Villain: The Play of Destiny

Once they entered the City, Baigor slowed down a little, but they still manoeuvred their way to the Nemerus Estate in urgency.

The Guards at the gate did not stop them, and Baigor did not stop either to answer their greetings.

"Please wait here." He told Keith once they arrived in the Entrance Hall of the Manor, and the girls curiously looked around the place that was made completely out of Crystals.

A few Guards arrived and took their positions in the Hall, perhaps to stop them from wandering around, but they did not say anything as the girls curiously inspected the Living Paintings that hung on the walls.

A few minutes passed, and then they heard a series of urgent footsteps coming their way.

A group of people entered the Hall, and suddenly someone rushed towards them at a breakneck speed.

It was a woman, seemingly in her early thirties, beautiful, but dangerous at the same time, given her identity as a Martial Queen. And she grabbed his robe, rather threateningly, and her eyes held a lot of anger and pain as they stared into his eyes.

"I am a mother who was lied to by people who claimed that they could save my child. My son still suffers and is dying. Even the hope aches my heart now." She hoarsely said, holding back her tears. "If your promise is a lie, I promise you that I will make you suffer a worse pain than the one that plagues my child."

Keith smiled at the pain and emotions that were reflecting from her crystal blue eyes.

"It is unwise to threaten a Poison Master, and I happen to be quite an expert in Curses as well. Take your hands off me." He narrowed his eyes, and his voice turned cold with his last sentence.

A deathly silence descended in the Hall, and everyone was in shock after hearing and seeing what was happening.

"Zilya," someone spoke after a few seconds, and it was a gruff yet magnetic voice.

The woman, who was still staring into Keith's eyes, let go of him and stepped back, but she still kept looking at him, now clenching her fists.

"I apologise on behalf of my wife. The times have not been kind to us lately..." The one who had spoken earlier happened to be a tall man, nearly eight feet tall, and he was wearing a black brocade robe.

His red hair and blue eyes were the same as that of his wife, and just at a glance, Keith could tell that they were related to the Zurk Clan of Barbarians.

"Zyron Nemerus." He stepped forward and drew his hand.

"Argus." Keith shook his hand, smiling at the fact that the man paid no heed to his earlier warning and offered his hand despite knowing that he was a Poison Master.

Then again, as a Martial King, Zyron was not a simple man.

"We are planning to take my child to the Central Continent to see a Doctor there. If you are not confident enough, please don't waste my child's time. He doesn't have much left."

Unlike his wife, he had much better control over his emotions, but he was a no-nonsense person, whose patience was on the verge of running out as well.

"May I see your child?" Keith asked, and Zyron kept looking into his eyes for a few seconds before he eventually nodded his head.

"Come."

Keith glanced at his daughters before following the man deeper into the Manor, and a minute later, they finally arrived at the door of the chambers that belonged to young Nemerus.

A strong and pungent medicinal scent made Keith furrow his brows when they entered the room, but he did not pay much heed to it.

The nurses in the room immediately stepped back, and the doctors who were stationed there got up on their feet, standing respectfully on the side.

Keith approached the bed and sighed in his heart when he saw how worse the child's current appearance was than what had been in the images he had seen in the file.

"He only has a day or two left." He truthfully told Zyron, whose body trembled at his words.

"Can..."

"I want everyone to leave the room. Only one person is allowed to stay here."

Zyron frowned at his words but nodded his head, accepting his demand.

He did not even have to say anything as the Doctors and Nurses took their leave, and even the people at the door stepped outside and closed the room.

"Do not panic or stop me once I start." Keith lightly said and waved his hand, pushing away all the medicinal smell, and then lifted the quilt from the child's body, revealing it.

And then he reached forward with his hand and started drawing an intricate pattern on the bony chest, which seemed to be quite painful for the child, who opened his mouth to groan in pain, but was too weak to let out a voice.

Zyron clenched his fist behind his back and exercised all his self-control to not disturb Keith as he covered his child's entire body in patterns created out of an amethyst-coloured Aura.

As minutes passed by, the Nemerus finally felt some hope return to his heart.

Having lived for nearly two centuries, Zyron had seen a lot of Doctors, and he was familiar with their methods.

Even then, he had never met someone with such precise control and a ridiculously potent Aura. What was even more mesmerising was how his patterns moved on their own, flowing like they were alive, disappearing in and reappearing out of the body of the patient, whilst Keith worked on something else. It was almost as if he alone was performing an operation that required two doctors to work together.

The Nemerus observed that Keith was chanting some silent spells, and he narrowed his eyes when the Amethyst Patterns on his child's body started turning Red.

His child's body trembled, and his face contorted in pain, and Zyron was sure that if he was not facing such weakness, his child's wails would have rocked the entire Manor.

The man felt like daggers were being plunged into his heart, but he managed to keep himself from reacting in a way that would disturb Keith.

He also finally understood why this Poison Master had asked everyone to leave the room.

Had there been someone else other than him, they would have surely stepped in to stop whatever was happening.

To Zyron's relief, his child's body soon started to relax, and even his complexion improved a little.

A strange and mystical red light now surrounded him, and even the breaths he now took were deeper and more relaxed.

"Do you have a dried-up High Grade or an Excellent Grade Mana Stone?"

The sudden question broke Zyron out of his thoughts, and though he was curious why the Poison Master was asking for it, he nodded his head and turned around to leave the room.

As soon as the Nemerus left, Keith took out an empty vial from his Space Ring, and then he made an incision on the little boy's neck.

Strangely, it was not blood that came out but a purplish liquid, which filled up the entire vial. And Keith quickly stored it away before using the Power of the Fragment of the Book of Life to heal up the incision he had created.

Seconds later, Zyron entered the room, briskly walking over to him to hand him what he had asked for.

"Step back," Keith told him after taking the empty Mana Stone and checking its quality.

Once the man had stepped back, he chanted a spell again, and all the patterns on the boy's body suddenly disappeared inside him only to reappear and pull something evil and malevolent out with them.

Zyron's heart thumped hard against his chest as he saw a living Curse, a dark and evil miasma, and cold chills ran up his spine.

How could someone be so cruel?

Tears welled up in his eyes, but they never fell as what happened next distracted his thoughts.

The Living Curse was pushed into the Empty Mana Crystal by a strange Sealing Art, turning the Crystal black, and the patterns that were binding the Curse etched themselves on it, becoming its Seal.

"Here." Keith grabbed the Crystal from the air and tossed it to Zyron. "It contains the traces of Mana and Aura of the person who cursed your Son."

As soon as he heard those words, the Head of Nemerus returned to his senses, and then his eyes turned grim.

"Thank you." He gratefully said.

"You are welcome. The child is free of the Poison and the Curse now. However, his body is still very weak. You will have to feed him some life-rejuvenating treasures to help him make a full recovery."

"What?" Zyron asked in disbelief.

"What?" And Keith turned around and confusedly looked at him.

"Is he really fine now?" The man nervously asked, glancing at his child, and seeing the peaceful expression on his face, he already had an answer in his heart.

"Yes, he is fine." Keith smiled at him.

"My apologies." Zyron bowed to him. "I was just not expecting it to be over so soon. Thank you for saving my child!"

"You don't need to say thank you to me. I did not do it for free." He reminded the man, who felt a lot at ease after those words.

"Please rest assured. The Black Nest is yours. And I will prepare some more rewards for you."

"That's fine, but can we have lunch for now?" He lightly asked.

"Of course!" Zyron laughed and then called out to the people outside.

Zilya immediately rushed up to the bed when the door opened, and her tears uncontrollably streamed down her cheeks as she stared at her child.

"He's safe now."

She nodded her head to her husband's words and then stood up to bow to Keith in an apology.

Even though she did not say any words, her sincerity was clear to them, and Keith smiled at her and waved his hand.

"I could see what you were going through, and I don't blame you." He lightly said before turning around and leaving the room.

Kiara, Ingrid, Ingvild, and Alana were waiting for him in the hallway, and he brightly smiled at them as soon as he came out.

"Mission Accomplished." He playfully said, and the girls high-fived each other, celebrating their first successful Quest.