"๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ...?"
...
"๐'๐ฎ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต...? ๐๐๐๐'๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐???"
...
"๐๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ! ๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ... ๐๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ!"
...
"๐๐ฉ๐บ...?"
...
"๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐๐๐๐..."
...
..
.
As soon as he heard those two words, Saber's eyes suddenly shot open as he woke up from his dream.
***
Three days had passed since the faceless girl used her first favor to play hide and seek.
After their match, she had suddenly vanished into the misty forest. Until earlier, Saber had found no clues about her whereabouts.
Luckily, he had stumbled upon some of the fireflies he'd seen before. He followed the glowing insects until they led him to a new destination.
As Saber walked straight ahead, he unexpectedly collided with an invisible wall. It activated a hidden magical trap and sent him tumbling onto the ground.
"Ouch! That really hurtโฆ"
He touched his nose and grimaced. After checking for blood, he got to his feet and felt around the invisible barrier in front of him.
"No wonder I couldn't find her anywhereโฆ So this is where you were, huhโฆ"
He walked around, his hands gliding over the surface of the invisible barrier, searching for an entrance. After a few moments of feelin' his way, he suddenly paused, sensing a tingling in the air.
He stepped back, glanced at his right palm, and clenched it into a fist.
"Haaaaโฆ.!!!"
With determination, he shifted his weight and squared his shoulders, readying himself to unleash a powerful strike against the barrier.
Crack!
As his fist connected, the whole illusion shattered.
"You found me."
Her soft voice echoed like a whisper, sending a chill down his spine.
"I did."
As he spoke, the sky darkened to a heavy grey, the ground beneath them turning dry like sand. The surrounding forest was stripped of its lushness, leaves curling to ashes, carried away on the howling wind.
Yet, in the midst of the chaos, their eyes were locked on each other.
Saber offered her a faint smile, catching the sound of her light chuckle. "I never expected you to be able to find me this quickly..."
He shrugged, trying to play it cool. "What can I say? I'm just lucky, I guess."
"Or stubborn... After all, given that you're him," she teased, the last part of her sentence sounding like a whisper that he never managed to hear.
"Maybe a bit of both," he conceded, his face visibly relieved. "But I'm not letting you slip away again."
Her gaze softened, and the tension in the air shifted. "You really wanted to find me?"
"...."
Saber didn't say anything as his mouth remained shut.
"Not planning on admitting it?" She said with a smirk.
Saber ignored her teasing and glanced around. They were in what appeared to be a park, but unlike the lively one he remembered, this place felt abandoned. Moss covered the swings and slides, the monkey bars were rusty, and cracks in the ground allowed grass to grow through.
The girl sat on one of the swings, the chains creaking with each of her movements.
"Are you just going to stand there like a creep? Come sit next to me!"
Her sudden enthusiasm as she pointed to the swing beside her made Saber tilt his head. He shrugged and sat next to her, and silence settled between them.
"....."
"....."
Neither spoke for a few moments, and the tension thickened.
"Oh, umm... hey..."
The girl broke the awkward silence, lowering her head as if to gather her thoughts. Just as she was about to speak, Saber abruptly cleared his throat, interrupting her before she could say anything further.
"I want to use my 43rd favor."
He said to her.
"Please tell me your story."
***
Once upon a time, in a distant kingdom, lived a young and beautiful princess whose extraordinary looks could enchant anyone at first glance. Her hair cascaded in crimson waves with hints of gold, and her unique aquamarine eyes echoed her royal lineage.
The princess often spent her days with her mother, the Queen, eagerly listening to enchanting tales of love and adventure. Her favorite stories were those of princesses meeting their prince charming.
Tragedy struck when the Queen unexpectedly passed away, leaving the princess and her siblings in the care of their grieving father.
The loss was overwhelming, yet the princess never cried. Why? Why..? Why...? Is she heartless...? No. It was because her mother asked her to smile. Until she finds her prince charming, she must never cry.
But despair deepened when a catastrophic event known as the Catalyst swept through the kingdom, claiming the lives of her family, friends, and her entire homeland.
She was left utterly alone.
She had everything, but lost it all.
Even the dream of having an happily ever after that she had longed for had shattered. Prince charming? Oh, her prince charming... He never existed.
"๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง."
And so, she pursued power.
While she may not have been gifted physically strong, her intellect set her apart. As a master strategist, she doesn't need personal strength, she thought. What she need is manpower and talents.
The princess enrolled in an esteemed academy filled with gifted individuals and tirelessly sought those she could use.
It was a success.
After three years of relentless effort, she built a loyal group of followers.
Yet, her success was quickly overshadowed when that one person came. Someone who called himself as ยซGuideยป appeared out of nowhere and stole the spotlight.
Unlike her, he lacked magic or extraordinary abilities, seeming almost ordinary. Yet somehow, he managed to outshine her in every way and get everyone to crave for his attention.
At first, she ignored him, but eventually, her interest piqued. Soon, jealousy crept in. How could he win everyone's affection in less than a year at the academy? It was something she couldn't achieve even with her abilities.
As time passed, her envy transformed into frustration, which eventually turned into outright hatred. Even after he saved her, she couldn't shake her resentment towards this man who called himself ยซGuide.ยป
After months of turmoil, she decided she had enough and chose to challenge his authority. Rallying her followers, she aimed to seize control of the academy and the city. But her plans quickly unraveled when he made his move.
He anticipated her every action and decided to play her game. Like a seasoned chess player, he positioned his followers as his pieces, systematically removing her supporters one by one until she stood alone.
The once-powerful princess was now left to face him without any allies.
"You're a good leader," he said, "able to rally such a large group against me in no time."
"But," he continued, "you're also predictable. You're like an open bookโtoo easy to read. That's your weakness."
Eventually, she apologized for the trouble she had caused everyone.
Surprisingly, her hatred for him didn't grow as she expected. Instead, their relationship began to change.
Though she often avoided him, the princess found herself craving his attention. She resorted to childlike antics, throwing little tantrums, secretly making him lunch, and even stealing one of his shirts.
Like her, many women at the academy sought his attention, but they took it much further, sneaking into his bed while he slept.
The more time she spent with him, the more she learned about who he was.
He was a bit of a pervert, but compared to the other women chasing him, he was mild. "Degenerate otaku" was the best way to describe him, given his room full of action figures.
For reasons she couldn't pinpoint, she felt increasingly drawn to him. A part of her wanted him all to herself, wishing to keep him away from everyone except for her and her friends.
A year later, the Sixth Catalyst emerged.
The princess felt her past trauma surge back, but as the Guide stepped forward to comfort her, her fear melted away.
After defeating the catalyst, their bond grew stronger.
...This included her feelings for him.
She couldn't understand why it hurt to see him with other women, but over time, she began to understand her emotions.
She had found her one true prince charming.
At first, the princess tried to deny her feelings, but eventually, she accepted them.
Still, she hesitated to confess, fearing rejection.
He was a ยซGuide,ยป a role similar to that of a teacher, and there was a strong chance he would reject her to avoid complications.
Besides, the princess was barely 17 while he was around 24. The age difference could lead to serious problems.
So, she decided to wait.
She would wait until she was old enough to confess her feelings.
The princess realized her biggest challenge was the vixens who might try to steal him away.
To protect her feelings, she made sure to stay close to him at all times, occupying his time to keep him away from students, teachers, and other faculty members.
This became their daily life in the academy.
Though it was challenging, the princess began to enjoy her time with friends at the academy. With the help of Guide, her obsessive quest for power slowly faded away.
...
She felt like she was living her best life.
...
And she wanted it to last forever.
...
But FATE had other plans.
...
Suddenly, one of her classmates lost control of her powers. She became the host of the Seventh Catalyst and unintentionally harmed everyone around her, including the Guide.
After she was stopped, the girl was imprisoned and tortured for information. Just then, the Guide regained consciousness. Upon learning what was happening to her, he pushed through his pain and forced his broken body up to protect his student.
It didn't matter who tried to stop him, not even the princess, despite her desperate attempts to intervene. He was too persistent.
The once neutral man had finally chosen a side.
...But he realized he was too late.
Meanwhile, the princess felt heartbroken, believing her own prince charming had abandoned her because she was powerless to help.
Taking a stand, the Guide gathered some of his students, rallying them against the entire continent. He led a rebellion, broke into the prison, and freed the girl, escaping with everyone.
From that moment on, he became known as the real ยซEnemy of Humanityยป.
He and his students fled away from another country, while the princess remained. But though her love for him was strong, her hatred overshadowed those feelings.
It didn't even take long, the Guide was layer captured. Although he was tortured on the level that almost no normal human could survive, he remained firm and never mentioned his students' hidden location.
Eventually, when all of his students found out about what happened to him, they immediately came to save him and destroyed the whole country.
He tried to stop them, but they were too angry to listen. While this was happening, the same student that he saved was consumed by her guilt that she ended up losing control again. But unlike last time, the outcome was different.
Everything was destroyed, almost everyone got killed.
The sole reason for this, the only person that could have prevented this...
He had failed.
"๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ถ๐ญ๐ต."
Left in the aftermath of the chaos, the princess and the Guide stood face to face.
"๐๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐บ."
When the princess said those words to him, he didn't cry.
He smiled.
She couldn't understand the reason for his smile, so she ended slapping him.
"๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ!"
And so, her wish came true.
And a week later, at the most miserable time of humanity, a new enemy emerged, far stronger than any monster they had faced.
The remaining humans, including the princess and her classmates, chose to retreat.
Unbeknownst to them, the Guide stayed behind.
"๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ...?"
By the time the other students discovered his absence, it was already too late.
...
Guide was dead.
...
The princess felt a deep ache inside when she heard the news. Pain washed over her like a dark wave, and she couldn't find the strength to react.
What hurt her most was the emptiness of not knowingโshe never saw how he died or the look on his face in those final moments.
The only one who knew the truth was the Principal of the academy.
Then, without warning, a tear rolled down her cheek. It surprised her, filling her with confusion. She remembered her mother's last words, whispered softly during her illness, and how Guide never cried that day.
Just like the princess, she never saw him cried once.
The last time she saw him was the day she blamed him for everything wrong in their lives. He stood there, calm, with a gentle smile, even as her heart broke with anger and sadness.
In that moment, his smile felt like a knifeโwarm, yet painfully unaware of her hurt.
Now, she wished for the chance to take back those harsh words.
...
But it was too late.
...
All she had now were memories.
...
At that moment, the princess knew that she could only do one thing.
It was to cry.
Cry.
Because of what happened.
Cry.
Because of what she said to him.
Cry.
Because she could only regret.
***
Back in the unknown place, the faceless girl and Saber sat quietly on the swing beside each other.
"Say... That girl is selfish, doesn't she?"
The girl began to laugh hollowly.
"How could she even get angry to the person she loved the most? I blamed him... I blamed him for everything. I said harsh things like "If we had never met you, we would have remained happy" and many more!"
She didn't deny that the princess was her, not anymore.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, her head facing the ground.
"The look on his face... I can still remember it. Do you know what's painful? He didn't cry, he just smiled and admit that everything was his fault and apologized. And what did I do next? I slapped him. I slapped him and told him to just die..."
She turned to face Saber. Though the process was slow, the white light began to fade, revealing her full face.
There, Saber saw her expression. She didn't need to speak it out loud, her eyes were telling it's story full of pain and regret.
"A-and... And by the time I only came to my senses was when he did die. I didn't even have the chance to apologize, nor did I even see him in his last breath. What does his expression look like before he died? Is he happy? Is he sad? Does he still blame himself...? I don't know."
While she was speaking, Saber stood up and walked in front of her.
"Mister, can you say you hate me?"
"I don't want to."
"...why?"
"There's no reason for me to hate you."
"After everything I said to the you from back then..."
"But I'm not him."
Though I can only pretend...
"I'll probably never be as great as the person you mentioned, nor would I even want to be."
But I can't keep doing that.
"I was not the person you know... I am my own me."
When she heard this from him, the girl finally stopped crying.
"Sasha."
The girl slowly lifted her head, but never met his gaze upon hearing that familiar name.
"My name...?"
Saber slowly nodded. He crouched down to her eye level and held her cheeks with both hands and lifted her head up to look at him straight.
"From the me who you've loved in the past,"
He showed her a kind smile that came from the bottom of his heart and spoke.
"I forgive you."
...
..
.
Later.
Around midnight, the finally went back to small shack to rest.
While Sasha was sleeping peacefully in their bed, Saber glanced at her with a warm gaze from outside before turning away to look at the false moon above the sky.
He puffed out some cigarettes that he made before closing his eyes to think.
The Guide, Kฬฬฬฆฬฬฬฑฬฎaฬถฬธฬอฆอฬฟออฬrฬถฬทอฬพฬฬฒอฬญอmฬถฬทอชฬฝอกอaฬถฬธฬอฆอฬฟออฬ.
The liar, Loki.
The hero, Saber.
Between these three...
"Who am I, really?"