"They should arrive anytime soon."
The Hari of Takkot, Uruk, who's sitting on his throne, stood up and went out of the royal castle. He stood near the edge of the plateau located in the center of the capital, where his castle resided. From there, he can see the whole city, as well as the peaceful and scenic view of the clear sky. The sudden rush of wind blew his shimmering, golden hair, his black and white attire, and his cape flail about restlessly.
"How bland, just like peace." He uttered as he looks up into the sky with a bored expression on his face. "Wouldn't it be more fun if the world is colored with hatred?"
The bored look in his sky blue eyes soon disappeared as dark clouds covered the heavens, and the whole scenery becomes painted in red as the city is plagued with fire, chaos, destruction, and death.
"Ah... What a sight." Uruk raised his arms as a blissful smile forms on his face. "Just imagining the world burn with hatred tingles me to the core."
The Hari of Kruule puts his arms back down, his blissful smile turned into a malicious grin.
"I may have stumbled upon a few errors, but once I eliminate all the obstacles in my way, as well as that cursed Blue Rose, my imaginations will soon become a reality."
Uruk lets out a partly suppressed evil laughter until all of a sudden, countless images, or perhaps memories from long ago flashed before his eyes. Images of people who are screaming and crying in fear can be seen. Some who are lying on the ground lifelessly have swords and even spears stuck in their chests and on their heads. The others, especially women, are helplessly being taken away by black armored knights. And the rest who are given their own set of black knight armor are shown bowing down and showing obedience before him who stood in front of them, the Hari of Kruule—Uruk.
While Uruk is seemingly in a daze, his right fist suddenly hits himself in the face. Uruk stumbles after that hit.
"That was a good hit, I felt that," Uruk said to himself as he wiped the blood spilling from the corner of his mouth using the back of his hand. "But for you to use such a petty trick, just like what the Blue Rose did back then..."
As if having a mind of its own, Uruk's right hand turned into a fist once more and tried to hit himself one more time. But before his fist hits himself again, Uruk managed to regain control and suppressed his arm from moving an inch.
"You and your powerlessness are so pathetic, Uruk."
Whoever it is the Hari called by the same name as him, seemed to have stopped struggling and disappeared into nothingness, giving Uruk freedom over his limb.
"I'm not taking risks anymore. Once I see that Lyrica's face, I will rip her heart out."
Uruk looks at the palm of his left hand before clenching it into a fist as a malignant dark aura surrounds his body.
"You wanted this, didn't you? You wanted power. Just cease your futile resistance and surrender yourself to me. If you do that, you'll have the power to rule not just Kruule, but Alteria itself."
At that moment, Uruk felt a presence approaching, prompting the Hari from speaking to himself. Her soundless footsteps soon came to a halt as she crouched down and lowered her head before Uruk.
"Where is she?" The Hari asked.
"The group I sent to escort the Kalesa found a wreckage and a few soldiers on the way." Her voice resonated calmly through her mask. "The girl named Lyrica is missing."
"Missing, you say?" Deep lines formed in Uruk's forehead as he responded in bewilderment. "And what about Gilberto? What's that worthless grunt doing?"
"They found Gilberto along with the wreckage and other soldiers." Said the woman in a dark coat. "The high commander is dead."
"What?!" Uruk's eyes shot up as he tries to hold his anger by grinding his teeth against one another. "That's impossible. Even if he has a loose screw in his head, there's no way he'd lose to a kid who just came to Alteria not long ago."
Seeing her Hari doubting her message, the woman snapped her fingers and there came two other people wearing the same kind of attire as her, carrying the lifeless body of Gilberto for Uruk to see.
"Impossible." Uruk's jaw dropped as he's unable to process what he's looking at into his mind. "Damn it...!"
The two people who can see the menacing aura coming off from the Hari could not help but feel incredibly anxious.
"Another error..." Uruk violently slammed his fist to the ground, creating cracks and a hole to the surface. "It's been like this since back then...!"
The Hari's burst of anger startled the two people behind the woman. While in contrast, the woman who came to deliver Uruk the message is just standing there so nonchalantly, it's almost as if she is used to seeing her Hari so distressed and maddened whenever something doesn't go according to his plans.
"The rest of the group I dispatched are out there searching for her." The woman mouthed. "She shouldn't have gone that far. But unless she ended the fight with Gilberto without being injured or exhausted at all, well..."
"Are you saying... She killed Gilberto and left unscathed?!"
The woman wordlessly looked at the dead high commander, attracting the Hari into looking at Gilberto as well. Looking at the dead high commander much more closely, Uruk is finally beginning to see that the words that came out of the woman's mouth might just be possible.
The high commander's mighty armor that protects his palpable, bulky physique is reduced into shattered pieces. His hairless head and his almost unrecognizable face, as well as his limbs and other exposed body parts, seemed like they suffered through tremendous heat. It's almost as if he was thrown into burning hot water and was left there helplessly to die.
"It's not enough..." Uruk faces the woman once more with his sharp blue eyes. "Go out there and kill her immediately!"
Following his given order, Uruk added that Lyrica is a fire magic user thanks to the obvious evidence left on Gilberto's corpse. Furthermore, he also told the woman that she and her abilities are at a complete advantage against the girl who uses elemental magic.
"Wouldn't bringing her to you and kill her yourself please you more?"
Uruk's menacing aura grew more intense as he approached the woman who doesn't even flinch.
"I'll be more than pleased to know that she's dead... And that piece of trash taken care of."
Uruk pointed his finger towards the corpse of Gilberto, to which the two people who delivered the same corpse bolted and hurriedly picks the corpse up.
"Masusunod, mahal na Hari."
Uruk watches the woman as she walks away along with the two others carrying Gilberto. Right then, the Hari faces north, where he can see the northern part of the capital along with the scenery on the far horizon.
"Things aren't going so well lately, but that's all right." A malicious grin formed on his face. "It doesn't matter how much trouble the world spawns before me."
At that moment, countless streaks of flowing dark energy emerged from the city like short threads piercing the sky. Uruk opens his arms wide as he welcomes the wispy dark energy into his body one after another.
"As long as there is hatred in this world, my plans will eventually be realized."
The high commander Gilberto is dead, and Lyrica is now on the run. But how did it all transpired? And just what exactly is Uruk planning?