89

Massive Retconning in progress

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"Sorry but no."

"And why is that?"

An older and mature woman was applying make-up on her face to deny a request from a younger woman. Her hair was platinum gold and her eyes could be mistaken for gold itself. 

"My stupid little sister. You haven't reached advanced Bishop and you dare ask? Do you take demons for a joke?"

"I never did sister—"

"Or are you doing this for a man?" 

There was a dangerous glint in the woman's eyes. Heidi couldn't help but be shocked but it left as fast as it appeared. 

"I saw you hesitate Heidi..."

Heidi however, couldn't help but gulp and be frustrated. Why would she have to deal with her older sister like this? 

"Why would you need a man!? They're useless unless for reproduction! Heidi whoever that is tricking you!"

"Sister! This is too much!"

"You never denied…. Hehe… hehe…"

Heidi saw how her older sister's eyes went dark like a bottomless pit of the abyss. Heidi seriously considered marrying her older sister to a neighbouring country at this point. 

"Please, he isn't anything like that."

"So the problem is a man!"

Heidi was exhausted at this point, she sighed stood up and was prepared to leave the room.

"Where do you think you're going?"

When Heidi placed a hand on the handle it wouldn't budge, and she immediately knew that this was because of her sister.

"Sister stop being difficult, I told you I'm going there for political reasons!"

"My poor, poor, naive sister. What can even politics do amid the battlefield?"

Heidi's brows scrunched as she increasingly found her older sister being difficult. She knows that she's doing this out of worry since she saw her younger sibling from the same mother die. 

After that, she kept pampering every Royal that came after, it safe to say no assassins and no contractor could live another day after that. 

"Sister, going to the battlefield collecting achievements is politics!"

Heidi yelled in frustration. 

"So… you still didn't deny it isn't a man."

Heidi just gave up, pulling out a crystal and soon disappearing from the room accompanied by a flash of light. 

"Heidi!"

Heidi didn't even bother to acknowledge the anger of her older sister. She just dipped out of the scene never to return. 

"So?"

When Heidi appeared on the other side of her teleport crystal, a man with dark hair was waiting, he was sculpting on wood with a sharp dagger. 

"She was stubborn as predicted."

"If the Eldest Princess caught us you know my head is on the line."

Walter was casual, it would be rude to treat a Royal this way but Heidi is not the type to care. 

"Yes, so work hard."

Walter raised a brow before settling the wooden sculpture down from his hand. He stood up from where he sat and walked over to a table. 

"We set an anchor crystal on the Demonic continent this week. Are you prepared?"

His hand laid on top of the crystal, it glowed dimly. Heidi nodded her head and placed a hand on the crystal as well. 

"Alright, I hope you have everything you need."

"huh?"

Walter activated the crystal and the two were engulfed in blinding light. Once the light turned down, they appeared in a different room from where they once were. 

"Walter…?" Heidi asked, confused.

"You're finally here." another feminine voice added. 

Heidi turned her head to look over the other woman, the voice was familiar and the moment she saw who it was confirmed her suspicions. 

It was Yula, her luscious raven hair was cascading down on her left shoulder tied to a ponytail. She was dressed up, not for any social events but for war. 

Her legs were adorned with armour that seemed to contour to a spike at the front, her body was covered in armour, lightweight but protective.

"Well, she has something to take care of, so ask her."

Walter walked out and Heidi and Yula were left in the room.

"Any news Heidi?"

"It was convoluted but I got something out of my divination… Leonard is fighting for the demons."

"Is he brainwashed?"

"That… is not clear. But one thing is."

"And that is?"

"Leonard has mastered his mime powers after all these four years."

Yula looked down and back at Heidi. They're here for a few things, to annihilate Zurtin Brites, Stop humanity from invading the demonic lands and ultimately rescue Leonard. 

"Well, let's talk in a more suitable environment"

"Where are we anyways?"

"It's a makeshift tent."

No matter how you look at it, the place looked like a small house, Heidi didn't question it, after all, they're the scions and successors of high-ranking people, and bathing in luxury isn't a rare occurrence.

The two went out of the tent and soon Heidi saw what the others had been preparing.

A hidden base, by the geography, probably within a mountain range. 

"How near are we?"

"Near enough that if we used mana to run we would reach the nearest demon city in an hour."

"When do we go?" Asked Heidi. 

"A week from now on." returned a resolute tone. 

***

In a cold room with a crystal clear mirror, a boy looked at his reflection, his eyes cerulean. 

Leonard touched his eyes and his cheeks whilst staring at his reflection, one might say it's an act of eccentricity but for Leonard, it's a grim reminder. 

This world is nothing but against him. If he doesn't fight back he will be a pushover for the selfish taking. 

Right now he's in denial of everything, grabbed a white paint and with his fingers spread it across his face before using a few colours of red and black to complete the mask. 

A few moments before Leonard even finished his face paint a siren started blaring. 

"A raid from the humans!"

Leonard started walking out of the room, his hands getting caught in blue flames scorching the paint away to dust as he placed bandages around his eyes. 

Soon he felt a thread of mana creep up to him, he didn't reject it and allowed it to connect. 

"Leo, you know you'll be labelled as a traitor if they know you're fighting for the demons."

The demon Queen voiced out her concern, a reasonable one. Leonard smiled slightly. 

"Let me take out my anger on the very same people that gave me nothing but pain."

Lorentia as a woman sighed of regret and guilt but as a demon queen, she saw Leonard as a tool. "...do as you wish"

Once Leonard was removed from the depths of the ever-growing dungeon, he assessed the difference within his body. He was sensitive to any type of mana, be it Sol, Vol And Acmana.

He could deceive anyone. So, with his mask of white paint and black tears under his eyes, he went inside a crate box and was shipped on a plane. 

As someone with fairy blood, mana is not a problem. With control as precise as a needle. Nobody would know. 

***

The demons were on a run, their uniforms rustled amongst the turmoil of their movements. 

Behind them a woman with extending limbs, soft and stretchy as a rubber and soon becoming hard and sharp as steel. A monster made of human flesh. 

Without a warning, two demons turned around with weapons in hand. The monster stared at them with eyes without a soul. 

The monster pulled its left hand towards its body, its momentum still going forward the demons. One demon went forward, sword in hand. 

The other raised a firearm, and before the monster could make a move it fired its shot. The noise it made was deafening. 

The monster anticipating the attack moved towards the left, its move sudden. The demon with a blade followed. 

The monster released its hand forward, sharply. The demon raised its sword to parry to the side, but the monster wasn't done yet. 

Its other arm stretched and with power, the speed it was going barely caught the demon off guard. 

Fortunately, the demon reacted at the right time. However, it used its blade to defend itself, leaving its body open. 

The monster caught this brief weakness, but as it was about to attack a bullet grazed its flesh. Stunning it for a moment. 

The monster's eyes fell on the other demon, firearm raised and aimed at it. Soon the trigger was pulled and the monster dodged it despite its speed. 

The demon flinched, unable to understand the situation. Nonetheless, another bullet was readied within the firearm's chambers and the demon fired without hesitation. 

The monster flicked one limb and the demon with the sword parried, but the attack was much more powerful than anticipated as it sent the demon flying backwards. 

The demon with the firearm started moving backwards. But the monster followed its movements with no form. 

The demon fired a shot, once, twice, thrice. But no bullet shattered the monster's advance, bullets landed but no matter the damage caused, the flesh would mend within seconds that it could be witnessed by the naked eye. 

The monster soon reached the demon, and with one last desperate move, the demon used all of its mana and imbued the bullet. But the monster gave no second, grabbing the demon by the neck and soon twisting it like a bottle cap. 

Then, the monster's flesh was stabbed. A sword protruded out of its stomach, one looked back and the demon with a blade was behind it. 

"You humans will not win," it spoke with spite. 

"I will achieve my freedom." The monster replied. 

The demon soon saw a protrusion in the monster's back, and soon darkness was all the demon felt as the monster created a spike out of its back, stabbing the demon in the head. 

Two corpses fell and the monster stood, its body contorted and soon formed in the image of a human. 

Its steps were heavy as it went back to a building, its eyes darted around and fell onto a radio. The monster turned the handle to a frequency. 

"Special Forces, this is Jane of the 1st squad. Do you copy?"

Static was the reply, the monster tried again and soon its efforts were rewarded. 

"This is mission control, have you taken the sector of the city?"

"Yes, multiple hostiles taken care of within the ground. Hostiles above ground are unknown."

"We'll take care of that."

Static followed and soon the monster looked outside the building, into the blue skies. A large cargo plane presented itself, the monster squinted its eyes. 

'there's no sign of our military…'

The plane released multiple box crates and all of them somehow, crashed towards the building the monster was in. 

"This is!"

Soon mana emerged from the crates, like an overpressured container it soon became unbearable that the crates exploded. 

And what they contained were a bunch of metallic objects shaped like a needle. 

"Shit!"

Lastly, one crate opened, and a man with red hair came out. His hand held out and suddenly, The monster felt sharp pain from within. 

"Ack!"

The monster hugged its own body struggling on the ground. 

'My mana!'

The monster curled in pain. But it soon gritted its teeth and looked above the incoming projectiles. 

"DAMN YOU!"

Thousands of needles soon landed within the section of the city, multiple buildings were trashed and debris soon filled the streets. 

Fortunately, everyone was evacuated because the needles brought destruction with extreme discrimination. The monster wasn't spared from the attack. 

Multiple holes were painted on the monster, but it was a momentary inconvenience as its flesh continued to repair itself despite the state it was in. 

—crash!

The Red-haired man landed in front of the monster. The monster looked at his eyes. Its depth is unmeasurable. 

"You—"

A magic circle soon took form in front of the man's hand, aimed at the monster. However, the only thing the monster felt was contempt. 

"Are a human—"

The circle was activated, and flames erupted with volatile fury. This heat would be enough to melt and even turn any living flesh into ashes. 

However, the flames didn't reach the monster. 

"We found him."

A woman with red eyes looked through the man with red hair. 

"I found Leo." 

Her smirk as her legs struck the man away from the monster deepened. The armour on her leg let out a hiss but it soon cooled down as if the flames never struck it. 

"Jane, you alright?"

The monster looked up at the woman. Her body was heavily armoured, but it was light, with only a few metals attached to the leather armour. Mostly on the legs. 

"What the hell was that?" Jane asked with an irritated brow. "That was a human."

"He IS." 

"Whatever, my mission is done here. Whatever you need to do is none of my concern." 

The monster stood and soon left, leaving the woman alone in the building. The woman looked behind her, she found the man already waiting. 

"How gentlemanly to wait for me to finish conversing."

The man just looked below, at the woman's feet. This naturally made the woman follow his eyes at her own feet. 

There was nothing, but somehow even with the solid ground. She fell through the floor as if it were an illusion, falling through the sewer of the city itself. 

"Shit! Heidi was right!"

The man, with a face of white and black tears, looked down with an impassive face. Soon he looked up and saw a woman with her hands forward, a man with a sword and another woman with blonde hair. 

"...?"

"We finally found you." The man spoke

"Yula, It was Yula who found him." The woman with white hair corrected

"Technically I did." The blonde woman interjected. 

The mime didn't wait for anyone, with the gesture of throwing something in the air perpendicular to his position and soon both hands winding back as if holding something. 

"Uh Oh."

Lenneza with her hand already held out cast a circle that activated instantaneously. A wind of frost engulfed the mime but instead of just freezing him in position it suddenly turned everything around to frost. 

It was a surprise to Lenneza because that was not the intention of the spell. The mime swung its arms, there was no sound but Walter's head soon recoiled from an unknown cause. 

When the mime was done with its action it looked around the frozen streets filled with a thin sheet of ice and visibly shivered whilst also hugging itself.

"He's committed to the role."

Walter had a visible red circular bruise on his forehead, with a bit of annoyance he leapt in front of the mime. 

"Surrender now or we'll be forced to capture you."

The mime shrugged before turning tails and started running. Walter did not give chase as soon as the mime ran a certain distance it was halted by an invisible wall, making the mime splat. 

The mine shook its head and cradled it. Its eyes soon landed on the blue woman. With a barrier that engulfed a large part of the city, trying to escape will not be worth it. 

But the mime didn't think much of it. He merely made a gesture of opening a door in front of the barrier. 

"You gotta be kidding!" Walter screamed. 

But as soon as Walter ran towards the mime, the door it was opening suddenly procured a thousand lightning volts. The mime was shocked by the lightning, and while being electrocuted his bones glowed like those in cartoons. 

There was intrigue but the purpose of those three towards the mime is the same. The mime stood still after being electrocuted, Walter took this chance to apprehend but the mime suddenly lifted his hand and pulled down. 

The mime fell through the floor suddenly but before it did, it was launched in the air by the explosion of the ground. 

"Hah! I was waiting for that!"

What emerged was Yula, under the sewer of the city. The mime fell through the floor filled with debris making his fall not quite pretty. 

"Stop this Leonard, you have to go back."

Heidi said woefully to Leonard. The response is a chuckle. 

"Go back…? To what?"

Leonard supported his body with one hand. 

"To that place that has nothing but bad memories for me?"

Leonard looked at Heidi, his one eye blanched red. He soon stood up, despite the shaky grounds filled with debris. 

"Tell me, Heidi. What's there for me?"

"That's… "

"You know what. No, for every single one of you? What's in there for me?"

There was silence, Walter had no idea what was going on. But he knew that whatever Leonard was saying did not involve him. 

"I've been ignoring shit! I've already told myself I'd already forgiven you. But I'm tired, I'm tired of fooling myself."

Leonard's mana soon started boiling within, Everyone could feel it. Lenneza acted first, casting a circle with immediate effects. 

Chains soon started to bind Leonard but he did something unexpected. He fell to the floor but this time, it was within his shadow. 

"What the—!"

Walter's senses alerted him, and he soon turned to the side and slashed his sword. There was nothing there, but a shadowy figure. 

Though, at first he was confused, Walter soon realised the purpose of the shadow. It's to block his view of the others. 

When Walter moved away he saw Lenneza being pushed away by a surge of unstable mana and Leonard grabbing Heidi's head. 

"Heidi!" Yula yelled. 

Yule ran towards Leonard, her steps heavy with each stride then on the last she leapt towards Leonard. Leonard struck Heidi in the neck making her lose consciousness. 

Yula's feet were already wound back, prepared to strike. However, Leonard grabbed Heidi's head and used it as a shield. 

Yula was dumbstruck and instead landed in front of them. Leonard suddenly felt mana accumulate which made him let go of Heidi's body and run towards Lenneza. 

"..!!"

However, his movements were out of the ordinary. His speed was so fast all it was to the others was a blur. 

Lenneza's trinkets activated and a barrier was shattered into a million particles as Leonard swung his fist imbued with mana. 

This is where all of them realised, Leonard isn't holding back anymore. Lenneza tried to counter but there was already a magic circle on Leonard's palm. 

Lenneza didn't have time to recognize it till it was fired, which left her defending for her safety. Yula came a bit too late, kicking Leonard away after he fired his spell. 

However, that kick made Leonard fly through a wall, sending dust flying. 

Unexpectedly, a concrete slab came flying out towards Yula, which she kicked away. Multiple concrete slabs soon came flying towards Yula, she soon gave up deflecting them away and ran in the opposite direction of Lenneza. 

Leonard soon came out with a magic circle already pre-activated. Walter wasn't standing idle, he slashed through the circle which was successful in defusing the spell but the mana went wild which made it erratic. It was like small firecrackers going off. 

However, that small display was all Leonard needed. Walter's foot sank into the shadows making his footing wobble. Leonard's fist was raised, soon falling on Walter. 

Unexpectedly, Yula came just in time and responded with a kick towards Leonard's punch. 

A small shockwave resounded. Stunning all three, however, Lenneza was still up and she used this chance to tie down Leonard with a spell. 

"Tsk!"

"Leonard! Please stop this madness, you can go back and make it all better!"

Yula tried reasoning. 

"Better? Go back?" Leonard let out a maddened laugh. "To what? Don't you remember? What you did!?"

"Leo I-"

"Did you know what it felt like? Being stripped of your dignity, Yula?!"

Yula cringed, yes she remembered. It was the same reason why Leonard was so apprehensive about going near Yula. 

Leonard tried toughing it out. Nonetheless, the damage was done and he couldn't recover from it. 

Leonard's eyes, which were covered by a soft silken cloth soon wore off and his milky blue eyes were exposed. It wasn't his eyes, everyone knew. 

"Do you know?!"

***

Leonard took deep a breath 

"Damnit! Why now… it's not like I have no new events to do why does it have to activate now??"

[Main plot]

[Hit on Yula on the Banquet]

Reward: judged by performance

Failure: Humiliation

"And its main plot???"

Leonard sucked on the lollipop for the fifth time. He had been driven like a slave for the past few weeks without a break. He didn't understand as well since there is a main event according to the system.

Not like he had a choice, he had to do it exactly the way it was portrayed by the book. Leonard was already thinking of a way to use his free time after this. By then he would probably go to a store in disguise or stay in his room reading books.

"Eh whatever, this will give me more points anyway."

That's what Leonard thought. It was a bit carefree but he shouldn't have underestimated it. The moment he came to that banquet, it turned out, that the reason for the episode to be a main plot is because of his role.

A punching bag villain.

"Ugh!"

"How dare you?" 

A girl with dark hair and crimson eyes glared at Leonard, he hadn't done anything yet. Let alone anything villainous he hadn't done anything yet. 

[Main Plot failed]

"What do you mean failed?"

Leonard looked at the system in despair and anger. 

"I've never done anything!"

Leonard screamed in contempt, he was looking at the system screen but for Yula it was an insult. 

Leonard was kicked to the hall, spouting red blood along the red carpet. His constitution is weak. 

He tried crawling away, even with the disdain the others were showing him in the banquet he didn't care, he'd done enough, and the episode was a failure. 

He didn't need to continue. 

"Where are you going?"

The voice he dreaded to hear was behind him. He didn't dare look back but he should've. A vinegar-like liquid was poured over him. 

"What's this Leonard?"

"W-why are you asking me? I don't even know this—"

He heard something fizzing, and it turned out it was his clothes slowly disintegrating. Leonard covered himself but even then, he couldn't cover all. 

"You don't? It was given to me by a servant telling me it was a perfume. Did it look like a perfume Leonard!?"

"How am I supposed to know─!"

Leonard couldn't even complete his reply, he didn't do anything the whole week except the side plot that the system gave him by force. Out of all the things the system gave him nothing involved this "perfume" Yula was ranting about.

Nonetheless, that didn't stop her from assuming, Leonard couldn't finish his words as a leg struck his face making him fall.

"Still with the excuses? You're really pathetic." 

Leonard gasped, his face became numb and he couldn't feel a thing at all. Still, he clung to the last shred of dignity that he had, he had to tug to the carpet and cover himself with it. 

"Everyone would know what kind of trouble you make─"

"That doesn't mean it was me!"

Leonard yelled, but all he got was a beating. He was kicked and battered till Lenneza arrived at the scene and told Yula that he was on probation for the whole week. But even so, Lenneza looked at Leonard with disdain as if he did exactly what Yula accused him of.

Leonard, really recognized his situation that day, in this world he has no ally.

To them, who didn't know Leonard's situation?

An animal.

That's all he is.

He went home, clutching the broken carpet so he could cover himself. Lenneza intendedH to stop tarnishing the name of Marchen that day, she didn't even care for Leonard.

His eyes were swollen, and his nose crooked. And the only one who nursed himself is Leonard himself.

***

"Do you know how much It hurt Yula?

Leonard gathered enough mana in his fist and swung it like there was no tomorrow, his voice started cracking as if pent-up emotions started pouring out. 

Leonard pointed to the left with his index and slashed away before putting his sight back at Yula. Lenneza groaned, her nose suddenly dropping blood.

'He destroyed a circle I was about to release?' Lenneza thought.

Yula dashed backwards, creating space. Leonard followed like a hound. Walter swung his sword and a gash in the ground formed, Leonard briefly halted his advance before the blade hit.

Leonard stared at Walter and Yula before he dashed backwards releasing two arcane bolts toward the two. Walter parried the spell and pursued Leonard, Yula using her legs to swipe the spell away.

As Walter was advancing, his senses blared and instead of continuing his pursuit he dashed to the left, the shadows wriggled, before he continued his pursuit. Leonard conjured another spell, but this time there were no offensive spells.

Mist formed around Yula and Walter. 

"Where?"

But then, there was no attack. Till then Yula realized what was happening.

"The sewer!"

The mist vanished and by then Leonard was gone.

"Damnit!"