"Why...why are you here?"

Xiao was shocked by the appearance of Lars, his expression slowly turns to annoyed as Lars approaches him closer with his usual psychopathic grinning face.

"Why am I here you ask, hmm, hmm? why, why, why, I wonder, Hehehe."

As usual, Lars played around with Xiao's question, never giving a serious answer to him.

"Whatever, goodbye."

Used and tired of dealing with Lars, Xiao turned his back and was ready to walk out the garden.

"Oh? Where are you going, Mr. Hero? Hehe," said Lars as he blocked Xiao's path and look at him with his head twisted 90 degrees.

"Sleep," answered Xiao as he moved around Lars, he was so used to dealing with Lars that he didn't freak out by Lars' constant bizarre act.

With a short replied, Xiao was set to return to his room while completely ignore Lars and he attempts to annoy him, he was also not in the mood to be in the same space with anyone else, especially Lars, who's one of the reasons why Xiao had to go through all the misunderstanding and trouble.

"My oh my, don't be such a mood breaker, come come, let us have a heartful chat. Hehe."

Lars kept on calling Xiao, but Xiao didn't even turn his head nor react to his words, he had completely shut off Lars' voices, and continued to walk further away from the garden, and Lars.

"Hmm, in that case....Hehe."

Lars lets out a sinister chuckle, the next instant, as Xiao continues to follow his path, which was a straight path with nothing on the way, he suddenly hits something hard, like a concrete wall, which the force rebound to him and causes him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

"What the?!"

Xiao was stunned, he quickly looked at the place where he got hit, which had nothing at all, apart from being a normal brick road, no wall blocked the path.

Xiao cautiously touches the part where he got hit, and he felt some kind of force was there, it was like a barrier or an invisible wall got placed in front of Xiao.

"Be careful, my little hero, a hero shouldn't fall so easily, right? Hehe."

Lars said it sarcastically as he slowly caught up to Xiao, grinning playfully as he looked at Xiao who's still laying on the ground, confused on what had just happened.

Without Lars' telling, Xiao knew that the barrier was his doing, to prevent him from getting out of this garden.

"....what are you trying to do?" said Xiao as he slowly gets up from the ground while looking at Lars, staying alert to Lars's action.

"Now, now, don't be such a party popper, I just want to have a warm and lovely chat with you. Hehe," Lars chuckled as he finished his statement.

"Chat, huh? So, what do you want to talk about? Just to let you know, if I could, I wish I won't have to deal with you again," Xiao proclaimed honestly to Lars, he was both tired and scared of what misfortune or trouble Lars will bring to him as long as he was still in part of his life, he had his fill of trouble already to deal with, all thanks to Lars.

"Hmm, Mr. Hero here doesn't want to talk to me, such arrogance, such an attitude, even though he was the weakest among all the heroes. Hahahahaha!!!" Lars burst out of laughter, pointing at Xiao and stomping the ground to show how much he enjoyed toying with Xiao.

(Goodness gracious, so he locks me in here just so that he can make fun of me.)

Xiao just shakes his head and lets out a sigh, he didn't get angry at Lars as he was so used to it already.

"Are we done here? Can I leave now?" said Xiao as he was ready to turn around and leave Lars.

In the next instant, the stomping and laughing from Lars suddenly stop completely as he enters into a completely silent state, his eye was not wide open as usual and he also stopped his usual grinning, it was as if he turned into another person.

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"Not quite, I need to tell you something," said Lars in a cold tone.

Xiao was dumbstruck by the sudden changes of Lars, he took a step back while unconsciously broke a cold sweat by how a bizarre thing had suddenly turned out.

(What the hell is happening here? Why is he suddenly changing....is like the one I met on that night, right before I got attacked by the Zombie Wolf.)

"I don't have much time left..." Lars said it so softly that Xiao thought he was saying something, but couldn't quite make out what he said.

"What?" asked Xiao.

"Your undying skill," said Lars so reactively that shocked Xiao for a while.

"...what about it?" Xiao replies after he regains composure while staying alert on Lars.

"How many times have you died, besides the incident with the Zombie wolf?" Lars asked with a serious tone, his aura has completely changed from what he was before.

"Umm....no more, besides the Zombie wolf, I think I didn't got into a life-threatening situation, aside from getting knocked out by Hatta. But why did you ask? I thought heroes will revive after they got killed." Xiao asked in curiosity after replied to Lars's question.

"And you believe that?" said Lars without batting an eye, as if he was looking at a fool who thinks that he can't die because he is a hero.

"Well...yeah?" Xiao answered hesitantly, for the one who explained to him about his undying skill was none other than Lars himself.

"This is not a game where you get can just live again after you got killed, the same goes to heroes, anything living being will die if they bleed out, have their heart gouge out, have their head smashes into pieces or drink a lethal poison," Lars explained clearly, there was no playful or hesitating tone in his words, only harsh cold truth.

"What....what do you mean?"

Xiao was confused by the lies told by Lars that his undying skill comes from him being a hero, which was not the case after all as every living being will die when they get killed which Lars has just explained.

"It means you are not normal," Lars said without hesitation.

Xiao went silent upon hearing what Lars had just said, he was still confused about the sudden changes of Lars and the thing he mentions right after his changes. The only thing he made out of this bizarre situation is that he is not normal, for he can't die.

Just like what Lars had said, this is not a video game, there is no respawn or resurrection, no matter if you are a king or a hero, once you got killed, that's the end of your life.

"Is...is that all you're doing?! The ritual you did on me, you are telling me that it was not a ritual to give me the potential to become a hero, but to turn me into something else? That means....what they said is true, I'm not a human..."

Unable to accept the fact that he was human no longer, Xiao was both scared, angry and confused, because he knows Lars was the one who turns him into something unknown without telling him the truth.

Xiao looked at Lars with all sorts of emotion, anger, desperation, fear and despair. Lars didn't return his feeling kindly as he goes on with his statement.

"Whatever you do, don't die too many times, because....because...."

Lars was trying his hardest to continue his words, but as he tries to says the next word, his mood and aura slowly changed again, it was as if he suddenly got possessed by something, his posture slowly changed, his breathing rhythm became chaotic, and then, he went into a silent state.

"Lars?" Xiao called him out while staying wary of what's going to happen next.

"...ehehe....hehehe...hahaha.....HAHAHAHAH!!!"

A burst of lunatic laughter came from Lars as he suddenly raised both his hands to the sky as if he was calling to something.

"OH! GREAT HARBINGER OF THE WORLD OF AORA!" shouted Lars, he then pointed at the frightening Xiao and looked straight into his eye with his eye filled with unmeasured madness.

"You are not only one of the heroes who's going to save the world, you are also the black droplet that I spill into this world."

"Black...droplet?" Xiao repeated Lars words without any thought in it, he was already in a state of extreme confusion and frighten by Lars lunatic behavior,

Lars' drastic change and his senseless statement have made Xiao subconsciously take a few steps back from him, for the person in front of him, was not the Lars he knew, it was something else, something completely unknown, and horrifying.

Lars was now facing the ground, his messy gray hair has covered his face, along with both of his hands, which also lifelessly in a dropping status.

After a moments later, Lars lets out a low growl as his body started shaking more vigorously, his growl turns into loud laughter, like a lunatic who has completely lost his mind, his dropped to the ground and faces the sky, his eye which usual was widely open was now even wider than before, as if he was trying to pop them out from his eye socket, saliva was drolling out his mouth, and his expression was like he had witnessing something so enlighten that he felt incredibly pleased with it.

"AHH HAHA! FOR THE SAKE OF OUR FUTURE! FOR THE SAKE OF THE END OF THE WORLD! DYE YOUR COLOR TO THE WORLD! LET IT GROW AND SPREAD! LET NONE ESCAPE YOUR MERCY!"

Lars started screaming as soon as he announced the statement, like a man who completely loses himself in madness.

Xiao was scared, extremely scared, he touched the area that was previously blocked by Lars invisible wall, which was not there any more, the next moment, he dashed out of the garden, instantly pulling a great distance from Lars, who's still laughing out loud like a madman.

Lars didn't do anything that harms Xiao, yet his behavior had made Xiao register it as an act of threatening his life, Xiao had never encountered such frightening sight before, and it was for the first time that he ran away from something so horrifying and bizarre.

And the laughter of Lars will forever be imprinted in Xiao's mind.

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The next morning, a patrol guard found Lars' dead body in the garden.