Villain: The Play of Destiny

Mikaros kept staring at him in utter shock but then lowered his eyes when he came to stand right in front of him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, and then curiously looked at the golden cuff bracelet that he was wearing on his left wrist.

There was this beautiful insignia with two intertwined snakes on it, and Keith knew that it was the symbol of Hekau.

"That's an interesting Realm Sealing Artifact." He smiled as his words made Mikaros even more restless. "You have not answered me yet."

"My apologies, Lord Erebus." He replied and then took a deep breath. "I did not leave back then and have been wandering around in silence."

"Why?"

Keith knew a lot of things about Mikaros, not just from the Plan of Destiny he read about Samrath, but also from the System that provided him information in exchange for a few System Points.

Exactly 447 years ago, a group of Wizards had stumbled into this world when a portal threw them here after a Secret Realm they were inside crashed. And amongst those Wizards were two Envoys of the Hekau, who were grievously injured. Mikaros was one of them, and though the group stayed in this world for over a century, healing and looking around, one by one, they all left.

It was believed that Mikaros had left too, but surprisingly, he was still here.

"I wanted to learn all about Medicine that this world knew." He honestly replied, and Keith smiled at his words.

"And have you?"

"Yes." He nodded, not hiding it. "And I wanted to wait until I am close to Second Desolation before leaving."

"I see." Keith understandably nodded and then curiously looked at the golden cuff again.

It was a very special Realm Sealing Artifact and possessed the Divine Protection of Hekau as well. Otherwise, Mikaros would have not been able to spend even a day in this world after he had recovered. He was already a man who had crossed the First Desolation when he stumbled into this world.

"What did you want from him?" He asked, looking the Wizard in the eyes.

Mikaros was way stronger than him in terms of Cultivation, but he knew that he would never dare to take a rash step against him.

"The young Arya used a technique which I have not seen before. I was just curious."

"Even if you ask him about it, he would be unable to answer you. It is because he does not know its name or much about that technique." He smiled.

As intended, his words grabbed Mikaros' curiosity, and as someone who yearned to learn as much about Medicine as possible, the struggle was evident on his face as he debated if he should raise the question or not.

"The Technique is called the Life Reversing Threads."

"Life Reversing Threads?" The Wizard was elated that Keith told him its name.

"But it is a secret Technique, and so you will have to search for its secrets yourself. You can find information on it in the Central Heaven Realm."

Mikaros immediately bowed to him after he heard those words.

"Thank you, Lord Erebus." He sincerely said.

"No information comes for free, Mikaros." He smiled, and the Wizard curiously looked at him when he stood straight again. "It's time that you leave this world."

Mikaros frowned a little but ultimately nodded his head. He did not ask Keith why he wanted him gone from there. It was not his place to question the Inheritor of Erebus.

Besides, he remembered that his Lord had once told him that the Ennead Pantheon and the Chaos Greek Pantheon had always been on good terms. It would be unwise of him to do anything to cause some friction between his Lord and the Lord of Darkness.

Mikaros had been living in this small world that lacked both Aura and Mana for centuries, and now, he truly did not need to live there another day. He was just a step away from entering the Second Desolation.

It was meant to be his last trip to this place anyway.

"As you please, Lord Erebus." He answered and then touched the golden bracelet cuff with his right hand, drawing a pattern on it.

He did not understand why the image of the young Arya suddenly appeared in his mind. And then there was this urge in him to meet the boy again and reward him for the compassion that he had earlier witnessed.

However, it was already too late.

A portal suddenly cracked open in the sky, and then red chains of lightning fell to bind him.

"Farewell."

Mikaros heard Keith say, and then his vision turned blank.

A minute later, Keith averted his eyes from the Portal that had closed in the sky and then smiled as he heard a couple of System Prompts in his mind.

[Ding! The Host has deprived the Child of Destiny, Samrath Arya, of the opportunity to acquire a Treasure that he would have used as fuel to access the Fragment of the Book of Life once again. 500 Fate Points have been successfully plundered.]

[Ding! The Host has deprived the Child of Destiny, Samrath Arya, of the opportunity of getting to know an important person and a potential ally. 500 Fate Points have been successfully plundered.]

Seeing the points he gained, he understood that Samrath and Mikaros' future meeting in the Heaven Realm was still in place, otherwise, he would have gained a lot more points.

Unfortunately, the Wizard would not see the man who was likely meant to be one of his greatest allies ever again.

When Keith returned to the entrance of the main base, he found the girls waiting for him together with Samrath and his two ladies.

"My apologies, Dr. Keith." Samrath immediately stepped forward. "And thank you for listening to Sammy's request."

The Child of Destiny learned that it was Samantha who had rushed to Keith when she saw him with the girls and told him about a strange man who was holding him back near the campsite. And it was why Keith had suddenly appeared there.

Samrath was truly grateful that Keith had come to help him out, even though he felt that there was no need for it.

"Thank you." The timid girl too stepped forward and thanked him as well.

"It's okay." He smiled, seeing how things had turned out as he had planned.

The girl had only rushed to him because he had influenced her mind to look their way and then rush at him to request him to save Samrath. And now, the Child of Destiny had an even higher opinion of him in his heart.

"Shall we go?" He looked at his little sister, who immediately nodded her head and then hugged his arm.

"The theatre is about to start." She informed him.

"Dr. Keith..."

They were just about to leave when Samrath excused himself from Sunaina and Samantha and called out to him.

"Yes, Mr. Arya?"

"That man. Was he targeting me?" He straightforwardly asked.

"No." Keith shook his head. "He is just an old curious soul who caught you using a Profound Medical Technique earlier. And all he wanted was some information about it."

"Oh."

"Have fun." He smiled and then walked away with Kiara and the rest of the girls.

On their way, his ladies threw him very curious glances, and he knew that they had questions on their minds.

They all understood that Keith had allowed Samantha to look their way, otherwise, she would have never found them. And this in turn made them believe that Keith was expecting what was happening to Samrath, or perhaps he made it happen.

"Who was that man?" Kiara curiously asked.

"A Wizard, and someone too powerful for this world." He honestly answered and successfully distracted their minds from conjuring up any silly scenarios.

"Wizard?" Amira curiously asked, and her twin curiously tilted her head as well.

"Yes."

"They are different from Aurors?" She asked again, and Keith nodded.

"I will tell you about them some other day. And yes, they do know Magic and are very good at it." He looked at Reina and answered her before she could raise her silly question. "However, they can never be as good as me." He added, making the girl excited.

"Show me something cool." She demanded, making Kiara giggle.

"Something cool?" He smiled.

"Eeeehhh!!" Reina suddenly cried out in surprise when she felt a cold necklace made out of crystalline ice form on her neck, but when her surprise wore off, her eyes comically widened when she took it off and saw how pretty it was. "Thank you, brother!" She cheerfully said and then jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he held her by her waist, and then planted a kiss on his left cheek.

He did make one of them happy, but now he was subjected to their expectant gazes as they all desired that he would make something for them as well.

Sighing in his heart, he smiled and then made similar necklaces for all of them, and by the time they reached the place where the theatre was about to start, everyone, except for Kashish, had kissed him to thank him for the necklace.

The little miss of the Mir Family was a little too shy about it, but he was not going to let her go without receiving one.

Pulling her by her hand, he wrapped his arms around her, then nuzzled his face in her neck, planting a kiss there.

"Kiss me." He demanded, and the girl trembled some more.

However, being smart enough to not allow him to escalate things, she immediately kissed him on his cheek and broke out of his embrace.

"Wasn't that hard, was it?" He teased her, but the girl refused to look at him and kept her eyes on the play that had started.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Samrath looking their way. The lost expression on his face made Keith smile in his heart, and he deliberately pulled Kashish back into his arms, where she did not even struggle and obediently stayed.