue and yellow beam, which formed like water around the monster's body, and enveloped it completely. And once the beam dissipated, nothing of the chimera was left, except a pile of incandescent ashes.

  — Ho-Hooo... — the bald man in the privileged position of the stands had an uncomfortable smile, but he didn't seem, after all, much less confident, somewhat ignorant of the power of the creature that had been destroyed in a single attack. — It seems that you brought some interesting little friends, Cornelius. But it doesn't matter. We have enough company for all of you! — the bald man gestured to an assistant, and soon several other gates around us opened, and from them came many more creatures as powerful or even more powerful than the previous one; monsters strong and in sufficient quantity to destroy an entire city.

  — Oh, oh, maybe this will serve as a warm-up for what's to come — Cruz rolled his shoulders, stretching.

  — Hehe, let's see if you haven't gotten rusty in these last few years, Cruz! — Vincente joked.

  The three absurdly powerful friends threw themselves into the wave of monsters being incited towards them without hesitation, exuding excitement.

  When my legs were finally rebuilt by the power of my Title, however, my focus was directed in another direction: the bald man who watched Vincente with extreme resentment from the highest point of the stands.

  — Don't you have other things to worry about right now? Like these monsters that could tear you apart in a second if they so wished? — the entity asked, following my gaze.

  — If he has these monsters in captivity, he has methods of capturing them, and this could be even more dangerous. Furthermore, this guy seems to be someone from the underworld, he could make information about us cross the entire continent in a few weeks if we escape without dealing with him first.

  I got up from under the rubble and started running towards the bald man, but long before I could reach him, a huge creature flew over my head and fell between the two of us: it was bloody, covered in wounds, and had lost almost half of its scales, but even with one foot in the grave, the monster was more than enough to defeat multiple teams of adventurers or soldiers of my Level, as it was none other than an Amphisbaena, a huge snake with a head on each end and fangs the size of a leg, which injected venom so toxic that its vapors alone made me cry even from a distance.

  And worst of all, the creature had been beaten so badly by Cruz that he had decided to change targets after being turned into a rag doll and thrown across the arena by a single punch that had nearly taken his life.

  — You know, depending on the level of destruction to your body, it could take you weeks to regenerate — the entity pointed out, watching with satisfaction as the snake straightened up. — I wonder if that would be enough time for Veronico to reach you?

  Immediately afterwards, one of the serpent's heads threw itself at me, and its Attributes must have been immeasurably superior to mine, for I could barely follow it with my eyes, such was its speed.

  But as unfair as that fight was, I had not left Cruz's house empty-handed, and I had brought with me only a hood for disguise:

  — Activate! — I shouted, positioning a small staff the size of a feather right in front of me with one end pointing to the ground and the other to the ceiling, and in the next instant it extended into a spear with intricate engravings of gladiators, whose long and sharp blade pierced the roof of the mouth of the serpent that had tried to swallow me whole.

  Abandoning the stick still stuck in the snake's mouth, its tip protruding through one of its eyes, I walked around the creature while the other head moved its body in circles, looking for me.

  — Summon Weapon Number 4 — While I would love to be able to cast the Spells that had been granted to me when I inherited the Title that made me an enemy of all elves, I did not yet possess a high enough Occultism to do so, so I turned, summoning a crossbow at the same time that the second head of the serpentine monster found me, its gaze almost paralyzing. — Activate — I fired a silver arrow that I had taken from Cruz's chest and activated the second magical item that I had borrowed from the Fallen Hero.

  — Hushaaa! — the Amphisbaena squeaked, wriggling, trapped in the large silver net, whose weights on each end were, in fact, small gladius swords.

  That hadn't completely immobilized the monster, however, and the creature threw its massive, unharmed head at me, though it couldn't open its fanged maw.

  — Effect Number 1 — I activated another of the Spells I had developed, and was enveloped in a cloud of smoke slightly larger than my own body. — Effect Number 2 — the smoke was blown by a breeze I created, creating a dark corridor in front of me.

  “BOOM!” the creature threw itself belly-first into the corridor of smoke I had conjured. Thus falling into my trap, for I had stopped advancing as soon as I covered myself in smoke, and had conjured the winds to carry the smoke forward just to give the impression that I was running against the monster.

  — Activate — Preferring something smaller than my stock sword in order to avoid hitting innocent bystanders, I revealed the last of the magical equipment I had borrowed from Cruz, a golden tube covered my right hand, ending in a horizontal semicircular blade.

  Leaping through the dust kicked up by the creature's thud, I plunged the strange weapon right into the monster's eye, the Amphisbaena's sclera mixing with blood and spurting out of the wound I had inflicted.

  — Hushaaaa!! — then the two heads of the serpent retreated and writhed in pain, too hurt, too confused to continue any pursuit.

  Finally, I was able to turn to the bald man who was evidently the one behind all that confusion and who displayed a terrified expression, biting his own nails while watching my companions fight.

  Running against the grandstand, I didn't need any fancy magical equipment, but just a rope with a hook that I carried under my cloak, and I easily climbed up to the first level of the high seats.

  — Who is this? Where did he come from? Kill him! — Finally noticing my presence, the bald man sent his henchmen towards me while the audience around me retreated and fled as they realized that the situation was out of the arena master's control.

  Compared to the monsters down below, though, even when surrounded by six goons while alone, that confrontation felt significantly easier to me:

  — Effect Number 3 — I conjured and shot a ball of flaming oil at one of the henchmen who was running towards me, hitting him square in the chest and forcing him to roll on the ground and desperately try to put out the flames.

  — He's a Wizard! Quick, his weakness is hand-to-hand combat! — the bald man instructed his henchmen.

  As soon as my first enemy tried to stab me with his sword, the difference between us became clear; these men must have been ex-soldiers, maybe Level 8, but for years they had done little more than beat up vagrants in the dark corners of the city's sewers, and I had continued down a path of death.

  I moved my torso out of the path of the sword and cut off his arm with a single swing of my strange borrowed weapon.

  — Argh! — the henchman stepped back, trying to stop the bleeding with one hand and his dirty shirt.

  Before his severed arm could even fall to the ground, however, I kicked it with all my strength against another opponent, and the limb flew towards my target, spinning wildly while still holding his sword: it stuck squarely in the waist of the third enemy, piercing his pelvis and bringing him to the ground immediately.

  — Damn — unfortunately, however, the difference between our Attributes was not as glaring as that between mine and the Hero's, and so the three remaining henchmen were already too close to me for me to be able to do anything. — Pur-ah! — three short swords pierced me at the same time and from three different directions: one through my neck, another through my chest, and another through my abdomen.

  Fortunately, with the fall from before, I confirmed that blood loss or even “death” were not enough to leave me unconscious, as long as my head was intact: I brandished my horizontal blade against the neck of one of the henchmen, bathing myself in the enemy’s blood.

  — What?! — The bald man's other two bodyguards retreated, taking with them the blades that pierced my body.

  Despite the intense pain, the most I had felt since... a few minutes ago, when my legs were blown off, I responded with my blade, vehemently attacking both enemies.

  Fighting against only two opponents at once, I had regained the advantage, and quickly disarmed the henchman on the left, cut off the fingers of both his hands, and kicked him down into the stands, where one of the monsters quickly devoured him, and the last of my attackers was finished off when I kicked his head against one of the steps of the stands, popping it like a balloon.

  — And you're next — I said in a voice that almost didn't sound like my own, so hoarse and harsh I sounded due to the still not completely regenerated wound in my throat.

  — What the...?! — the bald man finally seemed to take me seriously for the first time.

  I ran towards the box, and with a couple of well-placed jumps, I easily reached the bald man's position.

  — Shit — the man tried to escape, but by showing me his back he only gave me an easier target. — Kagh! — he fell to the ground, his eyes closed... but alive.

  — Why did you stop me? — I asked the Fallen Hero, who was holding the tip of the weapon he lent me, crushing it completely with just his palm, preventing me from reaching my target.

  — That’s enough. You’ve scared him enough, he won’t be a problem anymore — Cruz said, and when I looked down at the arena below, I saw nothing but dozens of monster corpses that would take entire battalions to take down on their own. — Leave that alone, and let’s get on with the next step of your plan. Recruiting some monsters, right?

  — He tried to kill us.

  — He won't try again.

  — But the Hero will. He saw our faces, and now he knows what we're going to do next, he'll turn us in as soon as we get out of here. — I didn't trust that the bald man was really unconscious.

  — How do you know? It's equally possible that he'll decide to abandon this life and move far away from here after this beating — Cruz let go of my arm, shrugging.

  I sighed, deactivating the ruined magic item wrapped around my arm. With a quick glance, I soon realized that the other borrowed magic items had also been damaged by the poison and struggles of the monster I used them against.

  — You're just afraid of getting your own hands dirty, but unless you're willing to sacrifice everything, we're already doomed before we even have a chance — despite completely disagreeing with Cruz's conclusions, he was an absolutely indispensable piece if I was to have any chance of victory in the fight to come, I didn't try to go beyond his “suggestion”.

  — Hmm, I wonder if that's actually true? — Celestino commented, floating up to the cabin and scratching his own beard. — I mean, even if we disregard my companion's last successful sacred war, he single-handedly managed to split a number of legendary monsters in half with his bare hands, while you... needed three magical items worth more than entire ducats and a lot of luck to SCARE AWAY a single enemy, who was injured, by the way. In terms of leadership, I don't think you really have any basis to override an order from the Hero... even if he's now Fallen.

  — Hmpm. It seems like the Wizard is trying to put you in your place, Little Rebel — the entity pointed out, finding it funny.

  And that was the last straw.

  — If you are really so amazing, why were you the ones who were made pawns, while I was cursed with this damned Title? — Cruz looked away, having already read the volume and partially knowing the truth we were fighting for. Vincente crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, confused. Celestino, however, was disconcerted, as if trying to ignore strange noises coming from the pantry, hoping that rats hadn't eaten all his grains, but too scared to open the door and check the situation. — You play by rules that won't work on my side... or in the world to come. And you know it very well, coward.

  I turned my back on the old man, and we left the sewers and the secret arena immediately after.

  If I wanted that team of geriatrics to have any chance against my opponent, I needed to prepare them even more.