Ch 31 - The Play of Lies

I quickly got up from the bed with a stiff body and my limbs were sore.
The healing as well as the medicine that was given by the loli supervisor helped me recover a lot quicker.

Meanwhile, my parents fell asleep.
Both of them didn’t get a wink of sleep since I returned back to our room in an unconscious state. Thankfully Miss Urza patched me up or else I was sure to end up dead.

I gently put a blanket on mother and father respectively and left the room along with Miss Urza.

“Well you are quite the doting son, aren’t you?” she asked as I gently closed the door.

I turned the doorknob as I closed the door without making any sound.

“You are quite mature for a boy of your age,” she added.

I just ignored her statement,

“Thank you for saving my life, Miss Urza. Also, I would like to apologize for my parent’s outburst earlier.”

“Well duh. You owe me,” she replied with not a surprising expression, “Actually every candidate that made it into the 2nd trial owes me. I was quite happy being on the field as a mage, I really do love to go back to the good old days. You don’t know how hard it is-”

“Miss Urza!” I cut her off in between, “I hate to interrupt but could you now kindly show me the way where the puppet show is taking place?”

Miss Urza gave me a disappointed look,

“Eh? The puppet show? You are really eager to see the puppet show. Guess you must be a die-hard fan of the 12 heavenly virtues heroes, huh?”

Yeah, I am really a Die-hard fan of these heroes and quite eager to meet them as well.

After all, the 12 holy heroes, the epitome of divinity, the savior of mankind, a demigod walking among mortals, the vassal of the archangels, and much more titles were held by these guys. The demons are the nemesis of the angel race, and the 12 heavenly virtues are basically handed down the power by the archangel.

So it wasn’t plausible how these 12 virtues agreed to work with the demon generals to take me down.

I never expected the demons and the lapdog mortal virtues of the angel clan to work together, ever. That’s what led me to my demise.

I had many questions that were unanswered for a long while.
“Could you just show me the way, please? I don’t wanna miss the opening act!” I requested eagerly while losing my patience.

“Huh, I guess a kid is still a kid. Alright~”

She gave me the directions and I quickly memorized them.

Just when I was about to head towards the directions, she caught me by the ear,
“Ow.”

“Before you head there, remember that I have just used healing and it’s better if you don’t overexert yourself. After you are done watching the show, head back to your room. You can use your bracelet in your arm to unlock your room without waking your parents. Now that you have stirred quite the attention it’s better to keep your head low for a time. It’s a lot better if you don’t cause any trouble. Now that’s said get going, you little brat~”

After saying so she turned around in another direction and left.

I made sure to keep her warning in my head.

I hurried toward the venue where the puppet show was about to be held.
Currently, there was no one here in the corridor, not even a single guard could be seen. I couldn’t yet run on my feet as I was still having pretty sore limbs. It felt like my limbs were torn apart and sewed back together.

Kinda similar to when I almost lost my arms during the wolf attack.
I tried increasing my pace as I hurried back to the venue.

As I headed to the venue I remembered Miss Urza’s warnings.

During my trial, I almost got killed by the statue, thanks to the mage losing control over his earth spirit golem. But it is a bit skeptical that a renowned mage losing control like that. From what I heard, Supervisor Canith had been supervising the trials on the ceremony train for 5 years now. And never once did such an incident occur like this.

So how could a veteran mage like him lose control?
Or did the mage purposefully stage the act to kill me?

I had never known that guy ever, so he had no reason to kill me.

I couldn’t make heads or tails of that accident.
I should just assume this to be an accident for now.

But one thing is clear that I could use mana.
I didn’t get the time to celebrate.

Usually, after the trials, the candidates with the potential to be a mage are then sent to different magic schools to learn to harness mana. It would take another 2 to 4 years to just learn the basics of mana manipulation. It takes yet another 3 years to learn to blend their mana into their set of skills and attributes to become a mage.

But then comes the contract with a spirit when one finally becomes a true mage.

And yesterday I managed to recreate a mana barrier from the get-go.
I just turned 12 a few months ago, so this should be a big deal. No wonder the onlookers must be shocked if I could just have seen the expression of everyone.

I must be a prodigy in this world for sure.

Before I knew it, I had reached the venue where the puppet show was hosted by a mage known as Heinck, according to what Miss Urza said.

There were two rail guards standing guard at the entrance.

I just tiptoed my way through the entrance while keeping my head low.
I didn’t try to make eye contact and just went straight inside the venue.

I could feel the rail guards staring at me with cold eyes like always but they let me pass.

As I entered the venue, I felt like I entered a big theatre.
The lights were dimmed and all the seats were occupied to the brim. On the stage, there was an elegant doll with wings. Their face was covered with a cloth and beside him, there were 12 other dolls seated beside him and on their knees as if they were praying to it.

To my surprise, the dolls were indeed moving like normal human beings. They had life-like expressions as if they were not just dolls but actually had souls within.

“And thus the descended the divine archangel, bearing the 12 holy weapons destined for the chosen mortal to protect this world. They were later named to be the 12 heavenly virtues. Who later becomes the savior who…” The voice of the narrator echoed throughout the theatre.

“Hey, you!” Suddenly a voice startled me.

I turned around to see a couple of the candidates seated in the audience seat annoyed,

“Stop blocking the view and stand aside, will you?”

I felt a bit annoyed but I walked out of their view.

There were thousands of candidates dressed in white jumpsuits hogging all the seats.

I searched for an empty seat while keeping a close watch on the play itself.

I couldn’t foresee the mage who was controlling the puppet on the stage.

After a bit of struggle searching for a seat and annoying some of the spectators, I finally got a seat at the corner.

Thankfully I wasn’t too late for the play, as this was still the opening act.
The first act was about how the 12 heavenly virtues came to be. Which is already quite well known in this world and their heroic tales told to kids of this world.

Thankfully what I wanna see, has yet to come.

I carefully observed the play.

The stage was filled with life-like characters walking, talking like they were alive.
The characters were made of wood and painted carefully with a lot of detailing for the puppets. They walked, fought, and talked like the real characters making the whole play come alive.

The characters were not the only thing that moved, the set itself was alive and moving as well. There were puppet birds that flew in the air, the miniature trees that branches wavered, even the characters who interacted with the environment left a mark in the set.

During a scene change, the entire blocks of sets would rise and reshape, recolor themselves around the characters to change into a new scene.

The puppet show itself was a treat to the eyes and the ultimate form of storytelling.

All the candidates watched this play eagerly.

The tales of the heavenly virtues fighting to slay the beasts and helping the people of the world were shown. They showed how the heroes helped to maintain peace and order in the mortal world and how they protected us from the evil demons for a long time now.

The play itself was beautiful and a work of art, if I say so myself.

But I was not enjoying myself.

The play itself was made to boast how good the heavenly virtues are to the people. They just want the people of the world to kiss up these 12 heavenly virtues asscheeks.

The world doesn’t know how they were in cahoots with the so-called demon lord- generals.

Something big is brimming if the heroes and the demon generals are working together.

As I was getting bored by the constant stereotypical heroic tales, I just started dozing off in the middle of the play.

“But peace and tranquility lasted for a time. That changed when a new evil demon overlord came into power…”

As soon as I heard the words of the narrator I quickly snapped out of it.

“He was said to be born in the abyss, a wretched part of the demon realm. He was the epitome of evil itself, a walking calamity. He was cursed by the devil himself as he had the power to devour anything and everything into the abyss, never to be seen again. Even the wretched demons who are said to be the race bearing no emotions gave birth to fear in his presence. Even speaking the name of that demon was taboo among its own people. He later came to be known as the nameless Overlord redeeming the title of Chaos.”

As I heard the story, I took a breath of relief.

The word Chaos, I have long forgotten I was called as such for a long time that is until I finally managed to become the overlord.

The rest of the story is just pure exaggerated nonsense.

I was born in some rundown town living as a rat, trying to survive. This changed at a point after the death of Revelia, a woman I had known in that wretched city. The only kind person that I came across in that miserable city. That changed until she was killed by the militants who later killed her on suspicion of being a spy.

That was the turning point of my life. I even obtained the ability to devour everything which I had named Chaos Heart. That was the part of the reason I was called Chaos. A very powerful ability that let me conquer the demon realm and devour those who stood against me.

It seemed the demon generals were plotting to kill me from the very beginning.
They were quite desperate to aid the help of the mortal heroes who were the sworn enemy.

Just that minor miscalculations resulted in my end.
Even with the most overpowered ability, I was still slain in the end.

I let out a sigh reminiscing of my old memories.

The narrator began displaying me as a black character with red eyes which was me as the former overlord, I guess. In the play, I devoured my demon brethren left and right and drank their blood. Those who obeyed my will served me while those who didn’t were eaten down the throat.

This is total defamation, to be honest, my ability was to create a dark mist that could absorb all, organic, inorganic, and even the mana itself.

So it was my ability that ate those people and not me, in person.

Meanwhile my character, the demon overlord was eating people left and right with his mouth wide open like a goofball. Which is totally wrong.

I was too agitated seeing how my own character was just a horn dog eating people left and right for no reason. I was not such a glutton of a person, and to be honest I was kind. But this play just wanted to make me look evil and the heroes to be the good guys.

The story had truth at the start but kinda started spiraling to become more and more filled with lies.

“It’s said that after conquering the mortal realm, I marched on the mortal realm unleashing hordes of bloodthirsty demons. The hordes of demons feasted on the blood and flesh of the mortal world.” said the narrator.

The voice fell silent as the small puppets of demons devoured other human characters in the play. There was silence and shrieks by the female candidates here and then.

This is bullocks, never had I invaded the mortal realm.
I was still busy trying to stabilize my own kingdom. There was still opposition lurking here and then but I couldn’t just kill everyone opposing me. I had to deal with negotiations and diplomacy between the other demon lords who were not evil but just didn’t trust me yet. Thanks to my dear wife, who was very good with politics, we could still keep our empire from falling apart.

But that didn’t last for long.

The narration became more intense,

“That is when the 12 heavenly virtues banded together to stop the invading demons. Using their heavenly powers they slew all the demons that invaded the mortal realm. But just killing these demons was not the solution. To resolve this issue, they needed to reach the matter of the heart. The only way was to defeat the evil tyrant Overlord.”

Finally, I could get some answers.
Or just a grain of hint in this heap of lies.

The narrator continued,

“Later the 12 virtues chased the demons through the gates that they entered and went to the demon realm. There they slaughtered the demon army for 7 days and 7 nights until they reached the tyrant’s castle. There, the twelve virtues had yet to fight with seven demon generals who served the demon Overlord, known as the seven deadly sins. The 12 virtues and the 7 sins battled for another 5 days but the virtues defeated the sins, proving that good always triumphs over evil.”

What a load of bull, the 12 heroes did no such thing. The demon generals never did go toe to toe with these mortal heroes. They actually worked together to bring me down.
This story is not just straight gibberish.

“The demon Overlord carefully waited as the 12 heroes exhausted themselves from the constant fight while reading all their moves. He also attacked the 12 virtues from their blindspot after defeating his minions, the sin generals.”

I was literally losing it.

They made me look like a piece of shit, the worst villain possibly to exist. I would love to meet the chump who made this horse crap of a story. I am sure I will give them a piece of my mind.

I, the demon Overlord, never resorted to such cowardly methods.

I kept the burning anger within me and tried to watch the play, forcefully.

“The 12 virtues fought bravely with the Overlord and his cunning and cowardly attacks. But the exhaustion finally caught up with our heroes who were on the brink of death. That’s when the virtue of justice, Athos sacrificed his own life and the last of his powers to finally put a stop to the evil schemes of the demon Overlord. The Athos sacrifice gave the other 11 virtues an opening which finally brought the tyrant demonic Overlord to his knees.”

This is fucking pure nonsense, not anything like this ever happened.
If I did face the 12 virtues, I am pretty sure I could devour them all with my ability with ease back when I was the Overlord. I was slain by the hands of my own men and that is thanks to their weapons after all.

I finally couldn’t stomach any more of this play.
I thought it was a waste to rush here, I would rather rest in my room.

The narrator seemed to have reached his final part,

“The demon Overlord was bested yet, didn’t give up. On his last legs, he actually used one of his pregnant wives as a shield to protect himself. When the virtues didn’t back down, the evil demon overlord sacrificed his own wife along with the kid in her belly, resorting to one final attack using the blood sacrifice method. The overlord finally did a final suicide attack to blow himself along with the virtues.”

I got up from my seat with a twisted face filled with rage.
This is too much for me to bear.

Seeing my own puppet skewer my wife’s puppet made my blood boil.
This was truly the lowest they could go.

“Our heroes who were exhausted and had no time to flee. As the crazy tyrant overlord used the last of his powers to blow himself up.”

Suddenly a doll with wings reappeared in front of the exhausted puppet heroes on the stage,

“That’s when the great archangel reappeared in front of the heroes. The archangel then teleported our heroes back to the mortal realm and saved them in the nick of time. Thus restoring peace back in our world.”

I couldn’t stomach standing inside the theatre anymore.

I quickly walked towards the exit.

Meanwhile, the rest of the candidates were all cheering for the 12 heroes and booing the defeated overlord.

As I walked I heard the audience,

“Wow, that demon overlord is such a coward. I expected him to at least give a good fight.”

“Demons are really scary. Thank god they don’t exist in our realm.”

“He used his own pregnant wife as a shield. He even mercilessly killed his wife and the kid, just to get back at the holy virtues. That is just pathetic.”

“The other demons were saints compared to this tyrant overlord. He deserved to be killed.”

“The heavenly virtues are really awesome!”

“Maybe I would be chosen next to become one of the heavenly virtues. I have a good feeling.”

“Keep dreaming.”

More such words erupted after the end of the play.
The play also received major applause.

Meanwhile, I was just losing my patience, not able to stand here for another second.
Coming here to the puppet show is a waste of my time.

Just when I was about to walk out of the venue.

The narrator added,

“It’s been about 500 years since that incident occurred. The old heavenly virtues have already passed away but their legacy still lives on with the newly appointed heavenly virtues. To this day the heavenly virtues are sworn to protect our realm and maintain peace and stability.”

What the…

I turned around in disbelief.

Cold sweat erupted in my brow.

500 years??

It's already been 500 years since that incident!
You gotta be kidding me!

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Sorry for the delay.

Been quite busy with work nowadays. Still getting used to the work environment.
I only get weekends to write but sometimes I have to help out at home, getting no time to write.

This Saturday had to work full time, as there was a lot of work pending.
But without getting any more delays, I steeled my will to finally finish this chapter,
And somehow made this chapter today in one sitting.
(Sorry if you find mistakes, I am sure I will rewrite the chapters~ in the near future~for sure~...If I get free time that is)

I miss the good old days when I had free time(jobless).
Thanks for reading and listening to my ramblings.

Have a nice day.