Stone Mage: Revenge of the Villain System

“We will let you keep that disguise of yours for now.” Calla Lily said. “But if we find anything malicious out of you conniving brothers…..”

“I know, I know.” Sordido used all his strength to shrug the girls off. “Now leave me be to my task, the second act is starting and if someone sees you here, they would know you witches are causing a scene.”

Edelweiss frowned. “Fine. But also don’t think of using another disguise to escape. We can easily figure it out.”

As they left, the curtains were indeed drawn in preparation for the second act.

Now that Ronin has his ticket into getting rid of Pavone Blanc D’Argent’s nosy little party, he pocketed the mirror and watched the play properly this time.

He may have not been paying attention, but it has become clearer and clearer that the fable of the Lion and the Hyena was pertaining to Fausforus and Aurion.

The Spirit of Nature was obviously Diamant, and the interesting things was…..

The wild rabbits and the Hares. Ronin made an educated guess that they meant the common humans and humans with Flame.

So all along, Fausforus and Aurion created the first human with Flame from their blood after a fight with each other. Somehow, Diamant knew, and used its power of creation to make more humans with Flame and Hero Mages who are tied to the gods…..

So that when these two ‘Kings’ start a revolution against it using their own power of creation, then it will be ready for it.

Ronin now have conflicting opinions over Diamant. At first, when he heard about how it committed suicide after the death of Fausforus, he had seen it as this sort of caring entity that could not bear the inexistence of one of its creation.

But now he had learned that it had basically stolen claim over the creation of Flame-handling humans and phoenixes. It was also clever in creating Hero Mages to please the other Celestial gods and use them to take favor of it in case a war ensued between it and the two Kings.

He watched as the curtain indeed closed, and when it opened, Lovushka was wearing a completely different outfit.

There was more silver than black now, and it seemed to be several layers of lace upon lace wrapping around him. More of these fake webs dangled in his fingers, which he moved in a knitting way.

And he was now sitting in front of a loom to create a tapestry too. His razor thin fingers moved gracefully but also lightning fast like a pianist as he weaved while telling his tale.

“The appearance of Hares had alarmed the Lion to great degrees, hence his worry over their partnership.”

The two actors began to act out again the ‘present’ after the flashback, the one where they were strolling with the Lion leaning on the Hyena’s shoulder.

“Do you think the Spirit will punish us? It had created us and so….. Perhaps it could destroy us too.”

The Hyena scoffed. “Then we will bare our fangs towards it and slash with our claws ruthlessly. Just because it created us, does not meant that we are bound to be its pets forever.”

Father Spider continued: “They have created more miraculous things with their blood, but the more they did….”

Something new rose from another trapdoor. A wall made of rocks.

“The Spirit had caged the Lion into a wall of rocks, with the help of its Animal Court. The King itself had to perform duties cooped up in this large cave. And the higher it becomes, the more fearful he too becomes for himself and his friend.”

“The Hyena could not visit as often due to this rock wall, and could only pry with its claws to create a gap that was big enough for them to talk.”

The actor of the Hyena yelled at the small hole on the wall.

“You are the King of the Jungle! Why do you live in fear!? Why must you stay behind this wall and adhere to these ridiculous rules on what is proper and what is not!?”

The Lion lashed out from behind it. “This is how things should be, Brother Hyena! What we had done and created should never have been, what is between us was never meant to be!”

“So you will stay caged forever!?” The Hyena exclaimed.

The Lion paused, then replied sady.

“I am doing this to keep the both of us safe. We cannot defy Nature. “

He was in tears when he forced himself to say:

“Goodbye, old friend.”

The Hyena was enraged, and tried to clawn his way faster past that wall, and the Lion only yelled:

“Stop! You’ll only provoke the Spirit further!”

“You’re abandoning m—-” The Hyena faltered for a while, then changed his wording. “You’re abandoning our partnership!? After all these years!?”

“Was all that we created nothing to you!? All the possibilities, the new jungle that we have promised to each other!? You’re throwing that all to waste!?”

The Lion shook his head. “I don’t want to, but its the only way—“

The Hyena slammed his hands on the rock wall!

“Fine! I don’t need you, I can find a way to do it myself! If my blood can do it, why must I need yours!?”

The Lion called out. “I never meant to make you feel unneeded! But this desire to create more and more from blood….. It’s abnormal, Brother Hyena. You are obsessed with it, on defying what is normal and what is Nature!”

“Yes, because why must the Spirit dictate all that!? Why couldn’t we create our own Nature, our own normal!? It all feels like one big Lie that we are trapped in, and none of you can see the Truth!”

He rushed out, and the rock wall along with the Lion disappeared. New characters came, obviously the Scavengers. There was the Vulture, the Jackal, the Fly, the Hornet….. All of them.

Lovushka the Father Spider was almost half-way done with his tapestry already.

The Hyena actor pranced back and forth very much like the animal itself, as he gave a very usual supervillain speech:

“Scavengers! The Hares of the Lion’s Court had disrupted the balance enough, and left us no food to eat. They are giving our prey false hope, and not fear.”

“So I say enough! Let us hunt down all these Hares and feed on them! Show the Spirit that we shall not be abandoned in the darkness just to suffer and rot!”

The Scavengers giggled excitedly, and made all sort of sounds as they went out to hunt Hares.

Father Spider was almost done, and the image that he was weaving on the loom was slowly becoming clearer.

“The King of the Scavengers have waged his war against Hares, and the Animal Court had no choice but to intervene. Along with this was the Lion, who was very reluctant to harm his old friend running amok.”

“The Jungle became an endless battlefield, with both sides equal in strength and numbers. And so, the Animal Court had no choice but to plead the Lion to be more active in thwarting them.”

Someone with a Butterfly costume said: “Please, Brother Lion! You must do something, you are the most powerful of us and without you, most of the rabbits and Hares may perish!”

“I could not….. Perhaps it is already fate for the Jungle to succumb into chaos. Perhaps this was what the Spirit intended all along.”

The Animal Court looked confused, and the Lion just walked away with a clenched fist. He had off the stage, and the curtains were closed, until there was only him and the Hyena again.

“Brother Hyena, you must stop this. You are playing into the Spirit’s hands.”

The Hyena made his devilish laugh again. “How amusing coming from you who is nothing more but its obedient little kitten.”

He continued to snide: “You have made your choice. You wanted to stay by Nature’s side, and now you accuse me of playing into its hands. Can’t you see I am rebelling against it!?”

The Lion persisted. “But that is exactly what it wanted you to do! Think about it, why would he create us to have our blood and only our blood to have the ability to—“

“I don’t want to listen to a weak kitten like you! You betrayed me, you betrayed our partnership, and there’s only one thing that betrayals end up to!”

He drew his claws, and slashed a large wound on the Lion who did not resist.

The Lion just received his blows and yelled: “Then so be it! End my life if you feel betrayed! But killing the Hares…. Killing everything would not result to the new jungle you wanted, Brother Hyena!”

The Hyena gritted his teeth. “Is this a trick!?”

“No, it’s not. I cannot bear to see you like this, and I cannot bear to see the inevitable downfall of the world as we know it.” The Lion cried as it slowly bled out. “End me before I see your End.”

The Hyena was quiet for a while, just on top of the Lion after he pounced with his claws. After a moment….

“Stand up. Raise your hands so I can help you stand up.”

The Lion was confused, but thought that it was a sign that his friend was finally listening to him….

And so, he raised his hands with sharp claws—

Only for the Hyena to impale himself on it!

“So much blood, I cannot resist to see what it creates. You really think you could fool me, Brother Lion?” The Hyena said, as the actor realistically puked blood and fell down holding his chest.

The horrified Lion tried to pry his claws away, but it was already too late. The Hyena impaled himself right by his heart.

“No….. No!” He exclaimed. “Why—“

“Because I despise you, and forever shall despise you even if my spirit shall rise and take a new form on this earth. And I will have the End that I wanted, just you wait.”

“I will consume all of the Hares, and then the Animals, and then you. Until there was none.”

Lovushka finished his tapestry, and revealed…

A Hyena eating a circle the color of the golden Lion.

“Eating the sun.”

Ronin was the only one who could understand fully all of it, while everyone thought it was just a precautionary tale about destructive friendship….

And sneered.

The play was finished, and everyone clapped, but he clapped for a different reason.

He was clapping for himself and for the future he had secured for him and the one who betrayed him.