Villain: The Play of Destiny

Chapter 531: Chapter 531

"A head rolled onto the ground, stopping right over the edge of a crack, which emerged as a result of the horrifying battle that was taking place inside the Dread Formation.

There was just one enemy. A lone man, wielding his Wicked Sword, the symbol of evil, and how befitting it was in his hands.

He was relentless yet incredibly precise, and his graceful movements, coupled with his speed that neither they nor their Beasts could keep up with, left them utterly helpless at his mercy.

Sadly for them, they had met an enemy who was not here to take prisoners, or else they would have surrendered to him long ago when their Commander’s head fell on the ground.

"Please, please... spare me." A man bawled his eyes out, stammering as he begged for his life. "I have young children at home... They are waiting for me..." He desperately said, trying to crawl away.

Who would have thought that this man, begging for his life right now, a Martial Tyrant with a great reputation, and the Fourth Commander of his Mercenary Guild, would see such a day where he would have no shred of dignity and bravery left?

But could he be blamed?

Had he not given his all in the battle? Had he not spent every last ounce of his Aura inside his body?

He had fought for his men, for his own life, and he had lost.

All he could do now was beg.

A tear trickled down his eyes as he glanced at the Battlefield and found the bodies of the friends and his men, whom he had known for decades.

On his side, his beloved Magical Beast, whose beautiful white fur was stained with blood, was taking its last breaths. Its moans told him that it was sorry for failing to protect him.

"Gon..." The man painfully called out its name, and then pleadingly looked at the enemy who was approaching him with very light steps. "Please... let me go."

"You are pathetic." He heard the indifferent voice that announced his sentence, and he could only painfully close his eyes and wait for death.

His heart skipped a beat when he felt the touch of a hand instead of the sharp blade, but the next instant, he heard someone scream for their life and realised that it was his own voice.

Against his will, the Mind Seals in his head shattered, and then every moment of his life flashed right before his eyes.

Far away in the corner, Jaun, who was resting inside a Barrier, watched the stranger inflict the most horrifying pain imaginable on the Mercenary Commander, melting his body out of existence where not even his ashes remained, the air filled with the acrid smell of charred flesh.

Even though the man was his enemy, he could not help but pity him for this ending. And by his side, the ever so mighty Baal, his brave Yellow Tiger, moaned in fear as well.

Jaun inadvertently sighed in relief when the Stranger in white put away his Sword, and the next instant, his brows furrowed in confusion as he saw the man crouch next to the fallen white beast, who was taking its last breaths, its chest heaving with laboured effort.

He thought the man was going to gather the corpse since it was a treasure, but instead, he saw him start treating the Beast’s injuries.

Keith, on the other hand, did not care what Jaun thought of his actions. He was going through the information that he had collected from the fallen man, whose name was Haulken.

"Ghrrrr..."

"It isn’t your fault," Keith smiled as he knew that the Ape was asking to be killed. "You protected your Master with your life and did everything that you could. You should not blame yourself."

The Beast wanted to protest, but Keith only needed to glance at him and flash his true eyes to make him go quiet.

"Behave yourself," he admonished and then spent the next few minutes treating the injuries that the Ape had suffered, the creature’s fur matted with dried blood and sweat.

Afterwards, he approached another Beast whom he had left alive, but who was unconscious right now.

It was a Lightning Hawk, who was only a few years old, and it was a very rare bird in the Lower Heaven.

Unlike the Ape, it had only suffered a few minor injuries, which only took him a minute to treat. And then he started going around the Battlefield to collect the loot.

Jaun was quite restless after watching the stranger go about his business, and though it was quite common to collect the loot after killing people in this world, the man was seemingly only interested in Storage Bags and Rings.

He did not even spare a glance at the armour and only grabbed a few weapons. The best of them.

"Think he is going to kill us, Baal?" Jaun lightly asked his Beast and curiously looked at it when it did not answer.

For some strange reason, Baal was quite relaxed right now, and he was intently looking at the Stranger.

As its Master, who had raised it since it was a cub, Jaun could discern the reverence and worship in its eyes, which confused him.

Was not his dear Tiger utterly restless a few moments ago?

Trying to make sense of things, he looked back at the Stranger, who was done collecting his spoils and was now putting the two Beasts that he had chosen inside Beast Storage Rings.

Jaun tensed up when he finally saw the man approach him, and his heart started pounding against his chest when he looked into those dark eyes, unable to read past them.

"What were they looking for?" Keith stopped in front of the man whose life he had just saved and lightly asked.

He already knew the answer, after all, he had read the memories of the man who had led the reinforcements here.

But he wanted to see if this man deserved to live or not.

Jaun, who felt his heart jump in his throat, forgot to breathe for a good few seconds, but then he gritted his teeth and lowered his head.

"It’s an Amulet. One of the Keys to the Prison Realm."

"Where are you from?"

Jaun was a little surprised at the question. It was not the one he had been expecting. Was not the stranger supposed to ask him if he had the Key or not?

"The Kingdom of Dawn in the Solarian Empire. I..." He hesitated. "I am the son of the illegitimate child of the King of Dawn Kingdom, and I hold the title of an Earl. I am the next Lord of the Sunsdale City and the Leader of the Sons of Dawn Mercenary Guild."

"Sunsdale City? The last city of Solaria that borders the Elysian Empire." Keith smiled.

"Yes."

"And how did a member of the Royal Family find himself being chased by a bunch of Mercenaries?"

"We are not members of the Royal Family. And we were betrayed..." Jaun clenched his fist and sorrowfully lowered his head. "We came to the Grimgrove Forest to find the Millennium-Old Star Fruit. My Son got injured whilst unlocking his first Aura Node, and we need that Fruit to protect his Aura Channels."

"I am a Doctor." He informed the man, who froze at his words, realising that glossing over the details would not work here.

"He..."

"Is cursed?" Keith knowingly smiled.

"Yes." The orange-haired man could not help the tear that slipped out of his eyes but immediately wiped it away.

"You won’t find a Millennium-Old Star Fruit here. The Magical Beasts love feeding on them as soon as they are a dozen or a hundred years old." He casually said and then gently patted the head of the Tiger, who was respectfully bowing to him. "Have you recovered your Aura?"

"Yes." Jaun nodded his head.

"Get up then. Help me collect the Formation Plates." He said and he started walking towards the North, and soon as the man got up on his feet, the Dread Formation was dropped.

"Aauu." The Beast tried to get up too, but its Master shook his head.

"You will get some rest now." He said as he put the Beast inside the Ring, and then rushed towards the south to collect the Formation Plates and meet up with the Stranger who had saved his life.

Minutes later, Jaun arrived under a tree where Keith was standing, waiting for him.

"Follow me." He told the orange-haired man after accepting the Formation Plates, and it took them nearly fifteen minutes to reach the side of the stream where Helena, Amira, Reina, and Gigi were waiting together with the two women and their children.

"Jaun." The white-haired woman cried as soon as she saw her husband return, and she rushed straight into his embrace, holding her baby in her arms.

"I am fine." He consoled his wife and then walked towards the other lady, who was blankly looking at the pale face of her six-year-old son, who was unconscious.

"He relapsed?"

His older wife silently nodded her head and then raised her hand to wipe away the tear that escaped her eye.

Keith curiously looked at the boy, and he was a little surprised after looking at his information.

The child had great luck, but he was not a Child of Destiny. Instead, he was a potential Destined Brother for a Child of Destiny, who had not yet been determined.

Similarly, that little girl, who was only a year old, had great luck as well. It was unlikely that she would have died today.

And there was something inside this boy’s body that was quite precious by the standards of Lower Heaven.

{An Old Monk in the Second Desolation had arrived at the location of the Battlefield.} The System informed him, and Keith’s mind ran to piece things together.

This family was supposed to die today, but with the treasure that the boy had inside his body, he would have likely managed to cheat the Mercenaries, who would have left with his baby sister.

Later, the Old Monk was supposed to arrive at the scene and find that the boy still had some breath left, and he would have taken him away with him.

Keith inadvertently looked at Gigi, and he could tell that her ridiculously high Fate Value was the reason why they had come across this scene today, the air still heavy with the metallic scent of blood from the distant battlefield.

After all, she was Destiny’s Favoured and a Potential Heroine or a Child of Destiny.

"I can cure him. But it will come at a price." Keith suddenly said, and the mother, who was losing all her hope, frantically looked at him.

"Save him, please. I will give you anything..." She promised.