The Legendary Pseudo-villain

Most of the people who received the ring were skeptical, and the ones who chose not to wear it were all taking up a neutral stand in this war. They didn't bother siding with either of the two sides, while some people carefully made the decision to join Hecathe's side by wearing the rings. 

"I hope you understand now that... Your reign is over," Zather spoke with a thin smile as she looked at Lara.

"They all decided to come here on their own," Zail sighed as he spoke, "Even if you try to kill your way out of here, it would be quite difficult for you to survive that angry Dorgon out there." 

Zather nodded her head as she agreed with the man, "And lying is also useless now since we all saw everything." 

Zail took out something from his pocket and pointed it at the wall, "Hecathe also trusted me with this." 

Not having a phone in this world was quite inconvenient but what was really unbearable for Hecathe was perhaps the fact that this world also had no cameras. 

Cameras always made perfect evidence but since there were no cameras in here, Hecathe decided to find a way to make something similar. 

This was the second favor that Hecathe had asked Zail. 

"Everything that happened here has been recorded as evidence against you," Zail explained as he showed the projection that showed the scene of Lara killing Asgarian and ordering LeiLei to kill Hecathe.

Lara gulped as she shook her head in disbelief. 

She walked another few steps back as she tried to get away from these people but her back bumped against Marvin who glared down at her with killing intent. 

The game was truly over this time and Lara clearly understood that. 

She thought after getting revenge on her father's death, she wouldn't have to live with any regrets or worries. She thought she'll be free and wouldn't have to fear anything, even if it was death that awaited her. 

She really made herself believe that everything would be magically alright, but it seemed that even in this world, magic had its own limits. 

Even after getting the revenge, that she longed for, she still couldn't help but feel terrified as she saw Marvin's glowing golden eyes that were ready to drag her soul out of her body and torture it till it was reduced into nothing more than fragments that floated away with the wind. 

"Honey, I'm sorry," The Landlady sighed as she took a step forward towards the girl, "I never planned to betray you. I already knew that you'd try to kill me, so I'm not really mad about it either. However, I was also given a choice. I could either see you getting killed in front of my eyes or save your life by joining that young man and helping capture you alive. With everything that had happened, I have come to realize that your life to me is more important than anything else. So please forgive this mother for being a little selfish this time." 

Lara gritted her teeth and it looked as if she had a lot of hateful words to spit out after hearing that, but before she could say anything, her mother raised her hand and tapped Lara's forehead with her two fingers, immediately knocking her unconscious. 

Lara's body fell forward and her mother immediately caught her with a rather sad expression on her face. 

Zather sighed as she shook her head, "It's a pity that things turned out this way." 

"She'll wake up in an hour or two," Lara's mother muttered, loud enough for everyone to hear, "You better stick to the deal. Nobody is allowed to harm her." 

She suddenly snapped her head towards Marvin and glared at him as she spoke, "Especially you." 

"Hmph-" Marvin only let out an annoyed breath as he put the double-bladed saber away and the golden glow emitting from him started to die down as he transformed back to his normal appearance. 

"Now, on to the third favor," Zail spoke with a sigh as he turned around and walked over towards Alphius and LeiLei's body. 

His facial expressions shifted from exhaustion to pity and worry as he saw Alphius' body. 

"Somebody wake her up now," Zail spoke as he pointed at LeiLei. 

Zather nodded her head with a sigh as she walked over towards the girl and lightly slapped her cheeks as she tried to wake the girl up. 

Now that Lara was unconscious, LeiLei would no longer be forced to follow her orders for the time being. 

It seemed that Marvin had shown no mercy while knocking the girl out. It took more than five minutes and more than twenty slaps to wake the girl up. 

"Put his heart back," Zail spoke as he pointed at Alphius. 

LeiLei gulped as she looked around and tried to understand the situation. 

"What about Lara?" 

"You don't need to worry about her," Zather clicked her tongue. 

LeiLei was a bit confused and also looked to be hesitant as she stared at Alphius' heart. 

"Fast," Zail snapped. 

LeiLei nodded her head with much reluctance as she switched out Alphius' heart with the stone that she had previously placed inside his chest. 

The heart was now back inside the body and LeiLei had also made sure to connect it back up just as it had been, but Alphius didn't wake up and this was perhaps to be expected considering the fact that the body had already been dead for more than twenty minutes now.

However, for some reason, Zail did not look to be too worried as he took out a potion from his pocket. 

"He asked for a third favor," Zail spoke as he opened the cap of the potion and slowly poured it, drop by drop, into Hecathe's mouth, "He asked me to make a potion that could kill him for half an hour and also revive him after the time had passed." 

Everyone looked to be shocked as they heard him. 

Kelly frowned as she asked, "Does such a potion really exist?" 

Zail shook his head, "It didn't exist, but he still asked for it." 

"..." 

It seemed that Hecathe had asked something unreasonable of Zail and made the poor man suffer. 

"But of course, he gave me the ingredients as well," Zail continued with a soft chuckle, "The Dorgon was probably the one who told him about the undiscovered potion." 

Kelly's eyes slightly widened with surprise as she heard this but she said nothing. 

"Who knew that a Dorgon could be this helpful?" Zather joked, "If you had told me beforehand, I would have also bought a Dorgon egg for myself." 

"The blood of a Dorgon has the power to kill and to revive, but only when used with the other ingredients," Zail added as he waited to see if Alphius would gain consciousness or not, "Of course, the quality of the potion and its effect also depends on the skill level of the one developing the potion."

"So are you skilled?" Kelly asked as she looked at the man. 

To this question, Zail only smiled and said nothing as he preferred to wait and let the answer reveal itself. 

After a few minutes, the lifeless body of Alphius showed some signs of movement and thoroughly shocked everyone present. 

Marvin's lips curled up into a small smile and his eyes started brimming with tears as he slowly took a few steps forward and approached Alphius. 

"Cough! Cough!" Alphius suddenly snapped his eyes open and coughed out loudly as he picked himself up from the floor. He immediately grabbed his chest and squeezed it, looking as if his heart was somehow feeling uncomfortable now that it was beating again. 

Zail sighed in relief as he wiped the cold sweat off his forehead and he was certainly not the only one who was revealed and happy to see Alphius coming back to life. 

"Hecathe...?" Marvin called out to the boy as he looked at him with tears trailing down his cheeks, but Alphius did not respond to that name. 

Marvin's smile suddenly disappeared as his eyes narrowed down on the boy and he paid closer attention to Alphius' facial expressions. 

For some reason, although the face was still the same, this boy no longer had that strict and yet sharp, authoritative expression that had always been plastered on Hecathe's face. 

This change... 

Marvin's eyes suddenly widened as he came to a conclusion that sounded a bit too crazy and yet, plausible in his mind. 

"Alphius...?" Marvin called out to the boy again, using the real name of the boy, and this time, the boy looked up to meet Marvin's eyes. 

This wasn't Hecathe... It was Alphius!

This was Alphius. The one Marvin had regretted killing. This was the boy who Marvin had dearly missed. He was the one that Marvin had wanted to apologize to. He was Marvin's friend. 

However, instead of feeling happy, Marvin felt a sense of grief. 

If Alphius was here then where was Hecathe...?" 

There was no need for him to be bothered by that question, and yet, here he was, wondering why that question deeply bothered him.