Three months before the mission

The blue sky overflowed with peace and joy. The wind gently caressed the earth around the city, sneaking between the streets and brushing the skin of its inhabitants. Many of them wore armor, furs or bandages, evidence of the constant fights against monsters outside. Everyone was heading to the city center, where the new Elms Courtyard stood as the heart of commerce. The sale of weapons, armor, objects, relics and metals was concentrated there, promoted by the guilds that had arisen after the construction of the city.

These guilds were founded by students who graduated with honors at the new academy, created by the savior of the province. His mission was to rebuild the functions that the ancient civilization had lost. One of them, named Garden, was in charge of maintaining order in the city, acting as a police force with the power to use force if necessary, always under the supervision of one of the co-leaders of the guild. Thanks to their reputation, they extended their influence to create guard agencies in every city and place that needed protection, with no reward other than a payment in Xp to continue improving their skills.

This was the feature they managed to unlock upon entering the city - the "Quest Shop". This feature allowed anyone to create a paid request with Exp, which was automatically generated by the system once the conditions were set. The application was posted on the "Bulletin Board", visible to everyone, or sent privately to a specific person. Investigating further, they found that they could exchange XP points for simple items or jobs, but only if they had a high rank in their field. For example, a lone trader could use this system, but an employee of a trader needed special permission from his boss.

So far, there were only four honorary graduates at the academy. The first was the creator of the Garden Guild. The second one disappeared after graduation, saying that he would go to a distant dungeon. He is believed to have died. The third graduate was a disciple of Queen Brenda, who trained him so that he could go to a forbidden area on the outskirts of the province, where he claimed that his sister was trapped. This graduate also created a guild called Return, in charge of finding anything that was asked for: objects, weapons, monsters or people. In the latter case, they could request to kill or save the person, depending on their motives, which had to be justified.

The fourth graduate, Daiana, was the younger sister of the savior of the province and the first to graduate from the academy. Upon graduation, he created the Eternity Guild, tasked with dungeon raiding, trading with other races, diplomacy, and military defense. Eternity was the closest thing to a military government and was always in the front line during the few battles between races, which always ended in truce thanks to the influence of the savior of the province.

Before leaving in search of more power to the dungeon called "Abys-X", the savior left a clear message

"No civilian of other races is to blame for the mistakes of their leaders. Do not repeat the mistake of our ancestors. Don't hurt innocent people out of spite. Use that hatred to become stronger and protect what you have left. He who thinks like that does not survive here. Only the strongest survive here. This is my last request until my return Survive."

These words were engraved on a statue that reminded every race and person of the need to survive and move on, even if they had lost things. Everyone depended on everyone, and doubting meant the end. Thanks to this, the Three Laws were created, which had to be respected in order to maintain order in the province:

Those between the ages of 15 and 18 were required to enroll in the White Sword Academy to train and learn how to survive.

First law: All races should live together in peace, regardless of wars or differences. If they had grudges or unfinished business, they should solve them as warriors, not as animals.

Second Law: They should never leave the boundaries of the province or enter unknown areas without authorization. In addition to the punishment for doing so, they could die because they did not have information about those places or did not have enough level to defend themselves.

Third Law: These laws, implemented during the first month of the creation of the city of Córdoba, spread throughout the province, facilitating trade with other races and gaining the trust of their leaders. Now, humans coexisted with dragons, fairies, elves, dwarves, druids, undead, dryads, etc. It was a time of peace.

In the central building of the Patio Olmos, on the highest floor, lived one of the two queens, Rosario. From the huge transparent glass panels, I watched the peaceful coexistence in the city.

Rosario: Since he left, everything has gone perfectly and peacefully, if not for his awakening...

He looked with sadness and helplessness at everything they had built since his departure, wondering if it would be strong enough to protect him and its inhabitants.

Rosario: If I think like that, we won't be able to do anything. I don't know...

His words were interrupted by Jamal, who was sitting around a small table with 14 other people.

Jamal: He left just for this, so that we can show that we can protect this place without depending only on him.

Jamal got up and walked over to Rosario, patting her back calmly while he ate a piece of candy and smiled kindly at her.

Jamal: Don't you think so?

Rosario didn't say anything, she just looked out the window for a moment and sighed calmly, hitting Jamal's forehead with one of her fingers, causing him a comical pain.

Rosario: I didn't give you permission to be so close or touch me, idiot.

Jamal: Ouch!... How bitter you are. You look like an old lady already...

Rosario approached the table, sitting in the first throne-shaped chair next to Brenda, who was stroking her head when she saw her, laughing in a flirtatious and mocking tone, but kind among friends. Meanwhile, Alexis and Savitar were trying to comfort poor Jamal, who was in a corner pondering if he was ugly or something to be treated like that. The other two did not know what to say to him, starting the meeting of the founders of the new unified province of Córdoba

Brenda: -Jamal, please stop doing these clownish scenes and come give the report.

After looking back for a moment, Jamal became serious and changed his countenance to approach the table, sitting down on one of the sofas and start talking with a worrying tone. You could tell there was something on the outside that was bothering him.

Jamal: -The outer barrier I don't think will withstand the next impact.

These revelations left everyone shocked, as they did not understand what Jamal could mean by it.

Brenda: - Could you explain what you mean by that?

Jamal at that moment opened his inventory and took out what seemed to be a tombstone from an ancient ruin, one of the many relics that have been found in the dungeon next to the city "the dungeon of the ancient living". But no one understood what these relics meant, since according to the system they were written in a lost language that could not be read, so it was impossible to decipher what they were saying.

Jamal: -I managed to translate one of the tombstones thanks to one of my gods with whom I made a temporary contract, the god Thot of Egyptian mythology, who asked for help from other gods to translate what is written here.

While he related what he had done, everyone was attentive to know how they translated it, but more importantly, what the relic says.

Jamal: -They discovered that in fact this ancient language is a mixture of many languages of the Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greek era, so by mixing several characters from the 3 cultures they managed to come up with a translation based on the current alphabet and what it says is the following:

"When we thought peace had come, they came... the wave was huge, monsters everywhere... we can't stand the waves, they are... the darkness is going to come in..."

The message was cut, some parts incomplete and broken, so there were only pieces without readable context in an old jargon which was only read in poetry, so you can assume that when they say "wave" they mean a lot of monsters and when they refer to the darkness they talk about someone who is guiding them or something that is attracting them, so it was at that moment that Savitar added something.

Savitar: -If we don't prepare as many warriors as quickly as possible, we won't be able to survive this.

Those words made this matter even more tense, because in the relic there is no time, there is no way to know when, where or how they will arrive, they do not know who the darkness is, it may be someone they know or perhaps a monster or something they have not yet discovered, so they must hurry to find a solution.

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Alexis: -Then I will have the academy take care of it as the director of it.

Everyone looked at Alexis with surprise when they heard him say this, since it's true, Alexis is the director of the White Sword Academy, but he never has time to watch over her or teach classes due to his job as a scout.

Alexis: -This is an emergency, so I will stop exploring and ask my teams to do it for me in a subtle way, so I can create better warriors in the academy, but I also have something to report that may have some weight with this information.

After listening to what Jamal had to say and Alexis' statements, everything calmed down for a moment, but that calm didn't last for a second, since Alexis looked like he was going to drop a new bomb on the meeting.

Alexis: - I found it... I found the whereabouts of our families.

Everyone suddenly jumped, Rosario generated a sinister aura because that information was of great interest to her, she needed to know where her mother and grandmother were, and Brenda wanted to know where her sister and her whole family were, just like everyone else.

Alexis: - Guys, they're all dead...

Everyone looked at Alexis at the beginning with a big smile, but their faces changed to cold and destroyed looks, they couldn't believe it. Jamal came up to him and passed his arm behind his neck, he was in shock, he just laughed and thought it was a joke, he treated him like a great friend.

Jamal: - Hahahahahahaha... tell me Alexis, why are you joking? Come on, tell me where they are to look for them... tell me about it...

But although she was smiling looking at him with that smiling face, Alexis' expression of helplessness and sadness was real, feeling sorry for Jamal, just shaking her head from side to side denying him, but Jamal gradually breaks down, his tears fall and grabs Alexis by the clothes begging her to stop lying.

Jamal: - Please... say it's a lie... I'm begging you... for God's sake, Alexis, I'm begging you, tell me you're lying...

Little by little Jamal lost strength, falling to the ground broken, destroyed, he couldn't take it anymore, he endured all the pain and suffering of not having his family with him after managing to build a safe place for them. The strongest in the room just stood silently watching from the windows so they wouldn't see their tears of suffering and relief knowing that even though they weren't with them, at least they didn't have to suffer anymore in a world they didn't understand. So it was also Brenda who, still crying, but wiping her tears, who asked Alexis nicely.

Brenda: - Mmm... well, probably... you killed the monster that did this to them... I appreciate that...

Alexis— - I didn't do it.

The atmosphere turned cold when hearing those words said so coldly by Alexis, who was clenching his fist with helplessness and pain, since his family was also there.

Alexis: - To tell the truth, when I found them... they were still living, but... he came and murdered them all. I tried to take my family, but I didn't succeed... Tsk!...

Alexis kept her tears, but clenched her fists tightly, since he lived everything that happened in the flesh, but still the first to ask and the only one who dared was Rosario.

Rosario: - Who was it?

Alexis simply held on to a wall, he was bleeding violently, so the tense atmosphere changed to one of concern, taking Rosario by beating Alexis so that he would not fall to the floor while lying on a sofa, opening his shirt noticing a wound similar to the cut that a sword would give, but this was deeper and thicker at the same time, very thin as if he had been cut with a rough weapon and with an edge on the tip of it.

Rosario: -What the hell did this do to your body and why haven't you said anything until now?

Alexis just took out his inventory and showed some images on the wall, since he always using his visual memory ability can materialize past memories and show them to everyone, so they saw how Alexis arrived in an area near the entrance to Buenos Aires where the relatives' settlement was, so after collecting information from the place he found all the families next to his own hurrying to transport them in a van they were using, but at that moment something attacked the settlement. It was a lot of human-like beings, it was a complete massacre, monsters and humans alike. Alexis faced two of these beings, one was a tall woman with sharp claws and an enormous speed, while the other was a mutated centaur who had an unparalleled aim throwing shurikens at high speed. All this happened while he was protecting the truck, managing to defeat both beings but not killing them, moving away from that area thinking that they had escaped, but that was his biggest mistake, he trusted himself and something else fell from the sky hitting the front of the truck making it rise and turn in the air completely overturning on the dirt floor, so he and few families managed to survive the initial impact. The fire spread all over the field where they were, but everyone managed to see who was the culprit and they were frozen, they couldn't believe it and Rosario was crying not only out of hatred but out of horror at seeing the figure of a great friend on the screen, it was Benjamin.

He was now an unrecognizable monster who had many more under his orders, slaughtered everyone and cut Alexis's chest which flew away due to the blow surviving because Benjamin only wanted to devour the flesh of the murdered...

He was now an unrecognizable monster who had many more under his orders, he massacred everyone and cut Alexis's chest which flew away due to the blow surviving because Benjamin only wanted to devour the flesh of the murdered being this seen by Alexis from a forest before passing out thus cutting the image.

So they took Alexis to a hospital, leaving only 12 of the 15 who had come to the meeting in absolute silence, no one could say anything, Jamal was only left on the couch clutching the back of his neck apparently Brenda was vomiting on the side of the couch while the others only felt impotence and anger, but Rosario was in complete shock remembering that that same person was next to him and fought next to them, defended and took care of people, but now she only saw him as a complete monster full of darkness and there she understood that what would come here would be him commanding an army ready to destroy everything.

Rosario— - We cannot succumb to this... he is going to come as he is the darkness that is spoken in the relic...

These words annoyed Jamal who did not listen anymore and left the room smashing the front door with a punch going like this to prepare to destroy him while Russo ran to calm him down.

Rosario: -Our highest priority should be to eliminate Benjamin and his entire army, if you find him in combat eliminate him and do not hesitate, he is no longer our friend.

Santiago: - What if he's not doing it because it's his wish? What will you do if he is being controlled?

Rosario and those who were left in the room just kept silence without knowing what to say to that question, it was something they had to take into account since they had no information at all.

Mark: - I'll take care of it... when he starts the war against him I will go to fight and try to save him, but if I can't save him... I will not hesitate to murder him.

At this response everyone calmed down and got sad about it, but then Pato changed the mood by giving an important news which had to be made concrete today.

Pato: -Then it's time for us to do that, it's time to create the blacksmiths guild to create armor and weapons, maybe with this we will have better chances in the battle, but I will be in charge of creating the most powerful set with the best materials we have at hand now.

This was quickly disagreed by Sasha who knew that she was using this situation as an excuse to create her too expensive blacksmiths guild.

Sasha: -We could better create a healers guild since I remind you that what you ask for is very expensive, on the other hand a guild where people are healing using skills and magic is much cheaper since you don't need to spend on resources.

Duck: -Without items and enchantments do you think your healers will last 2 days? Besides, without weapons and armor how will we protect your dear healers, huh?

Ibarra: -Wow guys don't argue, we are at a critical moment we can't fight each other.

This little discussion was stopped by a violent clap from Brenda which made them recoil with the shock wave while smiling.

Brenda: -Both guilds will be created, but...... Sasha and Pato will take care of the expenses of both guilds and they must do the corresponding paperwork, there is no crown for anyone, understood?

Brenda's tone was serious and severe, anything they said against her words would be something that would deserve a punishment since they caused problems first so they just accepted with annoyance these words and left the room, but as she was already tired Brenda asked those who were left to leave leaving them both alone in the room so Brenda just approached Rosario and looked into her eyes.

Brenda: - You can cry now...

It's not that Rosario couldn't cry, it's not that she didn't want to cry, she just couldn't do it in front of all of them since she was one of the 2 most important leaders and she was the one who had to stay strong, but being there alone with her friend she no longer needed to hold back her emotions starting to cry while being hugged by Brenda feeling the pain in her voice fading into the echo of the room.

In another place, in a city that was once the capital of a country, there lies a nest of horrifying monsters gathered before a mountain of corpses, which they use as food, their generals being at the top next to their king.

The first one used to be a centaur, but it has evolved and improved itself. Now, under a sky darkened by chaos and desolation, an imposing figure stands on a pile of dead monsters. Her silhouette, wrapped in liquid shadows, seems to writhe with a life of its own, sculpting an image of terror and absolute power. His body is a fusion of flesh and darkness, with sharp filaments and spines emerging from his torso like an echo of his cursed essence.

Her body is a fusion of flesh and darkness, with sharp filaments and spines emerging from her torso as an echo of her cursed essence

Its wings, vast and jagged like obsidian blades, spread out menacingly, reflecting a pale glow in the gloom.

The blackness drips from his being, draining away like a thick poison that corrupts the air around him. His face is a patch of shadows, where only a few bright teeth are distinguished, curved in a sinister grimace, a beacon of death in the absolute blackness.

The corpses beneath his feet, mangled and twisted, are mute witnesses to his fury. Torn limbs, split torsos and outsized eyes make up the mountain of desecrated flesh on which he stands, like a monarch of devastation. Blood soaks the floor, but he's still standing, undefeated, the embodiment of the ultimate nightmare.

But that's how it started raining, and under the eternal rain of a hopeless sky, a figure shrouded in shadows stands with a macabre elegance. Her dress, a Gothic work of art, oscillates between opulence and horror, with frills of withered fabric that are intertwined with thorns and dark filaments that seem to have a life of their own. Every fold of her attire conceals a baleful truth, an omen of death wrapped in silk and malice.

Every fold of her outfit conceals a baleful truth, an omen of death wrapped in silk and malice

His face, barely visible under the brim of his hat, exudes an aura of mystery and terror. Their crimson eyes shine in the gloom, cold and serene, as if contemplating the world from a realm beyond time. A subtle gesture on his lips suggests an eerie calm, that of a predator who does not need to rush to catch his prey.

She holds an umbrella of spikes and thorns, a crown of cruelty that envelops her in a halo of dark power. Small reddish lights float around him, like embers from a hellish fire that never goes out. Shadows creep in her wake, and death follows her with silent devotion.

The fallen souls on the battlefield are witnesses of his presence, inert bodies scattered in the mud under the incessant rain. But she is undeterred. He just watches, patiently, as if the tragedy and the desolation were mere details of a masterpiece that he has seen repeated countless times.

In front of them was Benjamin, who was inside a cocoon similar to that of a butterfly, but this one was made of flesh and blood, beating like a living heart, waiting to be reborn to come out and spread chaos throughout the continent.