Aria stood surrounded by rubble and flame. She stared at Nox the Death God as he dragged his scythe behind him, slowly approaching her as he stepped over the bloodied corpses that littered his feet. Raising her sword, she pointed at him as she cried out.

  “How could you do this? You tricked me— all that talk about wanting peace… was it all nothing but lies?”

  “I did not break the ceasefire. It was Zander who betrayed us. He came to our home and slaughtered our people. He killed my friends. This is… retribution.”

  As the Death God spoke, his eyes glinted with a menacing crimson glow. Aria pursed her lips, and Zander coughed out behind her, clutching at the wound on his stomach.

  “Don’t listen to him, Aria! The Death God cannot be trusted! Look what he has done to the people of this city— they weren’t involved in the war, but he slaughtered them all!”

  Glancing between her friend and her enemy, the [Hero] hesitated for a moment, not knowing whose words to trust. But then the Death God spat, twirling his scythe and slamming it into the ground.

  “These men were slave masters. They treat their fellow men like mere cattle. They are far from innocent.”

  And Aria shook her head, tightening her grip on the hilt of her sword. “That doesn’t mean they deserve to die. That doesn’t mean you have to raze the entire city to the ground.”

  “You are young and naive, Aria. And so was I, once. Not anymore.”

  Nox whispered as he met Aria’s gaze.

  “Now get out of my way, or I’ll do what must be done.”

  But Aria didn’t waver as she raised her blade.

  “Never,” she said as she steeled herself.

  For a moment, Nox paused. The expression on his face shifted— as if he was doubting whether what he was doing was the right thing. But then he resolved himself as he took in a deep breath.

  “Very well, then.”

  The two fated enemies faced off for a second longer, before they moved. Then they charged at each other as they raised their weapons, clashing with a flash of bright light—

  ***

  And Aria woke up.

  Groaning, she rubbed her eyes as the beams of light slipped through the slits of the curtain and fell upon her face. She turned in bed, looking away from the orange glow of dawn, before she paused.

  Looking at the palm of her hand, she wondered, “...why am I still dreaming about that, even after so long?”

  It had been just about thirty years since that day. Back then, Aria had been young and inexperienced, even as a [Hero]. At eighteen years of age, she had still believed that Nox the Death God could be reasoned with— that perhaps his death was not going to be necessary, and the cycle of fate could be broken.

  She had been the one who pushed the Church of Life to come to the negotiating table. So that a ceasefire could be reached.

  Unfortunately, that day had proved her wrong. The destruction of Servithra, and the genocide of a quarter of its inhabitants had showed her the true colors of the Death God. It had been naive of her to trust him, because she finally understood it was in his nature to bring death and destruction. So while she might not have looked like she aged more than half a decade since then, she was much older and wiser now, with a wide berth of experience to draw from.

  Or so she thought.

  But ever since her final battle with Nox the Death God ten years ago, Aria was left questioning her prior beliefs— because there was no reasonable explanation as to why he would have killed himself when he was supposedly so close to his goal of killing the Goddess of Life.

  And now, more recently, Aria discovered that the man she trusted more than anyone else in the world had been keeping secrets from her.

  So she couldn’t help but ask herself if everything she previously believed in was even true. Was Nox truly evil? Could he have been telling the truth about Zander? And what exactly was it that Walden was trying to hide from her?

  He had mentioned something about a person named Hyperious. Who was that? Why couldn’t Aria know about this mysterious individual?

  The Lady of Light wished she knew the answers to these questions. But she was simply left in the dark.

  She lay there for a moment longer, when she heard a knocking coming from the door. A muffled voice called out to her as she raised her head.

  “Breakfast is ready!”

  ***

  Having lived most of her life in the Basilica of Lux, Aria was accustomed to a life of luxury. Her bedroom was the size of most people’s houses, and the breakfast she was served was oftentimes a feast. But right now, she wasn’t back at Lux.

  Instead, she was staying at an inn in one of the northernmost villages of the Sanctus Empire. That was why her bedroom had been a small wooden box, and her bed had barely been the size of one person. The breakfast she was being served was also barely even a breakfast. It was a cold stew— looking like it was almost three days’ old.

  Aria grimaced as she eyed the stew that she had been served. While she definitely had been pampered for most of her life, she had also grown up at an orphanage before she had been found by Archbishop Walden. And during the War of Fate, when she was on the road, she oftentimes had to sustain herself with rations.

  So it was not like she was a spoiled brat who was incapable of eating anything that wasn’t prepared by the best [Chefs] in the world. And yet, she couldn’t muster up the willpower to even politely take a sip from the stew.

  “I-I think I’m going to be skipping breakfast for today,” Aria said as she pushed the bowl of stew back.

  She looked apologetically towards the [Innkeeper]— a plump middle-aged lady with brown hair who went by the name of Jolynne.

  “Sorry, while I really appreciate that you took the time to prepare breakfast for me, I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

  As much as Aria appreciated the generosity, the inn’s services weren’t very… good, to say the least. She even had to clean her own room and make her own bed when she arrived last night. But that should have probably been expected from such a small and rundown inn.

  “It’s no worries at all!” Jolynne replied enthusiastically, her hands on her hips. “I’m just both honored and delighted to have you here as my guest— I mean, not everyone gets to say that they’ve met the Lady of Light herself. Well, not around these parts anyway. We rarely even get any visitors… although we’ve hit a rough patch these last few weeks…”

  That was true. Aria had only arrived here in the small village of Dalry just last night. And while it was not supposed to be an extremely popular destination, it was practically completely empty from a cursory glance.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Initially, the Lady of Light assumed it was because it was nighttime. But now that it was morning as well, she saw no other customers gathered here at the main hall of the inn. And judging by Jolynne’s reaction, this was not business as usual.

  “The other townsfolk are starting to get worried— I’m starting to get worried. I may have no choice but to close down the inn if this keeps up. And I don’t really want to do that, you know? Family business and all.”

  Sighing, Jolynne looked out the window and eyed a passing elderly couple. They waved at her, and she smiled back at them, before looking towards Aria.

  “Even though Dalry isn’t as busy as it used to be three or four generations ago, most of us townsfolk still heavily rely on visitors to keep our business going. Of course, we could make like the youngsters and move out to the nearby city, but many of us are stuck in our ways, you know? This is all we’ve ever known.”

  Aria pursed her lips, hearing the [Innkeeper]’s story. While she said nothing, she had an inkling of an idea as to why there weren’t very many visitors passing through Dalry as of late. It was a rumor— a [Trader] had said that he had been making his way to the small village late in the evening a week or so ago when he spotted an Avatar of Death. While he hadn’t been sure if his eyes had been deceiving him, he instantly turned around and left.

  “That’s exactly what I’m here to investigate,” Aria cleared her throat and rose to her feet. “I was meaning to ask this since earlier, but have you heard of anything unusual going on around here lately? Besides the lack of passing travelers.”

  “Hm…” Jolynne tapped a finger on her chin. “Well, there is one thing that’s been bothering the townsfolk.”

  “Oh?” Aria leaned over and listened as the [Innkeeper] explained.

  ***

  According to Jolynne, Joseph, the local [Hunter], had gone off to the White Willow Woods just west of Dalry three days ago, and he hadn’t returned ever since then. While this wasn’t exactly unusual, since he often went on week-long hunting trips, he would typically inform the rest of the townsfolk when he intended to return. This time around, he hadn’t done so, which typically meant he should have returned by the end of the day.

  And the fact that he was still missing had most of the townsfolk worried…

  So Aria set off, waving goodbye to the [Innkeeper] and heading west for the White Willow Woods. As she was heading out of the village, she passed by the same old couple that had waved at Jolynne earlier, and she had simply reassured them that she’d find Joseph. They thanked her for her help, before she finally departed from Dalry.

  The White Willow Woods was about ten or so miles away from the village. Which was a rather long walk for most ordinary folks. But Aria was an extraordinary [Hero]. So she leapt across the sky, crossing the distance in a mere five minutes, arriving at her destination.

  She thought it would have taken a few hours of scouring the forest before she could find any clues as to what happened to the [Hunter]. However, after only an hour of searching, she heard a weak voice crying out in the distance.

  “...lp!”

  It was soft, but she barely made out enough of the voice to be able to tell which direction it was. So she leapt there, crossing the distance in mere moments. She landed right before a cave as she narrowed her eyes.

  Somehow, she hadn’t been able to detect it before. But now, she could see the wafting death magic mana in the air. It was so intense— much more than anything she had seen ever since the War of Fate. Staring into the cave was almost like staring at a sea of ink that blotted out the entrance of the cavern. It was almost nauseating to look at. And she couldn’t help but wonder what was the cause of such a sight.

  “Just what is going on here?” she asked, only for a pained voice to come in response.

  “Help me, please!”

  And when she heard the voice cry out once again, she focused, her vision returning to normal as she looked at an injured figure lying a dozen or so feet inside of the cavern. It was a middle-aged man with gray hair and a broken bow at his side. A black blade pinned him onto the wall as fresh blood pooled at his feet.

  Aria immediately rushed forward, recognizing him as the [Hunter] she was searching for.

  “Wait right there, I’ll—” she started as she took a step forward.

  But Joseph raised a hand out as he shouted desperately. “Wait, it’s right behind you!”

  Aria’s eyes flickered when she heard that. Spinning around, she watched as a figure shot out from behind a thicket of trees straight at her. It was a spindly black creature with multiple bladed arms— almost shaped like an ant. Except, it was glowing with a purple aura, and it had no antennae.

  It was an Avatar of Death.

  But even as it rapidly closed in on her, she knew it was a weak one. Perhaps Sapphire Rank at most. Because it was moving so slow.

  Aria drew her sword and slashed out, slicing the creature in half before it could even reach her. It collapsed to the ground as she quickly sheathed her blade, its body already beginning to fade away. Shaking her head, she turned back to the [Hunter].

  “Are you alright?” she asked as she rushed to his side. Her eyes darted over towards the black blade that was pinning him to the wall, and she pursed her lips. “This will hurt for a moment—”

  Aria yanked the weapon out as Joseph yelped. He clutched at his side, trying to stop more blood from pouring out. But the Lady of Light simply placed a hand on his shoulder as a golden glow overcame him.

  And his wounds slowly started to heal.

  “What happened? Did that Avatar of Death do this to you?” she asked as he winced.

  “I… I’m fine,” the injured [Hunter] managed to muster out as the last of his wounds closed. Aria helped him to his feet as he pointed past her. “But it’s not me who needs saving— you have to save my village!”

  And Aria paused when she heard that. “What do you mean?”

  “The man who did this to me— he said he was going to slaughter everyone in Dalry!” Joseph explained as he gesticulated wildly. “Replace them all with his puppets to set up a trap for you!”

  “A trap? Wait, puppets?” Aria’s brows snapped together.

  She thought back to the assassination attempt on Walden’s life. The assassin had been an elderly lady who seemed so… normal. And yet, she had the speed and strength to surprise even a room full of the most powerful people in the world.

  It was something Aria had found strange at the time, but she didn’t have any explanation for it until she eavesdropped on Archbishop Walden— when he mentioned that the assassin had to be a homunculus created by someone named ‘Hyperius’.

  Aria’s eyes widened as she thought back to her brief stay at Dalry. It had practically been a ghost town. But the Lady of Light had thought it was because she had arrived too late in the night for anyone else to be awake. And yet, now that it was morning, she still hadn’t seen anyone wandering the streets of the village— except for the old couple and Jolynne.

  Slowly, everything fell into place. Aria remembered the cold stew. She thought about the messy room. The rundown inn. All this, coupled with what she knew now, meant only one thing.

  “That means—” she started.

  And Aria was cut off when she heard a set of soft footfalls approaching from further into the forest. Snapping her gaze up, she watched as three figures emerged from a thicket of trees.

  Joseph spotted them too. He stumbled forward as Aria drew her blade.

  “Jolynne, is that you? My beautiful wife, you’re still alive!” the [Hunter] exclaimed.

  But Aria grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back. “That’s not your wife, Joseph.”

  Stepping past him, Aria met the gazes of the three figures that were now standing in the clearing, basking in the sun’s light.

  It was the old man, the old woman, and Jolynne. The very same three figures she met back in the village. The only three people who were in all of Dalry.

  Or rather, copies of three former residents of Dalry.

  They were all wearing smiling faces. But there was something extremely off-putting about the way they curled their lips and showed their teeth. It was almost too forced. And that was not all— their eyes were hollow, empty of life.

  Aria shivered as they looked at her and spread their arms wide.

  “Thank the Goddess!”

  “You found Joseph and slew the Avatar of Death!”

  “We are forever in your debt, Lady of Light!”

  They spoke mechanically— with no inflections in their voices. Aria took on a defensive stance as she looked between each of them. All the while, Joseph backed away towards the cavern with round eyes.

  “J-Jolynne? What’s wrong?” he called out.

  And ‘Jolynne’ didn’t answer. She just continued smiling wide.

  “I’m sorry, Joseph.” Aria turned back to Joseph, lowering her head as she spoke. “But your wife is gone— replaced with a fake.”

  ‘Jolynne’ cocked her head at that. “That’s funny, coming from you. After all, are you not a fake too?”

  “I-I don’t understand…” Joseph looked on uncomprehendingly. “You were supposed to save them. You were…”

  Aria bit her lower lip, before she took in a deep breath to steel herself. Looking back towards the three slowly approaching figures, she raised her sword.

  “Please, just say back. I will handle—”

  And a searing pain erupted from Aria’s back as she staggered forward.

  “...this?”

  Blinking, Aria spun around as she felt the blood pouring down her back. She stared at Joseph as he stood there, his gaze darkened, all the while holding a black blade in his hand— the very same weapon that had pinned him against the wall.

  “What are you doing?” Aria stared at him in confusion for a moment.

  But Joseph just raised the weapon with a vigor he had lacked before and pointed it at her as he screamed. “You were supposed to save Jolynne, you damn fake [Hero]!”

  And with that, he swung at her again, his figure moving like a blur. But this time around, he aimed for her neck as her eyes grew wide.